general problems of the 2006 Ford Freestyle - part 2

First, during a family vacation the wrench light kept coming on and the 2006 Freestyle would have no acceleration like the transmission would not engage to get the required speed to pass. This results in slowing traffic down causing road rage with other drivers in the vicinity. On one occasion one of our teenagers who is learning to drive experienced this and will not drive the car for this reason. Also, on several occasions while I was driving in route to work or the grocery store, my 06 Ford Freestyle sel limited seemed slow and sluggish to respond as I would be waiting at a red light for the green. When the light did turn green and I would press the gas pedal to go, the car would stall/shut off. A few times there were close calls as the car behind me would be unaware I was having trouble and almost rear-end me. When the car would cut off, I would proceed to restart the car and then press the gas to go. The car seemed to respond extremely slow like I would have the gas pedal pressed to the floor and would only be able to go 20 - 25 mph. On other occasions, the car would seem to lurch forward or backward (depending on if I had the car in drive or reverse) the wrench light coming on my 2006 Ford Freestyle creates a very dangerous situation because the engine will accelerate without applying the gas pedal and will not accelerate at times when the gas pedal is pressed. People at Ford tell me that the company making the valve body part went out of business without notice, which does not help my situation any. So what is to be done? I have notified my state and federal highway safety commissioners, NHTSA, and my friend who also owns a 2006 Ford Freestyle of the problem and I would like to ask everyone with a similar problem to do the same. Please explain,what is to be done?.

I drive a 2006 Ford Freestyle. I would like to report that when the car has been running and it is a hot day when placed in reverse it will accelerate on it's own and then the motor will die causing the check engine light to come one. Typically if I turn it off and wait a few minutes it will come back on light free, but there has been two occasions when it has not. The first I took it for a diagnostics where I was told to take it to Ford that it seemed to be a transmission issue, Ford told me that they were not sure but they cleared out the sensor to give it a good wash if it happened again. It has happened again only this time the engine dying to acceleration ration has increased and a good car wash has not helped the issue. I am becoming very concerned before the acceleration was only in reverse now it is occurring in drive as well and happening more frequently. I have plans to take it to my local Ford dealership however I do not have high hopes for answers as they were not all that helpful the first time.

My 2006 Ford Freestyle has an issue where the rpm stays at 1500 allowing my vehicle to move at speeds of 25 - 30 mph with my foot off of the gas pedal. While stopped at a traffic light, the rpm was at 1500 then dropped all of a sudden causing the engine to almost stall. The rpms then jumped up again to avoid the engine stall causing my vehicle to move forward. In researching possible causes on the internet, I found that many Ford owners have experienced the same issue and had to replace the throttle body (throttle position sensor). I called Ford customer service and despite the numerous consumer complaints, there was no recall or no issue reported related to this serious acceleration issue. I was told to take the vehicle to my local dealer, have it repaired, and if Ford decided to put out a recall that I may be reimbursed for this issue. My concern with Ford’s approach is that if every owner pays for this repair without anyone in the consumer safety board being made aware of this that there will be no recall. Someone could get injured or killed with such a serious vehicle defect.

Engine revs and vehicle lurches while placing the car in reverse, even with foot firmly on the brakes. Appears to be worse when air conditioner is on. Vehicle has lost virtually all power while driving. When this happens, you can floor the gas peddle but the vehicle won't go over 10-15mph. Pulling over to the side of the road, turning vehicle off, waiting 15 seconds or so, then restarting, seems to reset the vehicle to a more functionable level. The vehicle also has an extensive exhaust smell and it is currently at the shop for a $566 repair for the diagnostic exam and that diagnosis indicating that the egr valve needs to be replaced. I called Ford and they do not have a current recall for the egr valve, or throttle body-which seems to be a correlated problem within the two.

The car is surging and lunging (see pending investigation from may 2011). Also, when running the a/c it starts to go off and on by itself, then the engine starts to shut off and on, and all gages go to zero, like the car is losing power.

Auto-up/down function is erratic. Batt warning light goes of and on. Sudden acceleation at any speed.

My Ford Freestyle has had engine surging issues for approximately a year know. Today 6/21/2012 my car started surging at every stop light so severely if we weren't holding down the brake we would of hit the car in front of us. The problem became so severe we had to put the car in neutral at every intersection to keep car from trying to jump into the intersection and stall. Today's temp was in the high nineties and we were using the air conditioning. Today's incident was the worst its been. Went on line and search the symptoms and found that a lot of Freestyle owners are having the same issue. With the safety of the car owner and pedestrians that could be near the car in jeopardy. Ford should be recalling these cars and trying to find a permanent solution to fix this rather then charging the owners high dollars to replace a defective designed part with the same defective part.

I pulled into my garage, placed the car in park, turned it off, returned in 30 minutes, started right up, placed transmission in reverse, heard and felt a large bang, whining noise from engine, wrench light came on, that was the last time I drove it. I had it towed to a shop, replaced the computer, recoded, reflashed, nothing worked. I was told it needs a new transmission. New transmission estimate is $7000. 00. . . Ford should be held accountable for a flawed design. . . I was fortunate in that my transmission failed in my garage, others were not so lucky. Please dont wait until someone's family is killed before you force a much needed recall on some seriously bad research and development.

