Gas pedal sticks. Cruise control randomly turns itself on vehicle accelerates on it's own without warning. Have had to shut the car off or shift into neutral while driving. It's absolutely terrifying.
Mercury Sable adaptive cruise problems
100 of the 4,888 owner complaints about the Mercury Sable describe adaptive cruise control problems, most of them for the 2002 model year.
- owner complaints
- 100
- worst model year
- 2002
- typical mileage
- 85,000
Is there a fix? No recall or service bulletin covers this area of the car yet.
By model year
Often reported together
Sudden acceleration 13Stalling 3Brake failure 3Transmission failure 2Overheating 2Jerking 2Water leak 1Won't shift 1
What owners say
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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 mercury sable. When the accelerator pedal was depressed at 50 MPH, the vehicle rapidly accelerated. The contact depressed the brake pedal, but the vehicle failed to respond. The contact was unaware of how the vehicle stopped. The vehicle was inspected by an independent mechanic who stated that the cruise control cable was fractured. The contact performed a temporary repair. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 300,000.
While on cruise control on a 6 lane divided highway the car suddenly accelerated from 72 to 85+ MPH. Brakes did not disengage cruise control and could not slow down car. I had to shut the engine off to regain control and with flashers on I managed to get to the shoulder of the road and stop the car. Tried to restart the car to establish if condition cleared up, but could not. Had car towed to ford dealer who was unable to duplicate the condition the following morning. They changed the mass air sensor but said it was unrelated to the acceleration problem.
I was driving east on I-70 from kansas city mo. Cruise was set at 78. 4 lanes. Was in left passing lane and had to slow down quickly because of vehicle in front was doing about 50mph. The right was clear and I started moving to the right to pass. The car instantly accelerated as I started to turn right. The acceleration actually pull the car forward so fast the rear end slid to the left. Car moved a crossed the right 3 lanes of traffic at about a 60 deg angle. I managed to turn the car into the skid to avoid the guard rails and started back across the lanes with complete loss of control of the car as it did a complete 360. As I was returned to facing east again I pulled off into the median as I was again in the far left lane now in front of the vehicle I had started to pass. Having been in many emergency situation in my 67 years. I just road out the turn. I was no fun watching the vehicle I was trying to pass approach me while I was completing the 360. With so many vehicles surrounding the gap I was in, I am still amazed no one was killed, and no collision of any sort occurred. Took to the dealer and it was suggested the pcv valve was plugged. Replaced. Around feb 2 2016 I was driving I 95 to florida. I noticed the cruise dropping out twice without braking and once accelerating without resetting. I understood now that the I-70 incident was actually the cruise control. I will have it disconnected so that it can not be used again. How I survived is beyond belief. I am extremely glad no one was with me.
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.
There were two separate incidents with this same vehicle. Incident #1 with first driver: at about 5 MPH, the gas pedal was pressed significantly down. The gas pedal then stuck down in that position and the car started to quickly accelerate. After a quick tap on the gas pedal, the gas pedal started to operate normally. At no point was the cruise control on. We took our car in to the local ford dealer. They inspected the car but didn't find any problems. Incident #2 with second driver: a couple of months later (estimated mileage 38,000), we were driving at about 45 MPH and I pressed the pedal down almost all the way. The gas pedal stuck again and the car started to accelerate quickly to about 65 MPH. I am not sure whether cruise control was on or not. I shifted out of drive into neutral while the engine was at high RPM. After aggressively stomping on the car pedal, the gas pedal started working again normally. I shifted back into drive and the car then drove normally. The first driver was in the car when this happened. Both drivers have about 35 years of driving experience. This is a very serious issue that needs to be investigated! In our case, no one was injured but with less experienced drivers it could have been much different.
Throttle cable stuck, engine at 1800 tpm, engine revved to 2600 RPM, inability to slow vehicle, surging. Required hard breaking. Once car stopped, idle dropped to 900 RPM after 15-30 seconds. Happens with increasing frequency. Engine surges at start, revs to 2100 then to 2600. Inspected cable, throttle and cruise control cable point of entry to supporting bracket plastic shattered. Cable emits sound from binding. Took to ford dealer, they indicated my vehicle was not part of the recall although the problem has been clearly documented with the same make, model, year and engine.
My 2005 mercury sable suddenly had the cruise control stop working approximately 30 days ago. The next day some serious issues began to happen. I was traveling down a curvy 4 lane road at the posted speed limit of 45mph. Knowing there was an up coming light I took my foot off the brake and anticipated the normal deceleration. Suddenly rather than slowing down my engine independently revved up to 3/4 RPM causing me to instantly jump to 50/55 MPH. Apart from the immediate panic I have never had a vehicle react in this manner and was at a loss for what to do. I hit the brakes extremely hard to combat the acceleration while putting the car into neutral (still going 40+ MPH). Despite having the car in neutral it was still revving itself at around 3 RPM. After slowing down to a safe speed I turned into a parking lot and immediately turned the car off. I left the car resting for about minutes and when started again, it immediately began revving the same as before. I am very concerned and have been since troubleshooting with my mechanic. This is clearly a very dangerous issue and significantly lowers my mpg while putting triple the stress on my brakes.
In cruise control--speed set between 37 & 39 MPH I engaged brakes to slow car--eng stopped running --all lites on console lit..lost pwr brakes and steering. Almost hit car coming in opposite direction. Happened again in april, 2014 plaza lincoln cannot find problem--scales ford cannot find problem--several independent professional mechanics cannot find problem--no computers will identify problem--I'm afraid to drive car 32159,,I have reported this to ford motor co and ntsb. Need help --please
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the Mercury Sable adaptive cruise
Which Mercury Sable years have adaptive cruise control problems problems?
The model years with the most reports are 2002 (15 complaints), 2001 (13 complaints) and 2005 (13 complaints).
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