Automatic Transmission Control Module problems of the 2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid

2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid was going 20mph on electric motor in traffic when triangle warning light came on and the stop safely now sign displayed. The vehicle gas engine did not come on and I had to pull over to the side. I place the car in park and turn off the engine. I restarted the engine and the warning light disappeared. I took it to the Ford dealership and they ran a diagnostic on it. They indicated it was the throttle body on the car that needs to be clean or replaced, and the pcm needs to be reprogrammed. I replaced it. This is after I took it to the Ford dealership to fix the two recalls for this vehicle - electric steering control and electric coolant pump for the hybrid battery. I don't know if this will fixed the stalling issue since other vehicle owners indicated this problem persists, only time will tell. If this is a persistent problem please issue a recall since losing propulsion in traffic is not safe.

I was traveling west at about 70 mph in the left lane on I-66 out of washington, DC with four people in the car. Suddenly, the engine died and we were left with only the electric motor on the hybrid and a dash warning of a red triangle and the statement "stop safely soon. " the car quickly lost power to about 30 mph and we struggled to get across the four lanes to the shoulder. The electronics in the car still operated (radio, dash lights, etc. ), but the gas engine stalled. Once on the shoulder, we stopped. The Ford owner's manual told us to turn the car off and try to re-start. We did this and the car re-started. We started to drive, but the car did the same thing after about 5 minutes. The car did the same thing on about 5 different occasions until we could get to an exit that had businesses. The Ford dealer in this area (away from my home) states that the electronic cooling pump needs to be replaced. Although I understand that parts fail, my complaint is that Ford should not tell owners to re-start the car and try to proceed on. It is dangerous when it continues to fail and you don't know where the next failure might occur (on a bridge, in a construction zone, on a busy, fast interstate). Moreover, having reviewed complaints on this site and elsewhere on the internet about Ford hybrids, I know that many others have experience this situation where the car engine stalls at highway speeds due to various problems (e. G. , the electronic cooling pump, bad sensors, or a corrupted pcm).