general problems of the 2005 Ford Freestyle - part 2

2005 Ford Freestyle surges and accelerates from a stop or low speed. It is particularly evident when shifting the transmission from drive to reverse or reverse to drive. The acceleration can last for maximum 5 seconds but you better have your foot firmly planted on the brake or the vehicle could lunge forward or backward into oncoming or parked cars and pedistrians. It doesnt happen al the time, often after the car has been run and parked for a 15-30 minute period.

Request to re-open NHTSA defect investigation #pe07058. The entire instrumental panel stopped working while starting, stoping or driving at low speed and on highway. Also when it happens, no turn signal alarm, no air conditioner, and controls on the steering wheel not working. Have not been able to check outside lights. It happens from time to time, comes and goes, lasts about 2-10 seconds. A few occasoins, it trigged air bag, coolent warning and check engine lights to come on. Check engien light stayed for a few days. I think it is a design or production defect since Ford knew it back in 2006 according to its TSB. I think it's dangerous, especially when driving on highspeed, at night and in bad weather, you lose the info of speed and air conditioner and don't know if turn signal light is on.

My 2005 Freestyle is making loud rattling sound (coming from trans) and the failsafe mode indicator as well as the yellow wrench have been appearing. I have had it in the service dept of dealership many times for surging and power failures, etc, and they have made numerous repairs - (including the ac compressor) and replaced a head gasket (which is leaking badly now?), and it appears this time it may be a throttle body problem? the dealer won't look at it till next week and wants $200 to check it out? people waiting in line (at the service dept) today told me they had the exact same problems (with Freestyles). There should be a recall if so many people are complaining.

2005 Ford Freestyle unexpectedly accelerates when car is put into gear (forward or reverse), this seems to be aligned with other complaints associated with NHTSA investigation pe11018. The engine will rev when putting the car into gear and will lurch in the direction of the gear that it was placed in. This is not due to the driver inadvertently pressing on the gas pedal at the same time as the brake. The driver has to firmly press on the brakes to prevent the car from moving. If the brake is only pressed just enough to put the car in gear the vehicle will actually move 3-4 feet. The happens sporadically but does occur at least 4-5 times a week.

When parking, driving very slow (under 10mph) or backing up my car lunges forward with surge of power and foot on brake not gas. Sometimes it dies and gave error code engine failsafe mode. Worse when acon, don't remember it being an issue in the winter. Took to dobbs and was told it was my throttle body and my computer would need reset. Cleaned throttle body to see if that would correct issue. Improved, but did not correct. Very scary and dangerous in traffic, approaching stop signs, especially if pedestrians nearby. Fear could lunge at them.

The vehicle unexpectedly surges when turning into a parking space or sitting at drive through. Also having issues with engine dying when reversing.

Tl-the contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated the instrument cluster had a interruption in power causing the dials to operate improperly. The contact was unable to read the speedometer due to the malfunction. The contact had the instrument cluster replaced by the dealer three times. The contact called the manufacturer regarding the cluster malfunction and the manufacturer stated there was nothing they could do. The failure mileage was 101,000. Jo.

The contact owns 2005 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that the instrument cluster lost power and all of the gauges stopped working and the interior lights shut off. The failure last from a few seconds to a few minutes. The dealer inspected the vehicle and stated that they could not diagnose the failure. The dealer also stated that this did not mean there was not a problem because they could not duplicate it. The failure mileage was 78000 and the current mileage was 79000.

