2006 Ford Taurus: adaptive cruise control problems

Filed Jul 12, 2022 · Acceleration · AZ

Throttle stuck and vehicle accelerated out of control. Had to brake hard and turn off engine to prevent crash. Speed Control Cable disconnected from cruise control. It has been repaired since the incident. Yes, was reproduced by the tow truck driver as well as at a service center. No warnings, only high engine revving noise as it happened, high RPMs and high speed noticeable on dashboard as my car's acceleration stuck. Case #FCAS37586176 reported to Ford company.

Filed Mar 13, 2021 · Acceleration · 134,950 miles · PA

The throttle sticks open and the engine revs high making it hard to slow down and stop. The cruise control cable is holding the throttle open because of a faulty attachment to the throttle control. This is a known and wide problem. People are bandaging the problem with back yard fixes that can cause accidents. Not first time.

Filed Jul 18, 2018 · Acceleration · 120,000 miles · PA

I was driving on a 2-lane highway with a relatively steep downhill grade. I noticed that the car was accelerating even though I was not pressing the accelerator. I thought at first that it was just acceleration due to gravity, but I quickly realized that the throttle must be open since I was quickly accelerating to speeds above 65mph, and the brakes were not as effective as they would have been if the acceleration were due only to the hill. I saw a place up ahead to pull over, but I had to press the brake pedal very hard in order to slow down and stop. I put the car in park very quickly and turned it off since the engine was racing. There was a great deal of smoke coming from my front brakes, which was very disconcerting. I looked under the hood and found that the cruise control cable had come unfastened and had caused the throttle to stick open. This seems very dangerous and I feel fortunate that this did not cause an accident.

Filed Jan 30, 2018 · Acceleration · 116,000 miles · NY

Tl* the contact owns a 2006 ford taurus. On several occasions, while driving, the vehicle independently accelerated. While the vehicle was parked, it accelerated without warning. Also, the cruise control failed to operate. The contact stated that the gear shifter was placed in neutral and the accelerator pedal was depressed in order to stop the vehicle. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified and the contact was advised to take the vehicle to a dealer for diagnostic testing. The approximate failure mileage was 116,000.

Filed Jan 20, 2018 · Acceleration · 101,250 miles · NE

Cruise control stopped working & then a couple weeks later while driving up a hill the accelerator took off by itself like the cruise control was on, when I took my foot off the gas pedal the car continued to accelerate. In a panic I shifted the car into neutral & the engine rev'd up to over 4000 RPM it then quit accerating by itself. 3 days later it does it again, accelerated on its own with my foot off the gas pedal. This is a very dangerous situation. Luckily for me there was no car in front of me. Does someone have to die in order for a recall to be ordered?????

Filed Oct 15, 2017 · Acceleration, Driver assistance · 139,000 miles · CA

2/15/17- while coasting up-hill with foot not on the gas, car accelerated to over 4,000 RPM all by itself, braking was extremely difficult. I parked, turned car off, turned it back on and even while parked it revved back up to over 4,000 RPM. Took it to firestone on 2/16/17- they replaced the iac (idle air control) valve. 3/3/17- while idling at red light with foot not on the gas, car accelerated/ revved up to over 4,000 RPM all by itself. Had to press on brake very hard and turn car off. Turned it back on and it was no longer accelerating. 3/4/14 took it to a different firestone. They adjusted cruise control cable. 9/3/17- while idling on a bridge with foot not on the gas, car accelerated/ revved up to over 3,000 RPM all by itself. Braking was extremely difficult and had to turn car off in the middle of traffic. Turned it back on and it was no longer accelerating by itself. 9/4/17 took it to firestone. They ordered a new iac valve and replaced it on 9/7/17. 10/14/17- while idling in traffic with foot very light on brake, car accelerated/ revved up to over 4,000 RPM all by itself. Had to quickly turn car off in the middle of traffic to stop it. Turned car back on and it was no longer accelerating on its own. The consumer stated another failure occurred on 10/28/2017

