Sudden transmission failure without prior notice.
2005 Ford Freestar transmission complaints
Page 21 of 24: complaints 581 to 610 of 677, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I returned home from work in order to drop off a few things before continuing on to do some shopping. I placed the vehicle into park and exited the van leaving the ignition on with the engine running. After unloading my items I decided not to go shopping and went out to turn off the van. While standing outside of the vehicle I opened the driver's door and reached into the van to turn off the ignition. In the process of reaching for the ignition switch I nudged the shift leaver and the transmission shifted into reverse. The vehicle began moving backward down my driveway trapping me in between the open door and the van. I was unable to make any attempts to stop the vehicle since it was moving too quickly. I held onto the steering wheel while being dragged down my driveway, across the grass and into some trees and bushes. The van door struck a tree bending the door back. At that time I fell under the van and the front driver's side tire ran over my legs, up my torso and across my chest. The van continued on and came to a rest at the bottom of my neighbor's yard. I was transported to the hospital by ambulance. I suffered contusions to the abdominal wall, legs and chest in addition to a cut to my left ankle. After the vehicle was repaired my husband had the van check by a ford dealer. They determined there was nothing faulty with the safety mechanism, which does not allow the gear shifter unless the brake pedal is pressed. However, we have been able to shift the vehicle out of park into reverse without pressing the brake pedal several times since the initial failure.
While driving down the road, the transmission of my 2005 ford freestar minivan suddenly stopped pulling. Was about to safely get to the shoulder. Luckily, I was not trying to merge into traffic at an on ramp or other situation where n unexpected loss of acceleration could surprise me and other drivers and cause a major accident. Based on internet research, this vehicle has a history of this failure.
Tl*the contact owns a 2005 ford freestar which was purchased brand new in 2005. While accelerating at a stop sign, the transmission failed without warning. The engine shut off and vehicle lost power in the middle of a busy intersection. There were no warning lights that illuminated on the instrument panel. There were no recalls; however, the contact stated he found over 700 complaints online regarding the same failure. The current and failure mileages were approximately 75,000.
Tl*the contact owns a 2005 ford freestar. While driving 65 MPH, the vehicle suddenly slowed down. The engine was on and the rpms were very high while the vehicle was in neutral. A local mechanic stated that the transmission caused the failure and there was an investigation for ford freestar 2004-2005, component : power train:automatic transmission power train:automatic transmission:torque converters. The dealer was not notified and is concerned about the safety hazard. The current and failure mileages were 96,000. Updated 11/12/09 *cn the vehicle was repaired. Updated 11/16/09
On august 18,2008 was driving my 2005 ford freestar on the highway home from vacation when suddenly the RPM's shot up and then the car slowed down so we could pull over to side of road. Then car stopped and would not move when in gear. No warning what so ever,had the car towed to repair shop who stated it was something in transmission, had to have car towed again to transmission shop who stated that the torque converter had went. The car only has 58000k miles on the car...
I was stranded with my family on the way to st. Louis by my 2005 ford freestar. It's at a shop in springfield, il (thanks to my insurance company). The said it was a transmission failure. The cost was $1300 thanks ford.
Complaint for 2nd transmission incident: on july 31, 2009, while crossing an intersection in a residential section of santa fe, texas, the transmission of my 2005 ford freestar failed. The engine of the car was working but the van seemed to suddenly be in neutral. I guided the car to a safe stop and tried the various gears, but drive and reverse were not functioning at all. I had 3 passengers (my husband and two 12-year old girls) along with 4 large dogs. I called for a tow and had the vehicle taken to mcree ford in dickinson, texas. The service agent related that they believed the damage was in the torque converter and that the transmission had probably been damaged as well. Further inspection would require $400. This was the second time the torque converter went out and it was no longer covered by the initial warranty on the vehicle or the 12 month-12,000 mile warranty from the service in november 2007. I chose to have it repaired by someone besides ford who would have a better warranty. Mr. Transmission informed me that the torque converter had gone out and damaged the transmission. I had the transmission rebuilt and the car was returned on august 11, 2009. *tr duplicate to 10279211*smch
Tl*the contact owns a 2005 ford freestar. While driving 65 MPH, the rpms suddenly stopped and the vehicle lost power. The contact noticed that the vehicle could not be placed back into drive. The vehicle has not been diagnosed by the dealer. The current and failure mileages were 81,000. Updated 9/1/09 *cn the consumer stated the RPM's revved up and the vehicle would not move. The consumer lost speed rapidly. Updated 09/04/09.
