2001 Ford Taurus: adaptive cruise control problems

Filed Jul 22, 2016 · Acceleration · 171,000 miles · GA

Car suddenly accelerating when using cruise control. Cruise control actuator cable adjuster appears to be malfunctioning.

Filed Mar 27, 2015 · Acceleration · 91,200 miles · IL

My daughter had just left a stoplight and at approximately 35 miles an hour let off the throttle but vehicle continue to accelerate. Pushed as hard as possible on the brake to slow vehicle down and get off the road put in park throttle still high, shut the vehicle off. I investigated and found cruise control cable casing had come out of plastic retainer clip and end of cable housing caught on plastic retaining clip causing throttle to remain open approximately 1/2 inch off idle!

Filed Oct 14, 2014 · Acceleration · 135,000 miles · FL

Tl* the contact owns a 2001 ford taurus. While driving approximately 40 MPH and attempting to engage the brakes, the vehicle continued to accelerate and failed to stop. As a result, the contact drove through a red light. In order to stop the vehicle, the shifter had to be switched to the park position and the engine was turned off. The contact indicated that the failure occurred on multiple occasions. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic. The technician determined that the plastic ring on the end of the cruise control was defective due to damaged prongs that snapped. The failure caused the cruise control to become stuck when pressing the throttle. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified, but no solution was offered. The failure mileage was 135,000.

Filed Sep 2, 2014 · Acceleration · 140,000 miles · VA

Tl* the contact owns a 2001 ford taurus. While driving 35 MPH, the vehicle suddenly accelerated and continued to accelerate when the brake pedal was depressed. The contact had to shift the gear into neutral in order to stop the vehicle. The dealer stated that the cruise control cable was wrapped around the accelerator cable and caused the failure. The cruise control and accelerator cables were replaced. The manufacturer was notified. The failure mileage was 140,000.

Filed Apr 9, 2013 · Acceleration, Fuel system · 184,500 miles · TX

While driving under normal conditions at a steady speed, the car began to speed up rapidly, reaching near 55 MPH within seconds. The engine stayed around 4,000 RPM and using the brakes only slowed the vehicle, but could not stop it. To avoid a crash, the only option I had was to shift the car into neutral and turn in to a parking lot. Once in neutral, the engine's RPM remained close to 4,000. After turning the ignition off, I inspected under the hood of the car to find that the flimsy plastic piece that holds the cruise control cable in the proper position was broken in several places, leaving the cable free to get caught on what is left of the plastic piece extremely easily. Since that incident, the exact same situation has happened several times. Due to the plastic piece being broken, the cable does not sit inside the plastic piece as intended, which has caused the RPM to stay higher than normal at all times when the car is in gear. While driving, removing my foot from the accelerator pedal to begin decelerating before a stop has no effect, as if the cruise control is engaged at all times. Slowing the vehicle can only be done by using the brakes. This situation came very suddenly with absolutely no prior signs or symptoms of any problem. The rapid, uncontrollable acceleration poses a severe safety threat to driver and anybody around the vehicle. Luckily there was not any traffic when this happened to me, and there was a parking lot nearby to exit the road. If this happened while in moderate to heavy traffic, a crash would be very likely. This issue is unpredictable and has happened to me at highway speeds of 70 MPH and at road speeds of 35 MPH. I have since decided to park my car and not operate it until I can fix this problem because it is highly unsafe to drive in its current state.

Filed Feb 11, 2013 · Acceleration · 130,000 miles · CA

Tl* the contact owns a 2001 ford taurus. The contact stated that while traveling 30 MPH, the accelerator pedal seized and the vehicle erroneously accelerated. The contact was able to stop the vehicle by shifting into neutral. The contact took the vehicle to a mechanic and was told that a mounting piece on the throttle cable fractured and caused the failure. The cruise control was disconnected to correct the failure. The failure and current mileages were 130,000...updated 03/18/13 *bf updated 03/27/13

