2001 Mercury Sable: adaptive cruise control problems

Filed Feb 6, 2018 · Acceleration, Driver assistance · 145,000 miles · GA · crash

Transmission issues included a near death experience when faulty cruise control wiring / functionality caused automatic transmission to rev to to high rpms. Was unable to shift to neutral gear and was forced to jump from vehicle to avoid potentially fatal wreck. Brake pads burned through to the calipers when trying to brake.

Filed Oct 16, 2014 · Acceleration · 161,000 miles · OH

Going to work and going up a steep hill on a windy 2 lane highway and topped the hill at approximately 40 MPH and when I let off the throttle the throttle pedal returned but the speed stayed at 40 MPH and at 4000 RPM. I punched and released the throttle pedal and it went to 6000 RPM and didn't return. I stepped on the brakes and slowed the vehicle a little but not much. I was coming up on a turn at a high rate of speed and had to shift in to neutral and shut the car off. I coasted to the side of the road and raised the hood. I seen that where the throttle cable and the cruise control cable went in to the mounting bracket that the cruise control cable was hanging out the side of the grey plastic holder that holds it into the mounting bracket. The grey plastic guide holder had broke and the cable had slipped out of the holder and wasn't able to go back in when the throttle was open thus left the throttle half open. I was able to manually slide it back into the grey plastic guide holder and put wire on it to safely get it home. The holder needs to either be metal or a better grade of plastic. The grey plastic guide holder is also the same as the one on the throttle cable. I'm sure its going to break soon also. Thank you.

Filed Jul 9, 2013 · Acceleration · 96,000 miles · NY

Tl* the contact owns a 2001 mercury sable. The contact stated while driving approximately 20 MPH the vehicle accelerated on its own. The contact was forced to depress the brake pedal with both feet and place the vehicle in neutral gear in order to stop the vehicle. The vehicle accelerated to approximately 70 MPH for a 16 mile stretch. The vehicle was towed to the dealer for diagnosis. The tow truck driver inspected the vehicle and noticed the cruise control cable had disengaged causing the acceleration. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 96,000.

Filed Jan 2, 2013 · Acceleration · 125,000 miles · IN

Tl* the contact owns a 2001 mercury sable. The contact was driving approximately 65 MPH and exhibited an unexpected increase in acceleration. The brake pedal was depressed several times before the vehicle would stop. The cruise control was not engaged when the failure occurred. The contact stated that the vehicle would be towed to an independent auto shop for inspection. The manufacturer was not notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 125,000.

Filed Oct 30, 2012 · Acceleration, Fuel system · 120,000 miles · AZ

After getting up to cruising speed on the highway my car would continue to accelerate even when I stopped giving it gas. I disconnected the cruise control cable and this fixed the problem, but now I can't use my cruise control.

Filed Apr 24, 2012 · Acceleration · NY · crash · 2 injuries

2001 mercury sable. Consumer writes in regards to cruise control failure *tgw the consumer stated the vehicle rolled over twice. The consumer and his wife had to be extricated from the vehicle. The vehicle was totaled.

Filed Apr 9, 2012 · Acceleration · 118,399 miles · FL

Driving on the hwy with my 3 yr old daughter @ approx 65 MPH the veh started accelerating on its own. Even with pressing the brake veh would slow down but kept accelerated on its own ( and it kept climbing until I pressed on the brake) and got upto approx 80 MPH. I was able to safely get veh off the hwy with depressing the brake extremely hard (and veh kept creeping forward, luckily the light turned green quickly) and a ford dlrshp was right next to the hwy. Dlrshp performed repairs. They replaced the accelerator cable assembly for the throttle control. I was adv by dlrshp that the plastic piece on the cruise control throttle broke and got stuck on my regular accelerator cable. I cant begin to say how frightened I was for my daughters safety as well as my own. I seen there is an investigation for 2005 & 2006 tauruses...you need to also look @ the 2001 sables for the same problem! Someone is going to get killed if they don't do something about it.

Filed Mar 12, 2012 · Acceleration · 150,000 miles · VA

I was driving my 2001 sable (24v dohc) and the car began acting like the gas pedal was stuck. I could lift the pedal up with my toe and that did not stop the acceleration. I shifted into neutral and turned the car off and coasted into a parking lot. When I restarted the car the engine was racing. I opened the hood and found the problem to be "a broken (plastic) retainer ring at the end of the cruise control cable by the throttle body" as someone else described it better than I could in technical details. I could reset the cable and seemed to be fine unless I accelerated too quickly, because that seemed to what triggered it to get stuck. I could still go fast (interstate speed), but I could not go fast too quickly. I temporarily fixed the problem by taping the broken cable with duct tape or electrical tape which seemed to work for a couple months. I experienced the problem about 10 times in a four month period before trading the vehicle to a dealer. Due to the recent recall of the later models tauruses I thought I should report the issues I had. I never informed the manufacturer about this and I never took it to a professional for diagnosis.

Filed Mar 12, 2012 · Acceleration · 65,000 miles · IL

I registered this complaint before via telephone. Now I see that the federal safety agency is looking into ford taurus with the same acceleration problem. The problem is the e-ring on the end of the cruise control cable. Even though you're not using the cruise control, if the e-ring fails the cable gets caught and the car accelerates. This happened a few times and when I brought it in, the dealer couldn't find the problem. There's a cover over the cruise control cable where the e-ring is. I ripped off the cover and worked the accelerator by hand and saw the problem. I never replaced the e-ring and just tied off the cruise control cable and not use the cruise control. I haven't had any problems since. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).

Filed Mar 8, 2010 · Acceleration · 60,000 miles · IL

My wife was driving her 2001 mercury sable and when she took her foot off of the accelerator the car continued to accelerate at a high rate of speed. She didn't drive the car for a year. I took the car to the dealer and a couple of garages and nobody could find the problem. I finnaly tried to fix it myself and found the problem to be a broken retainer ring at the end of the cruise control cable by the trottle body. I never replaced the retainer due to fear it would break again and maybe cause an accident. I tied the cable back with a tie wrap. I did call and report this incident, but never heard anything. Now with all the new recalls I wanted to report it again. Thank you.

Filed Nov 27, 2009 · Lights · 85,000 miles · KS

2001 mercury sable VIN: (see other part of complaint) I stopped at a business put car in park got out. Upon returning the car would start but not come out of park. I found I had no tail lights. I later found also there was no cruise control. I parked the car a couple days trying to find out what was wrong with it and when I got in the car I found the battery had gone dead. I just got done researching this and found recall 01s08 and the federal safety agency # 01v078000 saying the recall was on a break switch due to grease compromising the switch. The description of the malfunction matches my problem exactly! Upon calling the dealer that sold the vehicle they said they couldn't find a recall of this based on my VIN. Ford customer service also stated they couldn't find a recall of this based on my VIN. Well obviously the recall should have included my VIN as the same thing has happened to my car. Now with the problem of not being able to shift the vehicle properly the transmission is giving an error dash light saying that the vehicle is trying to shift and is in the wrong gear?? At 70mph there is only one gear that will run the car under 3k on the tach so it has to be in the right gear.. Maybe its trying to shift out.. Not sure have to look into this more.

Filed Mar 24, 2008 · Acceleration · 60,000 miles · OR

Tl*the contact owns a 2001 mercury sable. The contact stated that the cruise control would not disengage when he depressed the button. The cruise control button is currently inoperable. The current mileage was 61,111 and failure mileage was 60000.