Check a VIN

2005 Ford Freestyle engine complaints

Page 4 of 9: complaints 71 to 100 of 249, newest first, as owners wrote them.

See the summary of 2005 Ford Freestyle engine problems: which part fails, at what mileage and related recalls.

Filed Feb 13, 2013 · Engine, Transmission · 98,250 miles · FL

Engine went idle during rush hr on i95 center lane traffic flying by rpms soaring and im at a coast trying to get over scared the bleep out of several other drivers. Dash says engine fail safe mode and as I brake the car is lurching and jerking. I shut it off. I breathe in and out and then start her back up and I limp along the shoulder to the exit ramp. Arrange a day off and take it to ford (went idle twice on the way) and they "clean out the deposits" in the throttle body free as part of a recall. So monday back on the highway it happens again.omg so I take it to the local guy and he replaces the throttle body assembly for about $700. Car is running great, acceleration is back she feels like new and it made me realize that the throttle had been acting weird for a while - occasionally things like starting the car and that initial acceleration when pulling forward or back but it never just went idle like that - that's just dangerous. I think it is unfair that ford did not replace this part - I left ford confident that they knew what they were doing especially because I told them of my near miss on the highway.

Filed Dec 26, 2012 · Engine, Transmission · 35,000 miles · FL

The car jump in low speed and you have to apply the brakes, this was in direct drive or reverse.

Filed Dec 13, 2012 · Engine · 65,000 miles · GA

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford freestyle. The contact stated that while reversing, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for inspection or repairs. The contact also stated that months later while driving approximately 55 MPH uphill, the vehicle began to jerk abnormally. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer for diagnostic testing or repairs. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 65,000 and the current mileage was 67,695.

Filed Dec 2, 2012 · Engine, Fuel system · 120,000 miles · CO

Vehicle lunges or surges when at idle or low speeds in forward and reverse.

Filed Nov 29, 2012 · Electrical, Engine · 113,000 miles · AZ

While maneuvering my vehicle in a small space (forward, reverse, turning the wheel) the car began to surge and lunge (has occurred before, but mostly in reverse.) there was loud whining when I turned the steering wheel (that began recently and is almost constant.) the engine began to rev loudly, the car trying to lunge even with the brake applied. I reversed the car several feet from the road for fear it would lunge into traffic. The engine light (1st time ever) and the wrench symbol came on. Car went into limp mode, would not accelerate or exceed 30mph. (4th or 5th time this has happened in the one year I've owned the car.) diagnostic codes given by autozone on 9/19/12: p2106 (throttle actuator control system) & p061b (internal control module torque calculation performance error.) upon restart, engine light off. Dealer was contacted, and on 9/26/12 I drove the car to repair shop. They said smart junction box melted, must replace (electronic chassis control module )before doing repairs to the throttle body, CVT and suddenly non-working A/C (was working prior). No repairs have been made to the vehicle as the dealership (not ford) refuses to honor the 36,000ml warranty with car. Recent problems prior to 9/26/12:*highway driving (55+MPH/sometimes using cruise) car revs high rpms/will not accelerate at all/resumes later*sputters/stalls/loses power when slowing/stopping (it does restart) instrument panel brightens/dims*power locks malfunctioning (unlock function works with fob only) often while driving car locks/unlocks continuously/car randomly unlocks after being parked/turned off*cd player not working/displayed error code/2 month later working again*security system function inconsistent/disables randomly*gears not engaging right away, then a loud noise and car surges/lunges into drive/reverse* lunging (mostly reverse) and surge/lunge when in drive/brake applied.

Filed Nov 24, 2012 · Electrical, Engine · AR

I've had problems with this vehicle numerous times over the past few years. I filed a complaint on here once but do not remember the dates or the username/password I used. This vehicle is the worst car I have ever owned. I've sunk thousands into repairs in the last couple of years. I've had instrument cluster replaced 4 times, replaced engine mounts, my A/C compressor went out on it, throttle body replaced. And now it sits on blocks we thought was the fuel pump went out so replaced it. Didn't do any good. Not sure what it is the instrument cluster still doesn't work correctly, it was surging til the day the other day when it just wont go anymore, it will start and run but won't go. I was told it could be numerous things, throttle body again, instrument cluster still not right, might be my transmission, could be my pedal throttle sensor, fuel switch out..........so what do I do nickel and penny everything I have into a lemon that obviously the federal safety agency nor ford care about. I'm a single mother with two children, we live 7 miles from town...and now I have no transportation. I bought this vehicle in 2005 and paid quite a bit for it. Its like toilet paper or diapers....disposable! I will never purchase a ford again.

