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.
My 2006 Ford Freestyle lately has been having some problems with high rpms at a stop while in drive. With the high rpms it sometimes wants to lunge forward. About 80% of the time a wrench is displayed on the dash. Once the indicator wrench light is on the vehicle it will only accelerate to about 30 to 35 mph and the RPM go to about 3500. I know it is a cvt but the description is as if it does not want to change gears.
Car was stopped at a red light, while releasing brake pedal, car surged forward on its own. This took place at three consecutive stoplights in one afternoon. One week later, backing car up in parking lot, when brake pedal was released, car surged backward on its own. When changing from reverse to forward, car engine died. Waited a few moments and car restarted. Wrench light on dash was then on. Took to dealership and they replaced etb electronic throttle body.
The contact owns a 2006 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that while driving 25 mph, the vehicle would maintain that speed despite the brakes being depressed. As a result, the vehicle would coast to a complete stop. The vehicle was taken to the an authorized dealer, however the vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 48,000 and the current mileage was 48,600. Updated 10/12/11 the consumer stated when he removed his foot from the gas pedal brake pedal, the engine increased in RPM's. the consumer stated he had to apply extreme pressure to the brake pedal, in order to bring the vehicle to a stop. The engine continued to stay at its increased RPM's. the updated 10/24/11
My Ford Freestyle lunges at various points on my route. I notice it the most when my foot is on the brake. For instance, at times when I am backing out of my garage, my car would suddenly accelerate even though my foot was firmly on the brake. I have also been pulling up behind traffic, with my foot firmly on the brake, and the car has lunged forward. I just took my car to the mechanic. They have cleaned the throttle plate. The car now downshifts rapidly when my car is nearly stopped, like when I am stopping for a red light. The RPM's stay right at 1000 until I am 10-20 feet from the stopping point, then the car suddenly downshifts, causing the car to bow. This is a daily occurrence.
Trying to park my car in a crowded parking lot, the car suddenly surged forward and then stalled. I tried to restart the car and it would not start. I waited a minute, turned off the radio, A/C, etc and then was able to restart. I have had a similar problem on two other occasions since.
- Exeter, ME, USA
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2006 Ford Freestyle, in 2010 issue w/lurching originally in reverse only & later in drive also. Extreme when shifting into gear & taking foot off brake. Reported to dealership, they told us they had not heard of this issue & were not able to replicate it. Researched on the internet & found others w/ similar issues. Throttle body identified as responsible for sudden lurching. Brought up the issue w/dealer prior to our being out of warranty. It was after the factory warranty expired, the part was finally changed. Dealer stated could not replicate issue even though we brought it to their attention several times. Only when occurring all the time - dealer acknowledged the issue. Ford denied any safety issue & said we needed to pay for a replacement of the throttle body. Cost between $1,000 - $2,000 including labor.Ford & dealership insisted not a safety issue & no recall.we appealed to our dealer, armed with info from the internet citing info was on various sites by hundreds of Ford Freestyle owners.local dealer partnered with us to replace the part for $100. We believe that they did this due to the fact they had serviced 100% of the work on the car since it was purchased. One year later & same lurching began again in both reverse and drive. We went back to the local dealership and they tested the car and found the part indeed has failed again & is lurching. The local dealership stated once again they have no formal notice of recall or problems with the 'throttle body'. Ford once again has denied that there are any issues with this part. Dealership partnered w/us & replaced part in July '11 for 2nd time. We have 2 invoices for both replacements..just this last weekend even though the part was just replaced a 2nd time, we noticed twice that the car lurched in reverse.
Vehicle surges forward in low idle or when stopped. Will happen also in reverse. Seems worse on hot days or with A/C running. Service "wrench" light will come on and car will almost stop running and has stopped on some occasions.
The contact owns a 2006 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated the vehicle would surge intermittently without warning. The contact did not inform the dealer or manufacturer of the failure nor was the failure diagnosed or repaired. The current and failure mileage was 80,000. The VIN was unavailable.
We own a 2006 Ford Freestyle. In 2008, at 36,730 miles we had the throttle body replaced because the vehicle lurched & the wrench light came on. Problem fixed. However, 2011 @ 88,356 we had the car in again because it lurched and engine & wrench light would come on again, and it would lose power. If we turned the key off and back on, it would temporarily go away. They replaced an electronic sensor in the transmission. This was at a Ford dealer. They had to call their mechanic help line & work on it several days to figure out the problem. Apparently, that was not the problem, because it had to go back in two weeks later for the same issue. They claimed the new part was faulty and they replaced the sensor again. Fast forward 2.5 months. We are in June @ 92,744. Vehicle was again lurching, wrench & check engine light would come on and had a loss of power. This all seemed to happen when the engine was under strain/load: Ac on high, turning the wheel. It would happen in reverse or drive. I had a foot on/over the brake - so lurching never caused any incidents. This time, I took it to my mechanic. He didn't believe me - because as I said - if you turned the car off, it would all go away until the next random time it happened. So, after 2 days I picked the vehicle up from him. It happened again 2 days later. I took it to autozone and had them plug it in to get the codes out of it - before I turned it off. I took the vehicle and the codes to my mechanic. He had the car for a couple days and was able to get it to behave as I described to him. He replaced the throttle body and it seemed to fix it. We took it on a road trip for 6,000 miles and there was no problem. It is now just over 100,000 miles and the warranty has now expired. Until now - warranty has covered the bulk of the cost. About 2 weeks ago, there was one instance of surging but no other symptoms or lights. Not sure what I plan to do from here except perhaps wait until it is recalled?
