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2005 Ford Taurus acceleration complaints

Page 14 of 19: complaints 371 to 400 of 529, newest first, as owners wrote them.

See the summary of 2005 Ford Taurus acceleration problems: which part fails, at what mileage and related recalls.

Filed Apr 3, 2012 · Acceleration · 85,567 miles · NY

While driving at approximately 20 MPH the vehicle suddenly accelerated on its own. I depressed the brake pedal while the engine continue to rev. I was able to stop the vehicle after applying significant pressure to the brake pedal but ended up in the middle of intersection with high traffic luckily I was not harmed. Since this occurrence I have experienced 2 other incidents of a similar nature. This may related to the current investigation under the federal safety agency action number;pe12005(vehicle speed control:cables).

Filed Apr 1, 2012 · Acceleration · 130,000 miles · TN

The cruise control stopped working, and the vehicle would be stuck in acceleration up to almost 4k RPM. Was generally able to clear high RPM temporarily by pressing accelerator past 4k RPM and letting off quickly. The problem continued for approximately 2 weeks. The cruise light would come on, and the engine RPM issue continued. But the cruise module would not engage. After some internet research, I removed the cover from the throttle side of cables and the cruise control cable was disconnected. After reconnecting the cable and fashioning a retainer, the incidents were resolved.

Filed Apr 1, 2012 · Acceleration, Engine · 42,000 miles · IL

On three separate occasions, while driving between 30-40 MPH, the throttle "stuck". I was not using cruise control in any of these cases. It was difficult to get the car to slow down - required extreme brake pressure - when I shifted into neutral, the engine RPM went well above 3000 RPM. I shut off the engine, waited a minute or two, and restarted the car. Everything seemed to be completely normal. This happened two more times over the next several weeks. In each case when I shut off the engine and restarted it, all seemed to be normal. I took the car to a local auto mechanic, and he was unable to replicate my experience. He said he suspected the problem was related to the cruise control, and that a repairs could be several hundred dollars. Or he could simply disconnect the cruise control. I chose the later.

Filed Apr 1, 2012 · Acceleration · 78,000 miles · TN

2005 ford taurus has been randomly accelerating on its own. It has done this most often after slowing for a turn or slowing down in traffic and re-accelerating time the car has accelerated moderately and can be slowed down by braking or by putting it in neutral.when in neutral the engine speed goes to 4000 RPM and stays there until the car is stopped and turned off.the cruise control cable was dis-connected and tied off.it is very important to be sure it does not interfere[cruise control cable]with the engine throttle. Random acceleration stopped after cruise control cable was dis-connected.will be seeing dealer for repair. Milelage is 78000 miles.

Filed Mar 31, 2012 · Acceleration · FL

I have been having problems in which the accelerator sticks while driving. It is difficult to slow the vehicle to a stop. It has also stuck when the car is started. At times the car will not start properly, only after repeated tries will it turn over.

Filed Mar 30, 2012 · Acceleration · 112,061 miles · TN

Was traveling on a 4 lane highway at 45 MPH. When I turned the cruise control on, all of the sudden the engine started to accelerate on it's own causing me to almost run a red traffic light. I hit the brakes hard a couple times and got it stopped.

Filed Mar 30, 2012 · Acceleration, Electrical · 56,103 miles · WI · crash

While pulling into a parking space, the vehicle suddenly accelerated and jumped over a raised curb, smashing into the wall of the u.s. Post office in depere, wi. The airbags deployed and there was $2100 in damage to the vehicle. The damage has since been repaired. On march 13th 2012, I was notified by a friend that there was a probe into the ford taurus having this issue. I have notified ford motor company and the vehicle is currently at broadway ford in green bay, wi awaiting an answer as to what caused the sudden acceleration.

Filed Mar 30, 2012 · Acceleration · 90,000 miles · MI

Our 2005 ford taurus throttle sticks as if the cruise control is on, when in fact it is not. The cruise control no longer works. Shortly after the cruise control stopped working is when the throttle started to stick and increase speed. We have not had any accidents yet, but some close calls.

