Cruise Control problems of the 2003 Ford Ranger

I have owned my 2003 Ford Ranger XLT since it was new, and have had all scheduled maintenance. I have had 4 incidents since March 2010 where the vehicle has accelerated when I was braking to stop, with 3 of those incidents within the past week. The first incident caused my truck to push thru a gate, damaging the gate and the front of the vehicle. In this case, the engine did finally drop to an idle. I thought the behavior must be a fluke, so didn't report the incident. The 2nd thru 4th incidents have occurred on a limited access road in omaha (Dodge street) at stop signs and at a gas station outside omaha, and as I was nearing a stop the engine started accelerating and pulling the vehicle forward. Maximum pressure on the brakes allowed me to stay stationary so no vehicles or pedestrians were hit, but caused my rear wheels to burn rubber. I turned off the engine to stop the acceleration. The most dangerous incident was when this occurred at a gas station, when I was pulling slowly to a gas pump behind another vehicle and the strong acceleration began. While the truck has cruise control, it was not engaged in any of these 4 incidents. I had the vehicle in for repairs to correct this issue last week, and the last two incidents occurred after the dealer charged me about $880 to fix the issue (replaced throttle valve assy, gasket, potentiometer engine throttle, procharger fuel injection service). The dealer insists that there are no sudden acceleration issues with Ford vehicles, but there are reports of issues on the internet.

My husband was driving down the road and his 2003 Ford Ranger fx4 5-speed gave a small lurch and a "stutter". Since he was right there at his destination, he pulled into the driveway and shut the engine off. Thinking that it was just a glitch (like his foot slipped off the clutch, or something along those lines), he went into the house to get our son and take him home. He was inside the house no more than 5 minutes. As he was carrying our son out to the truck, he saw that there was smoke pouring out from under the hood. Of course, emergency services were called. The fire reached the inside of the truck within a couple of minutes and began spreading along the ground. After putting the fire out, the fire marshall indicated that he believed that the fire started towards the back of the engine compartment on the driver's side. The truck, of course, will be a total loss. The passenger side airbag (which was disarmed as our infant son rode on that side) had deployed, the windshield had exploded, as had the two front tires. As for the hood, there was nothing left.

Cruise control on my 2003 Ford Ranger 4x4 appeared to disengage when I shifted the truck into neutral going down a steep hill. When my vehicle slowed, I shifted from neutral back into drive and the engine raced to redline(rev limiter) as the cruise was trying to immediately increase the speed without waiting for the transmission to engage fully. I shifted back into neutral and then I noticed that I had the cruise control on. I cut cruise control off, then shifted back into drive and everything worked correctly. If cruise control is supposed to disengage when shifted to neutral, it really should disengage not race to redline when shifted back into drive. I don't know what the affect would be if an engine at 6000 rpms suddenly engages the transmission at 65 mph. I'd rather have the engine race when I first put the shifter in neutral than when I shifted back into drive!.

Consumer requesting information on 2003 Ranger defects. A friend of the consumer's downloaded complaints that were similar to the problems the consumer experienced with his vehicle. While driving 55 mph with the cruise control on the truck began to accelerate. The vehicle sped up to approximately 80 mph before the consumer could get it to stop. Three months later while stopped at a traffic light the vehicle accelerated suddenly and struck several vehicles. This accident caused serious injuries to four people. The consumer was unable to prove that the vehicle caused the accident therefore he was sentenced to 70 months in jail.

Non injury momentary loss of engine control while driving up a moderate incline with my new Ford Ranger in cruise control & over drive on at about 65 mph & 2500 rpm's. The engine kicked down twice in immediate succession and the engine ran away to 6000 rpm's+ and stayed there. Engine tach limit is 6000rpm's so I do not know the extent of the over rev. I took immediate action to disengage cruise control which lowered the rpm's and turned the over drive off which resulted in a normal rpm of about 3000 @ 65 mph. I have traveled the same area before without any such occurrance. Also the engine has a erratic type misfire at idle which may contribute to the problem. This situation was very unsafe as when the engine "ranaway" I only glanced at the tack twice and do not know how fast it ended up before I disengaged the cruise control.

Serious safety hazard: vehicle throttle actuates independently when brake is applied. I purchased a used 2003 Ford Ranger 2 wheel drive extended cab 4 door model with a 3. 0 l engine with 21123 miles 3 weeks ago. Three times I have come to a stop, applied the brakes and the throttle has independently actuated. This defect occurs when I apply the brake to make a complete stop. Specifically at the exact time my foot depresses the brake pedal the throttle actuates by itself to increase the engine rpm. ( I did not have my foot on the throttle pedal) yesterday, the third time this has occurred. I kept my foot on the brake and the rpm increased to approximately 3000. Smoke emitted from the right wheel brake because of the rotation of the tire in opposition to my application of the brake. I had not been using the cruise control and was stopping from a relatively low speed of 5 mph either at a stop sign or in front of my office in all three incidents. Yesterday when parking in front of my office the engine rpm stayed constant and did not drop to idle. ( during the previous two times the engine rpm surged and then returned to idle within 1 second. ) however yesterday after approximately 5 seconds of constant high engine rpm I moved the gear shift lever of the automatic transmission from the drive position to the neutral position. The rpm then returned to idle speed and the transmission no longer attempted to involuntarily propel the vehicle in the forward position. I then immediately drove the truck to the conway-heaton Ford dealer in bardstown kentucky for a warranty repair.