I have a 2006 Ford Freestyle. It has begun taking off while backing out of my driveway and lurching forward without pressing the accelerator. This is a safety issue of highest urgency. Upon research on the web, I see numerous recent complaints about this very same issue for this particular style, make & year. There is even a facebook page requesting throttle body recall on Ford Freestyles, with 214 likes to date. I have 2 children ages 7 & 5. I fear for the safety of my own children and others around as this is the "family" car & used for school and activity pick ups and drop offs. These surges occur at stop lights, parking, and easing out of parking. All of these times have the propensity to cause major accidents. If it does cause an accident, I will have my lawyers contact Ford. This is a well documented issue. I am assuming as a reputable car maker- Ford needs to be made aware of such issue in order to issue recall to correct. I hope this complaint speeds up the process.
I have a 2006 Freestyle. 2 years ago I had to have the throttle body replaced due to unintended acceleration that got to be dangerous. This fixed the problem, but now I am again having the exact same issues, especially when the air is on. I now have a teen driving and I am very concerned for her welfare. I already paid 800+ to repair something Ford should have repaired at their cost. Now I have the same issue. Does someone have to get hurt before Ford recalls this part?
There have been multiple engine or transmission related problems with this vehicle dating back to 1 year ago. Last August, the car started lunging when idle without the driver pressing the gas. This happened numerous times when we lived in California while idling at traffic lights or while driving slow in parking lots. We brought it in and had a part replaced for $800 and was told everything was fine. 3 weeks later the car was revving high and making a loud whur. We brought it back in and was told that the transmission had to be replaced and that this was a known defect with the Freestyle automatic transmission. It cost over $5000. We moved to Georgia in April and the lunging problem resurfaced. We had to spend another $1300 to fix this. Then low and behold, 6 weeks later, the transmission blew again. This car is a hazard and needs to be taken off the road by Ford.
Throttle body seem to make the vehicle lunge forward while setting in traffic. Almost struck vehicles in front of me on many occasions. I'm forced to put vehicle in park or neutral while stopped.
I have a 2006 Ford Freestyle and when ever I drive it, it accelerates when your stopped at stop signs, traffic lights, coasting through parking lots, etc. I have just recently hit the car in front of me while waiting at a traffic light I was slowing down to stop when the car accelerated causing the car to lunge forward hitting the car in front of me before I had time to stop. This has become very dangerous. I took it to a Ford dealer with no results. I called the Ford mfg. And they told me they were aware of the problem but nothing was being done about it. I have ask several owners of the Freestyle about this and they said they were having the same problem. I have checked on the internet and found complaint after complaint about this problem and the high cost of trying to fix it. I have went to several repair shops with no guarantees. The Ford dealer I took it to charged me $140 then told me there was nothing wrong with the car. I feel this should be something the Ford Motor Co. Should be recalling. Thank you.
The contact owns a 2006 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that while reversing out of the garage and depressing the brakes, the vehicle lunged backward. The contact stated that the failure occurred several times. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer, who diagnosed that the throttle body was defective and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 72,000 and the current mileage was 72,908. Updated 09/14/11 updated 2/22/12
The contact owns a 2006 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that the vehicle would surge forward without warning with the brakes depressed. The dealer did not offer any assistance. The manufacturer had not been notified. The vehicle had not been inspected or repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 47,000 and the current mileage was 47,000. The VIN was unavailable. Updated 09/01/2011
When stopping or taking off car surges whether your backing up or at a stop light. They said it was the throttle body, check engine light on when stopped at red light can only inch forward.
On 7/31/2011, vehicle was in park with A/C running. Upon putting into reverse, vehicle lunged backwards, approximately 10 ft., while brake was still depressed. Pushing hard on brake stopped the vehicle's movement and the engine stalled. Weather conditions were dry and approximately 87 degrees. Over several days leading up to 7/31/2011, vehicle occasionally would accelerate itself when at slow forward speed (less than 15 mph) with brake depressed. Tachometer confirmed acceleration (approx. 1700 RPM, normal for vehicle is less than 1000 RPM) which could be stopped by pressing hard on brake. After depressing brake and vehicle coming to a stop, normal RPM would resume. Weather conditions were dry and approximately 95 to 100 degrees. This problem seems to occur mainly at low speeds in parking lots. It appears to be the same problem reported by other Freestyle owners under investigation # PE11018.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Cincinnati, OH, USA