2004 Chrysler Sebring: sudden unintended acceleration

Filed Aug 20, 2013 · Acceleration · 50,000 miles · TN

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 chrysler sebring. The contact stated that while driving approximately 20 MPH, she approached a traffic stop signal as the engine stalled without warning. The engine restarted and resumed normally. In addition, on numerous occasions an unintended acceleration occurred when depressing the brake or accelerator pedal. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for diagnosis and they were unable to locate the problem. The manufacturer was notified of the defect. The approximate failure mileage was 50,000. The VIN was not available.

Filed Aug 16, 2010 · Engine · 86,000 miles · TN

My car has cut off on me 4 times in the past 2 months. It seems to happen every 2-3 weeks, when I come to a full stop. Also, when my foot is on the brake, the car will vibrate violently and then lunge forward by a foot or so. I have almost hit cars in front of me because of this. This has happened 4 times as well. I've gotten my catalytic converter checked- no problem, I've gotten radiator and transmission checked- all fine. I've had an A/C flush, transmission flush, and air induction/.fuel system cleaned out. Everyone says that the car is fine, and I've had half a dozen mechanics check everything out. No one can find a problem. And a new thing happened, just the other day, when I had started my car up for the first time in the day, the car didn't want to shift above 30 miles. The rpms were really high, but I was at 30 MPH. The mechanics can't find anything wrong with it at all. I saw a posting on another website where someone had the same problems, but no one could find the problem. June 23rd is the first day that these things started happening.

Filed Jul 20, 2010 · Acceleration · PA

I have owned a 2004 chrysler sebring for about 3 years. This issue has been sporadic throughout the time I've had the car. After driving on the highway and then needing to come to a stop at a traffic light, stop sign, or toll booth, the car periodically does one of two things; it either stalls, which then I have to restart the car and all is fine, or the rpms drop and this causes the car (by itself) to react by revving up the rpms and lunging forward while my foot remains on the brake. It's not so much the stalling part that bothers me, as I restart the car and go. However, on several occasions, I nearly hit the car in front of me when the car lunged forward. The occurrences are infrequent, but it is only going to take one time that the nearly becomes an accident. This issue occurs maybe 15-20 times per year. Out 20 occurrences, it will stall 18 times and lunge 2 times. Nothing has ever been found to be mechanically wrong with the car. After doing some research, it appears to be a common issue with this year, make and model. I've seen enough complaints to take the time to send this to you.

Filed Sep 14, 2009 · Acceleration, Engine · 90 miles · IN

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 chrysler sebring. While driving approximately 30 MPH on normal road conditions proceeding to make a turn; suddenly, the engine stalled without warning. The driver was able to restart the engine and resume operation. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for diagnostic testing; however, the technician was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle also intermittently exhibited unintended acceleration. The contact had concerns of the safety risk involved. The failure mileage was 90 and the current mileage was 30,000.

Filed Aug 17, 2007 · Acceleration · 41,000 miles · OH

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 chrysler sebring. He stated that the engine would race and the vehicle would surge. Surge forward. The engine would rail until he turned the key off. The current mileage was 43,500 and the failure mileage was 41,000.

Filed Apr 18, 2006 · Transmission · 25,000 miles · MA

2004 sebring 4 door sedan has occasionally lunged or surged forward when stopped at a light or in traffic. This occurs while my foot has been on the brake and I hate to think of what could happen if I did not have my foot on the brake when it lunges forward. I could hit someone or something. Have had it to the dealer 3 times for this. The 2nd time I had found a service bulletin on this website describing what should be done to correct the problem.(the first time they just said they couldn't do anything because they couldn't make the problem happen)when I brought the service bulletin to them last dec 2005, they said they fixed it. It has now happened again, and is back into the dealership where I was at first told that if they couldn't make it happen, they couldn't fix it. I told them this was the 3rd time in the shop for the same issue and it is a safety issue. They are going to try replacing a throttle positioning sensor. I was reading other complaints on this website and decided it was time to write one because this is definitely happening to other people and is a safety issue. Is chrysler waiting for someone to get hurt before they find out what the problem is? Someone needs to hold them accountable. It only happens occasionally so it is hard to recreate it when you bring it to the dealer, but there are many people with the same types of problems on this site.