Filed Mar 30, 2012 · Acceleration · 90,000 miles · NH

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford taurus. While driving approximately 15 MPH, the vehicle suddenly accelerated independently. The contact depressed the brake pedal while the engine roared with an unusual increase in rpms. The contact was able to stop the vehicle after shifting into neutral. The contact stated that the cruise control was inoperable at the time. The failure recurred twice. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostics. There was an investigation under the federal safety agency action number: pe12005 (vehicle speed control:cables) that could have been related to the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 90,000.

Filed Mar 30, 2012 · Acceleration · 86,000 miles · CA

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford taurus. The contact stated that while driving 40 MPH, he released the brake pedal and the vehicle accelerated up to 50 MPH. The contact firmly applied the brakes to stop the vehicle. The failure was experienced on numerous occasions. The vehicle was not taken to have the failure diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 86,000. Updated 05/24/12

Filed Mar 28, 2012 · Acceleration · 59,000 miles · KS

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford taurus. The contact stated that he would have to have one foot on the brake pedal in order to prevent the vehicle from accelerating abnormally. The failure would cause a spike in rpms and the contact would also have to shift into neutral in order to stop the vehicle. The vehicle had not been inspected or repaired. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 59,000 and the current mileage was 60,000. Updated 05/11/12 *bf accorind to the invoice, te cruise control cable was coming loose from the throttle body on acceleration. The cable lock was no longer retaining the cable to the throttle body.

Filed Mar 26, 2012 · Acceleration, Transmission · 100,000 miles · OH

Car accelerator stuck. Put car in neutral and park and went up to 4,000 RPM. Had to turn car off. Taking car in to a service center.

Filed Mar 22, 2012 · Acceleration · 115,000 miles · IL

I was traveling down a country blacktop at about approximately 58 MPH when I was about to meet a car on this narrow road and proceeded to slow down. But when I took my foot off the accelerator the speedometer continued to climb so I pushed on the brake and let off the brake and once again it continued to climb this time, I shifted into neutral and pumped the accelerator and the engine idled down. I then put the car back into drive and proceeded down the road after a short way it repeated the acceleration again as I approached a sharp curve I again took it out of gear. After driving home I looked under the hood and found that my cruise control cable had detached itself and was hung up on the throttle body holding it open. I then took it to my ford dealer where I ask them to unhook and order me a new one. I later had the new one installed. Just recently in feb. After having my oil changed it happened again. I was driving at night in the rain at a speed of about 35 MPH I was able once again driving home and unhooking the cable. I asked my ford dealer about a service bulletin and they were unaware. The cable is still unhooked and I would like to use my cruise but won't until they find a fix. My ford dealer is carson ford hamilton ,ill and know about my to incidence. *tr updated 05/24/12 *bf the consumer stated she was rear ended and pushed into another vehicle. Her vehicle sustained damage to the front and rear area. The vehicle was totaled. The consumer would like her vehicle deleted from the list of affected vehicles. Updated 05/25/12

Filed Mar 22, 2012 · Acceleration · 100,000 miles · AL

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford taurus. The contact stated that while driving 60 MPH and without warning, the vehicle accelerated abnormally. The contact noticed that the accelerator pedal had become stuck and caused the throttle to remain open. The vehicle was shifted into neutral and turned off. Once restarted, the failure recurred. The contact stated that the vehicle could not be moved because the throttle remained stuck. The vehicle was neither diagnosed nor repaired. The VIN was not available. The failure and the current mileage was 100,000.

Filed Mar 22, 2012 · Acceleration · 95,000 miles · IN

At about 50 miles per hour car would start speeding up even with accelerator pedal not being touched. Had to brake hard or to press hard on gas pedal to slow down. Went to raisor ford dealer in lafayette and had to have a new throttle body replaced with linkages. This was very dangerous until repaired.

