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 vehicle periodically lurches forward or backward unexpectedly. This happens most often when shifting from park to reverse, from park to drive, reverse to drive or drive to reverse. When this unexpected acceleration occurs the car lunges forward without warning. This issue occurs on almost a daily basis.
2005 Ford Freestyle lunging the vehicle lunges suddenly and unexpectedly without having foot applied to gas pedal. This happens in forward and reverse, at low speeds. The RPM indicator climbs high when this is occurring. The only solution seems to be keeping foot applied to brake at all times when traveling at idle speeds. This lunging effect has recently appeared in the past few months.
While attempting to parallel park, my 2005 Ford Freestyle, accelerated on its own and almost caused me to collide with the car behind me. I have had over 10 incidents where my car has accelerated on its own. Today when it happened the car ended up stalling and the check engine light came on. This has become a safety issue and seems to be happening more frequently. I will contact my local Ford dealer to see what what steps Ford is taking to resolve this issue.
My 2005 Ford Freestyle is surging after I put it in reverse as to back up in the parking lot. It lunges very fast and forcibly so that if I do not have a strong hold on the brake it will move. It also happens in forward position if I am not moving or moving very slowly say in a parking lot or drive thru. The air conditioning and or turning seems to make it worse. It does not happen everytime but happened very forcibly the other day. I am very concerned that it will lunge out of control and hit something or somebody. I have children in my car often including my infant. It seems to me to be some sort of safety defect which needs to be looked into.
My 2005 Ford Freestyle has had increasing problems with unexpected lunging. This has occured numerous times when parked or stopped. Usually I can press the brakes and control the movement. Recently, however, I was in a long line of cars leaving a multistoried parking garagae on July 3rd of this year. As we moved down toward the exit, the car became increasingly difficult to manage, lunging repeatedly, and even braking as usual did not stop the lunge. I barely missed the car in front of me, and was grateful that no pedestrians crossed in front of my car.
- Reno, NV, USA
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The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that while at a complete stop, the brake pedal was firmly engaged and the vehicle began to lunge forward unexpectedly. The failure occurred on five different occasions. The authorized dealer was notified and informed the contact that there was not a recall pertaining to the failure. Also, the dealer advised the contact to bring the vehicle in to have the failure diagnosed. There was an open investigation associated with NHTSA action number PE11018 (vehicle speed control). The vehicle had not been diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 70,000. The VIN was unavailable.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. The contact was braking to a traffic stop and with the brakes depressed, the vehicle lunged forward abnormally. The dealer was contacted and advised that he had never heard of the failure described. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 20,000 and the current mileage was 95,000.
2005 Ford Freestyle is experiencing sudden acceleration. We first experienced the problem soon after purchase, but the throttle body was cleaned (or so we were told) and the problem went away until recently. Now it does it frequently and with a new driver in the family we are fearful about the safety of the car. The driver of this car must be very aware of its tending to accelerate / surge. The car has twice shut down in safe engine mode when it surged while backing out of a parking space.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. The contact attempted to shift the vehicle into drive but instead, the vehicle lunged forward abnormally. The failure also recurred while in reverse where the vehicle would lunge backward. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostics or repairs. An investigation was opened under NHTSA action number: PE11018 (vehicle speed control) that could possibly have been related to the failure. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure mileage was 100,000.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that while at a stop light with her foot on the brake pedal, the vehicle would lunge forward. The vehicle was not inspected by a dealer nor had it been repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 86,000.
For months, car has surged forward or backward depending on gear. Although a little frightening, it has been easily stopped by applying the break firmly. On June 27, 2011, the engine unexpectedly revved several times while in park, no one in driver seat. Last summer A/C compressor was replaced, problems seemed to begin after that.
