10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
89,372 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

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.

2005 Ford Freestyle brakes problems

brakes problem

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2005 Ford Freestyle Owner Comments

problem #17

Jan 312021

Freestyle

  • 257,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Stationary and in motion my AWD malfunction light will come on, it does this multiple times a day, I just got this Ford the other day, nobody knows what the issue is, but I've seen thousands of other people have this issue. That almost caused me an accident today in the snow. Not very happy about it, and I don't want it to happen again. It's been doing this since I got it. I'm lucky it's not totaled.

- Waynesboro, PA, USA

problem #16

Jan 302021

Freestyle

  • 159,229 miles
Just got the car and it stalled on me today, accelerated and shut off in the middle of the road. Alot going on iv read other people's comments about the Ford causing accidents I don't want that to happen to me I'm a new driver

- Augusta, ME, USA

problem #15

Sep 222014

Freestyle 6-cyl

  • 1 miles
I was driving my infant son home from the hospital after cardiovascular surgery. It was a light drizzle following a period of heavy rain. The roads were wet but there was no standing water. Cars were braking in front of me to make a left hand turn. I applied my brakes, the pedal was up, but there were no brakes. The vehicle did not even begin to stop. I pushed them again and again and there was still no braking of the vehicle causing a rear end collision with the car in front of me who rear ended the car in front of him. Note: The airbags never deployed! I had to take my infant back to the hospital via ambulance to have him checked out because of the prior surgery. The dealership said the car did not throw any codes and that there was no way to test the anti-lock brakes and no way to prove that they failed. I am a very cautious driver, always leave plenty of space to stop between me and the cars in front of me. I have never had an accident or moving violation, and yet the response that I received from the dealership was "well the front ends are made to collapse in the event of an accident".. that is not the issue. The accident should never have happened because the vehicle should have stopped. There was more than enough space to stop, I was applying the brakes, and did so multiple times to try to get them to work (so obviously I had plenty of space to stop) and yet the car would not even slow down. A vehicle should stop when you apply the brakes, anti-lock mode or not! someone could have been killed and one of those people could have been my infant son!!!!!

- St. Petersburg, FL, USA

problem #14

May 012014

Freestyle 6-cyl

  • 68,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

* acceleration problems when parking or reversing at low speeds when the A/C is running on any fan level. - during high exterior temperatures when vehicle ac is on, vehicle drastically lunges forward if in drive - or backwards if in reverse. Research online states that this is a common problem among Ford vehicles, therefore if Ford does not act swiftly to correct this obvious safety defect in their manufacturing, I will contact my congressional/senate representatives. These vehicles Transport children, and Ford should do the right thing and not ignore these problems like Chevrolet and Toyota did. "man-up" Ford!

- Selinsgrove, PA, USA

problem #13

Jun 302006

Freestyle 6-cyl

  • 20,000 miles
It should have been a sign when the brakes wore out at less than a year and less than 9,000. The car would idle high and jump before stepping on the gas. The car would get a jump start before I wanted it to move. A noise could be heard while the car was in park. However, it did change noises as I change gears. Driving the car would sound like it was roaring. During the winter time, the car was not good with the gears/transmission as it felt like it was slipping in the transmission and not sticking in the gear. The car is presently in the service station of the place I purchased the car and I have been advised the vehicle needs a transmission and catalytic converter. The car has a little over 62,000 miles and has been maintained.

- Yonkers, NY, USA

problem #12

Jan 022014

Freestyle 6-cyl

  • 80,914 miles
Twice in snow storms while creeping along at <5 mph and applying the brakes (gently pumping) to negotiate a hill the brake pedal became extremely hard to push and seemed non functional. I believe this is repeatable and is somehow related to low speed on a down grade while pumping the brakes. I could not discern whether the engine idle was gaining but the vehicle was unstoppable until I reached the bottom of the grade. Once reaching the base of the hill the problem mysteriously goes away. A mechanic could not find anything wrong with the physical brakes. I believe it is traction and anti-lock brake control related.

- Finksburg, MD, USA

problem #11

Apr 022012

Freestyle 6-cyl

  • 94,500 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The car lunges forward. It happen in forward or reverse gear. Ac in on position. It has happen when car starts moving or while it is moving at lower speeds. No accidents, just close calls. In driveways, drive thru's. moving on streets and parking lots. Having to apply brakes harder. Car stalls at hotter outside temperatures.

- St. Louis, MO, USA

problem #10

Jul 182012

Freestyle 6-cyl

  • 99,000 miles
We were backing up in a parking lot and the car accelerated to where we had to slam on the brakes, luckily no one was behind us or we could have caused an accident. It is lurching forward when we are at slow speeds for no reason, I am worried that if someone is in front or back of us we will hit them. This happened about 2 summers ago but a part was replaced and it had not been a problem again until now. I have noticed that it becomes an issue on hot days when my A/C is on.