Filed Jan 25, 2017 · Acceleration · 210,000 miles · AR

Accelerator sticks. Car failed to de-accelerate several times. Once, coming to stop sign and engine kept racing. Occasionally going down highway and wanted to slow down, but accelerator was stuck. Can barely stop the car with brakes. Reason: the reason is well documented. The cruise control cable becomes disconnected and traps the accelerator cable (throttle) so it can't move. The federal safety agency has investigated this and negligently failed the public. There is a very good youtube.com video showing the problem exactly! My car is the exact problem, and all anyone has to do is google "2006 ford taurus accelerator sticks' to see how frequently it happens. I have wired the cables together myself, but this is not a permanent solution. It does show that ford could easily resolve this. And, yes, in a USA today article from 2013 I see there have been injuries, and maybe deaths from this. Note: mine is not related to any electronic throttle, or electrical issue. It is purely mechanical - part defect. I can send pictures of cables, but you can just watch this youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1u1fgabdw4 I will be making a congressional inquiry, complete with extensive documented references to this problem. I believe it is gross negligence that the federal safety agency has known about this and done nothing. Ford has known, and issued a technical service bulletin (tsb) recommending throttle body replacement - at customer expense. Obviously you are both waiting for enough deaths or older cars going out of service before doing anything. I guess I need to get 60 minutes and USA today to look into this, again. Please let me know if you are really looking into this! One more link discussing the problem: http://www.fordforumsonline.com/threads/2006-taurus-car-accelerated-by-it-self.1167/

Filed Aug 3, 2016 · Acceleration · 129,000 miles · RI

On the afternoon of sunday, july 24th, 2016, our 2006 ford taurus began accelerating out of control on its own accord while driving down the street in worcester, massachusetts. We tried to brake the car, but were not able to compete against the rapid acceleration. We ended up putting it in neutral, and then in park, and bring it to a stop (albeit in the middle of a busy street) where it was still reaching upwards of 4,500 rpms. Very disconcerting. As we could not drive any further like this, we shut it off, got out, and called aaa for a tow, which arrived almost two hours later after we sat in the hot afternoon sun and were diverting traffic around our disabled vehicle. Being that we were traveling with two other guests and the tow truck could only accommodate 2 people max for the trip back to rhode island (over 40 miles away), the driver tried to diagnose and fix the problem on the spot. He looked under the hood and showed us that the cruise control cable had become unclipped and fallen off. He then lubed it up, reattached it, and had us do a couple of tests to see if it was working properly. Thankfully it was, and we slowly and cautiously were able to drive home. After doing some research, we became aware that this was and is a known issue with our year, make, and model of car, and that an investigation had been opened into it. We are also aware that, at that time, ford had launched a "customer satisfaction campaign" to fix or replace defective cruise control cables. While we were able to drive the car home that day, we are not thrilled about the possibility of this issue happening again and would like to have this issue fixed by ford. I have spoken to three separate people at ford at this point, and all have refused to have this problem taken care of by ford for us.

Filed Jun 28, 2016 · Acceleration · 90,000 miles · IN

When driving the gas pedal sticks to the floor of the car, the cruise control comes on, and the car will just take off. It still stays stuck when you turn the car off. You have to put the car in park and push on the gas pedal until it stops. This happened on 6/25/16 and numerous times since.

Filed Apr 14, 2016 · Acceleration · 75,000 miles · KY

Car in motion at highway speed. Accelerator sticks after taking foot off. On highway and street. Cruise control is off. Must put car in neutral, pull off road, restart car.

Filed Mar 23, 2016 · Acceleration · 125,000 miles · VT

Tl* the contact owns a 2006 ford taurus. While driving at various speeds with the cruise control engaged, the vehicle independently accelerated without warning. The vehicle was able to be stopped and a loud abnormal noise was heard. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 125,000.

Filed Mar 9, 2016 · Acceleration · 90,000 miles · PA

Car accelerated with brakes applied,this corrected itself then repeated 3 more times. Took car to my mechanic discovered cruise control arm detached and was getting caught in throttle. Took car to dealer. They will examine on 3/10/16.called ford spoke with jeffrey in customer service no recall gave VIN# and reported issue. Discovered this issue has happened to many others with taurus vehicles. Very dangerous and scary issue. The part is plastic and either wears or bad design because it comes free from the mount and gets caught in the throttle when driving. You don't know until you try to stop. Car wants to keep going and RPM gauge shows throttle being applied with foot off accelerator and on brake.pushing the gas pedal rapidly dislodge's cruise control arm but it gets stuck again randomly. Mechanic snapped piece back in place but it dislodged again once gas pedal is depressed.