As a passenger entered my truck, their foot hit the inertia switch killing the fuel system. This has now happened approximately 15 times, 3 of which no passenger was even in the truck. This switch is placed in a commonly kicked area and once tripped the first time it becomes extremely sensitive to vibration. One time it cut off while I was idling in line at a drive-thru. It should be recalled and relocated.
2005 Ford Ranger fuel system complaints
Page 2 of 3: complaints 11 to 40 of 50, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Vehicle engines shuts off while at highway speed. Has happened between 20 to 30 times over the life if the vehicle. Has had 4 inertia switches installed. Ford has claimed " intermittent problems are not our problem." multiple ford dealerships have also said that it doesn't "throw a code" and is therefore not in need if being fixed just "a quirky vehicle." I've also been told the only way to permanently fix the problem is to buy a new truck.
Multiple shut offs from the inertia switch has been going on for 2+ years after driving for 30-40 mins truck will just shut down while driving has happened on the interstate, driving around town or sitting at stop light. Ended up melting the connection. Have replaced.
While turning a corner the truck just shut off and died. Had to push it over two lanes and into a parking lot only to find out the fuel pump inertia switch was popped. Reset it and the truck started for a few minutes but when I went to drive off it died again. Rechecked the inertia switch and this time it was not popped. Pulled the connector off of the switch and jumped the connector and the truck ran fine all the way home. This is not the first time this switch has given me trouble. About six months ago it did the same thing but thought it was the fuel pump and replaced a $400.00 fuel pump only to find out later that the fuel pump inertia switch had popped. This switch seems to pop in some odd and bad locations with no apparent reason. No bumps in the road, no hard braking, or hard acceleration etc. This time when I pulled the switch I found the connector slightly melted and realized that there was a loose connection in the switch itself. Had to order a switch kit which relocates it into the fuse panel kick plate of the truck. Ford should recall this as it is a good way to cause and accident if the truck was going high speed and all the sudden stalls and you loose all power steering and brakes etc. Could get someone killed. Thankfully I caught mine because I am a mechanic and know a lot about fords.
Driving on i75 when engine stopped. I lost all power. Was able to coast off the road and onto the shoulder. After five minutes, truck started and drove home without any further problem. Continued to have same problem, didn't matter what speed I was driving or if I was stopped at a light, and it would stop repeatedly in one week or go for months without a problem. Truck would stop and would eventually restart within a couple minutes or up to 30 minutes after it had stopped. I repeatedly had to coast or push this truck from the roadway without any power steering. In early 2011, the truck stopped three times in one day. The third time, it stopped in front of friendly ford, monroe, mi. They kept it for two weeks but it only stopped running for them one time and it repaired itself before they could find the problem. In may of 2012, it began stopping multiple times in one day. It stopped and would not restart and I had it towed to crest ford in flat rock, mi. They discovered the fuel shutoff inertia switch had failed and replaced it and the pig tail wiring harness. It apparently had overheated for some time and had melted the wiring harness into the switch. I paid $367.94 for these repairs. At this time the truck only had 28,370 miles on it. The truck was used very little and was always kept inside my garage. The dealer told me to contact ford for possible reimbursement. Ford told me they did not have a recall for this problem at this time but to keep my receipt in case of a future recall. I feel this is a safety problem. This switch is designed to shut off the fuel pump during a crash so as not to feed a fire. I googled for "ford ranger defective inertia switch," and found thousands of similar complaints where their ranger would suddenly stop and eventually would require the inertia switch to be replaced and in some instances, it was replaced as many as three times during ownership. *jb updated 07/19/12
Driving on freeway approximately 30 to 40 minutes at 55-70mph and engine shuts down with no warning. Pull over wait a few minutes and engine starts. Drive another 30 to 40 minutes and engine shuts down. Pull over wait a few minutes - engine starts. Went to put gas in truck and engine would not start. Reset fuel inertia/shut down switch and truck started.
Driving on freeway approximately 30 to 40 minutes at 55-70 MPH and engine shuts down with no warning. Pull over wait a few minutes and engine starts. Drive another 30-40 minutes and engine shuts down. Pull over wait a few minutes engine starts.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford ranger edge. The contact was driving 35 MPH when the vehicle stalled. The contact stated that the stalling was caused by the reset button becoming too hot and stopping the fuel flow to the engine. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer where the contact was advised that the fuel pump was faulty. The dealer replaced the fuel pump but the repair did not remedy the issue. The contact took the vehicle back to the dealer and the dealer replaced the second fuel pump but to no avail. The failure persisted and there were no further repairs. The failure mileage was 77,000.
The fuel inertia switch would malfunction for no reason. The car would just die, losing all power (many times happening at 65 MPH on freeway). It happened at least 15 different times. The "reset" button would have to be used to get vehicle started again. Eventually, the component "melted," and had to be replaced. I was told at the dealership not to let the fuel level get lower than 1/4 tank, to prevent this from happening again. Very dangerous issue, which ford is aware of< but does nothing!
