This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that while reversing or driving out of a parking space at 5 mph, the vehicle would lunge forward and backward and the engine would stall. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and they were unable to duplicate the failure. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 130,000.
On a hot day (98 degrees) when driving with the air conditioning on in my 2005 Ford Freestyle it surged ahead in the mall parking lot and I almost hit someone walking in front of the car. This vehicle has acted like this on hot days when the A/C is on and running in the past. You have to be very careful and aware that this will happen, if someone was to borrow my car I would be afraid that they would run someone over. It happens in both forward and reverse and usually only at slow speeds/idle speed. Its dangerous in parking lots when you are both pulling into the parking spots you have to brake quickly or you'll speed up and hit a parked car in front of you, then backing out of the spot it does the same thing. This is a serious problem and needs to be taken care of. One time last year on a long drive through philadelphia this happened and the car stalled and locked up at a green light. We just want to know how to fix it.
While sitting in traffic with ac on and car lunged forward hesitated and went into fail safe mode.this has been an ongoing problem and the second time we've made a complaint. In 2005, approximately 4 months after purchasing the car Ford replaced the throttle body, as the it was still under warranty, car was fine for about 3-4 years. Then the same problems began occurring again. Lunging and stalling in 2010. In may of 2012 we had the throttle body replaced again, as it had gotten so bad the car was barely drivable. Every ten feet or so it would stall and go into fail safe mode. Throttle body was replaced on May 13 2012, and the issue was resolved immediately until yesterday. Obviously the throttle body is defective, even after Ford supposedly redesigned it in 2007. Am I going have to spend $600 every year to have the same part replaced because Ford won't issue a recall on an obviously defective part.
Pulling out of a parking space after idling for approximately 10 or so minutes the vehicle was placed into reverse and the vehicle lurched back about 10 feet almost striking two cars and a person. The lurching has occurred on multiple occasions also when this happens the vehicle goes into failsafe mode. It has also lurched going in drive as well.
I was backing out of a parking space and the car lunged several feet and I barely missed hitting another car. This happened to me yesterday and almost every day as of the past couple of weeks. As well as many, many times in the past couple of years, since buying the car. This is getting very dangerous and hard to control. There is no rhyme or reason to this and we are getting fed up. It seems to do it more in the summer and in the winter, it does not like to stay running when starting it. The issue with it not staying running in the cold has stranded me on several occasions. The battery is brand new, so that is not an issue.
- Spencer, IA, USA
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Purchased the car used from Ford dealership. I had been following a friend on IH10 in East Texas. Friend had pulled over to side of road, I pulled in behind him. I stayed in my car with ac running for approx 10 minutes I put the car in gear and started to drive. The vehicle would not go over 20 mph. I pulled over and turned the car off. My friend saw me and pulled his vehicle over and came back to check on me. I started the car back up to get off the freeway the accelerator was racing even with my foot on the brake the engine light came on and the computer said it was running in safe mode. On July 2 2012 I took my son to airport. I parked in the parking lot, we had set in the car in park with engine and ac running for about 15 minutes.. when I put the car in reverse the accelerator got stuck and with my brakes still applied the car lunged backward accelerator running full force. The gas pedal was not engaged by me and I had to turn the car off to stop the acceleration. When I turned the car back on the engine light was on and operating in safe mode. This is very unnerving and I think could have caused an accident had any cars been around me. I took the car in to the dealership where I had purchased it, have an appt to bring it back in on July 9 to have them fix it. I got on the website of Ford today for any recalls that might have been called for my car-didn't see any for this type problem. However in researching the problem I found a lot of people who had reported it. This problem needs to be addressed and quickly before someone is injured or killed-and I pray its not me. The dealership is charging me $85 to run a diagnostic they already knows exists. As far as I can tell, no one has been able to have this problem resolved or fixed.
My 2005 Ford Freestyle seems to have issues at the initial start position. In the "park" position the car will rev without compressing the gas petal, it then lunges forward as you are attempting to put the car in either forward or reverse. It shudders and shakes, causing the engine to shut down completely and operate is the "safe" mode. The check engine light usually comes on. The vehicle had been seen on 3 different occasions ranging from April of 2010 to July 2010, each time the symptoms became worse, at one point while waiting at a red light just before entering the on-ramp to the highway, it stuttered, revved high and lunged into oncoming traffic, embarrassed, I continued to proceed forward to the on-ramp when the car suddenly shut down completely causing the 4 vehicles behind me to break hard, again almost causing another accident, I drove it directly to the dealer. The dealer did work on the vehicle and thought to have solved the issue. The issues started to occur in the winter and early spring before the usage of the A/C and became progressively worse as the summer months approached and the A/C full was in usage. It has been a almost 2 years since I have needed to report anything to the dealer. The fix did appear to lessen the intensity of the issue, but did not fix it entirely. It has continued to act up, but is back to the same intensity as the summer of 2010. The engine surged 3 times in an hour period last week and shut the engine down twice. When I called the dealer to report it, they told me that it would be considered a new issue since it has been almost 2 years since they had worked on the car for the same issue. They may have cleaned the throttle body in 2010, which reduced the surging intensity, but it did not solve the problem. Is Ford waiting for a major accident, fire or death to occur before this problem is resolved or replaced?!
