general problems of the 2003 Ford Taurus - part 2

I was driving down a side street when the car quit moving forward. I coasted to a stop and tried reverse, and it would not go in that direction either. The engine was running when this occurred. I had a baby in the car and a trunk full of groceries. I got out and checked all the fluids. They were full. The transmission fluid was clear. The maintenance book said not to change the transmission fluid until 100,000. My car has only 73,000 miles. This car is well maintained. I paid to have it towed to the nearest car repair shop. They determined it was a transmission problem and could not fix it. I then had to pay to tow it to another shop that informed me that this was a characteristic problem of a 2003 Ford Taurus. If this defect is known by Ford's and they chose to ignore it and not fix our cars, I hope you will do the right thing and make Ford's fix it without me having to pay a huge bill which is hard on a limited income. I saw this address on a facebook page. . Read more...

The car was being driven on a major highway between 40-50 mph and the transmission just dropped. Had to coast to the side of the road to avoid an accident. No warnings, lights, winding, etc. The car was just in for a tune up and oil change the weekend prior and there was nothing detected. There are hundreds of complaints regarding the same issue with an average mileage under 100,000 miles. We called Ford to explain that there was a systemic problem, they offered no assistance.

I was driving down the road doing 45 mph and without warning I lost all power. No gears will work. It seems as if all gears are like neutral. Engine starts and runs fine but no gears will work. Transmission wont work.

The contact owns a 2003 Ford Taurus. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled without warning. A local mechanic diagnosed that the vehicle would need a new transmission. The manufacturer was notified, but denied any assistance with repairs to the failure. The dealer was not notified. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 77,000.

Automatic transmission quit working with no warning. Could have caused serious damage. Luckly car was already parked. Ford motor company should have a recall on all 2003 Ford Taurus transmissions, someone is seriously going to be hurt by this problem.

I turned my car on and reversed out of my driveway. When I hit the street my car would not budge. The car turned on but would not move leaving me stranded in the middle of the street with my two small children in the car. I believe these cars are dangerous and have found a large community online that has had the same problem or worse with these cars. I contacted Ford and they told me that they don't care and will not recall these cars. Someone with a similar experience on a forum directed me here to file a complaint. My car had less than 65,000 miles on it and was well maintained. This should not have happened.

The contact owns a 2003 Ford Taurus. While driving approximately 65 mph, the vehicle began to decelerate independently. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for diagnostics where the mechanic advised that the transmission would have to be rebuilt. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 179,000.

The contact owns a 2003 Ford Taurus. The contact was driving 40 mph and merging into traffic, but when the accelerator pedal was engaged the vehicle did not respond. There was and increase in the engine rpms, but the vehicle then stalled instead of accelerate. The vehicle was taken to a local mechanic, who diagnosed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileages were 50,000. The VIN was not available.

The contact owns a 2003 Ford Taurus. While driving approximately 15 mph, the vehicle began to decelerate abnormally. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic for diagnostics where the mechanic stated that the transmission would have to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 53,000.

Pulling out of driveway at work onto delhi pike a 4 lane highway to make a left turn (rush hours traffic) got out to lane started down road, engine just revved car quite running, rush hour traffic 35 mile hr zone. Called Ford, no recalls (was told not enough complaints filed). Ford really did not even seem concerned or act like they cared about it. I guess since the vehicle is 2003 and it is now 2011. Sorry about my luck, was how Ford approached it. It cost $2231 to repair. Thank god I am alive if this would have quit in middle of the left turn I could have been killed. Is it going to take deaths to make this a recall, it is quite obvious there is a problem. My car had 52520 miles on it, most vehicles this is just broke in. Car complaints. Com there are over 200 complaints about the same thing. Imagine going 70 on highway semi behind you all of a sudden you slow up have no way to get off highway, I guess the semi runs over top of you killing you and how many other people, either in your car or chain reaction. Ford and the NHTSA need to step up, and help out. How many people out there did not file a complaint, or know this is a known problem with the Ford Taurus.

Came home on my 03 Ford Taurus working great the next day turned on the car to go to work started great put it in gear to leave and no go will not go forward or back. Friends and family told me transmission might have gone bad but the strange thing is no warning signs lucky for me it failed outside my house. Explored the internet and found out that the 03 Ford Taurus has a faulty transmission.

Car starts to accelerate by itself without pushing on the gas pedal and doesn't stop till it is shut off.

The contact owns a 2003 Ford Taurus. The contact stated that the gear shifter would not shift into drive or reverse. The vehicle was not repaired. The VIN was not available. The failure and the current mileage was 100,000.

I was just driving along and all of a sudden the rpms just went up and I started to slow down,pulled over to the side of the road and tried shifting in reverse and then drive and would not move,rpms just went up when I stepped on the gas.

Tl-the contact owns a 2003 Ford Taurus. The contact was driving 30 mph when the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was towed to the dealer to have a diagnostic performed but the vehicle was not repaired. The failure and the current mileage was 38,000. Kmj.

