Table 1 shows one common seat belt related problems of the 2005 Ford Freestyle.
| Problem Category | Number of Problems |
|---|---|
| Seat Belt problems |
Transmission is going out and can't afford to repair because of ridiculous cost. Seat belt in middle seat is stuck and my children can't sit in that seat because it is stuck. Very unhappy with this Ford buy. I do not feel safe in my family vehicle!.
The middle bench seats center seat belt retracted in while the seat was folded down, locked, and won't allow the seat to come back up. The only way I was able to get the seat back in the upright position was to unbolted the seatbelt, let the lose end retract into the mechanism until it released allowing the end to be bolted back again. I'm on the third time of unbolted and bolting a lousily (in my opinion) designed seatbelt system.
Second row bench won't recline back upright because seat belt mechanism stuck and preventing upright position. Difficult to fasten child's seat belt next to the bench that won't go upright - very unsafe. Contacted Ford and they said there isn't any recall for seat belt and/or second row's already known problem. They said to pay for these exact problems others have already posted on many websites.
2nd row, two seat bench. I was vacuuming the car. I folded the bench down to vacuum under it and when I tried to return it to the up position the seat would not unfold. I realized the seat belt was locked. I took it to the dealer to get it fixed thinking its a safety issue and would be free of charge, but it wasn't free. They fixed it for free after debating with them about this issue. Now its 11. 14. 2011 and the seat belt is locked again with the chair in down position.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. The driver's side seat belt buckle would not release the lock. As a result, the driver became stuck in the seat and was unable to exit the vehicle. The contact believed that the failure was a safety hazard in the event of a crash. The failure occurred twice with the first time occurring in April of 2006. The dealer was unable to duplicate the failure, but stated that other consumers were experiencing the same issues. The dealer was able to repair the failure by replacing the seat belt buckle; however, the failure recurred. The seat belt is also locking up again. Ford stated that the contact would have to pay for the repairs. The vehicle has currently not been repaired. The failure mileage was 9,450 and current mileage was 55,000.