Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. While driving approximately 60 MPH, the speed suddenly declined when the accelerator pedal was depressed. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the torque converter was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 76,000.
2003 Ford Taurus transmission complaints
Page 2 of 12: complaints 11 to 40 of 316, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. While driving 20 MPH, the transmission failed without warning. The vehicle felt as if it were in neutral. The accelerator pedal was depressed, but the vehicle failed to respond. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the torque converter in the transmission failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 53,000.
Dangerous situation transmission complete failure in intersection while turning left. Stopped awaiting on-coming traffic at city street situation could have resulted in a serious accident with on-coming traffic resulting in serious injury! Many complaints already filled however after speaking with ford the refuse to fix it
While my vehicle was in cruise control at 68 MPH on a 3 lane highway, the vehicle without any warning began to quickly loose speed and the ability to keep pace with surrounding traffic. The transmission became unresponsive and the vehicle lost the ability to accelerate and function in a safe manner. I quickly and unknowingly dropped below the safe driving speed for the highway and posed a safety risk to myself and of the drivers on the road around me. In the course of rapid deceleration I was almost struck in the rear by a vehicle that was not made aware of my loss of speed, as I did not apply the brakes. As soon as possible and as to not further endanger those around me; I turned on my hazard lights and relied on evasive driving to coast the vehicle to the safety of the shoulder. Once off the highway, motor responded but none of the gears (reverse, overdrive, 1st, or 2nd) would engage. The car had no warning lights, service lights, or check engine signals illuminate on the instrument panel and there are no fluid leaks or outward appearance of any broken components. This sudden malfunction has rendered my vehicle barely functional and not safely maneuverable.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. While driving approximately 35 MPH, the vehicle suddenly felt as if it were in neutral and would not engage in any gear. There were no warning indicators illuminated. An independent mechanic stated that the torque converter may have failed. The vehicle was towed to the independent mechanic who diagnosed and confirmed that the torque converter failed and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and stated that there was no recall. The failure mileage was 132,400.
Transmission torque converter - stripped splines. Just 49,334 miles. This car has very low mileage and is in immaculate condition. Definitely a proven bad part that ford should cover. The car quit moving at my workplace parking lot. Im grateful it wasn't in an intersection. Had to replace converter.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. While driving 35 MPH, the accelerator pedal was depressed but the vehicle failed to accelerate as it increased in engine rpms. The failure recurred on numerous occasions. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 61,000.
The transmission will not shift into any gear
I have an issues.
While driving on a very busy road, my transmission quit. I had nothing but neutral. There were no warning signs that it was going to fail, it went from working perfectly to having no gears (forward or reverse). Luckily I was able to coast to a safe spot to park and wait for a tow. The transmission had to be replaced, it was not repairable. The car had approximately 45,000 miles on it.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. The contact stated that the vehicle was able to start after several attempts, but failed to shift out of park. In addition, the tail lights failed to function. The failure occurred on several occasions. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 180,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. While driving at 30 MPH, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the torque converter failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 90,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. While driving at approximately 35 MPH and attempting to merge into traffic, the engine revved without warning and the vehicle failed to resume acceleration. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence but was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 54,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. While driving 35 MPH, the contact stated that the vehicle felt as if it were in neutral. The accelerator pedal was depressed, but the vehicle would not move. The contact was able to maneuver the vehicle to the shoulder. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the transmission had become inoperable and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 68,000. Ma 10/15/2015
Driving vehicle about 45mph when vehicle, without warning, slipped out of gear and would not reengage. Car engine continued to run however, transmission would not engage in any gear. Car was towed to mechanic where it was diagnosed as a failed transmission. Car transmission was repaired and it was stated by repair facility that this is a common occurrence for this make, model, and year. Transmission failed without any previous signs, symptoms, or warnings.
My car randomly stopped moving when I was on the highway it was a major scene almost got rear ended by 5 cars had to veer off to the side to avoid a accident these transmissions/torque converters need to be recalled they were recalled in the ford winstar with the same tranny parts but not the ford taurus 2003 I was told the transmission and the torque converter went out and this is a more than common problem for this year of tauruses this is redicilious come on ford recall these trannys!!! I cant afford $1500
On the date above and then again on feb,2015 the transaxle quit working, it would not go anywhere. Had it rollbacked to my house both times at a cost of $50 per tow. The cost to repair and or replace the transaxle was :2011: $1,400; 2015: $1,700. The car at the 2nd. Rework/exchange (the trans shop replaced rather than rebuild mine) had only 125,000 miles. It is my understanding the transaxles in these generation ford tauruses were prone to transaxle failure, as were the ford windstars as both vehicles used the same transaxle. Upon studying up on these problems it seems ford motor co. Recalled the windstar and called it a bad torque converter causing the problems. Why did they not recall the tauruses also, answer: amount of vehicles produced of each model and their feet were not "held to the fire" by ya'll and our gov.. Now to get to the lighting problem: the most safety hazardous item which has been installed on vehicles in the last 15-20 years is those damned "plastic lensed headlights" that within 3 years will "fog over" to the extent they do not produce enough light to be usefull at night. Oh they say you can clean them, of which I have tried on my taurus, to not much avail. I believe the auto manufacturers should be ordered thru a recall from you to replace them at no cost to us owners. If you will check, you will see a replacement of those "wunderfull" invention , known as bullcrap, lens will set an owner of the vehicles around $500 to $700 per pair installed. And must be adjusted by a dealers only equipment. I my self do not believe in todays world 125,000 - 129,000 miles is a lot. If the truth were known the "yellowed out" headlights have been the cause of a lot of nite time accidents. Do your job and go after them and make them replace with new transaxles and torque converters and at the same time make them replace the yellowed out headlight lenses.