The contact owns a 2006 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that the vehicle hesitated to accelerate and stalled without warning. After several attempts, the vehicle was able to restart. The vehicle was taken to the dealer more than five times, but the failure was unable to be replicated. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 137,000.

2 months in (cruise control causes car to shut down) continues to do so weh used at 35 mph or less. 3 mo. In (car looses power and surges randomly mainly in parking mode. Also power lost while driving down road beteen 30 mph and 60 mph 6 months in all lights surge when used. A/c useage aggitates all symptoms but does not have to be in use for occurance. One or all occurances happen everytime driven, air filter changed(no help) car is now harder to start. Plans for throttle body cleaning in the next week though. Will update on results.

On multiple occasions my vehicle has lunged when in a stopped position. When backing out of a parking spot, while in reverse, but with the brake still applied the car has lunged feet backwards at a fast rate and nearly caused accidents. This is also true in regards to stopped at a light or stop sign. While in drive with the brake peddle depressed stopped behind another vehicle the car lunged forward a couple feet nearly hitting the car in front of me. I have four children and I feel unsafe in my own car. I don't know when it is going to happen so I have to be prepared for it at all times. Thank god that I haven't had any accidents when this happens. It is such a fast and unexpected movement that my children will scream. This needs to be taken seriously before someone has a serious accident.

I have a 2006 Ford Freestyle. Over the past 4-6 months I have noticed the car surging and lurching forward after coming to a complete stop with my foot still completely on the brake. I have almost collided with vehicles in front of me as well as pedestrians in the crosswalk! this also happens when the car is in reverse backing out of the driveway and stopping to shift into drive. The car will surge or lurch backwards and if you are not covering the brake while in drive or reverse, the car will accelerate without touching the gas pedal. I took the vehicle to frontier Ford in san jose, CA and the mechanic diagnosed this problem as a bad throttle body. From my research, this is a widespread problem with this make & model vehicle. I believe this problem may very well lead to a serious tragedy if this common problem is not recalled. Please help us owners of these cars remain safe and not kill someone because of this failure! a recall is badly needed !!!.

I have always owned Fords however this is by far the scariest Ford car ever and to me the unsafest!! I purchased my Ford Freestyle back in October 2010. Ever since then my car seems to have a mind of its own. When I am completely stopped my car will automatically lunge forward and even stall when I am turning my wheel. I have a 5 year old child who I drive everyday to school in this death trap and it scares me to death. I have tried talking to my Ford dealership about this since the car was like this when I bought it but of course they want me to spend all this money I do not have on repairs. . . After internet research it appears there are hundreds of people that have the same problem with this vehicle. Why isn't anyone doing something about this to protect the consumer? it is very scary and I do not understand why the car is lunging forward and backwards if backing up when my foot is clearly on the brake as well as stalling . I hope someone will do something about it before someone ends up in an accident or even dead because of this!! that would be a serious lawsuit I am sure. This is a serious issue please please do a recall on it now if not for me for the sake of someone's life who is driving one of these unsafe vehicles.

While idling in park with a/c on, put vehicle in reverse or drive and vehicle began to quickly accelerate without pressing the accelerator pedal. Had to quickly press the brake pedal to avoid running into people/vehicle. Even with brake pedal being applied, vehicle tends to lurch in reverse or drive. This began occasionally at around 70,000 miles but now happens continually. Ford dealer said it is a common problem on this model and is caused by a part that is on back order for months. Vehicle is unsafe to operate.

2006 Ford Freestyle surging when brake is on. Problem is worse when the ac is running. This is a very dangerous issue. It happens when you do not want to go such as tight parking spaces, school parking lots, drive thru fast food places, etc. The car will also have a big surge and then lose power. Happened to me in a busy intersection. Awesome car but the safety is being compromised and needs to be addressed.

I have now had the diagnostic ran and the bad throttle body came in. I contacted Ford and filed a complaint and request for financial assistance. There are are hundreds of blog entries with this same issue. It is dangerous and some people are buying new cars because of it. I do not have this luxury. The repair is going to cost around $750. 00 which I cannot afford either. If Ford knows about this, and it is currently under investigation, then why is there no recall? this car is a danger on the roads. We are being put in harms way every day, and now to boot we are having to replace a defective part that owners have had issues with for the past 2 years. The posts I have read are from all across the country, with people having the exact same issues. We are being taken advantage of. Please make them do something about this. Sounds a lot like Toyota. . .

The car when your at a stop or low speed, in drive or reverse the car will try to lurch. When driving down the highway it's fine but when you come to a stop the wrench light comes on. A couple of times the car wouldn't go right away but eventually it would sometimes after turning the car off and back on again the wrench would be gone and would be able to go. Sounds like sometimes the car isnt shifting right. The lurching is really noticeable when the a/c is on. Can't have the a/c on when at a stop or it will lurch.

