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.
When coming out of park into drive, sudden momentary acceleration before pressing on the accelerator. This seems to be increasing in frequency and now starting to do it in reverse.
After being at idle for a few minutes, then when resuming driving, the car surges forward strongly and unexpectedly. It is usually after I have just braked and have just lifted my foot off the brake. The car will "jump" forward strongly and I have to quickly step on the brake again to avoid hitting something. I have not actually had a collision but have had several near misses. The surging issue was repaired on 8/6/10. The problem did not reoccur for several months. Then the car spent 4 months in the dealership's repair center due to the transmission failing and there being no parts in existence for it. Now that I finally have the car back, it has resumed the surging issue and is very scary to drive. Sometimes the engine dies after surging a few times and sometimes the "wrench" light comes on. Turning the engine off for a few minutes and restarting sometimes (but not always) makes it stop surging. Turning the car off and leaving it for several hours before using it again seems to "reset" the issue, but the next time I get stuck in traffic or have to sit at idle for any reason it starts surging again. Since the first time I had the car repaired, I have learned this is a common issue that you are investigating. I have spoken to Ford and they are utterly indifferent and refuse to acknowledge or help with the problem at all. If your investigation leads to a recall or some other reparations from Ford, please contact me. Thank you.
Several times my vehicle surges forward when moving at slow speeds or braking. This has happened while driving forward and reverse. More noticeable when the A/C is on. Even when my foot is on the brake. I can hear the engine revving when this is happening - even though my foot is on the brake.it also loses power on the freeway and becomes very sluggish in acceleration.the vehicle would lose power unexpectedly when driving 10 mph and up. Also I had a minor accident, the vehicle accelerated by itself and I hit a wall in my garage. Also, it would not go forward and when put in reverse it would accelerate--this happened in the middle of traffic during rush hour. We finally took it to the dealer to have it looked at, they told us it was the throttle body and our master tech guarantee did not cover the expense. All they did was clean the throttle up (is expected to have more problems later) because the cost was over $700 and we cannot afford it at the time. So, after we took it out of the shop the car is now only accelerating to no more than 4000 rpms.
The car leaped forward unexpectedly while pulling up to a stop sign. This happened on 7/02/2011 for the first time. We had this occur several more times in the next few days, always while stopping or parking the car. In one instance the car would of struck a light pole, had there not been a curb there. This seems to occur whether the car is cold or has run for awhile. We are now having to drive this car like it may leap forward at anytime. Ford needs to get this taken care of before some is seriously injured.
I was going through a drive through and my Freestyle lunged forward several feet before I had to slam on the brakes. The vehicle then shut off and all the lights in the dash came on. I did have the air conditioning on really high because it was 95 degrees in St. Louis today. My vehicle started lunging a few months ago and it has done it 6 more times today since the worst episode, but the vehicle has not shut off again since I was in the drive through this afternoon. This is very dangerous because if a car or person had been in front of me I would have hit them very forcefully. The problem has progressively gotten worse.
- Ofallon, MO, USA
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Several times my vehicle surges forward when moving at slow speeds or braking. This has happened while driving forward and reverse. More noticeable when the A/C is on. Even when my foot is on the brake - the car accelerates on it's own and lunges forward. I can hear the engine revving when this is happening - even though my foot is on the brake.
2007 Ford Freestyle that lunges forward or backward depending on what gear it is in. I saw where Ford was looking into this for a possible recall, mine does this on occasion. But 5/30/11 mine did it very badly and the car died. The check engine light and transmission light both came on. I did get the car started and back into a parking spot, with it lunging forward and my foot on the brake. The car is at carmax now as I had bought the extended warranty they offer. Waiting on the outcome.
Vehicle surges suddenly at idle speeds in parking lots. This seems to happen more in hot weather. It also loses power on the freeway and becomes very sluggish in acceleration. This is a dangerous situatioas the surges will casue the vehicle to jump forward or backward suddenly with pedestrians around.
Car surges and "revs" when you put it in gear or when you change from reverse to drive, or drive to reverse. Lunges forward or backwards, have hit the front of the garage and had surges where have bumped other cars (not bad enough to file a claim). Seems like the engine just revs or surges all the time now. It has gotten worse over the years.
When I come to a stop prior to pulling in the last few feet of a parking spot, my car will lunge forward (rev) with my foot not touching the gas pedal. I can stop the car with the brake. It seems to only happen when the air conditioning and/or defrost are on.
On several occassions beginning on this date while driving under 10 miles per hour, the car would lung forward and then when the brakes were applied the car would stall. This "surging" problem would occur once you took your foot off of the brake after being stopped for a period of time but would happen before you pressed the acelerator. Because of the severity of the issue and after almost hitting another car while in a parking lot, we took the car to a Ford dealership. They diagnoised the problem and we had to have the throttle body replaced which was a significant cost. Since this issue is currently under investigation, we wanted to submit our experience to be considered and so that we would be notified in the case of recall.
