2007 Ford Taurus: adaptive cruise control problems

Filed Apr 2, 2018 · Acceleration, Brakes · 162,500 miles · AL

(sent to ford) this letter serves to inform you of a serious mechanical defect. I drive a 2007 ford taurus sel [xxx] with approximately 162,500 miles. The car is in good shape and has regular maintenance. We also own a ford mustang, ford focus, and ford f-150. We have been regular ford customers for years. Today I drove my car on the interstate for a few minutes before something was apparently very wrong. I sped up to merge with traffic and suddenly the car continued accelerating, even with my foot off the gas. I used the brake to slow down a bit, but it would not slow down enough. From there I began having a panic attack. I wasn't sure if I could get out of traffic without hitting someone and off the exit ramp. Without going into all the details, I managed to use the exit lane and somewhat safely stop the car at an abandoned gas station. Upon trying to bring the car to a full stop, I used the parking brake and put the car in park. The engine roared and the rpms skyrocketed to 4,000 before I was able to turn the car off. Had this not been a monday early afternoon without much traffic on a sunny day, I don?t know if this story would have ended as well. I truly feared for my life and those on the road with me. It is clear after the fact that the cruise control linkage came off. (I have never used the cruise control in this car, including today.) looking at this I cannot imagine how ford could design something so clearly designed to fail. When the gas is pushed, possibly in excess to enter a busy interstate, the plastic assembly is pushed to the point that it will eventually fail. I demand a full investigation of this so that no one else's life will be endangered as mine was today. I have yet to fully recover this highly emotional event. I would appreciate a copy of your investigative findings. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).

Filed Mar 18, 2018 · Acceleration, Electrical · 150,000 miles · MN

Takata recall I was driving 60mph and tried to set cruise control and took for off gas ABS the car kept accelerating fast. About 80mph I tapped the brake, cruise control light turned off and car kept accelerating and rpms were in the red. I pushed as hard as I could on the brakes and car kept accelerating past 85mph and I was now coming into 30mph zone and rpms were high and I tried to put it in neutral cause I didn't know what to do. The engine revved completely up with rpms and I finally just threw it in park in road and turned car off and called insurance for tow truck. My son said I had burnt my brakes.. Unsure other than there was smoke from someplace under car. I got down and visually and looked for gas pedal to be stuck or anything and it was normal. Tried starting car and immediately turned it back off due to rpms in red. Happened 3 seperate times but mechanic never found anything wrong or what it was so my dad disconnected the cruise control wires or something with cruise control. Car idles now high and rpms run higher than normal. Nobody knows what to fix so I don't know what to fix.

Filed Jan 2, 2018 · Acceleration · 140,000 miles · CA

Tl* the contact owns a 2007 ford taurus. While driving approximately 35 MPH, the vehicle inadvertently accelerated at rapid speed. While the brake pedal was depressed, the vehicle continued to accelerate rapidly. The contact had to place the gear shifter in neutral to stop the vehicle from accelerating. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, but it could not be diagnosed. The vehicle was then taken to encinitas ford at (888) 700-8208 located at 1424 encinitas blvd, encinitas, ca 92024, but no diagnostic failure codes were found and the failure could not be duplicated. The vehicle was then taken to another independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the cruise control was disconnected and the cable clip needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was advised to take the vehicle to a dealer. The approximate failure mileage was 140,000.

Filed Jun 28, 2015 · Acceleration, Fuel system · 85,000 miles · MN

Car accelerator got stuck at about 4,000 rpms. It would not dislodge until car was forced to stop by maxing pressure on brakes and putting car into 'park'. Research shows that the cruise control cable gets worn and disconnects from the throttle body and can get stuck on the throttle cable disallowing the throttle to return to idle position. This VIN is not subject to any open recalls but the condition is very dangerous.

Filed Aug 25, 2014 · Acceleration · 153,950 miles · MI

Traveling at 60 MPH, had to slow down for a slower vehicle but the car did not slow down when I removed my foot from gas pedal. I brake and slowed the car, but had to ride the brake as the car tried to accelerate. When we encountered a stop light, the brakes almost could not hold the car back. I put the car in park and revved the engine twice and the car idle speed dropped from 4000+ RPM back to normal. This happened several times on the trip home. I did a quick google search for this problem and found earlier taurus models with similar problems had recalled for defective cruise control cable. I looked at my car's cruise control actuator cable and found it's connector had slipped off the throttle connection point. I now have a temporary fix to keep it from interfering with the throttle. This could have caused an accident and hurt somebody.