Filed Nov 20, 2012 · Brakes, Engine · 94,500 miles · MO

The car lunges forward. It happen in forward or reverse gear. Ac in on position. It has happen when car starts moving or while it is moving at lower speeds. No accidents, just close calls. In driveways, drive thru's. Moving on streets and parking lots. Having to apply brakes harder. Car stalls at hotter outside temperatures.

Filed Nov 19, 2012 · Engine, Transmission · 125,000 miles · WA

When at a stop, our car lunges when you press on the gas pedal, forward or reverse. There is a hesitation after pushing on the pedal than it leaps forward or reverse. I was told from a dealer that it needed the throttle body cleaned and was told the same from a transmission shop. The transmission shop informed me of some problems ford was having with this transmission. I looked it up on line and seen many complaints. I cleaned it and it seemed to fix the problem. A couple of months ago, it started the lunging again. This morning, the car shuttered and stopped and several lights on the dash lit up, wrench, motor. The car wouldn't move, it wouldn't even rev up. It stranded my wife on the side of the road. I came to meet her and had it towed to our house. I cleaned the throttle body again. When I got in to try it, all the lights were no longer there but it still lunges. Very afraid to let my wife drive it again with the possibility of being stranded.

Filed Nov 14, 2012 · Acceleration, Engine · 75,000 miles · MI

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford freestyle. The contact stated that while driving approximately 20 to 70 MPH the vehicle would stall without any warning and then turned it self back on. Also, the vehicle would lunge forward on an intermittent basis. The vehicle has not been inspected by a dealer or an independent mechanic. The manufacturer was contacted and they offered no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 75,000. The current mileage was approximately 80,000. The VIN was unavailable.

Filed Sep 6, 2012 · Acceleration, Engine · 115,000 miles · FL

For quite some time, my 2005 ford freestyle lunges and will stall when operating at low speeds (parking, and backing up) with the air conditioning on. It either lunges forward or backwards (if in reverse), then stalls and goes into failsafe mode. This is very annoying. The car should not do this. Now it's happening when idling at stop lights or in traffic with the air conditioning on...which is great in rush hour traffic in florida when it's 95 degrees outside...having to drive around with the windows down because I can't drive with air on or car will stall is highly annoying. With all the other complaints this should be a recall. The car has 147k miles on it (mostly highway) and I love my car. The lunging is scary though. I'm having to look for parking spaces with limited neighbors so we don't lunge into another car.

Filed Sep 3, 2012 · Acceleration, Engine · 83,824 miles · CA

I've noticed the car to lunge and idling very high. When I back out of a parking stall for instance, the car lunges out and I have to keep my foot on the brake. When I'm at a full stop; at times you can hear the car idling very high and when you let go of brake the car lunges out. During traffic, you have to make sure you continually keep the brake on, or the car will thrust forward and hit the vehicle ahead.

Filed Sep 2, 2012 · Engine, Fuel system · 125,325 miles · MI

For the past few months my car has been lunging forward or backward when going at a low speed. For example, going into or coming out of a parking space, in a drive thru line, or waiting at a traffic light. The problem seem worse when it is hot outside and/or the air is on. Yesterday the problem happen again, engine stalled and when I restarted the car the check engine light came on. I have had a few near misses with the problem, coming close to hitting a little girl in a parking lot and almost running into a car at a drive thru line just to name a couple. I remember hearing about the same problem last year and am very shocked to see that ford is taking a chance with peoples lives like this, why has there not been a recall issued to fix the problem?

Filed Aug 18, 2012 · Acceleration, Engine · 106,000 miles · KS

I just purchased my freestyle in march from a used car dealer. Over the last 3 months or so it has started lunging at slow speeds. Multiple times coming close to hitting another vehicle after pulling to a full stop at a traffic light and with foot pressed firmly on the brake pedal. I am scared to death to drive this vehicle but since its the only one I have and I'm under contract, its not really a choice at this point. Seeing how many of this vehicles are having this same problem, I am sure that it will cause a serious accident. Why isn't ford doing anything about this problem??? If I had known about this before making my purchase, I would not have bought it. I love fords cars, my previous vehicle was a taurus, but if they are going to continue to have these kinds of serious problems, I will be rethinking any future purchases!!!