Our Freestyle has experienced mild but worsening unintended acceleration for two years now, but it was always "mild" and did not cause the car to lurch forward even when the driver's foot was hard on the brake pedal. Then we had a new problem: No cold air from the ac at idle. We responded (6/11) to a mailed promotion from hertrich Ford (easton md) for an ac "tune up." They did nothing but add dye to our refrigerant and "clean" our air ducts with disinfectant. So we turned to the owners' forum, myfordfreestyle.com, and quickly diagnosed the problem: A seized-up pressure control valve. Apparently Ford dealers refuse to perform this simple repair (part cost $40) and will only replace the entire ac compressor ($800 + labor). So we ordered the valve online and had a competent local mechanic replace the valve (1-hour labor plus cost of refrigerant). The ac is "good as new", but the unintended acceleration is now much worse. The incidents always occur at very low to no speed and when maneuvering the car (I.e. parking, K-turning, etc.). in all of these situations, both the ac and the power steering pump are demanding/drawing near-maximum power from an essentially idling engine, nearly stalling the engine; the electronic engine/idle control then kicks-in and hugely "over-reacts" by revving the engine to 2,000+ RPM. Even with your foot on the brake, an automatic in drive is going to surge quite far at 2000+ RPM. Please look at the myfordfreestyle.com website: Note that almost all of the complaints about unintended acceleration come during hot weather months and a few also note the problem is much worse with the ac on. It took us less than 30 minutes on the website to diagnose both the ac problem and unintended acceleration problem. It is inconceivable that Ford has not been aware of both of these problems for years. (surely Ford's customer relations staff monitor owner forums).
The car occasionally lunges unexpectedly at slow speeds with the A/C running such as when pulling into a parking space. This also could occur while driving in a drive-thru lane with A/C on. I can also get this to happen at a stop light or sign by just turning the steering wheel slightly to the left or right with A/C on. I believe the issue is with the A/C system and power steering because I don't recall having any issues when the A/C is off. Another issue with the car is that it can stall after idling in park and then goes into failsafe mode. In this mode, the car accelerates very slowly with a maximum speed of 30 mph. I don't recall any failsafe occurrences during the winter. This only seems to occur after the car had been idling in park with the A/C on. To resolve the failsafe issue the multiple times it has happened, power off then on the car. It has never happened twice in a row. I no longer idle the car with A/C running. My wife will occasionally drive my car; she knows about all of the issues and has had them occur. My son (18) is not allowed to drive my car. Another issue is with the driver's side middle row seat. The seat will not go down unless extreme force is used. Once the seat goes down it will work normally the next few times before needing extreme force again. We have taken the car to a Ford mechanic multiple times for the above issues and they were unable to identify the problems. I purchased the vehicle new in November '04. The car now has over 103,000 miles. I have had these issues for many years. My incident date is the last time the lunges occurred as I don't recall the date of the first issue.
I have had my 2005 Ford Freestyle lunge while in either drive or reverse. Luckily nothing has been damaged and no one has been injured. I have noticed that it usually only happens while the air conditioning is on. Also I have been having issues trying to get my vehicle out of park. I am having problems with the gear shift. It doesn't seem to matter if I have just started my vehicle or have been sitting in a drive through. Please advise as to what I need to do to get this resolved.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that upon shifting into reverse, the vehicle lunged forward. An engine safe mode also began to illuminate on the instrument panel. The vehicle was not taken to have the failure diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure and current mileages were 78,200.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that the vehicle would intermittently lunge forward or backward while in drive or reverse. During the failures, the engine would rev until the tacometer displayed a reading of 5,000 rotations per minute. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where the contact was informed that the throttle body needed to be replaced and the software needed to be upgraded. The vehicle was in the process of being repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 15,000 and the current mileage was 89,000. Updated 07/26/11 updated 07/28/11
My wife and I just bought a 2005 Ford Freestyle, 2005 model. The vehicle jerks and lunges when our foot is not on the gas pedal. We took it back to the dealership where we bought it and they sent it out to a Ford dealership. The claim they couldn't find anything wrong and gave it back to us. The car still jerks and lunges and is very dangerous to drive.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that the vehicle would lunge forward abnormally with the brakes depressed. The dealer and manufacturer were notified of the failure but provided no assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 65,800 and the current mileage was 66,000.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Elkridge, MD, USA