I was departing from parking lot and the car suddenly had some noise in the hood then lost all the power. After starting engine again, I can shift the gear into d or r, engine works ok but the car won't move at all. Before it happened, the transmission works fine, no delayed engagement, no slips, no jolts, smooth gear-changing...the transmission just stopped with no warning signs at all. The car is regularly and well maintained. No check engine light on when it happened. Later it turned out to be the stripped torque converter splines. It is a very common problem among ford early 2000's vehicles, the splines are only 0.16" thick by ford's defect designs, which can be easily stripped.
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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. The contact stated that after igniting the vehicle, smoke was coming from the outside of the vehicle. In addition, the engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown. Updated 04/14/15*lj updated 7/20/15*cn updated 7/29/15*cn updated 9/21/2017
My wife was driving the car with one of our grandkids in the back seat. She pulled off a main road to a side street, she went about 50 yards and the car stopped going forward. The engine was running fine, but there was no drive from the transmission no mater which gear she put it into. Evidently the transmission failed without any prior indication such as leaked transmission fluid, a trouble light indication and no sound.this is indeed a safety issue because if it had failed in the intersection there was a possibility of an accident.I am extremely upset and disappointed with ford's handling of this failure of there product.
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. The contact stated that while driving at 30 MPH, the accelerator pedal was depressed but the vehicle did not accelerate. In addition, the vehicle failed to move forward or in reverse but increased in RPM's. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic. The mechanic diagnosed that the torque converter needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown. The VIN was unavailable.
On 1-23-2015 a friend was driving the car on a 4 land divided highway when the transmission quit pulling. He pulled over to the side of the road but could not get the car to move in any gear. He went on to a job interview and called me and I had the vehicle towed back to my residence. I checked and this is a common problem for this make, model and year car, as the torque converter goes out without any warning.
On the above date the transaxle in this car quit working. The torque converter broke a gear. It is my understanding this is prevalent in the 2003 ford taurus and the 2003 windstar vans. Ford recalled the windstars but not the taurus'. I had it ,the transaxle,rebuilt and put only 3000 to 3200 miles from the date of this repair. About 5 weeks ago the same thing happened. It is my understanding this is a prevalent problem with these vehicles. Now in regards to the lighting, the manufacturers should take the responsibility of replacing those damned "yellowed" out headlight lens on just about 99% of the cars that have them. This should be a major recall due to the hazard they can cause while driving at night. We the american people cannot afford the cost to replace this dangerous unsafe features on almost all vehicles produced by all auto manufacturers since the 90's.
Transmission stopped working, it was replaced at my expense.
I was coming home the car just lost.power and thank goodness. There. Was no one behind me was able to.pull in middle lane and the car would.not.move it went into drive all gears but nothing I was terrified and once I gather myself I called for help.snd I had car towed to ford & they are saying I need new transmissions. Are you.kidding me no warning no noise nothing just stopped.while driving I have read many complaints on the ford 2003 taurus and was in shock again how.many have same.problem this car.belongs to my dad who is 89 years.old.thank goodness he was.not driving. He or I could be killed.how many more have to die or get hurt by something ford is awarw of. Please dp something. The ford place wants over $2800 for s transmissions ! This.is crazy I love ford.but not when they put lives in danger thank you
While driving back from shopping on a highway went to push the gas and my car had stopped and wouldn't accelerate after being stuck on the highway for an hour tow truck had to take my car to a garage they found out it was the transmission. Going back to almost a year having this car we have never had any other problems we didn't hear nothing like our transmission going. Just to get this fixed will be 2,000 or more. After a few mechanic we new looked they have said that alot of people have had this issue with this make and model or our car and that we should file a complaint.
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.
The shifter changes to reverse, drive, neutral, but the car does not recognize the gears. The vehicle remains stationary.
Failed torque converter, the shifter changes, but the vehicle does not recognize the reverse or drive option. It remains stationary.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2003 Ford Taurus?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history