When driving at low speeds (5-10 MPH), whether in forward or reverse, the car will lunge forward (or backward if in reverse). This has happened at least 10 times over the last 4 days, resulting in several near-miss accidents with vehicles, as well as almost hitting a pedestrian multiple times. The engine lunging has only occurred at low speeds, mostly when the temperatures are above 85 degrees. The engine lunging occurs when I'm driving at low speeds, such as when I'm backing out of a parking spot, or driving in traffic in which I'm driving at a low speed. The time before last, it was in the school parking lot when I was picking up my son from summer school. Both these times, a pedestrian was almost hit when the car lunged forward. Today, I was in traffic in the walmart parking lot when the car lunged forward, almost causing me to hit the car in front of me. When this happens, the check engine symbol lights on the dashboard, as well as the engine failsafe mode coming on. I have to turn the car completely off and back on to get these lights off.
2005 Ford Freestyle engine complaints
Page 5 of 9: complaints 101 to 130 of 249, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Engine surged when shifted from park to reverse on multiple occasions. Engine stalled, wrench light came on and engine safe mode appeared.. Dealership replaced throttle body.
The engine has begun surging, particularly at low speeds. Happens most often when it is very hot outside the A/C is on and the car is in reverse. The car will suddenly surge and I have to jam on the brakes to stop the car. This has happened several times when backing out of parking spaces and once now at a stop light as I was slowing to a stop. I've found many references to this problem online that the throttle body is the problem and has to be cleaned. Ford needs to alert owners of this issue and initiate a plan to remedy it before someone gets killed.
When I shift from park to drive or reverse while applying the brakes the vehicle will lung forward. Recently check engine came on and had hard time stopping vehicle and stalled. Luckily did not hit anything or person. Took vehicle to ford dealer and they stated I had trouble codes: po61 and p2106. Ford stated that I needed a new throttle body. Replaced throttle body and seems to have stopped stalling and lunging. Also have issues with upper motor mount and AC.
Vehicle unexpectedly and with great speed lurches in both forward and reverse. I notice the issue most often when pulling into or out of a parking spot or just after using the brake. The car suddenly accelerates without warning forcing me to slam on the brakes so that I do not hit other vehicles or unintentionally enter traffic. The issue is very dangerous because there is no forewarning and has appeared to be happening more often and with greater force.
I own a 2005 ford freestyle which lurches backward when you have the A/C on and you back up. It also started doing the same in foward. Ford should act upon this before there is a death.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford freestyle. The contact stated that while reversing or driving out of a parking space at 5 MPH, the vehicle would lunge forward and backward and the engine would stall. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and they were unable to duplicate the failure. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 130,000.
On a hot day (98 degrees) when driving with the air conditioning on in my 2005 ford freestyle it surged ahead in the mall parking lot and I almost hit someone walking in front of the car. This vehicle has acted like this on hot days when the A/C is on and running in the past. You have to be very careful and aware that this will happen, if someone was to borrow my car I would be afraid that they would run someone over. It happens in both forward and reverse and usually only at slow speeds/idle speed. Its dangerous in parking lots when you are both pulling into the parking spots you have to brake quickly or you'll speed up and hit a parked car in front of you, then backing out of the spot it does the same thing. This is a serious problem and needs to be taken care of. One time last year on a long drive through philadelphia this happened and the car stalled and locked up at a green light. We just want to know how to fix it.
While sitting in traffic with AC on and car lunged forward hesitated and went into fail safe mode.this has been an ongoing problem and the second time we've made a complaint. In 2005, approximately 4 months after purchasing the car ford replaced the throttle body, as the it was still under warranty, car was fine for about 3-4 years. Then the same problems began occurring again. Lunging and stalling in 2010. In may of 2012 we had the throttle body replaced again, as it had gotten so bad the car was barely drivable. Every ten feet or so it would stall and go into fail safe mode. Throttle body was replaced on may 13 2012, and the issue was resolved immediately until yesterday. Obviously the throttle body is defective, even after ford supposedly redesigned it in 2007. Am I going have to spend 600.00 every year to have the same part replaced because ford won't issue a recall on an obviously defective part.