Two times in 2 days I was driving when the vehicle suddenly stalled/shutoff. Fortunately both times I was able to pull over out of traffic. It felt like my pedal went dead, I lost my power steering as well. Since I was able to connect to the internet through my phone I was able to search "ford ranger suddenly dies while driving." an overwhelming amount of results indicated to reset my inertia fuel shutoff switch. I found it, reset it and the truck started again. After the second time this happened I researched ford ranger recalls, only to find this was not one of them. I feel very apprehensive about driving my truck, not knowing why it suddenly decides to trip the fuel shutoff switch. This is extremely dangerous and it needs to be recalled.
Fuel inertia switch malfunction, switch shorted out and caught fire. The inertia switch would trigger and shut off the fuel supply to the truck, this happened about 25times since purchasing the vehicle new, the last time it happened I was sitting still in bumper to bumper traffic and it just shut off. I reached under the passenger side of the dash board to reset it and could feel the heat from the electrical fire. I quickly shut off the vehicle and the fire died out. The safety switch is totally fried.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford ranger. The contact was driving 55 MPH when the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact stated that the fuel cutoff switch continuously caused the vehicle to stall without warning. The contact was able to reset the switch and resume driving. The dealer was contacted but provided no assistance. The manufacturer was contacted and advised that there were no recalls for the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 138,000.
The vehicle will shut down and you lose total control. Power steering gone. Engine gone. It will happen at any time. The reason it is so dangerous is because I have had it shut down on the freeway going 65mph. I was lucky enough never to have gotten hit but it was a close call. 1. The vehicle would just stall like it was running out of gas. 2. When the part was going bad it would occur every day. When the part was totally malfunctioning it would not even start. 3. The first time I had the dealer replace the part via the warranty. The second time I paid to have it replaced. The third time I replaced it myself. It lasts about a year then it goes bad.
I was driving 65mph on the freeway (which was smooth) and my inertia switch went out. This shut off my power steering, my power brakes and I was almost killed by a semi truck because of this. It happened 10 times today, usually when coming to a stop. This has happened multiple times, and ford has not yet issued a recall. About two weeks ago, the same thing happened (on the freeway), and once again almost caused an accident. They have already tried fixing this before and it continues to occur. I have read multiple instances of this occurring and believe this is an extremely dangerous defect, and almost cost me my life. I have a 2005 ford ranger. Thank you for reading my problem, I am very disturbed by this and hope ford will fix this.
My ford ranger (2005) lost power going down the freeway. After much investigation, time, safety issues (quitting at 55 + MPH) and money it turned out to be the inertia switch.
My 19 year old son owns a 2005 ford ranger we purchased through a dealer last year. For the last month or so he had to reset the fuel pump inertia switch to get the vehicle started again. This is very dangerous since one time he was on the expressway going 65 and the truck turned off on him. It's happened to him about 5 times and now he is afraid to drive it. Don't know if the inertia switch is bad or if something else is causing this. I hate to take it to the dealer since they tend to throw parts at it and not fix the problem. I think this is so dangerous it should be recalled by the ford dealer.
I have a 2005 ranger truck and it occasionally feels like it is running out of gas. I had my mechanic check all phases of what could be wrong and he found nothing. I never heard of the inertia switch until reading on here. I will mention this to my mechanic today. Thanks for the info. I did not write down dates and times.
Driving east on I-10 near ontario, cal at 70 MPH 5/22/2010 9pm, truck died the inertia fuel switch was open . Had to drive with son holding down on the button to keep truck running to get off freeway at 4th st. Inertia switch is dead used a paper clip on wires to drive home. Also the wire connector to the inertia was melting some. First time this happen is in oct 14 2005 and 4 or 5 times sense.
The truck would suddenly stop running. It occurred randomly, sometimes weekly, sometimes monthly, I never knew when it would happen. It would eventually restart. After replacing the fuel filter and the fuel pump (twice) to no avail, I asked my neighbor to look at the inertia switch (ford would not; they said that "couldn't be the problem"). The switch was all fried out inside, and the connector and the wire leading to it were melted. Apparently, the connector was bad. He said that it should have caught fire already. He replaced the switch and put in a different connector and I've had no further problems. I can't believe that I never had an accident, as I mostly drive on the freeway and in the mountains.
