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.
For a while now I have noticed that intermittently when barely stepping on the accelerator pedal, the car will accelerate but continue to speed up even with my foot off of the accelerator. I have to step on the break extremely hard to come to a stop, and car will still be doing around 40mph when at a complete stop or light. The check engine light has been on, and I have taken it to a mechanic twice, one of the times he had it for a month trying to figure out what that light is about, checking everything possible, but I am not sure if that light has anything to do with the accelerator.
My car will accelerate on its own without me pressing the gas. This happens at least 4 times a week while I am driving and happens when I am driving between 20 and 50 mph. I can make the engine rev/acceleration stop by quickly tapping on the gas pedal. I have had the cruise control disconnected because my mechanic thought this was part of the problem but the random sef-acceleration has continued and seems to be getting more frequent. This has been going on off and on for a few years but has increased in frequency over the past few months.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Taurus. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken for service at an independent mechanic, while in service with the contact inside the vehicle, the technician asked the contact to shift the gear into reversed to check the rear brake lights. The contact stated that when she shifted into reversed, the vehicle accelerated in reversed, the contact depressed the brake pedal but the brake failed to stop the vehicle. The contact stated that the vehicle went through the business front glass door and came to a stop on a street. The contact did not sustained injuries. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to the contacts residence. The contact mentioned that she contacted the insurance company for the vehicle and property damage. The vehicle was not yet taken to a dealer for a diagnostic testing nor the manufacturer was contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 164,000.
2 times since Sept. 2018 the cable under hood to accelerator came off while I was driving making it very difficult to stop. The first time I was driving on a state highway at 60 mph. The most recent I was driving in a subdivision at 10 mph.the RPM's increased drastically. I feel this is a major safety issue with this issue and Ford needs to fix it. I got this from my elderly mother and I am just thankful it did not happen while she was driving.
Uncontrolled acceleration and cruise control stopped working the same day. Engine accelerates with RPM climbing without any pressure being applied to the gas pedal. The fix for me is to put into neutral and tap the gas pedal which gets the engine to bring the RPM's back down. This happens when driving and in gear usually at less than 50 mph. This has happened everyday for a few weeks. Going to bring it in to be repaired at a Ford dealership.
The accelerator is sticking. When you hit the pedal to speed up, it sticks sometimes. It will not disengage unless you hold the brakes at the same time you tap the gas pedal. It has to be put in park sometimes to disengage. This is the second 05 Taurus I've had and the first one did the same exact thing. We just bought this car for a usps mail route. It is not safe to have this happen on the route. It has over 216000 miles on it. The first Taurus had this problem well before the 200,000 mark. I will have to pay to get it fixed, but considering both of my tauruses did the same exact thing, it could be a problem.
As I was driving to work on the highway the car began to accelerate by itself the brakes were not able to slow the car down the brakes were grinding it against the accelerator the accelerator or the grpm was over 3000 I managed to get the car off of the highway was able to pull into a parking lot but the car would not stop and so I wound up having to hit a pole to stop the car
The RPM gauge revs and speedometer gauge needle both begin to rise by themselves. This happens either immediately as the vehicle is started or 1-5 miles after shifted into 'drive'. the vehicle accelerates by itself. The vehicle continues to accelerate, climbing to higher and higher speeds while the car's ignition is on. The driver just starts the car and without pushing the accelerator pedal, the car begins to accelerate on its own. You must keep your foot on the brake and the car in park while the car is on. To keep the car from driving on its own when it is shifted into 'drive' or 'reverse', driver must keep brake pedal firmly pressed. Car is not drivable in it's current condition because it is not safe.
I was leaving the grocery store and driving down a local road when I realized that I was accelerating without having my foot on the gas pedal. This had happened twice before in the previous few weeks but far less severe. This time I had to keep my foot heavy on the brakes to maintain control. Fortunately I was near home and managed to get my car home without incident, although I saw that I had suddenly developed a flat on my front left tire. This had been a problem the previous year and when I took it into the shop I was told the cruise control cable was causing the problem. I had the car taken in (May 20, 2019) after the two minor incidents the previous week but the repair shop couldn't find the problem so I took the car back promising to come back if it acted up again.
The 2005 Ford Taurus has repeatedly accelerated on its own - 6 experiences with this terrifying experience - each time, my daughter's foot was not on the accelerator but the car was increasing in speed. She had to apply a tremendous amount of pressure on the brake to slow then stop the vehicle. Once the Taurus was placed in "park", the engine roared horribly - each time exactly the same roar.. again, this problem has happened to the vehicle 6 times - with no answers provided for this problem. Each time this has happened, the vehicle was traveling between 35 - 40 mph. This is my third time reporting the problem. I have not received any answers regarding the problem. There hasn't been further investigation into this dangerous problem. I have found on line that this problem has been presented to other Ford Taurus owners for their 2005 Ford Taurus, yet the issue has not been investigated. Why isn't this problem being investigated?