Filed Nov 11, 2012 · Acceleration, Engine · 136,484 miles · CA

I was driving my 2001 ford taurus onto a freeway and got up to 45 MPH and the car continued to accelerate after I lifted my foot off the gas. I attempted to press on the brake as hard as I could and the car was still accelerating. Pressing the brake would not make the car stop. I was not using cruise control. I pulled off to the side of the freeway and put the car in park, the car was still revving up, so I turned the car off. I waited a couple of minutes and started the car again and continued driving and the car exhibited the same conditions as before. I was able to exit the freeway and was about to get to an intersection that had a stop sign. I realized that even after pressing down on the brakes as hard as I could, the car was not going to stop so I proceeded to pull over to the side again and quickly put the car in park and turn the car off. I left the car there and walked to the nearest gas station and towed the car home. I did not feel safe driving anymore and it is a miracle that I did not cause an accident.

Filed Oct 26, 2012 · Acceleration · 113,000 miles · MI

Tl*the contact owns a 2001 ford taurus. While driving approximately 45 MPH, the vehicle accelerated independently. The contact depressed the brake pedal but the brakes would not respond. The contact was able to come to a stop and the vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic for diagnostic testing. The mechanic stated that the cruise control cable pushed the throttle, causing the failure. As a remedy, the mechanic disconnected the cruise control cable. There was a concurrent investigation under the federal safety agency action number: pe12033 (vehicle speed control:cruise control vehicle speed control:cables vehicle speed control:cruise control vehicle speed control:cables) that could have been related to the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 113,000.

Filed Jun 2, 2012 · Acceleration, Fuel system · 164,100 miles · MA

I had just punched the gas pedal and then went to hit the brakes a few seconds later, but the car wasn't really slowing. Looked down and noticed the rpms were at 4000 so I moved the transmission to neutral and the car started slowing more. The car kept revving at 4k rpms though so I turned off the engine. I hadn't come to a complete stop yet so the last few feet were harder to stop, but luckily there wasn't any traffic in front of me and I wasn't in any danger of hitting anyone/anything. I tried starting the car up again and it went right up to 4000k rpms, I shut it off and then tried to hit the gas pedal thinking that maybe it was stuck or there was something under it or something, but that wasn't it so I shut the car off again. Then I popped the hood and noticed that one of the cables that went to the throttle had slid out of a grey boot and was jammed against the side of that boot holding the throttle open. I moved it back so that it popped into the center. Started it up again and it was fine. Closer examination later showed that the grey connector that holds the cable in the center had little bits broken off. If those bits there , it would prevent the cable from sliding out. As this was on a weekend, as a temporary fix, I used a zip tie and some duct tape to hold it in before I got a new cruise control cable. This was the first time this had happened to me.

Filed May 7, 2012 · Acceleration · 120,000 miles · CA

Tl* the contact owns a 2001 ford taurus. While driving approximately 45 MPH, the vehicle abnormally increased acceleration and failed to slow down until after applying the brake pedal several times. The failure occurred seven times. The malfunction would occur whenever the cruise control was activated or deactivated. The vehicle had not been diagnosed. The contact planned to notify the manufacturer of the defect. The approximate failure mileage was 120,000.

Filed May 1, 2012 · Acceleration · 92,965 miles · TX

Tl* the contact owns a 2001 ford taurus. The contact stated that the vehicle accelerated abnormally and without command. The contact attempted to apply the brakes but to no avail. The contact was able to slow the speed of the vehicle and coasted to a stop. The vehicle was towed to a dealer for diagnosis. The dealer stated that the cruise control cable needed replacing. The vehicle was serviced however, the failure continued. The manufacturer was contacted. The failure and current mileage was 92,965.

Filed Apr 30, 2012 · Acceleration · NM

I was merging onto the freeway and I accelerated up to the speed of traffic which was 65 MPH. I let up off of the gas pedal and the car kept accelerating. It felt like the cruise control was on but the cruise control was not on or set. Even when pressing on the brakes the car was not decelerating and the car kept going faster and faster to over 80mph. I kept tapping the brakes and even tried tapping the gas pedal. Nothing under the pedals was stuck but the engine was accelerating like I was flooring the gas pedal. Then after about a few miles I was able to regain control of my car by pressing on the brakes really hard.