My 2005 ford ranger stalled on me while driving down highway at 65mph and has done this before driving around town whenever the fuel kill switch is bumped by someone's foot while sitting in passenger seat. Whenever fuel kill switch gets bumped it stops the fuel pump then truck stalls.(very dangerous someone's going to get hurt if not fixed) the fuel kill switch is located on passenger side fire wall where your right foot is. If you stretch your leg you will hit the switch. Ford should recall this problem. Relocate switch before someone gets hurt. Very dangerous when driving and your truck stalls cause switch gets bumped. It don't take much to set switch off. I have been to tasa ford in r.I. And explained this problem to them and they said they have had this problem with other vehicles and ford knows about this problem but has not had a recall!! Something needs to be done. Hope you can help thank you.
The inertia switch on my 2005 ford ranger cut the fuel supply at 55 MPH on a busy highway. After pulling the switch out and pulling out the connector, I found evidence of temperatures high enough to melt the plastic. This problem first started in november of 2008 and has gotten steadily worse since then. This evidently a design flaw that needs to be fixed by ford.
Inertia switch tripped while driving 55 MPH on smooth road.
Inertia switch tripped in 2008 while parked!? Walked home, looked up on internet, found out how to reset. February 2010 the inertia switch tripped again while coasting down smooth road. Pulled over and reset switch. Daughter reports inertia switch tripped a couple of weeks later, fortunately I told her how to reset it. This could be very dangerous and life-threatening, especially if it happened on a crowded freeway! I feel that ford knows this is a problem, have created a relocation kit. For a hundred bucks! I feel ford should pay for it. I have only 7k miles on this truck, in five years!
2005 ford ranger pickup truck. The fuel pump inertia switch trips on smooth road with no bumps. It shuts down the engine. It happened eight times this month. Once on a busy interstate beltway. I've researched many others with this problem. It should be recalled and ford should fix it free.
I have a 2005 ford ranger 4 wheel drive which I purchased new. On a recent trip a trailer truck changed lanes on the pa turnpike within feet of my front end. In order to avoid an accident I hit the brakes very hard. The inertia switch stopped the fuel pump and some how I was able to coast across 2 lanes to the berm. I called the ford dealer and they said that the guarantee was 3 year or 36,00 miles and at the time I had about 37,500 miles on the truck and was obviously over the three years. I had the switch repaired at a cost of over $200.00. After the occurrence above the switch went off 5 times during normal driving. I have the bad switch in my possession if you are interested. This was a very serious situation which I think ford should pay for. Loosing all power on a super highway is dangerous to say the least.
I have a 2005 ford ranger. I was involved in a very close to an accident on the pa turnpike when a trailer truck changed lanes in front of me within inches. I hit the brakes very hard in order to avoid hitting him. The inertia switch which shut off the fuel pump actuated which it is designed to do. My problem is the inertia switch continues to actuate for no reason. I called ford and they said vehicle was out of warranty so I would need to pay upwards of $200.00. I would think this is a serious safety problem. My wife refuses to drive the truck.
The fuel inertia cutoff switch in our '05 ford ranger pickup has had to be replaced twice since it's purchase in aug. Of '05. One month after purchase was the first failure when driving over a speed bump at 5mph. The truck was towed to the dealership, the dealership adjusted the sensitivity. The following spring the ficos tripped again when driving on a two lane road at 25mph. The dealership replaced the switch. Dec. '08 the ficos again tripped while parked for 8 hours. Jan. '09 the ficos tripped while on a two lane road at 40mph causing the necessity to coast to the side of the road but not off the road, on a blind corner. During the dec. '08 and jan. '09 incident the emergency fuel injection pump, under the dash, was implemented. After several attempts over a duration of 30 min. The ficos reset and allowed the pickup to start. In feb. '09 the ficos tripped again after the pickup was parked overnight. The pickup was again towed to the dealership. The ficos had to be replaced again. My concern is this will continue to happen and at some point I will not be in a position to avoid an accident as others have found themselves in. Http://www.aboutautomobile.com/complaint/2005/ford/ranger.
When turning left on incline/decline fuel inertia cutoff switch activates leaving no steering or braking assist/power.
Purchase vehicle july 2005, vehicle never had a good pull to it and I thought it was the way the truck just pulled until may 2006 when I was hit from behind by a ford explorer, my truck got worse. In june 2007 engine light came on wouldn't go off. Gas cap light came on wouldn't go off. Tried to tighten cap, lights still haven't went off. Took truck to mechanic found out that my truck had a cracked head that was indicated that it could have been a defect from the manufacture and or possibly due to collision also ford manufacture had a defect call back on all 2005 ford ranger. In december 2005 five month after I purchase the truck and they ( ford) did not even notify me of the defect. I do have a copy in my possession from my mechanic. Also I was told that my truck could ignite and catch a fire at any time. *tr. Updated 01/11/08.*lj there was a cracked head on the fuel sending unit. Updated
Tl* the contact stated while driving the 2005 ford ranger at 60 MPH, the fuel pump switch located on the passenger 's side floor was touched, which made the vehicle cut off. The contact was unable to restart the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the dealer to reset the switch.
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