Automatic Transmission problems of the 2001 Ford Expedition

With all the talk about the Toyota acceleration problem, it made me recall two times when my Ford Expedition did the same thing. It was only momentarily though and did not surge up to high speeds. It was just a surge of power and my foot was not on the accelerator . . . It only happened twice so I never thought much about it. .

The complaint was sent via e-mail. I recently had a near accident while traveling. The vehicle transmission just all of a sudden locked up and slammed out of gear. Luckily I had just exited off a busy highway, and was spared a possible deadly accident. After taking the vehicle to a repair shop I was told the sprag clutch had gone out, and the metal shavings were all in the transmission. I was also told that the problem was a known issue by Ford and among the repairs shops. The defect is identified within a specific 6 months time frame of production. They said that the new Ford replacement transmission has been modified to fix this known defect in the sprag clutch.

I paid $48000 for a Ford Expedition and the transmission burn up with only 35000 miles on it. The repair shop says its common with the Expedition and the design is flawed. I would like Ford to pay for the repairs, they say its not covered.

Despite back to dealer three times for same problem still not resolved. Vehicle lunges forward about 1-3 inches when started as if in gear. Although problem is intermittent it does seem to occur most frequently when first started in the morning.

I placed the vehicle in park with the engine running. Exited the vehicle the vehicle jumped into reverse across the street striking a tree causing over $2700 in damages.

4r100 transmission has to be replaced at 49,000 miles. This seems to be a problem based on number of complaints and service bulletins. Why no recall. Ford needs to fix their transmission.

I am told that I need to replace my transmission at 70,000 miles. The problem is reported in technical service bulletin 01137. I think it should be a recall.

While stopping we would hear a thud sound coming from the transmission as well as it would surge. Then it lost the ability to disengage from 4th gear. Took it to the dealership and they had it for a week. Got it back, and on the way home the problems started again and the error code started again. Took it back for another round of repairs. So far this has cost Ford $2,300 and counting.

Sometimes when starting, vehicle will lung foward as if it was in gear. It may only move and inch or so but it feels as if you are starting a car in gear.