2003 Ford Windstar: jerking or lurching

Filed Feb 18, 2016 · Suspension · MI

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford windstar. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 60 MPH, the vehicle jerked and stalled without warning. The vehicle was able to restart however, the rear tires were leaned in and the rear brackets fractured. The vehicle was towed to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the brackets were installed properly from the federal safety agency campaign number: 10v385000 (suspension). The VIN was included in the federal safety agency campaign number: 15v608000 (suspension). The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

Filed Nov 8, 2014 · Transmission · 198,897 miles · MN · crash

I was on a 65 MPH highway and had to stop for a stoplight. When the light turned green, I put my foot on the gas and nothing happened. I put in 2 then 1 and then reverse and nothing happened. I had put my hazard lights on as I was afraid of being at a green light and getting rear ended with the other car going at least 65 MPH. I proceeded to shut the van off, turn it back on and put it in drive and it jerked forward, but I could tell the transmission was slipping and the o/d light started flashing on and off and the check transmission light came on. I had to continue to shut the vehicle off and turn it back on to get it to a safe place where I finally had to be towed home. I had my 14 year old daughter with me and had we been hit from behind, we both could have died.

Filed Apr 29, 2014 · 158,000 miles · ID

I stopped at a stop sign and upon pressing the gas the van lurched forward a bit then I lost all the gears. Had to push it off the road with 4 children seated inside. It's like it's stuck in neutral, no gears at all. Had it towed and currently waiting on mechanics diagnosis. Very unsafe!! We could have been injured or worse. Something needs to be done about this!!! I see page after page about this happening to people. Same problem same model & year of windstar. Shame on ford motor company.

Filed Jul 14, 2013 · Body, Electrical · 112,000 miles · MI

Rear axle completely snapped in two. Also, the van has the ABS and brake lights are on took in for a code read and nothing. The electrical acts very strange music and lights fade in and out and the cruise control is very jerky.

Filed Sep 24, 2011 · FL

I recently bought a 2003 ford windstar mini van in flordia from someone on craigslist in that use to live in virginia. No longer than 2 weeks after I bought the van the engine light, ABS, and brake light came on and the van was jerking very hard when the gears were changing. I took the van to a ford dealership and paid $90 for a diagnosis test. The dealership informed me I had to replace the full body throttle which I paid $230 for. 2 weeks after I replaced the full body throttle the engine, ABS, and brake light came back on and the jerking continued. I was not informed by the dealership that there was a recall on the ford windstar mini van 99-03.

Filed Sep 27, 2010 · Transmission · 150,000 miles · WA

Transmission failure from first to second gear. Van is still drivable, but it has a very noticeable jerk when shifting from first to second gear.

Filed Apr 14, 2010 · Acceleration · 77,055 miles · FL

This incident has happened several times with our 2003 ford windstar which we bought used approximately 3 months ago. It has happened both to me and my wife. You can stop for traffic and when you start to go again, you can barely touch the accelerator and the car lurches forward and the engine races really fast and when you try to step on the brake it doesn't stop right away. It kind of flies through the air and although my wife and I keep a big space behind the car in front of us, we've both narrowly missed striking the vehicles ahead of us. It kind of sounds like the toyota thing. I've called several ford dealers to ask them about this problem we're having and they just brush me off. We're afraid to drive the van. Have there been any recalls on this make and model. What should we do?

Filed Apr 30, 2009 · Electrical, Engine · SC

Vehicle was skipping/jerking when trying to accelerate (happened recently), ABS and brake lights come on and off w/o warning, inside dome lights were flickering, and front windshield wipers would not stop after being turned off, until car was cut off (happened over 2 year period). Had a dealer to fix problems to a tune of about $2300.

Filed Dec 31, 2007 · Transmission · 42,468 miles · PA

2003 ford windstar transaxle jerks vehicle from 1st to 2nd gear shift under light or moderate throttle. Was serviced 4 times in 2006 by dealer. Dealer rebuilt transaxle yet problem still existed. Dealer replaced throttle position sensor 2nd time and problem was even more pronounced. Now vehicle would pop out of 2nd gear with engine race immediately after 1st to 2nd gear shift because it hammered the shift so bad. Dealer replaced stator support on 3rd time in yet still pops during shift from 1st to 2nd. Called ford consumer line immediately afterward to complain. Vehicle was coming out of warranty in 8k miles and I wanted to voice my concerns that the transmission was not working properly after being service 3 times. Ford called dealer. Dealer called me to explain that the ford service rep told them that the windstars will shift like that and that is the way it is. 14 months later transmission is failing when under any stress (hills, moderate acceleration, etc..) with a ratcheting or grinding noise. Have to disengage od on highway hills to maintain speed with heavy traffic. Have called ford again. They want to have dealer perform a diagnostic test which I will have to pay for. It is out of warranty now even though I complained to ford a year ago when it was in.

Filed May 31, 2006 · Brakes · OR · crash

My wife was in the process of parking her 2003 ford windstar in a parking lot. As she went to apply the brakes, the pedal went down to the level of the gas pedal causing her foot to engage both the brake and the accelerator at the same time. The car lurched forward and she hit a post (thankfully not a person). Probably did about a $1000 in damage. The reason I am writing is that this is the second time this has happened. The first time was about a month after we bought the vehicle. The same type of situation in a parking lot. At that time I called the ford dealer where we bought the car and inquired if there had been any bulletins about such a problem. I was told no. Now my wife could have been at fault but I believe there is a real problem with the brake system as I have experienced the same situation myself. When letting off the gas pedal at low speed and then touching the brake pedal, there feels like a loss of brake pressure momentarily. What then happens is that the brake pedal depresses to the level of the accelerator pedal and the driver then engages both brake and accelerator at the same time. Instead of stopping, the car lurches forward because the acceleration overrides the soft (temporary) brake pedal pressure. I'm thinking there is a problem with the brake system pressure at idle when the car is moving. Hence the pedal depresses further than usual and the side of the driver's foot then also pushes the accelerator down in addition to the brake pedal. The fact that this happened when the car was new and still happens today makes me think it is a engineering problem coupled with a design problem. The pedals may also be too close together which increases the likelihood of this problem happening. Note: the car's brakes work fine otherwise and we do normal service on the vehicle.

Filed Jun 26, 2003 · Acceleration · 1,263 miles · NY

Vehicle accelerated when brakes were applied due to a faulty brake sensor. The consumer experienced sudden acceleration on three different occasions where the vehicle jerked into oncoming traffic while the consumer's foot was on the brake pedal. (received by consumer frauds bureau on 6/4/03) *scc *jb