The contact owns a 2003 Ford Taurus. While parked, the contact moved the gear shifter into reverse but the vehicle would not respond. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic for diagnostic testing where the mechanic advised the contact that the transmission would have to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 65,000.

The contact owns a 2003 Ford Taurus. The contact stated that while accelerating from a red light, the engine rpms increased but the vehicle would not move. The vehicle was towed to a local mechanic who diagnosed that the transmission was defective and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and the current mileage was 138,000.

The contact owns a 2003 Ford Taurus. The contact started the vehicle, but was unable to shift into any gear. The vehicle was not taken to have the failure diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure and current mileages were 82,000. The VIN was unavailable.

In the middle of a busy intersection, the transmission suddenly quit. The motor continued to run fine, but I had no forward power. I had to coast through the intersection. I was on a slight uphill incline and was able to put the transmission in park. Cars were passing me on both sides. Fortunately someone stopped and helped me push the vehicle to the side of the road. A very scary situation for a while.

While driving on a very busy road, my transmission quit. I had nothing but neutral. There were no warning signs that it was going to fail, it went from working perfectly to having no gears (forward or reverse). Luckily I was able to coast to a safe spot to park and wait for a tow. The transmission had to be replaced, it was not repairable. The car had approximately 45,000 miles on it.

The contact owns a 2003 Ford Taurus ses. The contact stated that while driving at low speeds, the vehicle would no longer accelerate. After trying to restart it to no avail, it was undrivable and had to be towed. The vehicle has not been inspected nor repaired. The dealer was contacted and they advised him that the trans axle had possibly failed and needed to be replaced. The failure and current mileages were approximately 113,000. Updated 08/05/lj.

Was pulling out of the car garage and put in reverse the car started back and the engines rpm roared up and crashed in to neighbor tree went across the street and crashed in the other neighbor tree and house all of this in reverse.

The contact owns a 2003 Ford Taurus. The contact stated that when shifting into drive and depressing the accelerator, the vehicle would lunge forward violently. He vehicle was taken to a local mechanic who repaired the failure, but the defect recurred. The manufacturer was not contacted. The vehicle was not further repaired. The failure mileage was 64,000 and the current mileage was 76,000. The VIN was unavailable.

The contact owns a 2003 Ford Taurus. The contact stated that when the vehicle was not warmed up he was unable to shift into any gear. The issue did not persist when the vehicle was running for a long period of time. The vehicle was not taken to a dealership or independent mechanic. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 70,000 miles and the current mileage was 100,000 miles.

I have an issues.

I was looking on the NHTSA website with regard to another issue that I had heard about with the 2003 Taurus (front end collapse) when I came across this transmission issue. Driving in highway passing lane, the car suddenly began to lose momentum. Speedometer rapidly began to drop while rpm's went ballistic, then dropped. I was fortunate that I quickly realized the car was coming to a stop that I could not control regardless of how hard I pressed the accelerator. I was barely able to pull over 3 lanes of traffic to make it into the breakdown lane, where it came to a complete halt and could not be moved. Not only did I have an issue with my 2003 Taurus at 71k miles, we also had to replace the transmission on our 2001 Ford f-150 at 110k miles & 2005 Ford focus at 80k miles, at a cost of $8300. 00. All of these vehicles were purchased new and driven by the same driver. Given the number of complaints posted on the NHTSA website, I would think either Ford or the national highway transportation safety administration would take responsibility and perform an in depth investigation why so many Ford transmissions are failing and issue a notification of these serious issues with this car and the steps to remediate those issues before the issue causes serious injury or death.

While driving for about 40 miles turned off li expressway came to a light when I stepped on gas pedal to hear engine revving up but the car not moving. Had to call aaa to have it towed home and then had the Ford dealership come pick it up. They told me I needed a new transmission and it was no longer under warranty so with my choices being 1- fix it at my own expense or 2- buy a new car. I had to have the Ford dealership replace the transmission to the cost of $3066. 24. This is usually when your just breaking in the engine on a car not replacing a transmission and at my cost. Now fast forward 7 yrs Dec 12 2012 with 18800 miles while driving on the li expressway I was driving 55 mph when all of a sudden the car speeds up tp 75 mph without warning I applied the brakes but could feel the engine fighting me all the way. The cars rpm needle starts to rise to 5500 to 6000 rpms this happened all the way home now its at the repair shop I can just imagine how much this is going to cost. Never again will I buy a Ford.

The contact owns a 2003 Ford Taurus. The contact stated that while attempting to shift the vehicle out of park, the gear shifter failed to shift. On several occasions, the brake lights remained illuminated even after the vehicle was turned off causing the battery to discharge. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or independent mechanic. A dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired, but the contact spoke to an independent mechanic who advised that there was a recall on the likely issue. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and stated that the VIN was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 04v106000 (exterior lighting). The approximate failure mileage was 3,000.

While driving the vehicle in overdrive the vehicle would slow down. The dealer was notified. While driving the vehicle in overdrive the vehicle slows down. The dealer has been notified.