Filed Aug 21, 2014 · Acceleration · 95,000 miles · IN

Driving the car it starting revving and rpms increasing. Parked turned car off waited a few minutes started car up and engine was racing hard. Pulled out of parking space went to the stop light could barely keep the car stopped with my foot pressed vary hard to keep the car from jolting into incoming traffic. Light turned, took my foot off the brake the car raced from a stopped position to 56 miles and hour with a 2 1/2 block distance and I never put my foot on the gas. . Had to ride 15 miles into town to the car repair shop riding the brake the whole time to keep the car under a 30 MPH speed. Again numerous report of the clip coming off on the cruise control causing car to race. Replace the clip back on because it is not broke and in 2-3 days the clip comes off again. I can not afford to have this car jolt me or my family into an incoming train or traffic and kill us because ford does not want to fix the problem cause t may be to costly.

Filed Jul 25, 2014 · Acceleration · 95,787 miles · IN

Tl* the contact owns a 2007 ford taurus. The contact stated that while at a stop light, the vehicle surged forward and the engine rpms revved up. The vehicle could be restarted but the failure persisted. The failure occurred on two occasions. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed that the cruise control cable clip needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure mileage was 95,787. Updated 9/3/14

Filed Jul 6, 2014 · Acceleration · 83,000 miles · PA

I have had at least 9 of the following incidents; I first noticed cruise control stopped working approximately in march, after that intermittently while driving at different speeds my gas pedal would feel like it was stuck down, RPM's went up to 4000-6000, car sped up and one time the breaks did fail until I threw car into park at 60 MPH. Usually I have to step on gas a few times to fix it, took it to mechanic and he could not find the problem. It is happening in a greater frequency now. It is getting extremely dangerous for me to keep driving the car. I noticed when that happens my dashboard goes from 23.7 miles per gallon to at one point it said 7, then increased to 34 mpg. When it dropped down to 7 mpg my car kept stalling and would start and stall until I let it sit over night.

Filed Jun 7, 2014 · Acceleration · AL

I own a 2007 taurus se with about 90,000 miles. The cruise control stopped working last week and I turned it off. On at least four occasions in the last week, since then I have had unexpected, uncontrolled acceleration while driving that could easily resulted in an accident. When the acceleration happened , I got the car off the road stepped on the brake as hard as I could, the car ran up to 3to 4000 RPM before I could shift to neutral and turn off the ignition after the incident yesterday afternoon ; I took the car in to eckenrod ford in cullman, alabama. They gave me a loaner car while they are fixing mine. I see that you have had several complaints of the same thing happening in this year and model and recommend a recall or at least a service bulletin, to deal with this problem. In researching this problem a lose cruise control cable may be causing this problem. The problem is dangerous and disconcerting and should be addressed.

Filed Apr 13, 2014 · Acceleration · 86,006 miles · PA

We took a trip on 04/01/2014 and on the return home. The cruise control failed to work. At that point, it was not a big concern until yesterday when we were at a light behind a ford f-150 pickup truck. Car accelerated to about 4000 RPM. My foot was already on the brake. I had to push the brake to the floor to keep from hitting the truck in front of me. W hen we got thru the intersection, I was able get the rpms down by hit the gas petal a couple time. I started to check online to see if this was a problem, I learn that my ford taurus was under investigation for cruise control/ accelerator issues. Has ford address this issue before someone gets injuried or killed. I will not let my family in the car until the problem is fixed.

Filed Mar 11, 2014 · Acceleration · 60,000 miles · MA

Tl* the contact owns a 2007 ford taurus. The contact stated that while he approached an intersection and started to decelerate with the brakes applied, the vehicle accelerated to 60 MPH. As the vehicle continued to accelerate, the contact was able to turn into an opened area, shift into park and turn the engine off. The vehicle was taken to a mechanic, who performed an inspection and advised that the cruise control linkage had become stuck. The cruise control was disconnected. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 60,000 and the current mileage was 70,000.

Filed Oct 18, 2013 · Acceleration · 101,684 miles · CA

Tl* the contact owns a 2007 ford taurus. The contact stated that while driving 25 MPH, the cruise control command was turned on and the vehicle accelerated and would not stop or come out of cruise control until the contact shifted into park and turned the vehicle off. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where the mechanic stated that the cruise control cable, throttle cable and the throttle body had to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified. The failure mileage was 101,684...updated 11-14-13 *bf the consumer stated the vehicle continued to accelerate even in park. The cruise control would not turn off. When the consumer started the vehicle, it accelerated at a high rate of speed. She pushed the accelerator pedal all the way down, fast and it went to normal idle. The vehicle accelerated on its own on two prior occasions.