Purchased the car used from Ford dealership. I had been following a friend on ih10 in east texas. Friend had pulled over to side of road, ipulled in behind him. I stayed in my car with ac running for approx 10 minutes I put the car in gear and started to drive. The vehicle would not go over 20 mph. I pulled over and turned the car off. My friend saw me and pulled his vehicle over and came back to ck on me. I started the car back up to get off the freeway the accelerator was racing even with my foot on the brake the engine light came on and the computer said it was running in safe mode. On July 2 2012 I took my son to airport. I parked in the parking lot ,we had set in the car in park with engine and ac running for about 15 minutes. . When I put the car in reverse the acclerator got stuck and with my brakes still applied the car lunged backward acellerator running full force. The gas pedal was not engaged by me and I had to turn the car off to stop the acceleration. When I turned the car back on the engine light was on and operating in safe mode. This is ver unnerving and I think could have caused an accident had any cars been around me. I took the car in to the dealership where I had purchased it, have an appt to bring it back in on July 9 to have them fix it. I got on the website of Ford today for any recalls that might have been called for my car-didnt see any for this type problem. However in researching the problem I found a lot of people who had reported it. This problem needs to be addressed and quickly before someone is injured or killed-and I pray its not me. The dealership is charging me $85 to run a diagnostic they already knows exists. As far as I can tell, no one has been able to have this problem resolved or fixed.

I own a 2005 Ford Freestyle and about 1 year ago, when ever I would back out of my garage or pull into the garage at a slow speed, sometimes the car would lunge unexpectedly either forward or backward depending on if I was backing out or pulling into my garage. It occured at least 3 or 4 times per week until it finally got so back that my check engine light came on. At that point, I took the car to the dealership and they charged me over $600 to replace the throttle body on the car. This did resolve the issue somewhat, but at least a couple of times a month I still experience this lunging of the car, but it is not as dramatic as it was before they replaced the throttle body. I was really worried about this issue as we have a lot of kids that like to play around our house and I was always worried I was going to run into one of them when backing out of the garage so I had to make sure I kept one foot on the break just in case. This is a very serious issue and it is something that is definately a safety hazard to the public. Also, my wife has a 2006 Ford 500 and it experienced the same problems and we had to get the throttle body fixed on it as well. I spent over $1,000 within the span of a few months on the same issue in two different Ford vehicles. There is definately something wrong with the throttle body mechanism and Ford needs to be held accountable for this dangerous situation they have put car owners in and they should be required to refund the cost of anyone who has already spent $600 or $700 to fix their throttle body. The Ford dealer told me to keep my receipts in case this issue made the recall list.

2005 Ford Freestyle sel has lost power and turned off completetly twice. Both times, I turned the ac and radio off and it started back up immediately. I have also experienced the sudden surge others have described when slowing at an intersection for a stop sign and it does require a quick hard break to keep from entering the intersection. Both of these events are extremely dangerous.

The car lunges forward or backward depending if you are in drive or reverse. It is so fast you have to brake with both feet and pull against steering wheel to stop car. Car trips into failsafe mode after this happens (would be too late, you would have hit something by then)dealer says it is the bad throttle body. Seems to be a systemic problem with Freestyle 2005-2007? very dangerous a matter of time before someone is run over or killed with vehicle.

The vehicle would experience intermittent loss of the electrical to the gauges and interior lighting. The gauges would sweep to zero and then momentarily sweep back. The length of the loss of electrical is increasing with each intermittent failure. Twice now the vehicle has also lost acceleration when pulling out of an intersection causing a potential collision condition. The last time this happened it also occurred with a loss of electrical to the instrument cluster and interior lighting. This is a potential serious condition as the vehicle may have been involved in a collision due to the loss of power. The vehicle is currently with the Ford dealer undergoing diagnostics.

2005 Ford Freestyle. 3 different incidents when the car was stopped, lurched forward and then the dashboard light came on reading "engine safe failed" turned car off and restarted. 3rd time it happened the check engine light remained on with the emissions light on the dashboard. Took car to dealership to be serviced. We are now told the throttle body needs to be replaced and the electric system needs to be rebooted. The car only has 58,000 miles and we purchased only 30 days ago used.

Car accelerated when placed in reverse and brake was applied, 2005 Ford Freestyle . . . Took to dealer. . . Replaced the throttle sensor w a kit. Problem was resolved to the tune of $700,00.