- Gilroy, CA, USA

problem #9

Jul 102012

Freestyle 6-cyl

  • 85,500 miles
Our Ford Freestyle will randomly surge backward/forward at a high rate of speed when going from park to reverse, or going from reverse to drive, or going from park to drive. This has caused my wife to almost hit several cars. It will also surge forward when sitting at a stop sign or red light. This has caused us to have to slam on our breaks several times to avoid a accident. There needs to be a recall on this vehicle before someone is injured or killed because of Ford's failure.

- Frederick, MD, USA

problem #8

Jul 182012

Freestyle 6-cyl

  • 102,153 miles
1. pulling into parking space, vehicle surged forward, steering was turned sharply at the time and foot on brake 2. pulling in garage and vehicle surged while foot on brake.

- Mount Joy, PA, USA

problem #7

Jul 182012

Freestyle

  • 28,504 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

When driving at low speeds (5-10 mph), whether in forward or reverse, the car will lunge forward (or backward if in reverse). This has happened at least 10 times over the last 4 days, resulting in several near-miss accidents with vehicles, as well as almost hitting a pedestrian multiple times. The engine lunging has only occurred at low speeds, mostly when the temperatures are above 85 degrees. The engine lunging occurs when I'm driving at low speeds, such as when I'm backing out of a parking spot, or driving in traffic in which I'm driving at a low speed. The time before last, it was in the school parking lot when I was picking up my son from summer school. Both these times, a pedestrian was almost hit when the car lunged forward. Today, I was in traffic in the walmart parking lot when the car lunged forward, almost causing me to hit the car in front of me. When this happens, the check engine symbol lights on the dashboard, as well as the engine failsafe mode coming on. I have to turn the car completely off and back on to get these lights off.

- Virginia Beach, VA, USA

problem #6

Jul 172012

Freestyle

  • miles
This has been occurring since the car was purchased in 2005. In hot days when the ac is on the car lunges forwards or backwards. It just depends if you have it in drive or reverse. When sitting at a red light or stop sign the car's rpms go high for a minute then the car slows down and stops. There has been times where it lunges forwards so hard it almost hits the car or whatever is in front of you. Ford needs to fix this problem before a death results. If you are aware of this problem and Ford is too then why is nothing being done!!!!

- York Springs, PA, USA

problem #5

Jun 252012

Freestyle 6-cyl

  • 103,000 miles
1.) while putting car in reverse, with foot on brake the car lunges backward with significant force & speed. 2.) while sitting with 'drive' engaged & foot on brake car will lunge in the same manner. If A/C or heat is on it is significantly worse & more dangerous!! this happens very unexpectedly & surges/lunges quite a distance before vehicle is able to be stopped. Sometimes the vehicle will completely shut itself off with some type of a fail safe error displayed. This problem occurs multiple times daily on a daily basis! I am scared to death to back out of any parking space with the fear of hitting a pedestrian! as well as this issue, while driving at any speed, the vehicle acts like it will stall. Meaning that you may be driving anywhere from 20-60mph & it hesitates - not only when accelerating, but when at a consistent speed as well. This too increases with heating & cooling on. All incidents could cause great harm!

- Indianapolis, IN, USA

problem #4

Jun 142012

Freestyle 6-cyl

  • 82,531 miles
My car started lunging when moving at slow speeds, and I'd have to jam on brakes to keep it from hitting another car, building, etc. Happens primarily when A/C is on also. Loses power on acceleration, but lunges when applying slight gas in both reverse and forward. Scary beyond belief. I have a heart condition, and nearly fainted when it happened last time, at an intersection with wild traffic, and I had to jam the brakes to keep the car from going into traffic. Seen enough similar reports online that my next stop will be news media. Please help us!

- Manassas, VA, USA

problem #3

Jun 292012

Freestyle 6-cyl

  • 131,000 miles
I was backing up out of a parking spot very slowly and the car surged backward about a foot, I was able to depress the brake and stop it. The fail safe mode then engaged. I turned the car off and sat for a couple minutes and restarted it and started backing out. The same thing happened again, the surge backward and the failsafe mode engaged. I once again stopped and turned off the engine and sat for about 15 minutes. When I restarted the car the check engine light was on but I was able to back out of the parking space all right, and the failsafe mode did not come back on. It was an extremely hot 100 degrees day, and the A/C was on. This is extremely scary. I could have hit someone.

- New York, NY, USA

problem #2

Apr 152012

Freestyle

  • 88,000 miles
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that whenever the brake was released, the vehicle would lunge forward abnormally. The vehicle was taken to an auto mechanic who advised that they were unable to determine the cause of the failure. The manufacturer was not notified. The VIN was unknown. The failure mileage was 88,000 and the current mileage was 89,000.

- Madison , WI, USA

problem #1

Jun 212012

Freestyle

  • 120,000 miles
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.

- Montpelier, VA, USA

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