Filed Aug 12, 2012 · Engine · 55,235 miles · CA

Yesterday I was in line at a drive thru. As I turned the wheel slightly to make a turn and roll forward a bit in the line the car made a dramatic lunge forward with very noticeable increase in throttle, but I did not have my foot on the gas pedal. I had to apply additional brake to hold the car from impacting the car in front of me. It did it several more times as I went through the line and got my food. I was able to get the car to do it again at home in the driveway. This is real bad and has to be a serious defect. In a different situation the car could lunge into oncoming traffic and cause a fatality. I have the car parked and will not drive it.

Filed Aug 8, 2012 · Engine, Transmission · 101,000 miles · TX

My ford freestyle it raves on it's own with out me stepping on the gas. It also trys and takes off on its own it has done it various times. I just got it out the dealership on 8/7/12 due to AC compressor took the dealership a whole week to fix went to pick it up left the dealer and it started accelerating on its on and trying to take off whitout me stepping on the gas. The next day 8/8/12 I went to work when I got to our gate at my job I was getting my badge to open the gate and it started doing it again when I was parking reverse it accelerated and then it died on me it read system failure, I turned on the car again and it did it again and then it shut off again reading system failure. I took it back to the dealership after work thinking they must have did something wrong now there telling me its the throttle body and I have to pay another deductible to get it fixed. There goes 2 deductible payments back to back! They need to recall this part back I looked online and many people are having the same issue!

Filed Aug 7, 2012 · Engine, Fuel system · 57,445 miles · TX

Recently, my 2005 ford freestyle began lunging forward at slow speeds, and yesterday it did it twice in heavy traffic. I took it to big country ford and they are trying to tell me it is my water-pump and air conditioner compressor. They also said my motor mount was broken, which was a common problem with the freestyles and taurus x models. As I read online, the lunging problems seem to be common with these.

Filed Aug 6, 2012 · Engine, Transmission · 48,000 miles · OH

Lunging when switching gears.

Filed Aug 5, 2012 · Engine, Fuel system · 57,000 miles · TN

While driving on the highway at a speed of approximately 70 MPH, the car (2005 ford freestyle) would not accelerate/maintain speed and quickly decelerated and had to be pulled into the emergency lane, coming to a complete stop. The car had to be turned off and restarted in order to continue traveling the 3 hours left in the 9 hour trip back home. The ford service shop said the throttle body ($900), AC compressor ($1,300), and top engine mount ($330) need to be replaced. Based on what I've been able to read on the internet, this appears to be a recurring and dangerous theme with this ford vehicle.

Filed Aug 5, 2012 · Engine, Transmission · 105,000 miles · KY

I just recently had my freestyle(05)become increasingly horrible lunging in parking lots,drive thru's,etc. Upon reading about it on your website I realized how much of the same problems are occuring for all the owners of this vehicle. It just recently has gotten worse since I just had the A/C compressor replaced.

Filed Aug 5, 2012 · Acceleration, Engine · 89,000 miles · MI

For a number of weeks, my 2005 ford freestyle has lunged forward while sitting still. After the car lunges forward the dashboard readout says: "engine failure mode". This happened on friday july 6th while stopped at a red light and almost lunged into speeding traffic, and more recently on friday august 3rd while at a stop sign. This issue comes 18 months after replacing the vehicle transmission at 50,000 miles at the cost of more than $5,000. I wish to report this issue to the federal safety agency as I am seeing many other reports for this very issue reported and think that this needs to be a recall as this is a very big safety risk.

Filed Aug 2, 2012 · Brakes, Engine · 102,153 miles · PA

1. Pulling into parking space, vehicle surged forward, steering was turned sharply at the time and foot on brake 2. Pulling in garage and vehicle surged while foot on brake.

Filed Jul 29, 2012 · Engine · 53,000 miles · TX

Waiting in line on the exit ramp in dallas. Ac was on. The car started surging forward and engine started revving up. This happened 4 times and I had to apply brakes hard to keep from hitting a car in front of me. A wrench light came on and the engine fail safe mode light came on. Turned AC off and limped into the parking lot of the united airline center. After the program, we made it back to our hotel with running the AC. I don't need to tell you that this is extremely dangerous and after reading several cases on line, there seems to be a lot of freestyle owners experiencing the same issue. Is this issue being reviewed?