I have a 2005 Ford Freestyle with 96,987 miles. The car has been having intermittent lunging issues for the past few months. It is only on hot days when I have the A/C on. The lunging happens when I am completely stopped, or backing out of a parking spot, it has happened in the drive through at a fast food restaurant, the bank, etc. But most recently it happened at my daughters school parking lot! I almost hit a child as she was crossing in front of me. The car lunged forward and I had to put my foot on the break and thankfully the car stopped. Needless to say it could have been a much worse outcome. I brought the car to my local Ford dealership. They replaced the throttle body; parts and labor $880. Picked up the car at 6:45pm, all the service tecs had left for the day; so I paid the cashier the $880, got in the car, turned on the ignition and immediately the engine light and wrench light were still on!! I could not believe it! I could not even leave the parking lot...the car "bucked" the entire way out...I immediately turned around and left my car at the service lot again and dropped of the keys with a note in the night key box. I am so disappointed in my local Ford dealership; I know they never test drove the car prior to them diagnosing the problem nor did they test drive the car after they "fixed" it. I do not know how they could consciously tell me the car was fixed and charge me $880"!"! Ford really needs to step to the plate on this issue and place a recall on these cars....I have loved my car prior to this lunging/surging situation but at this point I will never buy another Ford!!
With the A/C on full (very hot day outside), when stopping or starting to reverse, the car lurched forward twice. My foot was on the brake and was not on the accelerator.
On 6/18/12 as I was slowly backing out of my garage I heard the car revved up a bit and the car suddenly lunged backwards for a couple of seconds. It's a good thing I had my foot on the brake pedal so the car didn't just speed backwards all the way. On 6/20/12 as I was pulling out of the grocery complex, turning right into the main road the car suddenly revved up and started lunging forward. It's a good thing I had my foot on the pedal again. Also it's a good thing there was enough distance between my car and the one in front. Otherwise I would have hit that car because the lunge was pretty significant. I brought it to Ford upland, ca for the throttle body service. I gave them a copy of the Ford tsb 09-24-12 but in inspecting the vehicle afterwards, I do not see any evidence that the throttle body was removed and then cleaned thoroughly. The tsb specifically states to remove the TB and clean it properly. I am guessing that they just opened up the other end and sprayed TB cleaning compound and that's it. Now I am weary that the lunging might happen again. I am hoping through the NHTSA this vehicle can be recalled and Ford to assume all costs of replacing the defective TB and any other connected problems to lunging. This is my only vehicle and I use this to drive my family which includes a 1 year old baby.
Started car and was leaving restaurant parking space. Engine revved up several hundred RPM and car was lurching forward as I tried to hold it back with the brake pedal. People were walking in front of car heading toward restaurant. Car was lurching forward toward them and it was difficult to keep car from moving forward. The RPM's would go high enough to make the front tires spin a little bit on the paved parking lot. I killed the ignition to make car stop. The people thought I had been trying to assault them with the car because I didn't want to wait on them to walk across the parking lot in front of me. Mechanic checked car out and couldn't find anything. This happens pretty frequently. It is worse when air conditioner is on and is most common when in parking lots or driveway when not even using the accelerator.
While putting the vehicle both into drive and reverse it revs and/or rpms drop, and lunges until I hit the brakes or the motor cuts out and displays engine failure safety. It has done this twice, then a check engine light came on. I will schedule an appointment with the dealership, however it does cause a bit of nerves when it happens.
Car lunged forward when in drive thru. Foot was on the brake and air condtioning was running, car seemed to have a surge of power causing the car to lung forward and then car cut off. This happen before in August of 2008 and the Ford dealership said it was the throttle body. Dealership replaced throttle body and motor on ac unit, but it is still happening. Dealership and Ford consumer care was contacted, but they refuse to acknowledge problem or fix it. The problem has also affected the transmission. Transmission needed only a new in put shaft, but Ford failed to tell customers that they closed their plant that makes the parts for Freestyle. No input shaft could be found, so had to pay for a whole new transmission for $6000. Again Ford was contacted, could only say oh well.
We have had a few issues with the car lunging but today, June 18,2012 was the worst incident. I was backing out in a parking lot and the car lunged so bad I had troubles stopping it. I then put it in drive when it stopped to try backing out again and it lunged in forward so hard I almost could not get it stopped and about hit the car in front of me. The display then said it went into engine override and cut the power. This is something that obviously needs taken care of and I was fortunate I did not hit anybody.
Idling at traffic light with brakes pressed, engine starting revving up to over 2000 RPM. Vehicle started to surge and had to press brake pedal harder to stop. Vehicle moved approx 10 ft before it stopped. Issue happened repeatedly, but was not taken in to shop for diagnosis as it would not happen for quite a while. Has happened around 30 times since February. Today, 6/18/2012 while driving through town in stop-go traffic, vehicle started surging again. Wrench light came on as well as error wording of engine fail safe mode. Had to slowly maneuver into a parking lot and turn car off. Once restarted, lights went off and was able to make it home. Took it to local mechanic and they state this is common problem and the throttle body needs to be replaced (they just did on 05 Freestyle last Thursday with same symptoms). $758 to replace. Really need some action on this investigation!
The car will lunge almost uncontrollably when stopped at any length of time with air conditioning on. This will make the car stall out and cause the wrench light to come on rendering the car to operate in safety mode.
My car makes a funny high pitched noise while driving. Also in park to drive, it will lunge forward. I was told that it is a intake bearing that has come loose in my transmission. The noise gets louder as you continue to accelerate. It will only make the noise when it is in motion. I bought this vehicle used in 2010 with around 58,000 miles.
The car was surging and lurching forward even when the brake was engaged. We had near misses running in to cars in front of us just trying to get it to a safe location as we were stuck in a parking lot and in stop and go traffic. While on the interstate is would just loose almost all power even though the accelerator was floored.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Verona, WI, USA