2005 ford freestyle lunges when at idle speed, particularly when turning the steering wheel, in both reverse and forward gear.
2005 Ford Freestyle transmission complaints
Page 11 of 16: complaints 281 to 310 of 447, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Car lunges (revs up to high RPM) when trying to park, when backing out, when at lights. Can barely hold car by pushing very hard on brake. It has been going on for a while but there does not seem to be any acknowledgement that there is an issue.
The car surges in drive or reverse without applying the accelerator. It usually happens after the engine has been turned off. It seems worse when the engine is "cold", but it has also happened after the car has reached operating temperature. The only solution has been to apply the break and attempt to control the surge when it happens.
My car lurches forward if my foot is not fully on the brake or when I begin to accelerate from a stopped position. This has happened several times. My check engine light is now on. I was running my AC in 100 degree weather this last time.
We have an 2005 freestyle. My wife was picking up our grandson from vacation bible school on 7/19/2011. The car lunged forward and almost ran over some other kids crossing over the road in front of her. The crossing guard frantically waved his arms for my wife to stop which she was trying to do. By luck the engine died. Someone is going to die from this yet and then ford will have a big lawsuit on there hands with thousands of people on the side of the plaintiff. I can't understand ford's position on this issue since they are rated highly for quality. They had the publics support when they didn't take a bailout. Why damage a good reputation?
The vehicle surges when at idle. Commonly happens when backing up or moving forward slowly (ie, in a parking lot or driving into a garage). Because this is occurring at idle speeds so far my foot has been either on the brake or close to the brake to prevent an accident. However this will also happen if in a traffic jam or slow moving traffic situations (ie, dropping the kids off at school, slowing down due to pedestrian traffic, etc). I have discussed with the dealer the issue and they are ignorant to the problem.
Turned the vehicle on and immediately it surged. Thought it was me but then it continued to happen. Seems to only happen when foot is on brake and/or when turning the steering wheel all the way. Just started happening this month. Took the mechanic to check, but he could no reproduce issue. I am not surprised though, as it seems to be intermittent. Problem best described as vehicle seems to have someone else pressing the accelerator. Has not caused an accident yet, but certainly seems as if it is inevitable.
My 2005 ford freestyle "surges" when the engine is running but my car is not moving. I have to keep my foot on the brake when starting up the car for fear it will lunge forward, or backward, without any pressure put on the gas pedal. I am afraid to let anyone drive the car, even with me telling the person about the surges, since it is not what you would normally be thinking about when starting a car and putting it into gear. I am concerned about the safety of this situation. I have not taken the car to the dealership yet since I don't know what the charge will be for repair. The surging has occurred at least 10 times over the last 2 months. Each time I think it is just a one time thing, but now I know it is not.
Started car, put it in reverse, car lunged. Not the first time it has done this. Each time the lunge, either in reverse or drive, happens with no warning whatsoever. It just about always starts when the car is started or moved into gear after idling.
I have a 2005 ford freestyle that has been surging forward when I am at a complete stop & the engine fail safe mode with a wrench has shown up. I have 4 kids & this has happened on the highway with them in the car on the highway & it is very scary to lose power on the highway & try to get to the shoulder without getting hit by another car.
My 2005 ford freestyle lunges when placed in drive or reverse, it happens before the accelerator is pressed and I must stomp the brake to stop it. I have had many close calls in the past two weeks. Today a "fail safe engine mode" message came on.
My 2005 ford freestyle will lunge at low speeds, usually while parking in the driveway or parking lot. This happens quite frequently while the car is in drive or reverse and even caused the front end to lunge into a concrete wall of a parking garage causing minimal damage before the brakes could be applied.
My vehicle will jump ahead at different times. Most of the time it is when you put the car in gear. It lunges very quickly so you have to be aware if it at all times. The first time it happened it took me by surprise it jumped ahead so quickly. I have noticed lately when the air conditioning is in use it will jump/lunge ahead numerous times.
2005 ford freestyle began lurching forward when at a very low speed (pulling into/idling in a driveway). We were able to stop the vehicle by pressing on the brakes.
I have a 2005 ford freestyle. The vehicle randomly surges in forward an reverse. I have found many complaints online saying it is the throttle body. It seems to happen most often when first shifting out of park to reverse or forward. Happens even more often when air is on. It is very disappointing there has been nothing done about this. This vehicle is supposed to be a safe family car!! It has put my son and wife in many close calls. I hope the federal safety agency makes ford do something about this and soon!!
I own a 2005 ford freestyle sel. I am experiencing engine surges (sudden acceleration) on a daily basis. The vehicle was taken to a ford dealer where they didn't find any problems and blamed it on engine load from the AC systems. While I have not had any accidents yet I have on several occasions been forced to stand on the brake to avoid hitting other vehicles and in one case a pedestrian. Ford won't do anything because they say that they can't find anything wrong and there are not recalls.
When go to back it lunges back and if you are sitting in traffic it will lunges forward and then stall out or die and the rpms go up real high.
My 2005 ford freestyle sel fwd has sudden acceleration problems in both forward and reverse. This issue happens more frequently and is worse in the warmer months. This issue has been going on for the past 4 years with my vehicle. The sudden acceleration caused my freestyle to shut down and go into engine failsafe mode the last time. The acceleration issue occurs multiple times a day. The dealer says that since there is not a recall on the vehicle there is nothing that they can do that won't come out of my pocket. I am worried that the car will one day lunge forward or backwards into another vehicle or a person walking around the car. Ford needs to be forced to issue a recall and correct this problem before someone is gravely injured.
The vehicles CVT transmission failed and needed to be replaced.