Pulling out of a parking space after idling for approximately 10 or so minutes the vehicle was placed into reverse and the vehicle lurched back about 10 feet almost striking two cars and a person. The lurching has occurred on multiple occasions also when this happens the vehicle goes into failsafe mode. It has also lurched going in drive as well.
I was backing out of a parking space and the car lunged several feet and I barely missed hitting another car. This happened to me yesterday and almost every day as of the past couple of weeks. As well as many, many times in the past couple of years, since buying the car. This is getting very dangerous and hard to control. There is no rhyme or reason to this and we are getting fed up. It seems to do it more in the summer and in the winter, it does not like to stay running when starting it. The issue with it not staying running in the cold has stranded me on several occasions. The battery is brand new, so that is not an issue.
Purchased the car used from ford dealership. I had been following a friend on ih10 in east texas. Friend had pulled over to side of road, I pulled in behind him. I stayed in my car with AC running for approx 10 minutes I put the car in gear and started to drive. The vehicle would not go over 20 MPH. I pulled over and turned the car off. My friend saw me and pulled his vehicle over and came back to check on me. I started the car back up to get off the freeway the accelerator was racing even with my foot on the brake the engine light came on and the computer said it was running in safe mode. On july 2 2012 I took my son to airport. I parked in the parking lot ,we had set in the car in park with engine and AC running for about 15 minutes.. When I put the car in reverse the accelerator got stuck and with my brakes still applied the car lunged backward accelerator running full force. The gas pedal was not engaged by me and I had to turn the car off to stop the acceleration. When I turned the car back on the engine light was on and operating in safe mode. This is very unnerving and I think could have caused an accident had any cars been around me. I took the car in to the dealership where I had purchased it, have an appt to bring it back in on july 9 to have them fix it. I got on the website of ford today for any recalls that might have been called for my car-didn't see any for this type problem. However in researching the problem I found a lot of people who had reported it. This problem needs to be addressed and quickly before someone is injured or killed-and I pray its not me. The dealership is charging me $85 to run a diagnostic they already knows exists. As far as I can tell, no one has been able to have this problem resolved or fixed.
My 2005 ford freestyle seems to have issues at the initial start position. In the "park" position the car will rev without compressing the gas petal, it then lunges forward as you are attempting to put the car in either forward or reverse. It shudders and shakes, causing the engine to shut down completely and operate is the "safe" mode. The check engine light usually comes on. The vehicle had been seen on 3 different occasions ranging from april of 2010 to july 2010, each time the symptoms became worse, at one point while waiting at a red light just before entering the on-ramp to the highway, it stuttered, revved high and lunged into oncoming traffic, embarrassed, I continued to proceed forward to the on-ramp when the car suddenly shut down completely causing the 4 vehicles behind me to break hard, again almost causing another accident, I drove it directly to the dealer. The dealer did work on the vehicle and thought to have solved the issue. The issues started to occur in the winter and early spring before the usage of the A/C and became progressively worse as the summer months approached and the A/C full was in usage. It has been a almost 2 years since I have needed to report anything to the dealer. The fix did appear to lessen the intensity of the issue, but did not fix it entirely. It has continued to act up, but is back to the same intensity as the summer of 2010. The engine surged 3 times in an hour period last week and shut the engine down twice. When I called the dealer to report it, they told me that it would be considered a new issue since it has been almost 2 years since they had worked on the car for the same issue. They may have cleaned the throttle body in 2010, which reduced the surging intensity, but it did not solve the problem. Is ford waiting for a major accident, fire or death to occur before this problem is resolved or replaced?!
