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 while coming to a traffic light with his foot on the brake pedal the vehicle lunged forward almost causing a crash. The automatic transmission gear shifted into low gear and would not shift into any other gear. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who repaired the vehicle at the owners expense for $700. The dealer also informed him he does not need to repair transmission. The manufacturer was notified and stated there were no recalls for both failures. The offered no other assistance. The VIN was unknown. The failure mileage was 73,000.
I just had the A/C compressor replaced and now the car lunges without pressing on the gas peddle. It mostly happens while I am moving from park to reverse. It has happened once, while I was moving forward in a parking lot and then stalled. Pressing the brake pedal overrides the sudden acceleration, and it seems to be worse when the air conditioning is on or the steering wheel is turned. While it started slowly, it is now happening ever time I put the car in reverse. I need to keep my foot on the brake peddle every time. I am hoping that Ford places a recall on the Ford Freestyle.
Without applying my foot on the accelerator my car's RPM tends to increase on it's own. It is usually when I have my foot on the brake and switching between gears (I.e. park to reverse or park to drive). It has occasionally revved when sitting in traffic as well. Thankfully I have had my foot on the brake at the time. Took it to the local dealership with this complaint and they could not duplicate. This incident happens often enough (several times a week) that I am concerned that if this doesn't get addressed that it may cause injury to someone walking behind my car (or vehicles in front or passing behind me) when I switch to drive or reverse. I am very cautious when I do switch gears because of this fact. Also my car also can be very fast when backing up (which is usually what I do when leaving my driveway) even when I don't have my foot on the accelerator. It doesn't happen all the time but I think it must be associated with the revving issue.
First I would like to say is, my Ford Freestyle vehicle is the worse vehicle I have owned!!!!! not is it the worse vehicle this vehicle is very expensive to have repaired. Please if you are thinking about buying a Ford Freestyle vehicle please think twice. Just last week this vehicle has been losing it speed and on top of that this vehicle accelerates all by it self. The vehicle speeds up then idle down. I don't know what is wrong.
The vehicle started surging without foot on the gas pedal. This occurs at low speeds or when stopping. Have had to rapidly press the brake pedal and hold it to avoid accidents. When the surging occurs, many times the vehicle goes into fail-safe engine mode which does not allow one to shift into higher gears. Check engine light stays on after occurrence and failsafe engine mode was solved by pulling over, killing the motor, waiting, and then restarting.
- Austin, TX, USA
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On the date noted, I was stopped at a traffic light with my foot on the brake when the car suddenly lurched forward (maybe 6-9 inches). I turned the corner to enter a parking garage and while stopped with my foot on the brake, the car lurched forward again, this time the car stalled. I restarted it pulled forward to the garage gate and stopped. It lurched a third time, stalling again and then the service engine light came on. I can best describe it as though I released the clutch (on a manual shift car) with my foot on the brake and not the accelerator. In such a situation, the car will lurch and stall. However this is an automatic and the reason the clutch would engage is from acceleration. I recall the motor revving up prior to the lurch which would explain the event. The Ford dealership finally narrowed the problem to the throttle body and the electronics attached to it and required replacement ($700+). I would say this event occurred at least 6 times in the past year, always while the car was stopped but never 3 times in succession. It stalled maybe two of those times, entered 'engine failsafe mode' but was fine after re-starting the engine. I researched this occurrence on the internet finding it to be an issue on many occasions with this model vehicle. There are several reports on your website as well. I see the investigation is still open. I noted one report referencing a design flaw as to the release of gases in the throttle body and how they are re-routed back throughout the body. The service rep at the dealer noted to me that the new body installed on my car was a new design where the gases are released away from the body. I take this as acknowledgement that the original design was flawed, leading to its unsafe behavior. Note that this last event occurred in 90+ degree weather with the ac on and after highway driving for 3 hours.
My Ford Freestyle 2005 has been lunging for months. I purchased this vehicle used from a private party. Of course if the previous owner had any issues he did not share them with me.the vehicle did have some minor dings which he claimed occurred when he backed into a fence.he had been having some severe medical problems so I am wondering did he just think it was his fault, not realizing the car had lunged. I see a lot of other people on the internet are having the same problems. When are you going to recall this vehicle? it is very scary and does it in forward and reverse. I have been afraid to park in any tight spaces where it may lung and cause a accident or injure someone.I have a handicap parking tag but have been leary of parking in those spaces should this happen. Also the air conditioning only operates when the vehicle is accelerating, I saw others have that issue also. Please take action soon before these vehicles suddenly lunge on a interstate and cause serious injuries or death. Thank you.
