While traveling at approximately 20 MPH on a generally straight, level and dry paved city street. , I was applying the brakes to gradually stop the vehicle approaching a stoplight. My right front tire entered a pothole and I felt the ABS activate, I released the brake, and the ABS quickly deactivated. I then pushed the brake pedal to complete the stop, but the pedal went to the floor and I pumped the brake to complete the stop. The issue persisted from that point on (driving two miles before parking). After parking overnight the issue remains, the car will stop but the pedal is soft and needs to be pumped.
2009 Ford Fusion brakes complaints
Page 13 of 19: complaints 341 to 370 of 531, newest first, as owners wrote them.
After the ABS is activated the brake pedal goes to the floor. Has happened multiple times and the only way I can get brake pressure is to get the ABS to activate by slamming on the brakes. I have had to activate the ABS up to 6 times to get pressure back. Very scary the first time it happens.
Loss of braking after ABS event. I was driving down the road and I had to make a sudden stop to avoid hitting another vehicle. The ABS system activated and then the brakes became spongy afterwards. From then on, even the regular brakes were spongy and would not build up pressure after pumping manually. I checked on the internet and there are youtube videos on the subject and there are websites with this complaint. Seems to be widespread. There is also a the federal safety agency document (odi resume pe 16-017) on the subject. I talked to a ford dealer, and he said that to replace the hydraulic control unit (hcu) would cost about $2000. Ford has not issued a technical service bulletin (tsb) or a recall for this problem, so they won't pay for the repair. The regular brakes should work even in the event of an ABS system failure, but this is not happening; thus I cannot rely on my brakes unless the ABS is disabled. Maybe I should pull the ABS fuse.
Have had 2 incidents of ABS engagement followed by loss of brakes, where pedal went down to the floor. First time was in february of this year. Road conditions were slick and the car slid slightly. Abs was activated and then there was loss of brakes. Had the car towed to a local mechanic and the whole brake system was inspected. All that was found was some air in the lines and brake pressure came back. Rotors, pads, calipers, master cylinder were fine. Second incident happened august 5th while going on vacation. Was about an hour from home when I slowed down to go through a toll booth. Road was wet and I hit a slight bump going through the toll. After I got through the toll, brake pedal sunk to the floor! I then exited the turnpike and headed back home and drove it back an hour with no brake pressure. Fortunately it was early morning and traffic wasn't heavy. I got home, switched all of the luggage into my other car and I called a friend who works on cars and he said I could drop it off and he would look at it while we were on vacation. While he had it, the brake pressure came back. But again entire braking system was inspected and nothing wrong was found. There has to be a glitch in the ABS. The first five years I had the car, nothing like this ever happened. Other on line postings I've read describe similar situations happening when the vehicle has 60,000 or more miles on it. My vehicle is at 60,000. Ford needs to look into this! Does someone have to get seriously injured or killed before they take any action?
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 ford fusion. While driving 20 MPH, the ABS malfunctioned. The contact depressed the brake pedal and the brake pedal extended approximately 3/4 of the way down. The vehicle lunged forward as if the contact had come to an emergency stop, but only minimal pressure was applied to the brake pedal. The contact stated that the brake malfunction was intermittent. The dealer and manufacturer were not made aware of the issue. The failure mileage was approximately 124,000.
When I drive in the rain or when I hit a pot hole, my ABS will kick in and I lose any type of breaking on my car. The break pedal goes all the way down to the floor. It does not matter if im on the highway or the street, as soon as the ABS kicks in I lose the break pedal. This is very dangerous for me and my son.
There is a malfunction with the hydrolic control unit anti brake system. The brakes only work if you press the pedal completely to the floor. The brakes do not work when pressed regularly, they must be pressed down to the floor. This causes the car to not stop when you need it to, resulting in instances where one might get injured if not fixed.
Vehicle brakes get spongy and lose power while having foot on brake and going over minor bumps in the road..many times brake pedal will go to the floor after hitting bumps..this has happened more than once and has occurred at various speeds...seems to have started at about 85,000 miles and above..I feel they are waiting for someone to get seriously injured before they look into it.
Brake pedal drops to floor after hitting a pothole while vehicle is in motion. No brake warning illuminated. This occurred while attempting to brake at an intersection.
Brake pedal went soft after ABS was engaged. Now they go soft and almost doesn't stop and takes twice the distance to stop especially after the ABS engages because of braking on wet surface or bumpy/rough surface. This is scary and I would like to get this fixed but if there is a recall I would like to wait until the recall is initiated. Started happening a few years ago but I've just managed with it since.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 ford fusion. The contact stated that while driving over a bump at 40 MPH, the brake pedal traveled to the floorboard and the vehicle delayed in responding. The vehicle was taken to rodeo ford 13680 w test dr, goodyear, az 85338 where the contact could not remember the diagnosis or repairs. The vehicle was repaired. However, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken back to rodeo ford where it was diagnosed that ecu and hydraulic control unit had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure, advised the contact to continue to work with the dealer, and transferred the contact directly to the federal safety agency to file a complaint. The approximate failure mileage was 85,000.