Tl*the contact owns a 2005 ford freestar. While driving 70 MPH, the engine began to rev. When the contact shifted into neutral, the revving decreased. The contact pulled over and noticed that the vehicle would not shift into any gear. The vehicle was towed to his destination. He is in the process of taking the vehicle to the dealer for further inspection and notifying the ford manufacturer. The vehicle has not been repaired or inspected. The current and failure mileages were 41,154. Updated 08/28/09. *lj the consumer stated while driving, the tachometer began to act erratic. It was determined that the torque converter needed to be replaced.updated 08/31/09.
The transmission on our 2005 freestar will not engage either r, d, 3 or 1. There were no warnings whatsoever and the incident took place at a crossing which left my wife & my kids with no power to cross to the other side of the two lane road. This is a serious safety issue that most be address and corrected by the manufacturer.
I was driving my 2005 ford freestar when I pushed on the gas it would not accelerate it felt like the car was in neutral. Thank god my kids were not in the car at the time this is going to cause a serious accident or even a death due to this issue. It is scary when you go to merge onto the highway and you do not accelerate with cars coming up on you fast. I coasted off to the side of the road. My van has 47,000 miles on it and never had no problems not even gave any type of warning there was something wrong. Had it towed to bob townsend ford on colerain ave. Cin, ohio. They informed me that is was my torque converter and it was going to cost 1475 to fix it. Needless to say I am a mother of 4 kids and don't have that type of money at this time. I am trying to save to get it fixed. This happened on fathers day june 21,2009. Please help.
The transmission fail without warning. The engine revved up and the transmission was gone. Fortunately this happen at a very low speed in our residential neighborhood and the van was safely pulled to the side of the road. The van was towed to the ford dealership and they said the torque converter output shaft had fail and the cost would be $1,900 to fix.
I have a 2005 ford freestar. The van stopped accelerating while driving at 70mph. I drifted off the side of the highway, and it would not move forward or backward. There was no warning sign of transmission problems prior to this incident.
We were driving down the interstate and preceding up a hill when the transmission completely disengaged. I was able to make it to the side of the road and get stopped. The transmission would not engage no matter what I tried. Every time I took my foot off the brake we would start rolling down hill. Had purchased extended warranty with ford. Called the ford hot line they sent a tow truck and I got a rental. Ford covered the repair and the rental. No warning just disengaged or broke, resulting in engine reviving and van slowing. Dangerous business on a busy interstate. 2005 ford freestar with 38,483 transmission replacement handled by ford. Incident date 12/07. Have over 63000 miles on the van now without further incident.
Driving my 2005 ford freestar taking a right turn when suddenly lost all ability to go forward. Pulled over to the side of the road, engine would rev and idle, but no movement forward or back. Pushed car (in neutral) to a safer location and towed to dealer who has determined that the problem is the failure of the torque converter in the transmission. Estimated cost of $1400 to repair(warranty is expired), but may be more when they remove the transmission. No warning lights, no symptoms, just sudden failure to be able to move forward while driving. Luckily was not going very fast and was able to pull over relatively safely. Car is 4 years old and has just under 29,000 miles on it. Dealer says has not seen a lot of this problem but that they also do not get a lot of freestars in for service at his dealership. Ford corporate had heard of the problem, I started to say torque problem and he corrected me to say it was the torque converter. Cannot believe with the issues found online regarding this that ford won't do anything. This is a major safety issue. I cannot imagine how this would have turned out if I had been going any faster or on a busier street. My children were in the car with me. Luckily I was coming from a stop and making a turn, so could not have been going faster than a few MPH. Ford implied to me that if I purchased the extended warranty on the car for an additional $1650 that they would maybe be willing to negotiate on the cost of the repair. We may have to buy it if this is going to be a repeat problem. Something needs to be done about this.
