On the morning of 11/10/2000, I just completed entering the southbound dallas tollway from legacy dr. In plano, tx. Upon reaching cruising speed, my vehicle continued to race at full throttle. Fortunately, traffic was light at the time of the incident. In addition to removing my foot from the accelerator, I tried to apply the brakes gently to find there was no power assist. I was able to get my foot under the accelerator pedal to insure that it was not stuck to the floor. With both feet and great effort I was able to apply enough braking force to safely manuever the automated toll gate. The vehicle continued to race uncontrollably and I exited at the west parker road exit in plano. The only way I was able to come to a stop at the traffic light I encountered was to slip the vehicle into neutral gear. At that point the engine was screaming, so I turned the ignition off. I restarted the vehicle on green and it started up at full throttle. Upon putting the vehicle into 'drive', the tires lost traction and the vehicle continued to speed along in a "runaway" fashion. I had to pass through another traffic light and intersection (with the same manuever as previously described) before I reached a shopping center parking lot (parkwood center, plano, tx). At this point I telephoned aaa for a tow to the dealership. While waiting for the tow truck, I made several attempts to restart the vehicle and each time the engine raced at full throttle. The dealer evaluated the problem as being a faulty resonater assembly for the engine air intake (allegedly a worn out gasket, which required replacement of the whole unit). I find it hard to believe that ford engineers would permit the development of a product which has the potential to create such a serious and life-threatening situation. Just for your information, on another matter regarding this vehicle, ford contacted me directly and reimbursed me $1,000. This was during the latter part of 1999.
1996 Ford Contour acceleration complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 31 of 31, newest first, as owners wrote them.
My car was in the shop 5 times in one month - all electrical problems. Alternator, battery, starter, wiring harness, speed sensor and oxygen sensor were all changed. The ford dealership does not understand why I am having all these problems. It was also in a garage fire at the dealership in this time and I had smoke damage to my car on top of the engine problems. Needless to say, I loss money on the trade in. This is the worse car I have ever owned and will never own another ford car or truck again.
Accelerator cable broke while driving. Dealer has been notified. *ak the vehicle has steering problem too, but the dealer would not fix it unless the owner pays for the repair.
While driving extreme vibration occurred within the steering column. Also, engine idled very fast, and the vehicle jerked., dealer stated that this was a normal condition. Please give any further details.
Transmission does not recognize any gears. Vehicle was towed to dealer & dealer hasn't had a chance to find the cause of the problem. Vechicle is also idleing very high.
Accelerator sticks and driver has to push hard, then it overaccelerates, and this may cause an accident if there is someone in front. There's too much force.
While driving and braking engine revved and suddenly accelerated and the brakes would not slow down the vehicle. Had to use the emergency brake, and run up an a curb in order to stop the vehicle. Manufacturer contacted. Please provide further information.
While backing out of a parking area the vehicles engine began to accelerate until the rear bumper struck a light pole. Driver then placed the transmission into drive and the car surged forward at an uncontrollably high speed, jumping the curb and striking a concrete pillar, resulting in considerable damage to the front area of the vechicle and bruising the drivers left arm. Pressing hard on the brakes seemed to have little or no effect. It appears that the throttle linkage/cruise control or some related mechanism malfunctioned.
While driving at 15 to 20 MPH accelerator pedal got stuck and the consumer lost control and hit an apartment building and then a bank.
While driving vehicle would not go into reverse. Tried to go forward, hit accelerator lightly and didn't move, second time, took off and went into garage. Passenger's mirror came off. Dealer contacted, and was aware of the problem. But, couldn't remedy the problem. Problem still exists. Provide further information.
Transmission replaced due to grinding and scraping, was also replaced once by previous owner.
While driving down the road and attempting to stop, vehicle would not stop, but accelerated. Ran off the road. Driver managed to pull the emergency brakes up, and she jumped out of the vehicle. Vehicle kept digging into the dirt.the rear was in the air .
Vehicle experienced a sudden surge when vehicle was at a stop light. Consumer put transmission in neutral to stop the vehicle from pulling off on its own. Dealer has been contacted.
Power steering becomes disables when driven through puddles of water. Safety should be a recall by ford motor corp
Emergency hand brake failed.
While parking vehicle, the engine suddenly revved up for no reason & then shot forward. Applying brakes, did not stop vehicle. It went over small embankment. Air bags did not deploy.
Consumer having trouble scheduling recall repair due to lack of parts.
Throttle cable sticks, can prevent from returning to idle. Owner states that there is a recall on the vehicles that have traction control . This vehicle does not have traction control, and is experiencing the same problem. Owner will be notifying ford. (97v‑205).
Throttle linkages and control hesitate on occasion as well as sudden acceleration.
The accelerator cable shredded and jammed causing the accelerator to stick at 65 MPH.
While parking vehicle, backing up, vehicle suddenly accelerated, jumped curve and slammed into metal newspaper box.
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