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.
Our 2006 Ford Freestyle (approx 110,000 miles) began making a loud knocking noise from under the hood. Our local mechanic isolated the noise to the transmission but feared the job would be too big for him to tackle. We had the vehicle towed to a highly-rated local shop specializing in transmission repairs. Their diagnosis was that the transmission would need to be replaced* they could find the parts, since this was a common problem with the Ford cvt transmissions and that Ford had stopped using this particular transmission. Their quote was approx. $5000, but since that's about what the book value is, we elected not to proceed with the work and had the car towed home. I've since done much research on-line and have found reports of hundreds of other owners who have the same issue, but nothing about a recall (or even a tsb)! in fact, there is a class action suit underway in California regarding this issue, but since I live in MA, I don't qualify for their class. How can this issue, which impacts hundreds if not thousands of owners, not be addressed by a total recall?
The contact owns a 2006 Ford Freestyle. While driving approximately 65 mph, the vehicle's power shut off and the wrench warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle decelerated independently. The contact merged to the side of the road and shut off the vehicle. The vehicle was able to restart and resumed normal operation. The failure occurred intermittently. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who stated that the transmission needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 120,000.
This happened 3 times before they were able to do anything at the Ford dealership because the lights would be off by the time I was able to reach the dealership, and their response was always technician was unable to duplicate symptom. While driving at 50mph on the interstate there was an intermittent idle surge while driving and then a loud "clunking" noise and then the transmission lost power and the vehicle crawled to a halt. There was no acceleration even though the engine revved up. The steering wheel became difficult to maneuver so I was unable to even get it into the emergency lane. I was stuck in the middle lane of the interstate with my child in the car. The check engine light, the wrench light for the cvt transmission, and the passenger air bag light also came on. I had to turn the car off, put it in park, and then restart the car, when I reached the dealership they were finally able to retrieve several fault codes. They performed an R&R transmission and overhaul. This happened 2 other times at (77004 miles, after shifting into park at 0 mph. They replaced a faulty throttle body for this repair- and then at 77238 miles-they replaced the alternator for this repair). It's beginning to happen again. This was and still is a dangerous situation. I now have 3 kids. I thank god we weren't struck from behind while driving on the interstate. I am terrified to drive the vehicle to long distance locations or drive on any parkway, highway, or interstate because it took a while for the vehicle to start up long enough to get it to the dealership that was only 4 miles away.
Was going home after visiting with a friend and on way back was driving normal speed limit on I75 North (65mph) when all of a sudden the car would not accelerate and ac started blowing warm, the wrench light came on. The car was still running but very poorly. I had to carefully get over into the right lane and drove on the side of the interstate to get off at the visible off ramp just a few yards away. I was able to get the car up to a mcdonalds at the top of the ramp. I shut it off and decided to go inside and eat. About 25~30 minutes later, I decided to try and start the car and see what would happen, the car started right up, everything worked as normal, no warning lights at all. We drove it the last 2 hours home without any concerns. We ran a code tester on the car the next day and nothing came up. That was in September 2013. Almost a year later, this September 2014, I had the same thing happen again, but I do not remember the light coming on this time and it happened after only driving the car 6 miles to my local home depot. Again once I got back into the car after about 45 minutes, everything seemed to be operating normal again. This is normally my wife's grandson mobile, she now says that there is opportunities with surging while stopping and taking off and the ac is blowing warm when she is at stops or not driving with engine running. I read a couple forums about why the ac may be acting up but this doesn't explain the limp mode thing and the new surging going on. We have no engine or warning lights at all. I will tell you I test drove it after her concerns and they are real, the surging thing is a concern and I don't like her driving it. At a local garage guys said it sounds like its that "Ford's" problem, but don't see recall for this vehicle....is this a Ford problem that is known? I can't spend a lot of money trying to find the root cause.
- Rudolph, OH, USA
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I bought this car 2 years ago and had a sudden loss of forward propulsion and delayed acceleration once shortly later. It did not reoccur until recently it experienced cvt transmissions malfunctions three times while on a family vacation. This resulted in a "sudden loss of forward propulsion and delayed acceleration" after slowing down for traffic from cruzing speed and then attempting to reaccelaerate back to highway speed. The check engine light, the wrench light and the traction control dash lights came on and the engine experienced high RPM's with little forward movement. I took the problem to an authorized Ford dealer who told me the codes were P0701, P0715, P2765 which indicated a cvt transmission problem. It would cost about $400 to pull and diagnose the transmission and about another $5000 to repair it but then the dealer told me the parts are obsolete or not available. What is the point of attempting a repair if the parts are obsolte " why would parts be obsolete after 7 years of discontinuing production ? is Ford making excuses so as not to have to work on defective transmissions " the service writer admitted that it was not a good transmission for Ford. Ford knew about these issues and needs to be held accountable for them. The car is not safe to drive.
The contact owns a 2006 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that the vehicle would lunge forward independently. The contact mentioned that the transmission would not engage correctly and decrease in speed or fail to accelerate. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 80,000. The VIN was not available.
The vehicle lunged twice while I went from park to drive. I immediately put my foot on the brake to avoid hitting the car in front of me as I was in carline picking up my children from private school. On 8-23-14 as I was in reverse pulling out from a parking space, the vehicle lunged backwards and lost power. I turned off the engine. I started the engine and began to drive the vehicle which felt as if it was losing power. I continued to drive 2 miles home and prayed the entire time that I would make it safely. After doing research, we discovered the NHTSA action number PE11018. We were never notified of this recall and feel that Ford should reimburse owners of all monies spent on the defective throttle body system. So far we have spent $600.