Brakes go soft after breaking over irregular surface. Paid ford dealership 1400 dollars to repair. Brakes continue to go soft over irregular surfaces.
Abs system bypass sticks when engauged which causes brake pedal to go to floor after use. Happens alot in winter on ice.
After ABS engaged, loss of brake feel and an increase in stopping distance. The top inch of pedal travel felt normal followed by several inches of no brake "feel" until near the bottom of pedal travel where braking resumed. This occurs only after the ABS engages and lasts for several minutes to several days after. Brake loss resulted in a near collision. Abs engaging after event is not as effective as initial ABS event resulting in increased stopping distance while ABS is engaging. This has occured multiple times with the most recent event happening on 7/13/2017. Issue usually resolves a day or two after occurimg but will reoccur if ABS is engaged again.
When driving on wet or slippery surface and need to brake the brakes lock up and don't unlock until car comes to a complete stop. My speed is not really a factor it has scared the sh*t out of me and I won't let my wife or kids drive my car when these conditions are present. I've had a mechanic look at it and he can't figure it out.
During routine braking event from approx. 25 MPH, the ABS system unexpectedly and unnecessarily engaged. Upon ABS activation the brake pedal lost all pressure and sank to the floor and all braking power was lost. Braking power was eventually regained after repeated pumping of the brake pedal but stopping distance extended well beyond normal even with brake pedal pushed to the floor. I believe this to be related to the federal safety agency # pe16017
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 ford fusion. When the contact attempted to apply the brakes while driving 60 MPH or more, the brakes malfunctioned. The contact would have to allow for a significant decrease in speed due to the excessive distance needed before the vehicle was able to come to a complete stop. The failure also occurred whenever the road conditions were uneven or unstable. The contact took the vehicle to the briarwood ford dealer where it was determined that the failure was related to the federal safety agency action number: pe16017 (service brakes, hydraulics); however, there was no recall. The dealer replaced the rear and front brakes, but the failure recurred. The contact returned the vehicle to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the hcu failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and stated there was no recall on the vehicle. The approximate failure mileage was 100,000.
Abs hydraulic control unit failure....upon braking while hitting a pothole, the ABS kicks on, and the brake pedal goes mushy almost to floor and car doesn't stop, only happens after ABS has been activated. Operates normal at all other times. Ford knows about this problem and refuses to recall or pay for the fix, clearly not enough people have been injured or killed yet. Unreliable braking is a big problem!!!
When my ABS system is activated my brake pedal goes to the floor and the it takes an extened period of time to recover
Brake pedal goes straight to floor - no brakes!!! Just replaced all discs, rotors, calipers less than 1 year ago. Google forums and you tube videos reflect this is a common problem that seems to occur in these vehicles with ABS pump after ABS activates. Please please please please please hold ford responsible for this safety defect!!!!! These are generally good reliable cars and have a lot of life to them. It's a shame that they won't just step up and do the right thing in this situation. Too many complaints to be justifiably ignored.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 ford fusion. While driving less than 35 MPH, the vehicle experienced a loss of brake function. The failure occurred without warning. The vehicle was taken to an unknown ford dealer in knoxville, nc, but the failure could not be duplicated. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was approximately 72,000.
I have experience a soft brake pedal during/after going over a bump, and its occurs randomly and has happen to me a few times. I have had numerous components replaced and even after taking to the dealer and having the brake line go through a bleeding the issue did not resolve. It is very clear in a youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r46_unyyk8 video online that the issue is the hcu and despite my efforts in directing attention to this video and findings, I have been constantly instructed to open a complaint. I finally let the dealer do extensive examination and replacing ultimately for them to replace the hcu and correct the problem. Components that have similar symptoms are master cylinder and booster causing loss of pressure in the pedal. These are not the issue... I have also had an accident where a person ran the red light and I did not have pedal to come to a sudden stop. This need to be addressed before someone gets killed.