I began having a problem with my Freestyle surging with my foot on the brake or idling when backing out of a parking place, while stopped at a traffic light and while waiting on pedestrians to cross in front of me. It's very scary when the car starts lunging and you're afraid you're going to hurt someone. This problem first started happening in 2010. After reading about the problems with the throttle body on the internet, I took it to the shop and had them clean it. That fixed the problem until the past couple of weeks (September 2011) and now it is starting to do it again. Last year I also had a problem with it bogging down on the interstate not knowing if we were going to get rear ended or not. I hope you finish your investigation soon. Ford should be responsible for this problem and correct it before someone gets hurt.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. The contact was driving approximately 30 mph and approaching a traffic stop. The brakes were applied and the rpms increased rapidly with an unexpected acceleration. The failure recurred intermittently whenever the vehicle was at a complete stop or when shifting into reverse. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer who advised that the failure was related to the motor mount. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 92,000.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that the vehicle would lunge forward momentarily when driving at low speeds at approximately 5 mph or when in reverse. The contact also stated that the failures only occurred during hot weather. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where they were unable to diagnose the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.
The vehicle started surging without foot on the gas pedal. This occurs at low speeds or when stopping. Have had to rapidly press the brake pedal and hold it to avoid accidents. When the surging occurs, many times the vehicle goes into fail-safe engine mode which does not allow one to shift into higher gears. This caused a problem on the interstate when caught in stop and go traffic. Could not accelerate after surge-engine dying-failsafe engine mode. Check engine light stays on after occurrence and failsafe engine mode was solved by pulling over, killing the motor, waiting, and then restarting. Surging is causing a stress on the transmission which now appears to have slack in it.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. Whenever the gears began to shift from reverse to drive the vehicle would lunge forward and then backwards. While driving 70 mph all of a sudden the speedometer would decrease to 35 mph without any warning and the vehicle would also slow down. All of the warning lights on the instrument panel would illuminate. The failure occurred on numerous occasions. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who performed a diagnostic test but could not diagnose the failure nor were any error codes displayed. Occasionally when the vehicle was turned off and then back on it would reset itself. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 80,000 and the current mileage was 86,000.
Unintended acceleration - happened infrequently early in vehicles life at lower mileage. Now unintended acceleration happens much more frequently and regularly. It only happens at low speed, idle RPM and during parking maneuvers. Unintended acceleration/surge is most common after a cold start and with steering input. This behavior requires that I maintain active pressure on the brake to maintain control over the vehicle. However, I am concerned that, with the issue becoming worse with age, I may lose control over the vehicle and cause property damage or injure an innocent bystander. Current mileage is 95,000 and issue has become markedly worse since 75,000.
A little bit over a year ago had several instance of car suddenly accelerating while parking in both reverse and forward, car RPM's increase and lower suddenly without foot being on accelerator and have to hold foot more frimly on brake to keep from hitting other vehicles, pedestrians or anythng else that may be close, car then enters into the fail safe mode which is reset on engine restart. Condition went away but in the last several months it has happened again several times. Usually seems to happen when driving while weather conditions are hot (in excess of 90 degrees) every time the air conditioning has been on.
Vehicle has severe lunging when at idle. It doesn't matter if you are in reverse or in drive the vehicle lunges severely and unexpectedly and brake must be applied very heavily to stop it. I have tried turning off he ac, however, I have found little to no relief when I do this. There have been several near misses when sitting at a stop light or when attempting to park, including almost hitting a pedestrian in a parking lot. I have contacted my Ford dealership about this several times and am told there is no evidence as to what the problem is and that Ford has no solution at this time.
Vehicle's brakes were pressed at a stop when sudden vehicle movement out of my control appeared. I could not stop the vehicle and almost hit a person in front of me! the car finally stalled and went into "fail safe mode." This was very scary and could have seriously hurt someone! there was a sudden RPM increase and was very scary! dealer says it is a faulty throttle body that Ford needs to address via recall!!!!!!
Engine / speed surging especially noticeable when parking. Whether in drive or reverse engine moderates only slightly but car lurches. This has happened to three different drivers of the same car, same day, similar experiences. Extra pressure was needed on brake to prevent car from hitting other cars in parking lot.... circumstances: Hot day ( 90+ F), air conditioning on, engine at idle speed while maneuvering into / out from parking, turning wheel or holding wheel turned during maneuver.
My 2005 Ford Freestyle not only has an issue w/ lunging, but has recently been going into "failsafe mode", in which acceleration in the car is completely cut off. I was almost hit by an 18 wheeler while trying to coast to the side of the interstate B/C I was unable to accelerate my car to move to safety. Once I was on the side of the road, I turned the car off & then restarted. I was able to accelerate, but it continued to happen every few miles until I reached home. The feeling of having no control of a vehicle moving at 65mph left me shaking. Luckily I did not have my children in the car at the time. The fact that Ford knows there is an issue and has failed to make any effort to contact the owners of the Ford Freestyle has left me feeling dismayed and I no longer have the confidence in their vehicles.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Crossville, TN, USA