I have a 2005 ford freestyle with 96,987 miles. The car has been having intermittent lunging issues for the past few months. It is only on hot days when I have the A/C on. The lunging happens when I am completely stopped, or backing out of a parking spot, it has happened in the drive through at a fast food restaurant, the bank, etc. But most recently it happened at my daughters school parking lot! I almost hit a child as she was crossing in front of me. The car lunged forward and I had to put my foot on the break and thankfully the car stopped. Needless to say it could have been a much worse outcome. I brought the car to my local ford dealership. They replaced the throttle body; parts and labor $880. Picked up the car at 6:45pm, all the service tecs had left for the day; so I paid the cashier the $880, got in the car, turned on the ignition and immediately the engine light and wrench light were still on!! I could not believe it! I could not even leave the parking lot...the car "bucked" the entire way out...I immediately turned around and left my car at the service lot again and dropped of the keys with a note in the night key box. I am so disappointed in my local ford dealership; I know they never test drove the car prior to them diagnosing the problem nor did they test drive the car after they "fixed" it. I do not know how they could consciously tell me the car was fixed and charge me $880.00?!?! Ford really needs to step to the plate on this issue and place a recall on these cars....I have loved my car prior to this lunging/surging situation but at this point I will never buy another ford!!
With the A/C on full (very hot day outside), when stopping or starting to reverse, the car lurched forward twice. My foot was on the brake and was not on the accelerator.
On 6/18/12 as I was slowly backing out of my garage I heard the car revved up a bit and the car suddenly lunged backwards for a couple of seconds. It's a good thing I had my foot on the brake pedal so the car didn't just speed backwards all the way. *tr on 6/20/12 as I was pulling out of the grocery complex, turning right into the main road the car suddenly revved up and started lunging forward. It's a good thing I had my foot on the pedal again. Also it's a good thing there was enough distance between my car and the one in front. Otherwise I would have hit that car because the lunge was pretty significant. I brought it to ford upland, ca for the throttle body service. I gave them a copy of the ford tsb 09-24-12 but in inspecting the vehicle afterwards, I do not see any evidence that the throttle body was removed and then cleaned thoroughly. The tsb specifically states to remove the tb and clean it properly. I am guessing that they just opened up the other end and sprayed tb cleaning compound and that's it. Now I am weary that the lunging might happen again. I am hoping through the federal safety agency this vehicle can be recalled and ford to assume all costs of replacing the defective tb and any other connected problems to lunging. This is my only vehicle and I use this to drive my family which includes a 1 year old baby.
About 2 yrs ago during the beginning of the summer I noticed that my air condition on my 2005 ford freestyle was not cooling. Sitting still you will think you have on the heat. I also noticed that on the passenger side it much warmer that than the driver side. Cools ok in the mornings when it is not so hot but later in the day you can forget about the air. I have had the freon check more than once was told it was not low. This year it worst than ever. Before it would start to cool about 20 miles further down the road. Not now! I was told by the mechanic also the the motor brack is broken. What is next. I also had the lunging problem that was fixed, only because it was still under warranty. A car that is only 7 years old sure has had lot of problems.
Started car and was leaving restaurant parking space. Engine revved up several hundred RPM and car was lurching forward as I tried to hold it back with the brake pedal. People were walking in front of car heading toward restaurant. Car was lurching forward toward them and it was difficult to keep car from moving forward. The RPM's would go high enough to make the front tires spin a little bit on the paved parking lot. I killed the ignition to make car stop. The people thought I had been trying to assault them with the car because I didn't want to wait on them to walk across the parking lot in front of me. Mechanic checked car out and couldn't find anything. This happens pretty frequently. It is worse when air conditioner is on and is most common when in parking lots or driveway when not even using the accelerator.
While putting the vehicle both into drive and reverse it revs and/or rpms drop, and lunges until I hit the brakes or the motor cuts out and displays engine failure safety. It has done this twice, then a check engine light came on. I will schedule an appointment with the dealership, however it does cause a bit of nerves when it happens.
Car lunged forward when in drive thru. Foot was on the brake and air condtioning was running, car seemed to have a surge of power causing the car to lung forward and then car cut off. This happen before in august of 2008 and the ford dealership said it was the throttle body. Dealership replaced throttle body and motor on AC unit, but it is still happening. Dealership and ford consumer care was contacted,but they refuse to acknowledge problem or fix it. The problem has also affected the transmission. Transmission needed only a new in put shaft, but ford failed to tell customers that they closed their plant that makes the parts for freestyle. No input shaft could be found, so had to pay for a whole new transmission for $6000.00. Again ford was contacted, could only say oh well.