Freestar problem while driving down seawall boulevard in galveston, tx late on the night of 11/5/2007 my 2005 ford freestar simply lost the power to move forward. The transmission was in drive and yet the car behaved as if it had been placed in neutral. I was able to coast to a stop alongside a business driveway and call for a tow. The car was towed to sand dollar ford in galveston, texas for repair. According to the repair bill, the torque converter was replaced and guaranteed for 12 months or 12,000 miles. It has since failed again (07/31/09).
I am an owner of 2005 ford freestar. While driving to work on morning, my van with approximately 52k miles on it stopped moving. It was like I hit the gearshift into neutral. After coasting into a parking lot and have my vehicle towed to the repair shop, I was told that it was a known ford freestar transmission issue. I contacted my ford dealership who informed me that my vehicle was out of warranty. I have had a multitude of problems with this vehicle since the day after I purchased it, starting with heating/cooling issues to a leaking hatchback. My service, or lack of service, at the dealership is inexcusable. When I purchased the vehicle in 2005, I never imagined that I would be dumping thousands of dollars into it with only 50k miles.
Our 2005 ford freestar suddenly quit working on the highway july 26, 2009 with only 65,000 miles on it. It was in cruise control and the rpms started revving up but would no longer go forward or into reverse when we tried that. It is currently in the shop and we haven't had the complete diagnosis yet.
2005 ford freestar transmission died.
I was driving my 2005 ford freestar se w/3.9l v6 engine on mi hwy m-29 just north of algonac, michigan. I was driving about 45 MPH, and at one point, I was pressing the accelerator and the van was slowing down. I coasted over to the shoulder and stopped my freestar safely, without any damage to property. I tried shifting into reverse, but no engagement of the transmission took place. There was also no engagement in forward gears 1 or 3. I was "found off road dead". :-) I had van towed home to saint clair shores (37 miles) at a cost of $50 to allstate road service and $116.25 out-of-my-pocket. I had my van towed again (covered under allstate's $50 limit) to my selling dealer, roy o'brien ford, also in saint clair shores. I was informed late the next day that to diagnose the problem would cost $850. Then the tech gave more info to my service writer that he thought the torque converter splines were stripped. Revised estimate was $1525 to remove the transmission, pull the torque converter and replace same and reinstall the transmission. The transmission pan was "dropped' for examination, screen and gasket change, and new trans fluid was added to fill the system again. Actual outlay today was $1524.72. I had no warning that I was about to lose power to the wheels. I'm glad I was on a quiet semi-rural road with homes around. One homeowner checked on my wife and I to see if we were ok. He even offered to let me use his lavatory. At least there is some kindness left. The phone call to allstate was exasperating, as the call center staffer was using a paper map of michigan and had no idea where we were. Being stuck on a sunday evening after business hours could have been very eerie. Everything turned out ok, but at a substantial cost.