Seems as if the car accelerator get stuck. Car slowly begins to increase in speed. When foot is taken off of the pedal car continues to increase in speed, even when applying the brake. I take a look under the hood and from what I can see there is a plastic piece connected to the accelerator cable the becomes detached from the actual accelerator bracket so to speak. Idk what actual terminology is. It is very hard to and get the accelerator out of the stuck position. Only way I have had success with getting the accelerator out of the stuck position is to very rapidly press pedal to floor and release. Only then it releases from the stuck position.
"takara recall" my throttle has been sticking and not releasing and when I throw it in neutral it idles at 4000rpms and only sometimes will it kick down most of the time it kills the engine when it kicks down even while driving down the road going 45mph.
After driving on the highway the car began to accelerate on its own while trying to come to a complete stop off the exit. The car began to accelerate even more pulling forward although I was pushing down the brakes as hard as I could and the car still drove forward not allowing me to stop until I pulled the gear into neutral to allow me to slow down. I almost crashed right into another car because the accelerator would not allow me to brake (with my child in the car as well). It happened again the next day, and is still a very serious issue. I fear for my life and refuse to drive this car with my children in it as well as the safety of other drivers on the road. This is an extremely dangerous problem and it needs to be addressed and recalled immediately. Someone is going to end up seriously hurt or dead because of this severely dangerous issue. Please do something! also, when putting the car in park the RPM rev's up to 3000/4000 even after turn off the car and restarting it. The car is currently at 95,280 miles.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Taurus. While driving 50 mph, the vehicle accelerated without warning. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed, but the failure could not be duplicated. The failure recurred. The dealer and manufacturer were not contacted. The failure mileage was 98,000.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Taurus. While the contact's daughter was driving 35 mph, she removed her foot from the accelerator pedal and the vehicle accelerated on its own up a hill. The contact's daughter applied extra pressure to the brake pedal in an attempt to stop the vehicle. The vehicle slid into a parking lot and the driver shut off the engine. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic and a new battery and alternator were installed. Two days after the repair, the vehicle accelerated on its own again. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified and did not assist. The dealer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 81,000.
First time (Oct 2018): While driving on freeway car kept accelerating without my foot on accelerator. I had to brake to slow within acceptable speed. Within 10 minutes the problem stopped occurring. I took it to mechanic & he could not find any problem or replicat the problem. 2nd time (Oct 12, 2018, 4 days after being St mechanic) & 400 miles away from home-- I was driving on surface street in the city, acceleration happened again without any use of accelerator. I had to brake & get to side of street, put in park & turn off engine. Waited 10 minutes & tried again. Problem remedied. We looked on internet & found "unintended acceleration" problem with same make & year due to cruise control cable coming off the throttle control & getting in the way of throttle trying to close. Took it to mechanic, told them to look for this problem with cruise & throttle, & they said they would check. They said they could not replicate the ui but ascribed it to something else & charged me over $400, so I could drive back 400 miles to home safely. 3rd time- within 7 days, same acceleration happened after just leaving home, driving in city. Happened right way, throttled really high RPM's & so I shifted to neutral to stop. Tried it again over next 24 hours & problem continued. Tried it 2 days later when taking it to mechanic & it had resolved so I could drive it there. Told Ford mechanic about the internet explanation. Indeed, that is what they found: The cruise control cable was off the throttle control. Was pinching against the throttle, causing it to stay open. They tri ed to get the part, but were unable. So they used a cable tie to secure it in place. That has been almost a month ago, & I have not had the unintended acceleration occur since.
My car accelerates rapidly even when my foot is off the gas pedal; I notice this begins to happen when I go above 50mph. For example, tonight I was driving at about 55mph when I had to brake to go around a curve; I would say I slowed to around 35/40mph. As soon as I took my foot off the brake, the car began accelerating and went all the way up to 65mph within a few seconds. My foot was not on the gas pedal when this happened, and I had to apply a lot of pressure to the brakes for an extended amount of time to get my car to slow back down. This also happened last night, driving at the same speed, except instead of braking for a curve I had to slow for traffic. Once again, as soon as I took my foot off the brake it accelerated. Sometimes it seems as if the gas pedal is stuck, and if I gently tap it a certain way the acceleration issue is resolved, but other times this solution doesn't work. I researched the issue and see that you began an investigation regarding the problem in 2012, but I do not see any current updates. I haven't had the car very long and don't drive it often, so I just began to notice the issue within the past couple of weeks. I have not taken it to a mechanic yet, but based on similar complaints I'm assuming it's the cruise control issue you are investigating. While I have managed to get the speed under control somewhat easily so far, I'm extremely concerned about losing control entirely.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Taurus. While driving 15 mph, the vehicle accelerated without warning. The brake pedal was applied and the gear shifter was engaged in park; however, the vehicle continued to accelerate. In addition, the revolutions per minute increased to high and the cruise control failed to operate. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The contact called the local dealer (rowe westbrook, 91 main street, westbrook, me 04092, (207) 854-2555) and was referred to the manufacturer. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and referred the contact to the local dealer. The failure mileage was 127,000.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Fremont, CA, USA