Filed Jul 29, 2012 · Engine, Transmission · 82,512 miles · OK

My 2005 ford freestyle surges violently after warming up when the transmission is in drive and you come to a stop. The car lurches forward quickly and without warning several feet and when you try to brake to stop the forward progress, it usually dies and gives the "wrench" check engine light. It will not restart until you turn the ignition off and back on. It does this mostly during warm to hot weather. Rarely through the cool or cold weather.

Filed Jul 27, 2012 · Driver assistance, Engine · 135,000 miles · MI

When car is stopped, transmission in drive, foot usually on the brake, the car suddenly surges forward for 2 -3 seconds. This has happened at least a dozen times since and have to this point been able to stop the car before damage or injury has occurred.

Filed Jul 26, 2012 · Engine, Transmission · 67,000 miles · AL

I have experienced the "surging" problem being investigated by the federal safety agency. I was in a parking lot and put the vehicle into reverse, started to back out of the space and the engine surged and lurched backwards into the driving area. I put it into park and noticed the engine rpms going up and down instead of staying constant while idling, then it evened out. I tried again and the car surged again (I was ready for it this time and applied the brakes to slow the vehicle down) and was able to back out of the space and drive normally. This is not the first time that the vehicle has done this, but I am not sure how long it has been doing it.

Filed Jul 23, 2012 · Acceleration, Engine · 131,500 miles · CA

Road trip from bc to ontario, driving through mountains, first occurrence in chase, bc, at dairy queen car lunged in drive through, heard whiny noise from engine, gets worse when turning steering wheel. Last occurrence on trip, driving back into hope, bc, after cruise control want to speed up a bit but no power, get out of cruise control and car stalls while going about 60 kph!!! Manage to get off the highway onto merging lane. Husband checked fluid levels but everything is topped up. Manage to start up again after 3 tries and get home safely. Address is in canada, please ignore californa and zip code.

Filed Jul 22, 2012 · Engine, Transmission · 105,000 miles · NY

Well its been happening for awhile now my 2005 freestyle has the tendency to lung forward and in reverse in low speeds or even at stops causing the car to rattle and stall or go into engine protect mode which makes it drive very slow. But its is happening more frequent. I also notice that the tranny wines now and one of the engine mounts is broke. Very unsafe to drive my wife wont even let me take my kids in the car. Very frustrating that ford has not done anything about this what does it take someone to get killed?????

Filed Jul 22, 2012 · Acceleration, Engine · 775,000 miles · NC

Pulling into parking space facing restaurant, with foot on brake pedal, car lunged forward. Curbing kept me from hitting people walking into restaurant. A/c compressor replaced a few day prior to this incidence; however, car has been lunging since A/C compressor was replaced. The day the AC compressor was replaced and I drove the car off of the ford dealership lot, my car lunged pulling into parking space at the post office -- I thought the floor mat had gotten caught on the gas pedal and was causing the problem the lunging happens both going forward and backwards. Took car back to ford dealership where A/C compressor was installed; gentleman at "quick lube" desk said he had never heard of this problem with the freestyle or at least he had never written up a service report for this problem. Have discovered on-line numerous entries regarding this problem with the freestyle. Feel ford motor company should take responsibility for correcting this problem.

Filed Jul 19, 2012 · Engine, Steering · 110,600 miles · MI

My 2005 limited edition freestyle has a few issues that I am very concerned about. My throttle is having major issues. The car will surge forward with no warning when I am at a complete stop. It also has caused it to have a lot of difficultly accelerating when in motion and starting the ignition. I'm afraid that it will surge forward and cause me to hit something or someone. I've read online about people that have had this issue where it gets so bad that they've even lost all acceleration while driving down the highway and one person who hit something in his garage sending it flying through the garage wall. My husband has tried cleaning out the throttle with no success. We bought the car used less than a year ago with no warranty and this problem has been getting progressively worse over the last few months.

Filed Jul 19, 2012 · Engine, Steering · 110,560 miles · MI

When in reverse or drive if turning the sterring wheel the car take off and you have to but the brake on hard to stop car. This happens 95% of the time.

VIN decoder

See the problems and recalls for an exact car

Buying a used 2005 Ford Freestyle?

Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.

Check its history