Filed Feb 17, 2006 · Acceleration · 18,000 miles · PA · crash

Shortly after I took delivery on my 2004 sebring sedan in july, 2004, I returned to the dealer because the car would shake and stall out at low idle speeds. The dealer addressed the problem. The problem recurred again in late 2005, but this time, it didn't always stall out. At times while I was breaking or even stopped with my foot on the break, the car would suddenly surge forward without my touching the accelerator. I took it to the dealership again, and it was fixed, I was told, by a computer update, and I got it back on 12/1/05. I noticed that the problem was recurring as I drove about 450 miles on january 3rd and 4th of 2006. I planned to take the car back to the dealership after driving home on 1/6. But on the last leg of the trip, as I applied the brakes coming up on cars stopped at a traffic light, the engine surged and the car hurtled forward as I yelled and tried to get the brakes to override the acceleration. I rear-ended the car in front of me at the light, but only knocked out her left brake light. The sebring sustained over $5000 in damages. I drove the car the rest of the way to my home, but on reflection, I was too afraid to drive it to the dealership for repairs, and they came and drove it to be repaired. When they checked for the surge I described, this time they were unable to duplicate it, so they said they could do nothing. I have not accepted the car back. Too dangerous.

Filed Mar 7, 2005 · Fuel system · 528 miles · IL

Within the first week after purchasing a 2004 sebring convertible limited, the problem of the engine almost dying or dying started. This problem occurs more often at higher ambient temperatures. When coming to a stop the engine drops down to 200-250 RPM. When it recovers it overshoots the low idle speed causing the car to lunge forward. Several times the engine has died. The engine will restart immediately. One day as I was going through a green light a car turned right in front of me. I had to make a panic stop in the middle of the intersection and the engine died. I almost got rear-ended because the cars behind me were not expecting me to have to restart the engine. Your web site defines this as a safety issue because the driver has an unexpected event that puts the driver in a situation where the driver cannot safely control the vehicle. After starting the car and backing out of the garage the engine is running like a sewing machine. Suddenly the engine begins to run rough. It reminds me of the days of carburetor cars when the choke was stuck on. Suddenly it starts running like a sewing machine. Most mornings, but not everyday, after backing out of the garage and putting the car in drive then accelerating the car will stumble 1-4 times. The engine speed begins to come up and then stops accelerating, then suddenly accelerates again. This only happens shortly after the engine has been started. Once the engine warms up this problem will not happen. Continued 1 of 3 *jb the consumer believed the fuel drains back to the tank when the vehicle sits overnight. After the vehicle is started the fuel system is not properly pressurized for a short period of time, which could be a result of a defective componet.

Filed Nov 18, 2004 · Acceleration · 14,020 miles · FL

When coming to a stop with my foot on the brake, the idle will drop down and then surge causing the car to lurch forward. It has also stalled on 2 occasions. I have almost hit another car and a pedestrian when the car unexpectedly jumped forward. I am afraid I will hit something. This problem needs to be investigated now.

Filed Oct 28, 2004 · Fuel system · 15,500 miles · MN

My car, 2004 sebring sedan with 19,000 has had a surging problem for several months. As I,m coming to a stop, with my foot on the brake, the car will surge forward as if I was giving it gas. On 10/28/04, I've had the car examined coon rapids chrysler dealership mechanics and was told they found nothing wrong with it outside of misfires in three cylinders. They said they road tested the car and did not experience what I experience every day during every stop. I was told they reset the PCM as this is what manufacturer recomends. When I left the dealership, I experienced the same surging from the very first stop and all the other stops during the fifteen mile drive home.nextweek I'll take it to another dealer and see if they can fix this. I've noticed that mycarstats.com has numerous complaints regarding this problem and the dealers/manufacturer appears to not dealing with it. I've come very close to rear-ending cars during my travels. I expect the surge and prepare for it but there has to be a fix.

Filed Jul 21, 2004 · Engine · 1,100 miles · MD

Car has 5500 miles on it and has stalled three times under different circumstances. It has lunged forward on two separated occasions along with idling rough at times. I am picking it up at dealer this afternoon for the above problems. They have reset the computer. I will keep you posted. After reading this site I am worried about my safety and the safety of others.

Filed Jul 6, 2004 · Acceleration · KY

Sitting at a stop light, the vehicle's rpms increased and it tried to surge forward, but foot was still firmly on the brake so the car didn't move more than a couple of inches. The next day a truck stopped in the road and it had no brake lights, so my wife had to slam on the brakes. She released the brake and as she did the engine's rpms revved up very strongly and the car surged forward. The brake was applied again and the car came to a stop and held the car back until the engine's idle speed returned to normal a few seconds later, because of the surge an accident almost occurred. Took the car to the dealership, they looked at it and found no problems, said it may have been a computer glitch. A few weeks later, while letting off the brake the car surged again, brake was applied and car came to a stop. Then a week or two after that while stopped in a parking lot with the transmission in drive and the brake applied, the car revved up again and tried to surge forward, but again only moved a couple of inches because the brake was firmly applied. Later car died, but was able to restart right away. Car taken back to dealer in regard to both problems. The dealer said the stalling problem could have been because of the oil filter. They replaced the oil filter and the oil switch, as for the surging problem they said they could not find anything wrong, and again it could have been a computer glitch.