I began noticing a fairly consistent "surge" in the vehicle just after placing it in gear (forward or reverse) at an idle state. Just a couple of seconds after placing the vehicle in gear, you feel a sudden lunge but since your foot is on the brake, it is easily controlled and the surge in rpms is very brief (less than two seconds). This occurs on a regular basis and is typically noticed when backing out of the garage when the engine is idling and just after being placed into gear. Again, this lunge has continued to occur since I first noticed it last June.
The contact owns a 2007 Ford Freestyle. While driving approximately 5 mph, the vehicle would jerk forward. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the technicians replaced the throttle body. The contact stated the failure continued. The transmission was also replaced. The approximate failure mileage was 50,000.
2007 Freestyle sel AWD w/50,000 miles surges at low speeds and stalls at high speeds. The wrench light comes on and the vehicle enters "limp" mode until vehicle is restarted. The dealership was unable to recover error codes when I took it in for diagnostics. However, based on my verbal description of the problem alone he suggested replacement of the entire throttle body assembly, saying "this is a very common issue for the Freestyle, 500, and edge." I am still deciding whether to spend the $1000 they quoted me for replacement (a Firestone service center quoted me $750). For one, I can't understand how such a dangerous malfunction is allowed to go unaddressed. Two, how can the throttle body assembly, which controls the entire powertrain, not be covered by a powertrain warranty" and three, if it is such a common problem that by verbal description alone, a dealer knows a major component needs replacement, why is this not being addressed by Ford at a national level" here's my vote of no confidence.
The contact owns a 2007 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that a check charging system light illuminated on the instrument panel. Also, when she shifted into gear, the vehicle would jolt forward or backward. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where the electrical throttle box and motor mount were replaced. The manufacturer had not been notified. The current mileage was approximately 47,000. The failure mileage was approximately 46,000.
The contact owns a 2007 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that the vehicle would lose power unexpectedly when driving 10 mph and up. The entire dashboard would illuminate during the failure. The vehicle was taken to a local repair facility yet the mechanic was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 34,750 and the current mileage was 35,352. Updated 11/19/10. The consumer stated the problem was finally rectified after the second failure. The consumer stated he paid for the repairs at his expense. Updated 12.01.10 repair receipt says throttle body replaced to correct problem for jerking when put in gear. Smch
I drive a 2007 Ford Freestyle. This summer it started to have problems lurching forward. Specifically if in areas where I was sitting, like at a light, or in a parking stall. And more frequently during really hot days. After the wrench light would come on. A few times my car stalled and I had to wait to start it again. I had it fixed, under warranty, thankfully and they said it was sensor that needed to be replaced. But, I have heard that this is becoming a common occurrence with this vehicle and because it is such a safety issue I wanted to send my complaint in as well. My vehicle has 60,046 miles on it.
I took my Ford Freestyle into the dealer today to have it looked at because it was lurching and not getting enough power. It was diagnosed with...bad throttle body...and the mechanic had the nerve to suggest that it only happens to cars that aren't maintained properly by the owners. I explained that mine is well maintained and I have records to show for it, then he gave me the wonderful news that it would only cost me $1,188.93 to fix it. He acted like it was a real rarity for this to happen and that I was getting a huge deal. He even charged me $99 for the privilege of diagnosing the problem. Then he came back to me and warned me that it could stop or "the engine could seize" if I drove it still. When I wouldn't take the bait, he called me later at home and suggested they could give me a small discount for the repair. Then he once again warned that it's very unsafe to drive. By the way, I'm a single woman and the car has only 47K on it. I'm feeling pretty confident that the increased cost was associated with my gender...so, what others were told would cost them about $700 or so, I was informed would be almost $1,200 - guess it's more expensive to fix the problem when a woman is the primary driver!!! when I googled the Freestyle name I found out that this problem is very very common with other vehicle owners. I'm seriously disgusted that Ford and their representatives would try to cover up or ignore this problem and even allow drivers back on the road when this type of thing is occurring. It's an accident waiting to happen.
The contact owns a 2007 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that the emissions control light and a wrench light illuminated at times. The vehicle would stall at a red light or stop sign. At times the vehicle would jerk and lunge forward. Diagnostics testing was performed on the vehicle; yet, no failures were found. The vehicle was not repaired. The current and failure mileages were approximately 70,000.
The contact owns 2007 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled while driving. If the contact was at a stand still the vehicle surged forward and made it feel as if they were hit from behind and shut off. The failure became progressively worse over time. The vehicle was not inspected. The failure mileage was 64000 and the current mileage was 67000.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Orlando, FL, USA