2003 Ford Taurus: sudden loss of power

Filed Apr 8, 2015 · Transmission · 57,000 miles · MN

While driving 70 MPH on interstate 35 my daughter completely lost power. The engine would rev but no power. In traffic, she had to coast to pull over. There was no warning prior to this incident and the car is otherwise in excellent condition. The car had to be towed and the local ford dealership diagnosed and are replacing the torque converter.

Filed Nov 24, 2014 · Transmission · 109,000 miles · VT

I was going approximately 50mph up a hill on a sharp turn. Completely lost power unable to go forward or in reverse. Luckily I was able to coast backward across the road into a driveway and almost caused a huge accident with a car coming around the corner. I had to go across so cars coming behind me wouldn't hit me. If I wasn't on a hill I would have caused a real accident for sure. The transmission was completely blown and I will now be using all of my christmas money to get another used transmission. After doing hours of research I have found hundreds and hundreds of other reports of owners of 2003 tauruses with the exact same descriptions. I am blown away with the large amount of complaints with this cars transmission yet nothing is being done by ford to fix this problem. This almost cost me my life and I will do everything in my power to get ford to help other owners and myself find a solution to this problem.

Filed May 22, 2014 · Transmission · 111,345 miles · OH

I was driving down a main highway when my RPM's dropped (as if car was going to stall), there was a loss of power and then the car would not accelerate. As I was in a area where there was a lot of traffic I had to ease my way over to be able to get the vehicle off of the road. The engine was still running, but as I tried to accelerate there was no power. The shifter on the column just goes up and down and does not engage in any gear. Everyone that I have consulted seems to think that it is an issue with the transmission. I have since done research only to find out that this is a known problem with these cars. Had I known that I would never have purchased it. On one website alone there were 293 cases reported of the same transmission failure and ford has refused to do anything about this known problem. My dad worked for ford for almost 40 years before retiring. We have always driven fords and have never had an issue like this with any of our vehicles. I am sure that my dad is turning over in his grave right now at the poor quality of the taurus and the known issues which ford is aware of, but has never done anything to rectify it with taurus owners. Who can afford to go out and buy a brand new car in this day and age? Even worse yet, who would want to sink the amount of money it would cost for a repair job on a transmission into a car that isn't worth much more value wise. I am very disappointed with ford! I am a single female in her 60's that can't afford the repairs or to go out and buy another vehicle at this time. I am still working and also drive a half hour one way to go to college 4 days a week. Now what do I do? Shame on you ford for not standing behind your products!

Filed Sep 6, 2013 · Transmission · 97,000 miles · AL

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. The contact stated that while driving approximately 45 MPH, there was a sudden loss of engine power without warning. The vehicle towed to the contact's residence and later taken to a private mechanic where it was diagnosed that the power transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure and current mileage was 97,000. Updated 10/30/2013

Filed Apr 26, 2013 · Transmission · 155,000 miles · CA

Transmission completely failed without warning. Suddenly lost power to axles though rpms were up, as if car was in neutral.

Filed Jul 26, 2012 · Transmission · 177,000 miles · MN

Coming into town at highway speeds, slowed down to 30 MPH and then nothing the splines in the torque converter stripped out and I lost power to the wheels. Couldn't go forward or backward. Ford does have a recall for newer vehicles but not on my model. My ford dealer says they have done a number of these repairs on older models as well.

Filed Jul 20, 2012 · Transmission · 119,869 miles · IN

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. The contact stated that while driving 55 MPH, the vehicle lost power without warning and the transmission would not engage in drive or reverse. A local mechanic inspected the vehicle and advised that the transmission would need to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure and the current mileage was 119,869.

Filed Apr 11, 2012 · Transmission · 172,000 miles · MI

I was driving down the road doing 45 MPH and without warning I lost all power. No gears will work. It seems as if all gears are like neutral. Engine starts and runs fine but no gears will work. Transmission wont work.

Filed Feb 28, 2012 · Transmission · 69,000 miles · NY

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. The contact stated that the vehicle would lose power without warning. The vehicle was towed to a local mechanic and a diagnostic was performed. The failure was located as the transmission torque converted having failed due to defective material. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure and current mileage was 69,000.

Filed Oct 11, 2011 · Engine, Transmission · MS

I was driving on a major highway with my children and all of a sudden my car's transmission light came on, my car started bucking, and soon lost power and I was forced to put my car in park in heavy traffic and restart it.

Filed Oct 8, 2011 · Suspension, Transmission · 126,000 miles · IN

At approximately 126000 miles first of two coil springs broke in the front driver's side of the car. Had both front coil springs replaced. Three weeks later was backing out of parking space at work only to have the transmission pump fail. Car acted exactly as described in many other complaints here, sudden loss of power, high engine rev and an inability of the car to work in any gear. Had the car towed to my mechanic and was then told that not only did the transmission need to be rebuilt but I also had a rear coil spring that now was broken. Have purchased many ford vehicles but this is enough to make you look at a different manufacturer.

Filed Jun 26, 2011 · Suspension · 66,936 miles · MA

I heard from an acquaintance that there were several issues posted on the federal safety agency website regarding the failure of coil springs on the ford taurus. I too experienced the complete loss of control of my 2003 taurus while driving in heavy traffic due to coil spring failure. With the initial jolt and subsequent dragging of the car to bring it to a safe area to bring the car to a stop, I actually thought I had hit a person or large object. When I got out of my car I found the the front end of the car sitting on top of my tire. My mechanic actually took pictures of the car as he could not believe the amount of damage that had occurred. I had to replace the struts, springs, sway bar links, lower ball joint and axle shaft. All of this at 61k miles!! For a cost of $1300.00. In closing, my 2003 ford taurus has been involved in 2 serious malfunctions posted to the federal safety agency website which could have easily resulted in serious injury or death to myself or fellow motorists if I was not able to react quickly and control the car with a complete collapse of the front end or complete loss of power with the transmission failure (ref #fbn24-10467). Both of these issues occurred within 4 months (5k miles) of each other (66k - 71k) and cost in excess of $4,000.0 to repair. Given the number of coil spring complaints received by the federal safety agency and the open investigation (the federal safety agency action number: ea08018) , I would think either ford or the national highway transportation safety administration take responsibility and issue a notification of these serious issues with this car (and the other year/models listed in nhsta action # ea08018)) and the steps to remediate those issues before the issue causes serious injury or death.