Prematurely worn rear brake pads and rotor damage. Ford initially had a recall on the rear brake pads due to faulty material composition. Since the pads were replaced by recall I have experienced a similar failure on two other occasions. The first failure was about 17000 miles, followed by 33000 miles and at 47000. The vehicle is currently at 67000 miles and the rear pads and one rotor have failed again. Front brake pads where replaced as a courtesy by the ford dealer at 47000 and front rotors have never been replaced. I spoke with the locak ford dealership regarding the premature wear and they acknowledge that a problem exists but ford has not recalled or corrected anything. As a result of that conversation I contacted ford customer care and was contacted by an investigator to discuss the brakes among other problems. The investigator did not acknowledge that the brake wear was a problem and only stated that it was a wear item. When asked why the rear brakes failed at a rate significantly faster than the front brakes the investigator refused to comment.
Ford Freestyle premature wear problems
20 of the 3,665 owner complaints about the Ford Freestyle describe rotors or pads wearing out early, most of them for the 2005 model year.
- owner complaints
- 20
- worst model year
- 2005
- typical mileage
- 22,200
By model year
Often reported together
What owners say
Purchased 2007 ford freestyle in nov. 2007. Began to hear noises when braking in 2009. The first time we took the car to the dealer (fuller ford chula vista) we were told they could not duplicate the problem. Nothing was done. At about 16,000 miles we took it in again for the same problem. We were told there were warped rotors, frozen caliper, and completely worn pads. During safety inspection at 27,000 miles it was noted that rear pads were completely worn and rotors needed resurfacing. Ford is charging $265 for resurfacing and pads for a problem that has occurred twice in 2 years and refuses to recognize this as defect or design problem. In addition, we are having to replace the transmission at 27,000 miles.
Premature brake wear - 2007 ford freestyle, our 2007 freestyle needed rear brake pads and rotors replaced at only 23,400 miles. This car was driven mainly on the highways, with little stop-and-go city driving. While no accident occurred, premature wear could have affected the car's handling in an emergency stop. The dealer and manufacturer refuse to reimburse me for the $400 replacement cost.
Premature wear of rear brake pads on ford freestyle. First incident approx. May of 2008 with 18,700 miles. Second incident aug. 9, 2009 with 35,390 miles. Both times had to get new pads and rotors and not under warranty. First time they did replace for free even though they made it clear it was out of warranty. Second time replaced and charged me for parts only. After researching this I found it was an ongoing problem since the introduction of the freestyle in 2005. In fact I found a letter from the director of service engineering operations sent to all ford dealers on july 3,2007. They were blaming the issue on "direct exposure to moisture for an extended period that may have caused the pads to "swell" and create slight drag conditions." obviously this is not the case. I have read numerous reports from owners who have replaced rear pads and rotors several times and not yet had the front brakes fail. Seems to me to be a mechanical problem that ford does not want to address by fixing the problem causing this issue.
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.
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.
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
2006 ford freestyle 2 wheel drive. Rear brakes prematurely wearing out. Replaced twice before 28,000 miles. Complete rotors as well. Front brake pads are cracked and rotors grooved. 31,000 total miles on vehicle. Ford says brakes failing due to cars exposure to moisture and that the pads swell causing drag. Not logical and do not believe it. Many others have same issue with ford freestyles.
Rear brake premature wear, rotors warped.
Rear brakes/rotors worn with only 21800 miles on car.
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the Ford Freestyle premature wear
Which Ford Freestyle years have rotors or pads wearing out early problems?
The model years with the most reports are 2005 (12 complaints), 2006 (5 complaints) and 2007 (3 complaints).
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