The vehicle lunged after going from park to drive. I quickly put my foot on the brake. This occurred three times that week. It always occurred when the ac was running. I then had the Ford dealership in daphne, al look at the car. They advised that it was the throttle body. I had the repair completed at [xxx] in pensacola. We spent $500 on the repair. I feel that this malfunction was extremely premature. Ford should reimburse customers who have receipts to prove that they completed work that was later a NHTSA action. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
Was sitting in car in a parking lot with ac running waiting for my wife. As I began to back up I put foot on brake to let car go by when the car began to surge and my foot was no where near gas pedal. Then the car shut off by itself and check engine light came on. Later we were waiting in a line at a drive-thru as we waited in line I had car in drive but foot on brake. Then the car lunged forward and I could have hit the car in front of me. The car died again. This happened another time. I took it to auto part store to diagnose check engine light. It gave me code P2106 and which is throttle actuator control system-forced limited power.
I had just started the engine, A/C on, and was attempting to back out of a parking stall.the vehicle seemed to be working normal.engine temp-normal, fuel-3/4 full, no indicator lights were on, engine rpms about 750. With my foot firmly on the service brake pedal, I put the transmission into reverse.the vehicle powered backwards about 5 feet and I began to turn the vehicle towards the right.the engine speed immediately raised, but my foot was hovering above the brake pedal & not touching the accelerator pedal.I stomped hard on the brake pedal to avoid hitting the vehicles parked beside & directly behind me.the vehicle stopped after powering backwards another 5 feet after applying the service brakes.no collision occured.I immediately looked at the dashboard and saw the rpms were at 2250+ while trans still in reverse & service brakes fully applied.I shutoff the engine while trans in reverse and then moved trans into park. A loud click was heard coming from the hood area and the vehicle lunged forward.
Engine surging unexpectedly and violently in gear at idle. I have had the throttle body replaced three times, and on 7-2-2014 it has begun this surging again. Ford customer relationship line has confirmed to me that the vehicle has not cleared off of their database ( I never received the csp-12N03 letter), and the coverage for replacement of the part has expired as of 5-31-2013. Ford asked me to keep all of my receipts when I replace the throttle body for the fourth time so that if Ford enacts a new coverage, I will have my paperwork in order. No promise of a notice letter however.
We were at a stand still in traffic leading to the off ramp, a vehicle came speeding down the on ramp and by his own admission was not paying attention. He then rammed into the back of our vehicle and hit us so hard that it triggered a multi car crash, 6 vehicles in all. During repairs of the vehicle we were told that the engine was experiencing idle surge. It was also noted that this was not due to the vehicle accident. We paid out of pocket some $1,700 and we continue to have the same issues. The Ford dealership has not and will not correct the problem. Ford is responsible for this repair and I would like to see some action taken on their part. I called Ford corporate office and was told despite my vehicle being included in the 2005-2007 recall my particular VIN number is not included in that lot. Not good customer service.
March of 2013 one of the 5 transmissions replaced. Lunging at low speeds, not shifting gears, dying, error codes wrench light comes on, this has occured with every incident which eventually lead to transmission failure everytime.
As outlined in the class action lawsuit against Ford filed in California, our car experienced a "sudden and unexpected cvt transmissions failure". this resulted in a "sudden loss of forward propulsion and delayed acceleration" when merging onto a 40 mph street. The check engine light, the wrench light and the traction control dash lights came on and the engine experienced high RPM's with little forward movement. We took the problem to authorized Ford dealer who recommended repairs to the computer system costing us $2,000 even though it knew about the systemic transmission defect the Ford general manager stated in a phone call this morning (6 13 2014) his service department has had two other Ford Freestyles in their shop presenting the exact issues as our car. Following Ford protocol resulted in a "final" diagnosis of transmission failure. Point being, the local Ford dealership admittedly had prior knowledge of the cvt transmission failures yet did not relay that information to us at the onset of the systemic defect. The vehicle sits in our driveway. It is not safe to operate as we elected not to replace the defective cvt transmission at a quoted cost of $5,000 plus installation.
The throttle body issue with Ford Freestyle has affected us twice with the same car. The initial time is mentioned above, and the part was replaced under warranty by Ford. The issue has resurfaced and it makes the car very dangerous if you are not mashing the brake down at idle because the car will lunge or lurch uncontrollably. It accelerates rapidly at idle without control. The lurching occurs especially bad when the air conditioner is running.
My engine blew and had to be rebuilt. I then had to have the transmission rebuilt 2 months after getting it back. The inner tie rod ends went out. There was a number of.there things that went wrong at the same time. It was as though the vehicle started falling apart at 120000 miles.
The contact owns a 2006 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that while driving approximately 60 mph, there was a loss of power as the vehicle decelerated. The contact had to depress the accelerator pedal to exit to the shoulder. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic who stated that the torque converter and the output shaft needed to be replaced. The vehicle was to be inspected and repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 40,000.
My Ford Freestyle 2006 with 30,000 K miles had a transmission failure with my daughter driving on an 5 lane inter-state highway when it failed and lost power. My daughter had to navigate 3 lanes of traffic as the car was stopping. Thank god she got safely off the roadway. She could have been killed. After reading the internet I am convince that Ford's design is faulty and Ford is not taking any responsibility for correcting.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- North Reading, MA, USA