On may 19 my son was returning from the gym. He was travelling on the main road in our area (speed limit 55 MPH). As he approached a traffic light he began to slow down. He had slowed to approximately 25 MPH and the brakes were functioning normally. Then he drove over a rough patch of asphalt with lots of small pot holes or bumps. After hitting one of those pot holes the brake pedal immediately went all the way to the floor. He had almost now braking power at all. Thankfully there was plenty of distance between him and the car in front of him, as well as a slight uphill grade to the road at that point. He was able to stop just short of the traffic light and avoid an accident. When the light turned green he proceeded slowly, trying to pump the brakes at regular intervals to see if any braking power would return. He drove slowly one mile to my office to inform me of what had happened. We recorded notes about the incident. He then restarted the vehicle and proceeded slowly down the private drive to our home. The problem with the brake pedal continued. When I received this subsequent report, I left work and came home to work with the vehicle personally. Air pressure in all four tires was at the recommended level or within a 5% variance to the low side. I found the pedal was still very soft, even after pumping the brakes repeatedly. I took the vehicle onto our private drive and an adjacent private parking lot to test it further. I got the vehicle up to about 30 MPH then activated a hard stop three different times. The brakes held each time. This is the fourth similar braking failure we have had with this vehicle in the last six months, all without warning. We have had the vehicle inspected at the local ford dealer. They say they cannot find anything wrong with the braking system. The brakes seem to work perfectly all the time...except when they don't work at all!
On april 13 at 8:25 a.m. My son was leaving to drive over to the community college for class. As he left the subdivision and approached the stop sign at the main road, he applied the brakes to stop. The brakes worked fine until just before the stop sign when he hit a pot hole. The brakes immediately went soft so that he had to push the pedal all the way to the floor to get any stopping power at all. Thankfully he was only going 3-5 MPH when the brakes failed. He threw the transmission into "park" (it was going slow enough that it held) and was able to stop before rolling out into traffic on the main road. The weather was clear and the asphalt pavement was dry. He turned the vehicle around and drove it home. I tested the vehicle and we were eventually able to restore braking action by turning the engine off and on repeatedly and pumping the brakes while the engine was running. This is the third similar braking failure we have had with this vehicle in the last six months. Each incident has occurred without warning. We have had the vehicle inspected at the local ford dealer. They say they cannot find anything wrong with the braking system. The brakes seem to work perfectly all the time...except when they don't work at all! This is really scary and frustrating. I sure hope ford will do something about this known issue.
What I will be describing has happened on more than one occasion: when stopping my vehicle on an uneven surface, my brakes make a whirrring noise and I lose my brakes. Fortunately I have not had to avoid another vehicle or stationary item. Once I ran a stop sign, but it was at a four-way and no other vehicles were present. After this happens my brakes get "squishy". I feel like I have lost 1/2 of my brakes function. I am very careful when stopping and tend to slow much sooner than needed. After a long time it seems like my brakes are "back", but when I have to stop and use the ABS we cycle through the same problem. I have taken my vehicle to the local ford dealer (where I have my car regularly serviced) and I was told that after inspection my brakes look fine. If I want further diagnostics I would have to pay approximately $100 just to "see". A local mechanic told me that unless my ABS warning light was on he could not even run the diagnostics. My ABS light has never came on.
Brought my 2009 ford fusion new in 2009. Problems started a few years after I brought it. When driving my car, if I hit a pothole, driving in the rain or when the roads are wet, I have to come to a stop, my brakes seem to fail. I am literally pushing my brakes all the way down to the floor, but the car does not come to a stop. This happens for, it seems like minuets, but probably only seconds, but while happening I feel the brakes start to vibrate, then eventually comes to a stop. There have been two instances where I came within inches of hitting the car in front of me. I don't feel safe in this car and will only drive it short distances around where I live for fear of having my brakes failing. I fear that I will injure myself or some one else. Or worse, there will be a fatality involving my car. During my routine maintenance, I have them look at my brakes and every service person says that my brakes are fine. I even had my front and rear brake job done in 2014. Within a few months of having the job done it happened again. It has happened only once since then, but again I drive it short distances at lower speeds around my neighborhood only now. When I look this up I see that there have been many people complaining and describing that the same thing is happening to their cars. Same year/model. It looks it has to do with the ABS brake issue and ford is aware of it and no recall has happened as of yet!!! This is a safety issue and need attention now!
Driving over bumpy roadway and applied brakes. They went soft and the pedal went to the floor. Remained that way until the car was shut off.
After hard braking and ABS activation to avoid an accident while highway driving, brake pedal became very soft. After later stopping and restarting engine (and verifying brake fluid level), petal is still soft / inconsistent. Need to pump brakes to build enough pressure ot stop. Concerned valves on hydraulic control unit is sticking, not allowing full hydraulic pressure to wheel calipers.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 ford fusion. While driving various speeds, the brake pedal extended to the floorboard when depressed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 57,000.
Brakes went to the floor and overshot turning lane after I hit a bump in the road while braking. Pavement was damp, I was on an incline on a local 2 lane road. 3rd time for this. Dealer said my brakes were fine after the second time it happened, dec. 2016. Seems to be ABS system. Sent repair invoice on last report dec. 2016.
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