Filed Mar 21, 2012 · Acceleration · 61,500 miles · NE

I was driving home from work going 25 MPH when my car quickly accelerated. I immediately stepped on the brake as the car continued to accelerate to 45 MPH. At this time I started to brake as hard as I could and got the car stopped as I pulled over to the curb. I shifted the car into park and the engine was really racing violently. I jabbed the gas pedal and the engine slowed to idle speed. I drove home with no further problem. Three days later this same thing happened. This time I checked to see if the cruise control was on. It was not.!! This same thing happened 3 more times within a few days. I then told my boyfriend about this. He was very concerned about this and told me not to drive the car until he looked at it. He looked at the car right away and found the throttle cable and cruise control cable free of any restriction. He then disconnected the cruise control cable. He called the local ford dealership the next day and told them about this. They said they had not heard about this problem and would not do anything (at their expense) to fix this. I have not had this problem occur since the cruise control cable was disconnected!!!!! I am submitting this complaint to you because I saw on the news that other people, with this same car, are having this same problem. I am also extremely concerned because it took every thing I had to stop my car and that, in the wrong location, I could very easily have killed someone or myself!!!! I believe this to be a very serious problem!!! I strongly suspect that the problem is with the cruise control system or computer that controls the cruise control.

Filed Mar 20, 2012 · Acceleration, Transmission · 92,159 miles · IN

This incident first happened while I was pulling into a parking spot and since many times. The car gets stuck in full throttle and sometimes impossible to stop I have to throw into neutral to keep from slamming into vehicles, it has torn up my new brake pads that I put on in the fall. It will be fine for a period of time then all of sudden out of no where the car will get stuck in full throttle. I have been told by a ford mechanic that this is a common issue.

Filed Mar 19, 2012 · Acceleration · 105,000 miles · MI

My daughter reported that her 2005 taurus excel seated for no reason. This has happened several times. The last time there was a near accident but she managed to get to the side of the road. Vehicles RPM went to 4000 and she had to push hard on the brakes until stopped. Vehicles on the highway were stopped suddenly in front of her at the time. I was just on a site and found more than 110 complaints for the same thing. This is very dangerous for a 17 year old driver. Please help.

Filed Mar 19, 2012 · Acceleration · 90,000 miles · GA

Unintended acceleration twice within a matter of minutes. Both times the vehicle required shifting to neutral to stop. The second time the engine continued to rev at 4,000 rpms even after restarting the vehicle. The local tech stated that the problem had something to do with the cruise control cable and throttle. The problem appears to be fixed now, but this was an extremely dangerous situation. P.s. ? There are several online blogs discussing the same issue for the same year, make, and model.

Filed Mar 17, 2012 · Acceleration, Electrical · KY

I first notice that the cruise control had stop working after that a little while later I would be driving along and the car would pick up speed on its own I would press the brake but that wouldn't slow it down so I hit the gas petal and finally the speed would drop. I feel so unsafe what if this is to happen on a rainy or icy day I could hurt myself or someone else what can I do that's not going to be costly?

Filed Mar 17, 2012 · Acceleration · OH

While driving, went to brake to slow down for traffic, throttle appeared to be stuck., took foot off of brake car accelerated on its own to 70 MPH. Took car to local dealership, they determined it was not the throttle, but a defective cruise control cable, it would hold the throttle open.

Filed Mar 17, 2012 · Acceleration, Engine · 78,000 miles · OH

The issue started as a throttle sticking closed. This required a harder than normal push to get the throttle to open and increase engine speed. This eventually turned into the throttle sticking open and not returning to idle. The on the road fix was to push quickly on the throttle pedal a couple times to get the throttle to release to idle. This also necessitated riding the brakes to keep the cars speed under control. Over time the issue became worse, with the throttle sticking open more often. What I found when investigating the issue was that the cruise control cable fitting at the throttle linkage was disconnected. The fitting would snap back onto the proper place but was very loose and would pop back off easily when the throttle was actuated. I used a plastic tie-wrap to tighten the locking mechanism in place. Another item that I found was a lot of varnish where the throttle butterfly met the throttle body (inside the throttle body) at/near idle. This contributed to the sticking closed/open issue. I used carb cleaner while the engine was running to clean the throttle body around the butterfly, and outside the throttle body on the linkage. The issue at this point has not returned. I do feel there is an issue with the connector at the end of the cruise control cable. Since it seems to be affecting others about the same mileage, it seems to be a wear issue of an under designed connector. I don't know if the varnish build up (amount) is out of the ordinary, but have not had the sticking throttle issue on any other car I have owned. I could see this causing an accident for others that may not understand the mechanics of what is happening.

