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 the past few months, I have had multiple issues with my Taurus not wanting to slow down. I would be driving, and release the gas pedal, either to come to a stop or enter a slower speed area, and it would just keep accelerating. The first time, I was driving back to work on lunch, and was going approx 45 miles an hour. Suddenly, it kept accelerating and I was going almost 60! I tried to press on the brake, and it didn't work. My car just kept going. Coming to a stop light, I had to pound on the brakes, and hold them down extremely hard - while my car was fighting me to keep going. I pulled onto a side street, and brought my car to a stop, and put it in park - and it still kept trying to accelerate! it went up to over 4 RPM!. I had to stomp on my gas, as if I was revving my engine and it unfroze and went back to normal. I drove back to work thinking I was going to die!!! I was terribly afraid to drive my car, but it was my only way to go to and from work. I'm just thankful Michigan had a very mild winter, because if this happened on the snowy roads, I don't know if I would have been ok. The next times it happened, I shifted my car into neutral while driving, and slammed on my gas to unstick the problem, but I am extremely scared that this wont always work! I brought it to a mechanic, who told me it was most likely a throttle issue - then talked to a worker at the Ford dealership by my work at a networking event. Unfortunately, I have been trying to save up money to get it fixed, but I haven't been able to yet. My car is fairly newer (not a 1995) and I shouldn't be scared to death to drive my car!
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Taurus. The contact stated that while the brakes were depressed, the engine rpms increased rapidly and the vehicle lunged forward unexpectedly. The vehicle was taken to the dealer but the manufacturer was not contacted. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 48,000 the current mileage was 50,000.
Accelerated to 30 mph and the throttle stuck at that speed. Brakes would hold it but the throttle was stuck open at 30 mph. Went to local garage and the cruise control cable had come off. They reconnected and it is holding so far. Very dangerous situation. I was going up hill and there was no traffic. Other conditions or sticking at higher speed would cause crash.
I was on vacation driving up the coast of California and I noticed it was becoming increasingly difficult to brake my vehicle and my tachometer would not predictably fall as I let off the gas. It was subtle at first but then became more pronounced so I started shifting the car into neutral to see if it was the engine or something else. After putting it into neutral I noticed the car would not goes less than 2000 RPM on the tachometer. Then it became apparent that the car was accelerating independently of my input through the gas. I pulled into a parking lot and coasted in neutral, parked and shut off the engine. As I have some automotive mechanic experience, I figured something was wrong with the throttle linkage or something was stuck in the throttle plate. On inspection, I noticed the cruise control linkage and slid off. I then went to radioshack and bought some small zip ties and zip tied the linkage in place. It is to this day held in place with zip ties and I haven't had any problems since (108,000 miles currently). I saw that the NHTSA was investigating these vehicles for the same complaints and thought I'd report my incident in hopes of helping others.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Taurus. The contact stated that while driving 40 mph, the cruise control engaged independently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnosed that the cruise control cable was fractured and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was repaired. The failure mileage was 71,152 and the current mileage was 83,915.
- Riverview, MI, USA
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The contact owns a 2005 Ford Taurus. The contact stated that while driving 5 mph, there was an increase in engine rpms. The contact shifted into neutral and the failure persisted. The contact then shut the vehicle off but the failure continued upon restart. The failure continued on an intermittent basis as the contact continued to drive. The failure resulted in a minor crash with another vehicle. The vehicle was not taken to have the failure diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 245,000.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Taurus. The contact stated that the vehicle experienced a failure with the cruise control cable that caused the vehicle to accelerate unexpectedly. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the cruise control actuator, cruise control cable and the throttle valve were replaced. The failure mileage was 71,796 and the current mileage was 77,000. Updated 4/2/12 the consumer stated the throttle was sticking. Updated 04/16/12
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Taurus. The contact stated that the cable to the throttle body fractured and caused the vehicle to experienced sudden acceleration. The vehicle was repaired however, the contact stated that the throttle cable felt as if it were too tight and was releasing slowly, causing the vehicle to slightly accelerate before decelerating. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer but the contact was advised that there were no failures with the vehicle. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 50,000 and the current mileage was 72,000.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Taurus. While driving approximately 35 mph, the contact applied the brakes when the engine began to race and the rpms increased to 4000. The contact noticed that the accelerator pedal had become stuck. The contact continued to depress the accelerator pedal and shifted into neutral in order to stop the vehicle. The failure recurred intermittently. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostics. There was an open investigation under NHTSA action number: PE12005 (vehicle speed control:cables) that could possibly have been related to the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 104,000.