We have had a few issues with the car lunging but today, june 18,2012 was the worst incident. I was backing out in a parking lot and the car lunged so bad I had troubles stopping it. I then put it in drive when it stopped to try backing out again and it lunged in forward so hard I almost could not get it stopped and about hit the car in front of me. The display then said it went into engine override and cut the power. This is something that obviously needs taken care of and I was fortunate I did not hit anybody.
Idling at traffic light with brakes pressed, engine starting revving up to over 2000 RPM. Vehicle started to surge and had to press brake pedal harder to stop. Vehicle moved approx 10 ft before it stopped. Issue happened repeatedly, but was not taken in to shop for diagnosis as it would not happen for quite a while. Has happened around 30 times since february. Today, 6/18/2012 while driving through town in stop-go traffic, vehicle started surging again. Wrench light came on as well as error wording of engine fail safe mode. Had to slowly maneuver into a parking lot and turn car off. Once restarted, lights went off and was able to make it home. Took it to local mechanic and they state this is common problem and the throttle body needs to be replaced (they just did on 05 freestyle last thursday with same symptoms). $758.00 to replace. Really need some action on this investigation!
The car will lunge almost uncontrollably when stopped at any length of time with air conditioning on. This will make the car stall out and cause the wrench light to come on rendering the car to operate in safety mode.
My car makes a funny high pitched noise while driving. Also in park to drive, it will lunge forward. I was told that it is a intake bearing that has come loose in my transmission. The noise gets louder as you continue to accelerate. It will only make the noise when it is in motion. I bought this vehicle used in 2010 with around 58,000 miles.
The car was surging and lurching forward even when the brake was engaged. We had near misses running in to cars in front of us just trying to get it to a safe location as we were stuck in a parking lot and in stop and go traffic. While on the interstate is would just loose almost all power even though the accelerator was floored.
Vehicle lunges forward and rear in garage at start-up and freezes at 30 miles per hour on highway when using speed control
Many times when I put the car in gear, whether it's forward or reverse, the car surges. I have almost gotten into accidents because of it. Stepping on the brakes helps but doesn't completely stop the initial surge.
Car lunges when coming to a stop and sometimes even after you have stopped, it lunges forward or back such as when trying to park or reverse from parking. The lunging starts happen when it is hot outside, summer months, and always if the air conditioner is on. The lunging started off small in the beginning, now its at a point that it stalls my car. I have almost run into someone while I was backing up because the car lunged even with my foot on the break. I feel incredibly unsafe driving in the summer months, I am afraid to turn on the air conditioner, because the lunging happens immediately. Lunging has increased from 2009 to present.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford freestyle. While at a stop with the brakes applied, the contact noticed that the vehicle had suddenly surged forward without warning. The following day, the contact was at a stop and shifted the vehicle into reverse and noticed that the vehicle had suddenly stalled without warning. The failure had not been diagnosed and had not been repaired. The VIN was not available. The failure and current mileages were 134,000.
Scary car. A couple of times when car is idle/foot on brake the car would surge forward on its own. This is creepy. First time happened when parking in front of a wall. Luckily, I had enough room to not hit the front. I just came home and rolled into parking space. My foot was still on the brake but out of nowhere it just went by itself so my natural response was to brake really hard. It slowed the surging, but dang it! It scared the begezzy out of me. If I wasn't alert, I think that wall would damage the front car...let alone hit someone(s) if they are in front of this idle car. Second time when my husband rolled into the mall's parking space and it did it too. I sat next to him and it was just freaky weird. It happened 3 other times also. Ford better recall on this problem seeing how many complaints are posted online already. I had to look it up online and found a major car magazine stated it was a major problem. If they don't do anything about this, I think I will have to switch to another car maker. This ford freestyle 2005 awd limited is a scary car.
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