Filed Mar 16, 2012 · Acceleration · 135,000 miles · NY

I was driving at approximately 40 MPH when I was approaching a red light. I took my foot off the gas pedal and hit the brakes and had to used two feet to stop the car. The motor was still trying to drive me forward. I reached down and pulled the gas pedal up and the engine slowed down. This was a one time occurrence for me so far, but I read the issues with the taurus cruise control and was wondering if this has anything to do with that issue? I did not have the cruise on during the incident and it does not even work at this point. It just stopped working about 6 months ago.

Filed Mar 16, 2012 · Acceleration · PA

While driving the car just accelerated on its own and the cruise control quit working. To date the cruise control still doesn't work and the accelerator will go on its own.

Filed Mar 16, 2012 · Acceleration · 102,500 miles · DE

A member of my family was approaching a regulated intersection and slowing down in the left turn lane. The traffic light was red. His foot was on the brake and he was slowing down but felt the engine still revving. He checked the tachometer and saw it was around 3000 RPM. He stopped, held his foot on the brake, shifted into neutral and repeatedly tapped the accelerator. After a few taps, the throttle "released" and the engine resumed a normal idle. He proceeded to drive home about 1/2 mile with no further incident. Earlier on the drive that same day, he noted that the speed control was not working. Once the vehicle was home, we took off the cover near the throttle assembly and discovered that the cable from the vehicle speed control system had come off the throttle at it's attachment point. I also noticed that the cable end is held onto the throttle arm with a plastic detent. It was very easy to put the cable end onto the throttle assembly and was also quite easy to remove it (required very little force). Because we were not able to simulate the incident it is not possible to be sure of the cause. But one very likely cause is the speed control cable being in the pathway of the throttle arm as it rotates to allow the throttle to reach idle location. If it got in the way, the result likely would have been as noted above. Prior to this incident, there had been no indication of throttle sticking.

Filed Mar 16, 2012 · Acceleration · 103,000 miles · FL

The accelerator would continue to race after I remove my foot from the pedal. I have to pump the pedal for it to stop accelerating. The cruise also would stop working about the same time. What was happening was the cruise cable was getting in the way of the throttle and making it stick. I just had this repaired at a dealership.

Filed Mar 16, 2012 · Acceleration · PA

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford taurus. The contact stated that the vehicle had suffered from an intermittent unintended acceleration failure for the past ten years. The contact stated that when the failure occurred, the vehicle would be stopped and there would be an increase in the engine rpms. The contact had to apply heavy pressure to the brake pedal to keep the vehicle stopped. The vehicle had been to the dealer three times, but the dealer could never diagnose a failure. The failure mileage was unknown and the current mileage was 110,000.

Filed Mar 16, 2012 · Acceleration · 91,000 miles · MO

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford taurus. The contact stated that upon removing his foot from the brake pedal, the vehicle suddenly accelerated. The contact immediately shifted into neutral and applied the brakes. The contact had to tap the accelerator pedal in order to reduce the engine rpms. The vehicle was not taken to have the failure diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 91,000.

Filed Mar 15, 2012 · Acceleration, Transmission · 71,915 miles · KY

Driving down expressway and car began to speed up on its own. Could not get it to slow down. Had to put car in neutral and pull into emergency lane. I then turned car off and was able to stop. Had to be towed to shop. Throttle was fixed.

Filed Mar 15, 2012 · Acceleration · 96,000 miles · TN

Was on the interstate with speed control set to 70 MPH it started about 45 min in to my trip to look like I was going to fast so I looked down I was going 85 MPH so I tried to disengage and it would not hit brakes to try to dis engage it would not so I shut the car off and put in neutral when I got stopped I got under the hood and removed the cable from the throttle body for the cruise and I do believe it damaged my transmission when I shut the car off and let it roll my transmission is jerking now also another issue to look in to on the 2004 to 2007 taurus is the clock spring for the airbag in the steering wheel I know several people who have had failures and mine is failing now it sounds like it is broke when you turn the steering wheel you get a sound like theirs is a loose bearing floating around also it has jammed on me where I had to jerk it and made a pop sound real hard to turn the wheel while making a turn I missed hitting another car by 2 foot.

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