On this sunday, I had made three previous stops, without incident. I was turning into an intersection, when, without warning, I had no power. The transmission had failed! I coasted to the side of the street and called aaa. I had the car towed to a firestone dealer. The verdict on monday was an internal transmission failure. I then had the vehicle towed to a local ford dealer. I was subsequently informed that I would need a new transmission. The new transmission cost $3287.51; towing costs were $122.00! I am the original owner of this vehicle, and the transmission was always maintained properly. There should be no reason for this transmission failure. There is a website that lists several hundred complaints about the 2003 ford taurus automatic transmission. I have also registered this complaint with the ford motor company. Ford should recall this vehicle, considering the hundreds of transmission failures reported for the 2003 taurus, and fully compensate owners, who, in cases like mine, have spent thousands of dollars.
2003 Ford Taurus transmission complaints
Page 6 of 12: complaints 131 to 160 of 316, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. The contact was driving 40 MPH and merging into traffic, but when the accelerator pedal was engaged the vehicle did not respond. There was and increase in the engine rpms, but the vehicle then stalled instead of accelerate. The vehicle was taken to a local mechanic, who diagnosed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileages were 50,000. The VIN was not available.
Car starts to accelerate by itself without pushing on the gas pedal and doesn't stop till it is shut off.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. While driving approximately 65 MPH, the vehicle began to decelerate independently. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for diagnostics where the mechanic advised that the transmission would have to be rebuilt. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 179,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. While driving approximately 10 MPH, the transmission failed without warning. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence and had not been diagnosed or repaired. The contact planned to notify the manufacturer of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 107,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. The contact was driving 20 MPH when the vehicle became resistant to acceleration attempts. The vehicle was towed to an automotive shop where it was diagnosed that the torque converter failed. The vehicle was repaired with a new torque converter and input shaft. The failure mileage was 78,000 and the current mileage was 85,000. Updated 03/28/12 *bf updated 04/09/12
I purchased a new ford taurus se in 2003. After only 30,000. Miles on the odometer my transmission failed on the freeway. I had it towed to goodyear and a mechanic confirmed that the transmission failed and referred me to transmission specialist. My quote to have the transmission rebuilt was $3,000. I believe that this falls under "catastrophic mechanical failure" and I should not have to pay to get this situation rectified. I contacted ford customer relationship center and requested that the car be replaced with a new taurus or a new transmission with warranty and the repair of any collateral damage as a result of the car sitting in my garage since 2008, I was told that nothing could be done because the warranty expired two months before the transmission failed. I was nearly killed as I tried to navigate from the freeway to the shoulder. In essence I paid $1,000. Per mile for the life of this car. 2003 was one of ford's worst year for transmission failure. This transmission should have been recalled. To have such a major component fail after owning the car 5-years and just 30,000. Miles is a travesty. In conclusion, I would like to know how many owners died as a result of this transmission failure and hope that we can receive assistance for this travesty by an american auto company's lack of responsibility. This is not right and I don't know how a company can get away with this , to me, is an illegal act that should not be tolerated! *tr updated ivoq 07/09/12 the consumer also reported transmission failures experienced by other consumers. Updated ivoq 07/23/12
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. While driving approximately 15 MPH, the vehicle began to decelerate abnormally. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic for diagnostics where the mechanic stated that the transmission would have to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 53,000.
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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. The contact stated that while driving 15 MPH, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle would not respond to the contact's attempts to accelerate or reverse. The vehicle was then taken to a private mechanic where the vehicle was diagnosed and the failure was located in the transmission pump.the vehicle was not repaired. The failure and the current mileage was 87,000.
Sudden transmission failure. Car went from drive to neutral without warning, and then won't enter any gear. Fortunately we weren't on a busy freeway at the time.
Pulling out of driveway at work onto delhi pike a 4 lane highway to make a left turn (rush hours traffic) got out to lane started down road, engine just revved car quite running, rush hour traffic 35 mile hr zone. Called ford, no recalls (was told not enough complaints filed). Ford really did not even seem concerned or act like they cared about it. I guess since the vehicle is 2003 and it is now 2011. Sorry about my luck, was how ford approached it. It cost $2231 to repair. Thank god I am alive if this would have quit in middle of the left turn I could have been killed. Is it going to take deaths to make this a recall, it is quite obvious there is a problem. My car had 52520 miles on it, most vehicles this is just broke in. Car complaints.com there are over 200 complaints about the same thing. Imagine going 70 on highway semi behind you all of a sudden you slow up have no way to get off highway, I guess the semi runs over top of you killing you and how many other people, either in your car or chain reaction. Ford and the federal safety agency need to step up, and help out. How many people out there did not file a complaint, or know this is a known problem with the ford taurus.
While accelerating from a stop at a red light, vehicle shuddered a little as if transmission shifter was bumped out of gear. Vehicle coasted to a stop through the intersection. No motion was found by selecting other gears. Vehicle was towed to transmission shop and trans failure confirmed. Torque converter failure, tc bearing failure, boost pump failing and check valves out of specification. $1,800 in repair costs. I know of many people with failed ford transaxle failures before 75k miles....