I have had this problem from about 2 months after obtaining the vehicle. And I currently have 49500 miles approx. The vehicle will lunge going forward or backwards, stall at times, clunking noises. Have taken vehicle in many times, and was at one time nothing wrong. Then Ford dealer replaced some part in engine. While the vehicle was running and a/c was on in park, placed in reverse vehicle lunged again then the fail safe notification along with the wrench came on. Took vehicle to dealer as I was told to bring it back when it was happening again. They told me today that it was the throttle body and map sensors that need to be repaired as they mechanically failed I have an extended warranty and it is not a covered item which for both items will cost almost $1500 which should have been covered under the comprehensive coverage of any extended warranty as it is part of the engine and working comprehensive parts. I know of at least 100 people in my area that have had the same problem with the throttle body, yet Ford will not do a recall on this as it is considered a fire/safety hazard as the map sensors are on the manifold which controls the fuel. If you review the internet you will find many people with the 2005 Ford Freestyle are having the same problem with these items and should be a national recall on it.

Started car and put in gear then it lunged forward with foot on brake. Turned car off for a moment (15 seconds) turned back on put in reverse and it lunged backwards into a pole (thank god someone wasn't behind me). Failsafe engine mode light came on, a wrench and check engine also showed up. As of now car is being towed to dealer. It is not under warranty. 96 k miles.

Sitting at stop light, engine surges and lurches into "fail safe" mode. Car slips out of gear into neutral, and limps to a stop. Has occured multiple times, especially in the heat of summer. Taken car into multiple shops, have never received consistent answer. Answers range from transmission failure to a bad computer, or a sensor.

Electrical ground connection failure 2nd repair within 70,000.

2005 Ford Freestyle with 54k miles. Instrument cluster intermittently goes completely dark. All gauges including speedometer stop working. Happens randomly about 2 times per day. Taken to Ford dealer who looked up TSB (06-17-9). Charged $750 for parts and labor. No responsibility taken by Ford for this obvious and dangerous manufacturing defect. This is an all to common problem in this year vehicle should be recalled.

I own a 2005 Ford Freestyle with 33,200 miles on it. I bought it new. In late March 2010, the needles on the gauges started sweeping down to zero and the car lost power. Then the car regained power again. This happened 4 times in the last two weeks. The last time it happened I was driving down I-85 at 55 mph with tractor trailer trucks directly in back of me and also along side of me. The gauges swept and the car lost power but the power did not come back and I was barely able to get the car to the side of the road. It had to be towed in for service. Of course, Ford said it was not covered under my warranty and I would have to pay to repair cluster failure. This was extremely dangerous as I had my 3 yr old granddaughter in a car seat in the rear passenger position. If I had not been able to get the car off the highway, the probability of being rear ended by another vehicle was high. That stretch of I-85 is highly traveled by commercial vehicles. Tractor trailers cannot stop quickly. My granddaughter could have been killed. I did some research and learned that NHTSA defect investigation peo7058 has not resulted in a recall of the 2005 Freestyle. At what point does NHTSA determine that a defect is serious enough to warrant a recall? and is it fair that I have to pay to correct manufacturers defects?.

Our Freestyle has experienced mild but worsening unintended acceleration for two years now, but it was always "mild" and did not cause the car to lurch forward even when the driver's foot was hard on the brake pedal. Then we had a new problem: no cold air from the ac at idle. We responded (6/11) to a mailed promotion from hertrich Ford (easton MD) for an ac "tune up. " they did nothing but add dye to our refrigerant and "clean" our air ducts with disinfectant. So we turned to the owners' forum, myfordfreestyle. Com, and quickly diagnosed the problem: a seized-up pressure control valve. Apparently Ford dealers refuse to perform this simple repair (part cost $40) and will only replace the entire ac compressor ($800 + labor). So we ordered the valve online and had a competent local mechanic replace the valve (1-hour labor plus cost of refrigerant). The ac is "good as new", but the unintended acceleration is now much worse. The incidents always occur at very low to no speed and when maneuvering the car (I. E. Parking, k-turning, etc. ). In all of these situations, both the ac and the power steering pump are demanding/drawing near-maximum power from an essentially idling engine, nearly stalling the engine; the electronic engine/idle control then kicks-in and hugely "over-reacts" by revving the engine to 2,000+ rpm. Even with your foot on the brake, an automatic in drive is going to surge quite far at 2000+ rpm. Please look at the myfordfreestyle. Com website: note that almost all of the complaints about unintended acceleration come during hot weather months and a few also note the problem is much worse with the ac on. It took us less than 30 minutes on the website to diagnose both the ac problem and unintended acceleration problem. It is inconceivable that Ford has not been aware of both of these problems for years. (surely Ford's customer relations staff monitor owner forums).

