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Ford Freestyle warning lights comes on

29 of the 3,665 owner complaints about the Ford Freestyle describe multiple warning lights, most of them for the 2005 model year.

owner complaints
29
worst model year
2005
typical repair cost reported
$4,000
typical mileage
72,000
Is there a fix? No recall or service bulletin covers this area of the car yet.

By model year

What owners say

Filed Jun 25, 2019 · Electrical, Engine · 138,000 miles · IL

All engine lights come on at various times with no working gauges, but car drives. Withing past year, had instrument cluster replaced 2 times, alternator replaced twice, injector coils & spark plugs, cleaned/replaced, battery replaced, throttle body assembly & gasket, . Had diagnosed at 2 ford dealers in different states and neither can figure out what is causing all the dashboard lights to stay on. Both dealers were adament it was the instrument cluster, which clearly it is not since the error lights are still on. Have been told it could be electrical or rcm, but there is no way to test for either. Dealer wants me to foot the (hourly / union) labor rate while they try to figure it out. Currently car is currently with local mechanic who is going over the car to figure it out. Nothing has been determined yet.

Filed Mar 26, 2016 · Electrical · 88,000 miles · TX

While driving, my '05 ford freestyle awd limited the air & radio turn off, along with all of the lights on the dash, all gauges bottom out & the turn signal does not work. This lasts for about 30-45 repeatedly, in quick succession. You cannot signal a turn or know speed when this occurs which is a safety issue. The battery and check engine light come on & sometimes it reads check charging system. This happens on local streets and highway driving. I believe it coming from the instrument panel itself. I have seen this same complaint from many others has I research the issue on the internet. I'm not aware of any recall, even though ford is well aware of this safety condition. This started happening january 2016.

Filed Feb 9, 2015 · Electrical, Lights · 136,000 miles · OH

While driving the wrench light and engine light came on. Lost all power to the accelerator pedal, refused to go above 2k roma. Turned car off and let it sit for fifteen minutes. Turned it back in and lights were still on and car wouldn't accelerate. Replaced the throttle body and the accelerator position sensor. Still giving the same codes and won't allow me to clear the codes. Previous issues with unexpected acceleration in the past. Now the battery won't hold a charge, the lights are coming on when they are all turned off and it seems the electrical system I'd going crazy. It's now february and I'm being told the throttle position sensor needs to be replaced. Since my throttle body had the cold weather system on it that means another throttle body replacement with no guarantee it will fix the issue. I can't drive the car at all. I can't back it out of its parking space without it stalling out and all the lights inside abd headlights flickering. There needs to be a recall. I've spent till much money to keep putting more into it when replacing the parts that have the code issues isn't working.

Filed Jun 21, 2014 · Electrical · 80,000 miles · OH

While driving, my ?05 ford freestyle awd limited the air & radio turn off, along with all of the lights on the dash, all gauges bottom out & the turn signal does not work. This lasts for about 30-45 repeatedly, in quick succession. You cannot signal a turn or know speed when this occurs which is a safety issue. The battery and check engine light come on & sometimes it reads check charging system. This started fall 2013, no one found the problem. It stopped over the winter & started again this spring. Again 2 shops including the dealer again cannot find the problem. Battery & voltage readings were normal. Dealership says it could be the instrument console ($999.99) or a frayed wire but could not validate either issue & admitted the instrument console would not explain the radio & air turning off. The dealer recommended that I replace my relatively new battery, but couldn't give a reason & did not find something wrong with the battery or the wiring to the battery so I took my car home with no answers this is an issue I see all over the internet, I have 2 young children & do not feel safe driving while the instrument panels turn on and off repeatedly. I don't know if it impacts the exterior lights because it has been daylight. Will it take congressional inquiry like gm is facing before ford takes responsibility or issues a recall for these problems? They must not care since they stopped making the vehicle shortly after it entered the market, I do not trust ford.