Came home on my 03 ford taurus working great the next day turned on the car to go to work started great put it in gear to leave and no go will not go forward or back. Friends and family told me transmission might have gone bad but the strange thing is no warning signs lucky for me it failed outside my house. Explored the internet and found out that the 03 ford taurus has a faulty transmission.
Vehicle made noise while driving on flat ground. Asked passenger if they heard the noise and they did not. Car continued to drive approximately 2 more miles. Car started to fail while driving uphill. The car made a revving sound and then stopped moving. Turned flashers on and pulled over to the side of the road. Scared that car would not park. Tried to change gears and vehicle went into park. Still scared so hand brake was applied. Called father and uncle to move car. Car had to be pushed backwards down the hill into a parking space at a secondary school. Next day, car was towed to residence. Vehicle will be towed to transmission specialist in february for diagnosis. Had to worry about getting to work to even pay for repair. Scared to imagine the cost.
The transmission just stopped working with no prior indications of any problems. I have been told that it was the torque linkage that needs to be replaced. When I looked this up I line I saw many people who have had the same problem.
Was pulling out of the car garage and put in reverse the car started back and the engines RPM roared up and crashed in to neighbor tree went across the street and crashed in the other neighbor tree and house all of this in reverse.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. The contact stated that the gear shifter would not shift into drive or reverse. The vehicle was not repaired. The VIN was not available. The failure and the current mileage was 100,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus station wagon. The contact was entering a parking space when the vehicle stalled on without warning. The vehicle was taken to a local mechanic who diagnosed that the torque converter and pump shaft failed. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was in the process of being repaired. The failure and the current mileage was approximately 159,000. The VIN was unavailable.
I was just driving along and all of a sudden the rpms just went up and I started to slow down,pulled over to the side of the road and tried shifting in reverse and then drive and would not move,rpms just went up when I stepped on the gas.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. The contact was driving 65 MPH, the vehicle would stall without warning at any time. The contact would have to restart the vehicle for the vehicle to perform normally. The dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer stated that the symptoms were similar to the federal safety agency campaign id number: 12v006000 (power train:automatic transmission:torque converter) recall, but the VIN was not associated. The manufacturer denied any assistance with repair to the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 80,000 and the current mileage was 82,000. The VIN was unavailable.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. The contact was driving 30 MPH when the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was towed to the dealer to have a diagnostic performed but the vehicle was not repaired. The failure and the current mileage was 38,000. Updated 02/09/12*lj the consumer stated when he pulled onto a street, the vehicle lost all its gears. The torque converter had to be replaced. Updated 02/28/12
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. While parked, the contact moved the gear shifter into reverse but the vehicle would not respond. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic for diagnostic testing where the mechanic advised the contact that the transmission would have to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 65,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. The contact stated that while accelerating from a red light, the engine rpms increased but the vehicle would not move. The vehicle was towed to a local mechanic who diagnosed that the transmission was defective and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and the current mileage was 138,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. The contact started the vehicle, but was unable to shift into any gear. The vehicle was not taken to have the failure diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure and current mileages were 82,000. The VIN was unavailable.
2003 ford taurus. We were driving down the road and the engine revved up like it was in neutral. No power at all. The car started slowing down in traffic and there wasn't anything that we could do about it. We coasted over to the shoulder of the roadway. We put the car in reverse - nothing, put the car in drive - nothing. We had the car towed to the mechanic. It will cost $2,500.00 to fix. The car only has 53,000 miles on it. Ford knows about the defective transmissions on these cars but fails to do any recalls.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. The contact stated that while driving 55 MPH, the vehicle decelerated abnormally with an increase in engines rpms. The contact mentioned that the failure was encountered once before. The vehicle was taken to a local mechanic who diagnosed that there was a transmission failure and that the transmission needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure and the vehicle was repaired. The failure mileage was 75,000 and the current mileage was 98,000. The VIN was not available.
In the middle of a busy intersection, the transmission suddenly quit. The motor continued to run fine, but I had no forward power. I had to coast through the intersection. I was on a slight uphill incline and was able to put the transmission in park. Cars were passing me on both sides. Fortunately someone stopped and helped me push the vehicle to the side of the road. A very scary situation for a while.
Driving down the highway on nov. 24, 2011 and all of a sudden car lost driving power. Coasted to the side of the road and can not drive car. Will not drive, reverse, nothing. Car turns on but will not drive. Transmission fluid is red and does not appear to be leaking.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford taurus. The contact stated the transmission failed on the vehicle without warning. The contact stated there was no slippage or leaks coming from the transmission. The vehicle was inspected by the dealer and it was determined the torque converter failed and needed to be replaced. The contact stated the failure was a manufacturers defect. The failure and current mileage was 93,400. Updated 01/18/12*lj the consumer stated the vehicle would not going into any gear, except park. Updated 01/27/12
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