It started with the instrument cluster acting funny the guages dropped to 0 and jittered after a few seconds they went back to normal . . . Now my reverse lights stay on and the cluster doesn't work for longer periods of time.

I was driving the veh normal and all of a sudden the rmp jumps really high following this my veh shuts down, wrench light comes, and the fail safe engine mode displays. Also, when the veh is put in park and shut off, then back on again the light disappears, and everything appears normal. Today would be twice this has happened so after reading other reviews with same issue found out its throttle body that needs replaced. I will call dealer tomorrow to find out more, but why isn't this part on recall. Hope its covered under powertrain :(.

While driving the instrument cluster and lights would randomly go on and off and engine would shut down. This occurs on a regular basis, making the vehicle unsafe. The problem is a cold solder joint on the "crystal" located next to the four sided processor chip on the printed circuit board. Ford is aware of this problem and sent out a TSB to all of it dealers in Feb 2006. There is currently a 6 month backlog of the part to repair this problem due to so many occurrences. The problem also locks out the shift locking mechanism preventing the vehicle once placed in park to going into gear or neutral for towing. The problem starts out with just the dash instruments flickering but progresses to the problem I have outlined above.

Over a period of about 2 summers, the 2005 Ford Freestyle would surge while sitting at an intersection or slowing during the approach. The surge was a rapid acceleration of the vehicle which required a heavy, or a quick brake. A quick response was required to avoid a rear-end collision, entering an intersection, or striking a pedestrian. The surges seem to be related to the operation of the air conditioner. The car had gone into a "fail-safe" mode while sitting in a drive-thru. I began using the ac sparingly and would turn off the ac completely when driving in the city or approaching and intersection. However, while approaching a turn on a state route, with a speed limit of 55, the vehicle unexpectedly shutdown leaving the vehicle exposed to on-coming traffic. The date listed below is an approximation. Around the same time Toyota was having problems with "run-away" vehicles, I contacted the Ford motor company alerting them of this hazard. I was told to contact a dealership. The dealership replaced the throttle body. I was told that the "computer" could not/did not show any information about the "fail-safe". On-line, it appears that many people have had these problems. Due to the season, I will not know if the problem was corrected. I'm hoping that the family isn't in the car if it wasn't.

While driving my car the instrument gauges will loose power and all read zero for approx 10 seconds. The air bag light will also come on. This has happened approx 20 times in the last 4 weeks. The car as a result of this has stalled 2 times.

Instrument cluster had several power interruptions - all gauges momentarily went to zero several times and the check engine light illuminated. Vehicle would surge until instrument cluster power returned to normal. Dealership replaced instrument cluster - not under factory warranty.

2005 Ford Freestyle. Intermittently turns off (engine stops, loss of electrical power) while the vehicle is being driven. Most often occurs while turning. Reported to Ford dealer, they state they cannot fix because they cannot duplicate the event. Corporate and got same response. I requested that Ford dealer install video-data recorder and assign vehicle to service technician to drive daily, so that event data can be recorded and analyzed. Service manager stated that he would not place the life of his service technician in jeopardy by driving a vehicle that looses operational power while driving. Evidently, Ford does not have a problem placing my life or the lives of my family in jeopardy, however. Updated 01-14-08.

The contact owns a 2005 Ford Freestyle. While driving 65 mph, the vehicle shut off completely and had to be restarted. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, who stated that the vehicle had several error codes. The contact stated that the vehicle was now repaired. The current and failure mileage were 48,000.

