2005 Ford Freestyle: rotors or pads wearing out early

Filed Aug 21, 2008 · Brakes · 83,000 miles · CO

In july of 2005 I purchased a new ford freestyle. Since then, I have had to have the rear brakes replaced every 6 months, or approximately every 20,000 miles (it's been to the dealer 6 times for this very issue). Ford has acknowledged that there is an engineering issue where the rear calipers are not releasing and causing premature wear on the rear brake pads. They issued a recall "fix" for this in november of 2007. Well . . . 20,000 miles later- it's still not fixed. The dealer, now on 8/21/08, refuses to repair the rear brakes even though faulty engineering or faulty parts (or both) were used. This problem is ongoing and the following is a list of dates the car was taken in to have the rear brakes replaced: 2/22/06, 7/20/06, 4/4/07, 8/2/07, 9/17/07, 11/26/07.

Filed Mar 28, 2008 · Brakes · 21,400 miles · IL

On my 2005 ford freestyle with 21,400 miles the rear brake pads were worn with less than 3 mm of pad remaining. At 6 days past my 3 yr / 36 k mi. Warranty, ford cust service and ford corporate said there was nothing they could do to help me. They did admit that they extended the rear brake warranty to 3 yr/ 36 k mi - however I was past the 3 yr date (even if by 6 days) -- thankfully my dealer contacted their ford rep and he authorized the entire rear brakes to be replaced -- my copay was $119.68 vs $475.00. I grilled them as to what all was replaced and they said the pads, rotors, and caliper mounting plates and brackets and bolts etc. They said they rear brake issues that most everybody is having is due to the wrong caliper mounting hardware used. This caused the calipers to be always miss- aligned and excessive pad and rotor wear. Simply replacing pads and rotors will not fix the actual cause of the problem (the mis-aligned calipers) hopefully this may help someone who is replacing pads and rotors every 7k mi. Fords indifference to this problem is absolutely un-acceptable. I wish all of our complaints could be submitted to an attorney for a class action suit. It seems ford does not want offer a fix for this unless you catch it while under warranty. Hope this helps.

Filed Feb 19, 2008 · Brakes · 32,525 miles · NY

Premature wear on the rear disc brakes. The rear brakes were change under an extended warranty at 13,000 miles by ford. Now at 32,500 miles the rear brakes are down to the rotor. The dealer and ford told me that this was a one time deal. Apparently they know there is a problem with the rear brakes or else they would not offer an extended warranty on them. One service rep told me that 20,000 miles on rear brakes is normal and another told me that you should get 2 front brake pads to 1 rear brake pad. Another problem that I had was the instrument cluster. The gauges would all go to zero. It took 4 times and 8 days to the dealer across a span of 6 months for them to figure out what the problem was. Thanks

Filed Dec 8, 2007 · Brakes · NC

Rear brake premature wear, rotors warped.

Filed May 24, 2007 · Tires · ME

My '05 ford freestyle awd showed uneven tread wear at 10,000 miles, dealer did a realignment at n/c. Tires rotated as recommended. At 22000 tires are completely worn. Ford denied any responsibility. Dealer unable/unwilling to assist. Tires being replaced tomorrow with goodyear assurance line, tire people will examine these continentals for defects/explanation of premature wear, but I don't expect any recompense. I'll never purchase another vehicle with continental tires.

Filed Apr 27, 2007 · Brakes · 31,828 miles · OK

We took are 2005 ford freestyle in for warranty work . The car had a noise in the rear of car. Ford say the brakes are down to metal to metal . The car has 31614 mile on it the car is under warranty. Ford says they only warranty brakes for 12 months. I took the car to ford to be repaired and they had to also replace the brake calipers on the rear because they are bad also I have had the car 16 months and driven the car 26119 miles. Ford has had to tsb on this the first one is 06-22-17 the last one 07-5-9. Rear brakes drag , noise,dust, and/or premature pad wear. This is a safety problem because I had no brake left on the rear of this car . Metal to metal. I have tried to talk to someone at ford I have made contact with them three time with no help .

Filed Apr 17, 2007 · Brakes · 36,195 miles · TX

Our 2005 freestyle hit 36k miles and immediately the back pads/rotors went bad. Grinding noises took me into ntb. They stated that the calipers were frozen and to go to dealership. Dealership said they weren't but the pads/rotors were bad and needed to be replaced/resurfaced - at $475! This is crazy. At 36k miles we have to replace the rear brakes? Premature wear & possible brake failure does not sit comfortably with me - especially since the dealer swears up and down that the calipers are fine.

Filed Mar 12, 2007 · Brakes · 8,000 miles · NY

Inspection of rear brake noise showed pads worn and rotors damaged after just 8000 miles on new ford freestyle 2005 ltd awd. Pads and rotors were replaced by dealer under warranty. At 19000 miles rear pads are again completely worn with one pad scraping rotor.

Filed Mar 10, 2007 · Brakes · 22,200 miles · NJ

Just got a repair bill for my 2005 ford freestyle to replace rear rotors and pads - car has only 22,000 miles and is not being driven in any unusual manner. Previous ford products were ford windstar and f150 both requiring brake service around 90,000 miles. Premature wear of rear freestyle brakes is referenced all over the internet. There appears to be a design flaw with car that does not meet customer expectations. Dealer service manager claimed > that ford designed brakes to minimize front nose dive during braking. > what could be the reason for this? Why did all my other ford products not > need this? Does it have something to do with safety crash ratings? > I feel this is a totally unacceptable design since I will need to change > brake pads on an annual basis. Ford customer care just said this was normal and had no alternative rationale. It would seem that ford should at least provide some reasonable rationale for the premature wear.

Filed Feb 9, 2007 · Brakes · CO

Defective brake design on 2005 ford freestyle. Premature wear. Ford/dealer only agreed to replace rear pads and machine rear rotors without doing anything to correct design flaw, and they required I pay a part of the cost of the repair. Ford/dealer refused to do anything to correct the related problem involving front brakes.

Filed Dec 12, 2006 · Brakes · 28,000 miles · TX

2005 freestyle with 28,000 miles was brought in for a recall and oil change. We were informed that the rear brake pads needed to be replaced, though the rotors were okay. The front brakes had greater than 50% of the pad material left. The representative went through a few unsatisfactory explanations (obviously had no clue what he was talking about) including the car "uses its rear brakes to do most of the stopping," some freestyles "just do this," we are not driving it correctly, and finally, the 500 series cars use their rear brake pads much quicker than their fronts. (this is descriptive, not an explanation!) we paid the costs of the rotor resurfacing and the new pads. I was told the pad wear was even and the calipers are working properly. Obviously someone messed up their sums in designing the brake system, since this front wheel drive, front engined, softly sprung car should use its front brakes much more than the rears to generate its stopping power. If the rears are wearing out pads twice as fast as the fronts, they are not "quite right." perhaps bigger rear brakes and a proportioning valve adjustment are what is needed, but ford has missed the boat here and it will cost us, of course.

Filed Oct 11, 2006 · Brakes · 16,410 miles · GA

A routine oil change and tire rotation at 16,410 miles revealed that the rear brakes of the vehicle were severely worn. The repair technician stated the brake pads were dangerously thin. Subsequently, repair of the brakes by the dealer of purchase entailed new pads and resurfacing of the rotors. Premature wear and possible brake failure is of concern. I have asked both the dealer and manufacturer (ford) for assurances that premature wear will not reoccur and none was provided. Furthermore they provided no remedy.