The vehicle is experiencing a surge in the engine performance at a low speed and also when shifting into drive, neutral, reverse & park. The surge of the engine causes the vehicle to lunge forward or rearward (depending on what gear is selected) and when put in neutral or park a sharp increase in engine RPM's is experienced to the extent that the engine stalls. This problem is a constant occurrence, not intermittent or every once in a while.
I purchased at 2005 ford freestyle in 2006. My vehicle now has 88,800 miles on it as of 07/18/11. Over the past year my vehicle has began accelerating when I shift the vehicle into a forward or reverse gear. My foot is always firmly on the brake. Recently, I have been turning the A/C on low and watching the RPM's before I shift into gear. My car will still jump on me and the motor will accelerate even at 500 RPM"s. I will not go through a drive thru because this is where my car will cause the most problems and I never know when my vehicle will begin to malfunction. I have called 2 ford dealerships and they are aware of this issue, but they would have to duplicate the problem before they can diagnose anything. They state it could be a number of issues. I am reluctant to take it in cause I know that I will be spending lots of money and the problem will not be resolved. I think ford needs to isolate the problem and fix it. This seems to be very similar to the issues that some of the ford taurus's had in the past. This car is just a revamped ford taurus....different look same problems!
Car unexpectedly lunges when sitting at idle position on hot days with A/C working hard. Does so in drive or reverse. Most concerned while sitting in car pool line at elementary school on hot days. Kids walk in front of car frequently and this lunging can be rather dramatic at times. Occurs quite frequently when it's hot and A/C is running. There is no known fix and ford does not acknowledge the problem or a fix.
Vehicle accelerated while in line at the drive through and was lurching forward. Then engine light came on. Took vehicle to ford they informed I needed a new throttle body.
The vehicle has been lurching at low speeds & at idle. It is occurring when shifting from park to reverse and drive. My wife and I have to make sure we are pushing down on the brake hard to prevent the lurch from hitting anything. It is also lurching while idling at red lights as well. This problem started about 1 month ago and seems to be getting worse and worse. I researched this issue and it appears that it is not uncommon to freestyle owners. Most forums indicate that it is a throttle body issue & that it can either be cleaned or repaired. There are numerous complaints on this website regarding this issue & I am concerned about the safety for my family. If the car were to lurch into an intersection at a red light or possible rear end another vehicle. Also, the possibility of hitting a pedestrian in a parking lot and crashing into our garage.
The vehicle will slightly accelarate (or lunge) when idling and foot is not on the accelerator. Seems to happen when vehicle is first started and/or at very low speeds. This has happened multiple times while vehicle is drive or reverse.
This is the second time I had to tow this car to the dealership due to transmission issues. I have already spent $6,000.00 on the transmission and then it lunges while backing up and I have to take it in to the dealership again. It is very scary to drive this car when it does this. They have the nerve to tell me it is the air filter!!!!! How can the air filter cause the wrench light and engine safe mode to come on!!! They know that it is the transmission and they don't want to fix it so they are giving me the run around. There is no way I should have to replace the transmission twice on a 2005 vehicle. I am scared to death to drive it cause I never know when it will leave me stranded or just lunged into something or someone. Please investigate this before someone gets hurt.
Sudden acceleration in vehicle: after driving 200 miles I was pulling into a parking space when I had a sudden acceleration in the vehicle. I had my foot firmly on the brake with no contact on the accelerator. The turn was a 180 degree turn into the parking space. (90 into driveway then continuous 90 degree turn into space.) had to increase angle of turn to avoid hitting parked car. Immediately after the acceleration the vehicle stalled. There was no difficulty restarting the vehicle. The radio was off, air conditioning on (approximately 90 degrees outside, sunny high humidity.) three adult passengers in vehicle at time. Speed approximately 10 miles an hour. First time I noticed this in the vehicle. Three hours later as I was decelerating while approaching a light I also had a sudden surge lasted maybe two seconds. Had foot on brake at the time. Was able to continue slowing despite surge in engine and attempts by car to increase speed. Car did not stall this time. Speed about 25 MPH. Have driven about 300 miles since and have not experienced the problem. Vehicle front wheel drive with CVT transmission.
When parking the vehicle or reversing out of a parking spot the engine will "rev" and the vehicle will lunge forward as if I had pushed the accelerator but my foot was applying pressure to the brake. This has occurred since I bought the vehicle in 2005 at approximately 11,000 miles but the latest incident happened yesterday, july 4, 2011. Up until recently I could not reproduce it on a regular basis so I did not take it to the dealership. After reading an article on reuters website that this is being investigated by the federal safety agency I decided to report it here. As the article states, it appears more often when I have the air conditioning on high. I spoke to the service department at the ford dealership in flat rock michigan and they said they were unaware of this problem and that there is probably nothing they can do to correct it. To date, this has caused no injuries or accidents but it is only because I take extra precautions (e.g. Turn off the air conditioning or be prepared to apply extra pressure to the brake when parking) to ensure the car does not lunge forward and hit anything.
Our 2005 ford freestyle is lunging forward at low speeds. We need to firmly press on the brakes to stop it which is very dangerous! At this point, the engine stalls. It seems clear this is a very common issue in this vehicle due to a malfunctioning throttle body. This is not safe and there needs to be a recall to permanently fix the issue!
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford freestyle. The contact stated that the vehicle suddenly surged forward without warning, when she noticed that the transmission light illuminated. The dealer advised the contact to have the transmission replaced. The manufacturer was aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The current mileage was 67,000. The approximate failure mileage was 64,000. Updated 08/31/11 *bf updated 09/01/11
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