I have more than one complaint. 1) shortly after buying my used 2005 Freestyle I would be driving both at higher and lower speeds and I would loose all control of the vehicle. It would not respond to gas or steering. It was like it was losing power but it was still running. I had several near misses when this would happen. I was lucky that when I bought my Freestyle it was "certified" and under warranty, otherwise the repairs would have cost me over $1200. My Ford dealer replaced the kind of sensor/brain as they called it. Has been working sense. 2) air compressor needs to be replaced now. I thought the a/c wasn't blowing cold enough, I finally told it to a repair shop I trust and he said he couldn't understand I had any cool air at all. 3) brakes, rear most of all, have been replaced several times. Way too soon and anytime it's wet they squeal like crazy. Guess I need to have them changed again. 4) transmission issues are starting now. I roughly have 90k miles and hoped this would be my last car for several more years. I hate to trade it in and start another car payment and let this car get back out to some other unsuspecting soul.

I've had problems with this vehicle numerous times over the past few years. I filed a complaint on here once but do not remember the dates or the username/password I used. This vehicle is the worst car I have ever owned. I've sunk thousands into repairs in the last couple of years. I've had instrument cluster replaced 4 times, replaced engine mounts, my a/c compressor went out on it, throttle body replaced. And now it sits on blocks we thought was the fuel pump went out so replaced it. Didn't do any good. Not sure what it is the instrument cluster still doesn't work correctly, it was surging til the day the other day when it just wont go anymore, it will start and run but won't go. I was told it could be numerous things, throttle body again, instrument cluster still not right, might be my transmission, could be my pedal throttle sensor, fuel switch out. . . . . . . . . . So what do I do nickel and penny everything I have into a lemon that obviously the NHTSA nor Ford care about. I'm a single mother with two children, we live 7 miles from town. . . And now I have no transportation. I bought this vehicle in 2005 and paid quite a bit for it. Its like toilet paper or diapers. . . . Disposable! I will never purchase a Ford again.

: the contact stated the vehicle was modified to allow the driver to be seated in a wheel chair. Shortly after the modification a problem began while attempting to open the door to lower the ramp. The door does not open automatically to engage the ramp for exit or entry. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer were the mother board was replaced. The replacement of the part did not remedy the problem. The vehicle was returned to the local dealer where the keyless entry remotes were replaced. The replacement of the remotes did not remedy the problem. The vehicle was taken to the original modification dealer were it was inspected and was determined the remotes were obstructed by a foreign body which was removed. This did not remedy the problem. The vehicle was then taken to an independent mobility dealer who determined the entire flooring materials needed to be removed in order to secure the lock down for the front seat wheel chair. This procedure was completed to remedy a second problem the contact was unaware existed. Additionally, the independent mobility dealer recommended replacing the mother board because of unpredictability. The dealer determined the original and replacement boards were not the appropriate application for use in the conversion. The dealer recommended the use of a completely different brand of mother board. The dealer ordered the new mother board and is awaiting shipment. Currently the only way the door and ramp can be used is by someone manually opening the door and pulling out the ramp. This process renders the vehicle impossible to use by the contact alone.

2005 Ford Freestyle - the vehicle stalled while driving. This usually happened when driving up hill. Also, it happened while trying to take off from a red light. After leaving the red light it happened three more times in a span of two miles. This happened seven times to consumer, and once for the dealer. It has been to the dealership four times for repairs. The dealer was able to duplicate the problem only once, and they were unable to tell what was the cause the problem. Therefore, they were unable to fix the problem. The dealer said it might be a problem with the computer in the car. The dealership has been in contact with the manufacture , and they were unsure what the problem was. The dealer told the consumer to contact the manufacturer and consider this car a lemon. Had not contacted the manufacturer yet, but I planned to do so.

I am leasing a Ford Freestyle. We have found that with the child lock off, that the rear passanger doors will not open unless the driver or passange unlocks the doors with the electronic switch at any time - with the mortor running, the car in park, or the motor off and the car in park. If there should be a crash or both the front dseat driver and passanger be unable to open the door, the rear seat passangers would not be able to get out. The windows are electric which with the motoor and key in off are inoperable. We have taken the car to the local Ford dealer. They tell us that they are unable to do any thing about this issue. They claim to have been into the computer and can not find any way to change the way the rear doors open. This is a definite safety issue, especially in a front end or front side crash. I have sent a description of the issue to Ford through their web site.