On 5/26/09 we took our 2005 ford freestar in for an oil change, fluid, belt and filter checks and front brakes. On 6/12/09 we left nw oh for washington, d.c. We were 18 miles east of cumberland, md, on rt. 68, going downhill when the van suddenly and without warning, went out of gear. The tachometer raced as if the van had been put in neutral, but we still had the van in drive and my husband had his foot on the gas pedal. After it went out of gear, the master lighting switch icon came on. We coasted over 3 miles to the nearest exit as it was not safe to pull over on the side of the road because we were going downhill. When we got onto the exit ramp and stopped, we turned the engine off and restarted it. The van would go into park, but reverse, neutral and all 3 drives would not engage and the van would roll freely. We checked the transmission fluid and it was still full and clean. It was towed to hagerstown ford in md on 6/13/09. On 6/15/09 while we were in virginia beach, we got a call from the service dept. Saying that the transmission was shot and it would cost $3100 to replace it with a brand new transmission. When we asked what inside the transmission was broken, all we were told was that it was shot. We didn't pick it up until 6/19/09 because we were in virginia beach until that date. On 6/22/09 we took the van to our local ford service shop and explained what had happened. After giving the details of the break down to one of the mechanics, he came back out with a rod with rings ground into it. He told us this part was probably all that was wrong with the transmission and that we probably didn't need to have the entire transmission replaced.
On saturday, july 18, 2009, my family and I were traveling on hwy 9a (in jacksonville, fl just off of i95). We were traveling at approximately 70mph when our 2005 ford freestar simply stopped accelerating. My husband attempted to shift from drive to neutral and back to drive but nothing happened. The transmission simply lost power. We coasted as far as we could off the busy highway and contacted roadside assistance. Today we finally got an estimate from our repairman. He says it is the torque converter and pump and it is going to cost $1100 to replace them. We are a family of 7. My husband is in the navy and deploying soon. I need reliable transportation! My van has 128000 miles on it and has been cared for very regularly. Upon researching the issue, I see that this is a very common problem with 2005 ford freestars and it has been reported numerous times here. Supposedly there is an investigation going on by odi in regards to this same problem. The old part can possibly be available depending on how soon I hear that you need it.
Transmission stop working crossing an avenue traffic light. It was like going neutral.
I was running an errand at about 1pm edt in my 2005 ford freestar limited minivan. I was stopped at a traffic light and proceeded to go when all of a sudden my transmission went out. I had no forward or reverse gears. I only have 61k miles on the car which was purchased brand new back in 2006. Luckily I was able to coast onto a dirt road off the main road. It was also very lucky that my wife and kids were not in the car or I was not on a highway when this happened. I had to have it towed to a lincoln/mercury dealer in the area and have now been informed by the service dept. That it will cost me about $3,000 to have a rebuilt trans installed to fix the problem. This is totally ridiculous for a car with only 61k miles on it. Plus this is a serious issue that it happened all of a sudden w/o any previous warning. Had no previous transmission issues with my vehicle and take great care to have it serviced regularly. I've filed a complaint with ford and have seen all the other numerous complaints on this web site and other sites about the same problem affecting my vehicle and its mercury cousin the monterrey. Not only my model year but also previous model years and other ford vehicles which share the same transmission ford needs to own up to this serious issue, which could have caused me and/or my wife and kids harm due to the suddenness it just quit and all I could do was coast to safety.
We lost torque as the engine revved. Lost all gears, even reverse. There was no warning.
Freestar stalled out and would not go into gear while I was driving. I almost got rear ended by a transport truck.
Tl*the contact owns a 2005 ford freestar. While driving uphill at 25 MPH, the vehicle began to roll backwards halfway up the hill. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and they stated that the transmission needed to be replaced at 39,000 miles. The manufacturer stated that he was out of luck and would have to pay for the repair. The contact was given a $500 rebate towards a new vehicle. The failure mileage was 39,000.
Tl*the contact owns a 2005 ford freestar. While driving between 45-50 MPH, the contact attempted to merge and the vehicle shut off without warning. She managed to pull the vehicle over to the shoulder of the road. In addition, the vehicle will not operate in drive or reverse. The dealer stated that the input shaft torque converter failed. The estimated cost for repair was $3,300. The current and failure mileages were 45,000.
My 2005 freestar fails to accelerate when entering the highway, I had this problem when I bought the van in 2005, the van seems to do fine once its up to spend. The danger comes in when I enter traffic press the gas and the van doesn't respond, I lift up off the gas try it a couple of times before the van respond and go.
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