Throttle stuck open for a distance of over 9.4 miles. After turning the car off, and back on multiple times, the issue persisted. Car would steadily accelerate unless brake was depressed. If put in neutral, the vehicle RPM's would spike to about 4000. Was finally able to regain speed control by quickly depressing the gas pedal fully to the floor and then releasing it. After doing so, the car returned to regular idle and function.
I was taking my daughter to school one day and I had to brake while I was coming up behind someone. When I pressed my brake, I could feel my car still trying to go..almost as if I were pressing the gas and the brakes at the same time. When the car wouldn't come to a complete stop, I put it in neutral and the rpms went up to 4,000-4,500. I tapped on the gas a couple of times while it was in neutral and the acceleration finally stopped.the same thing occurred again while I was in walmarts parking lot. Again, I had to put it in neutral and tap the gas to get the acceleration to stop. When my car is idling, the rpms fluctuate between 1,000 and 2,000 as if I would be tapping on the gas, but the gas pedal isn't being touched. I have read other peoples complaints, and some have said the problem may have been the cruise control, but my cruise control has never worked; I bought my car used. I have not yet had an accident over it, but I'm sure it is only a matter of time. This definitely needs to be checked into.
On numerous occasions since purchasing the car in 2006 I have experienced the engine accelerating without any application of pressure to the gas pedal. There is no specific speed at which this happens. It has happened while idling at a stop light and traveling at 60 mph. "punching" the accelerator has caused the racing to stop but on other occasions it has not and I have had to pull off to the side of the road in neutral and wait for it to stop.
Car was speeding up by itself and took all I could do to stop it. On 02.23.12 took car into dealership and they tested. Said the throttle cable; broke off a corner of cover and freed up cable. Still having problems, intermittently, with car driving without use of gas pedal and not slowing down until I force it to.
While driving decelerating to a stoplight, the engine would rev upto 5K RPM. I would have to jam on the brakes and place the car into park and turn off engine. Another incident was to step on the gas pedal to stop the revving. Took it to a local mechanic, couldn't find any problems until the mechanic took a test drive and it happened to him. He claims there was carbon in the manifold intake and cleaned it up. Only happen once since then (last month 2/2012).
2005 Ford Taurus continued to accelerate after taking foot off gas to begin to brake as traffic started to slow. I began to apply full pressure to the brake to slow the vehicle, but the car was still trying to accelerate. I was able to get the car to stop in traffic and I parked the car, turned it off and restarted it. After this the acceleration was normal. However, my wife and I have had this same problem on numerous occasions and had once had Ford check the vehicle, but they stated that they found nothing wrong it. I have noticed that if I tap the gas pedal during acceleration, the car might stop surging and a loud pop can be heard. The most recent occurrence was 3/12/12.
On several occasions, vehicle was trying to surge forward while at a stop sign. Engine was revving very high; had to press down really hard on the brakes to prevent vehicle from surging forward. Took it to Ford dealer (bankston Ford, fort worth tx) who said that the 'diagnosis of cruise control not working and purchase of a new cruise control cable.'. I paid $190' to the repair, but it still seems to occur sporadically.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Taurus. While driving approximately 30 mph, the throttle began to stick without prior warning. The vehicle continued to accelerate however, after numerous attempts the vehicle reduced in speed. The failure recurred eight to nine times. There was an open investigation under NHTSA campaign id number: PE12005 (speed control:cables) that could possibly have been related to the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the malfunction. The approximate failure mileage was 83,000.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Taurus. The contact stated that when starting the vehicle, the rpms would race to 4000. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where they advised him that they were unable to diagnose the failure. The dealer was contacted and they offered no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 67,000.
We were driving home from a concert in Washington DC and I noticed that the car seemed to want to go by itself and continued to speed up even though I had taken my foot off the accelerator. We got into heavy traffic and it was difficult to stop the car. I put it in park and turned the car off. I then pulled out of traffic and drove the rest of the way home on back roads to avoid the heavy traffic. Again the car seemed to speed up on its own and I had to hold the brake to avoid going too fast. At one point I pulled into the gas station and turned the car off again and when I restarted it the problem appeared to have gone away. The next morning we looked at the car and found that the cruise control cable was broken and catching the throttle.
My cruiser control stopped working and I did not have time to get it fixed since I do not use it very often. Some days later when I was driving back from work, I pushed the brakes to stop at a stop sign and my car continued to accelerate by itself. When I started driving again, the acceleration continued even not touching the gas pedal. I bumped the pedal few times and the problem was still there. I had to put the car in neutral (I head the motor revs were still there) and them place it in drive mode again and bump the pedal again and them the problem stopped. It happened 3 or 4 times total in 2 months.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Waterford, MI, USA