June 2010 I started having problems with the vehicle lurching forward/backward while in gear and foot firmly on brake. The car would stall and I would have to wait 5-10 minutes to re-start. It seemed to be worse when the a/c was running. Still having problems today. Took the vehicle to dick masheter Ford in columbus, OH per Ford's customer service. They ran a diagnostic test (with a waived fee per Ford) and after letting the vehicle and a/c run for awhile they did notice a "light serge at idle in gear with a/c on and turning at the same time". I do not feel safe driving the vehicle when the a/c needs to be ran. It will lurch a good foot if not more when it is at its worst.

I purchased my 2006 Ford Freestyle in June of 2007. Initially I fell in love with the comfort, size, and gas mileage of my new car. Around 2 1/2 yrs later I started noticing when moving from park to reverse my car would sometimes stall or lunge backwards. It was only occasionally and at the time I was told I probably didn't have it in gear all the way before reversing. I had to switch from park to reverse very slowly and always be ready to hit the brake in case it decided to lunge on its own. This problem has almost completely gone away except now I have problems accelerating. Almost always on the highway now my car will loose power and the wrench light will come on. Once I pull over and restart it , it seems to temporarily solve the problem. This is however beyond dangerous. Several times this has happened in places on busy highways where there is no shoulder. I have to travel in the slow lane now 100% of the time and I try to avoid major interstate at all costs. I have invested a great deal of money into several different things that have turned out to not be the problem. I feel like this car should have been recalled by now, before it ends up killing someone. I bought this car because it seemed like a great family car but now I am scared to death to even let children ride with me. I am also very upset that after paying down over a 20k loan to 5k that I will have to buy another car. I planned on having this car for years and years. I attempted in 2009 and in 2011 to trade the car in for a new car and the $ value of trade in is very low. The dealerships are well aware of the problems and offer a very small amount for a 7 passenger 2006 with only 85k miles on and it gets great gas mileage compared to most suvs or vans that seat 7.

Vehicle will surge forward while at a full stop or while braking/decelerating with no warning. Usually happens when a/c is running on full fan. Wrench light will go on when it occurs and car will run very sluggish until car is turned off. At restart, (if air is off) wrench light is off and car runs ok. Ford service dept in 2007 and 2008 said if they can't duplicate problem, can't help. This is the third summer it has occurred and is occurring more frequently. Finally brought it to service dept for repair. They said they hadn't heard about this although I am finding several reports of exact same issue online and at NHTSA. They replaced the electronic throttle and a "computer" part.

The contact owns a 2006 Ford Freestyle. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, the brakes were depressed and the vehicle lunged forward. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and a private mechanic. The mechanic stated that the main computer needed to be updated and a wire was touching the air conditioner unit. The manufacturer was not contacted. The vehicle was not repaired. The VIN was unknown. The failure mileage was 54,000 and the current mileage was 75,000.

I was driving 65 miles an hour on the new york state thruway when without the warning the recently and continually maintained vehicle stopped running. After 4 dealers contacted found one who would look at car that week I was 3 hrs from home on vacation. It was determined to be a broken wire in a harness that runs the crank shaft? no explanation how this could possibly happen from Ford but not covered on any warranty. Cannot ever even check this harness as it is enclosed. Seems to be an awfully dangerous defect. . . . . .

My Ford Freestyle has been lurching for years. I have now started stalling when pulling into parking spaces, or making sharp turns. My air compressor needs replacing and I was told the erg valve may cause the lurching? my engine lights comes and goes sporadically and I have to go through carpool line or grocery store with one foot on brakes. I can't fully feel confident at redlights that I won't rearend the person in front of me. I can't understand how this is a issue we should all be stuck with when its obvious a defect. I filed a complaint quite awhile back but now the stalling and lurching has become quite a safety issue. I can live without air although the mechanic seems to think its all related. . . Please recall the issued parts! I stall on hills, when pulling out into traffic, I lunge at random times and then. . . . Its fine for the next drive. . . Then dangerous the next!.

I have had nothing but issue after issue. It started with my brakes failing like several others that I have read. It now surrounds my 6 cd player that either melts or won't play. I have had it into the Ford dealership a few times to no avail. On 03-12-08 the electrical panel only lights up partially, and after shaking the front dash board a few time all lights popped on. I have talked to service managers and they have done what they have the ability to do. This vehicle is a 2006 Ford Freestyle and I would not recommend it to anyone for purchase.

While putting car in reverse car surged backwards and the check engine wrench came on. Drove car home approx. Five blocks and shut car off because car was running rough. Started car back up and car ran smooth and the check engine wrench was off. I sat in parking lot for approx. Five minutes while my wife was shopping with car running and the air conditioning on. This is the second time in the last month that this car has done this. Both with the same issues. The car surges, then runs rough, then the check engine wrench comes on, then when you shut the car off and restart it the car runs smooth and the check engine wrench shuts off.