Filed Mar 10, 2014 · Electrical · 127,000 miles · MD

The entire instrument panel went dark while drving at night, headlights included. The gauges all dropped to zero, then went back up, back to zero. This happened a few times within a minute. Then all the lights on the panel lit up including airbag , ABS, everything. Very scary to have this happen while driving in the dark. I am very thankful that it was me driving and not my 16 year old daughter -- it really could have caused an accident. This happened again last night while I was driving to pick up my 12 year old from church--- same exact thing. The engine was running fine, though. I researched the problem and saw many, many complaints and it's a known issue for this model year. Why isn't there a recall? This is a serious safety issue - do you want a oncoming vehicle to have there lights flashing on/off and instrument panel failing while they are driving straight toward you or someone in your family?

Filed Jun 26, 2013 · Engine, Transmission · 116,732 miles · NC

The freestyle cut out on the interstate. Luckily it was in the breakdown lane and no cars were coming. An 8 year old was in the car as well. After spending $1200 on repairs the freestyle still leaks, and is having the same problems with cutting out, leaking into the car and all the lights coming on. We have spent over $1200 to fix, and the car still has the same problems. The dealership wants us to spend another $1000, and they can not guarantee that will fix the problem, as another freestyle here in boone has had the same issues.

Filed Jan 1, 2013 · Electrical, Engine · 72,000 miles · CA

While at a signal completely stopped, the vehicle motor revved and excelled acted forward. This caused the engine to die and all dash lights came on. The engine light stayed on after restarting. This has happened several time almost causing several accidents. We have had our transmission replaced because of it. The amount of times it happened and torque it produced caused damage in transmission. We have had several mechanics refuse to work on this issue because they say this model is know to do this and no one knows how to fix it. I am out $7000 and a unreliable car that is unsafe to put my wife and kids in. Ford has said they would look at it and would cost me another $5000, and we're not sure if they themselves could fix it. They are not sure what the issue is, but would be willing to research if I pay for it.

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 Sep 9, 2012 · Driver assistance, Transmission · 104,000 miles · CO

Went to start my 2005 ford freestyle - the rpms on the vehicle increased slightly, the wrench, traction control and engine light came on, when I put the car in reverse, there was a loud thunk noise. I turned the engine off and tried it again. Same thing, I had to drive it approx. 2 miles, there was no power, but it got me to my class. When I came back out to my car an hour an a half later, only the engine light came on and the vehicle drove normally. Since then I have had it to the dealer to diagnose. At first they said it was the transmission that would need to be replaced. This is a $4000 repair. The diagnostic codes were generic and they could not tell for sure what the problem was. This behavior usually starts after the vehicle has sat for a few hours. When all the lights first come on, it says it has had a data transmission error. I turn off the car and restart. This usually resets the computer in some way. When only the engine light comes on, it will say "check engine, check transmission". Sometimes no lights come on. It drives normally. I took it back to the dealer so they could experience the whole issue first thing in the morning. They have now said that it is a short in the instrument cluster. The repair will be $1025.00, but they can not guarantee that this will resolve the issue for sure. I have also experienced where the lights will come on while I am driving. I have to turn my vehicle off in traffic to reset it. This is not real safe. I see that my year of car and newer has had several complaints for this issue and a lunging issue. I will be contacting ford tomorrow to see if I can get some help on this issue.

Filed Aug 31, 2012 · Acceleration, Electrical · 85,000 miles · OH

My 2006 ford freestyle limited has major electrical problems. I have had the car lunge on me, at 0mph it would lunge forward, and in reverse. Fortunately I had my foot on the brake every time. I don't think it is the transmission. I have a feeling that it is all electrical. I have had the lunging problem since last year. (2011) and the car has been deteriorating since. Yesterday I got "check charging system" and now it kills all of the lights and gauges... Yet it still kind of ran.(not very good up hill, and no indicator lights, no speedometer nothing.)another recent problem I have is the center engine (shock?)mount is busted.

Related recalls

No recalls on record for this model year.

Questions about the Ford Freestyle warning lights

Why does the warning lights come on in the Ford Freestyle?

Owners who report it most often also describe sudden unintended acceleration, check engine light and engine stalls while driving.

Which Ford Freestyle years have multiple warning lights problems?

The model years with the most reports are 2005 (15 complaints), 2006 (8 complaints) and 2007 (6 complaints).

How much does it cost to fix multiple warning lights on the Ford Freestyle?

Owners who mentioned a price put the repair at about $4,000 (median of 5 complaints that include a dollar amount). Costs vary with mileage, warranty and where the work is done.

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