Brake Master Cylinder problems of the 2009 Mercury Milan

I was driving my 2009 Mercury Milan down a downhill side road on the first day of wintry road conditions of the 2019 year, and my abs brakes engaged as I hit some ice. Immediately following this incident and for the next 20 miles of highway driving, my brakes felt very spongy. Specifically, during my next braking attempt and each subsequent one following this abs event, my brake pedal just went straight to the ground every time I tried to brake. I could feel the brakes begin to engage only as the pedal hit the ground, so I wasn't completely lacking brakes, but I essentially had very little braking power. In previous vehicles, I've previously experienced air in brake lines and a failed master cylinder, and this did not feel like either of those issues -- less braking power than air in the lines and more braking power than a completely failed master cylinder. I almost wrecked my car a dozen times, even though I reserved myself to driving tens of miles below the speed limit and leaving lots of room in front of me. I took the car to the closest available garage (a firestone) where they confirmed that I had full brake fluid and so dismissed a master cylinder leak. They did not fix anything at the garage due to uncertainty about the issue and the high price tag to search. Much later that day, I returned to my car to commute home only to find that the brakes worked as they had prior to the morning commute. The issue seemed to have resolve itself. After copious research, I came across the "extended braking distance" investigation (NHTSA action number: ea18002) for this very vehicle. My issue seems to mirror the antilock braking system (abs) hydraulic control unit (hcu) problem described in this investigation quite well. Why in the world is this not a recall??? my life was in grave danger the other day, and now I'm terrified to drive my car. Come on, NHTSA/Ford!.

The contact owns a 2009 Mercury Milan. While driving 35 mph, the brake pedal was depressed and traveled to the floorboard. The contact stated that the brake pedal felt spongy. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the brake master cylinder failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred. The local dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was contacted and informed of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 100,001.

Complete brake failure made it necessary to replace the master cylinder and the brain.

The contact owns a 2009 Mercury Milan. While attempting to brake at 3 mph, the brake pedal dropped independently 1-2 inches and the vehicle took an excessive amount of time to slow down. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the master cylinder failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was towed to benson Ford, inc. (4701 calhoun memorial hwy, easley, SC 29640) where it was diagnosed that the hydraulic control unit failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure, stated that there was no recall, and transferred the contact directly to NHTSA. The approximate failure mileage was 108,000.

I was driving on a road that was slippery due to icy conditions. I applied the brakes when a car stopped suddenly in front of me. I was able to stop but after the incident the brakes went"soft" and I had to apply extra force and pump the brakes to get the car to brake adequately. My mechanic thought it might be a problem with the calipers but fixed them. When that did not fix the problem he put in a new factory master cylinder which also did not remedy the situation. He then did some research and discovered that there have been issues with the abs system. My car is still not braking properly.

The contact owns a 2009 Mercury Milan. While reversing the vehicle, the brake pedal was depressed and the pedal traveled to the floor without warning. The contact had to pump the brake pedal in order for it to function properly. The dealer diagnosed that the master cylinder failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 84,202.

The contact owns a 2009 Mercury Milan. The contact stated that the vehicle would not decelerate when the brake pedal was depressed to the floorboard. The dealer diagnosed that the brake master cylinder needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 18,242.

A couple of months ago, the front tires of my car hit a rough surface due to road repair on my way home, and instantly I felt the abs came on and I may have seen a quick instrument light flash. It took a very long distance to stop the car at the following stop sign, because majority of the brake travel was non-functional; I felt I was lucky I was even able to stop the car. After returning home, I inspected the brake and saw no leaks or damages in the brake system. After some internet search, I was surprised to see so many similar complaints about the Ford vehicles but with no recall information. The cause seems to be the hcu module, possibly some valve could not fully close after energizing, even though many shops replace the master cylinder without much effect. Now my car has evolved from 80% non-functional brake to soft brake pedal with long brake travel. The hcu module replacement costs over $2000. It took me two months to finally decide to bring my car to a Ford dealership tomorrow. Then I saw the news article about the nthsa investigation, so I decide to add my case. I believe that there could be many many Ford vehicles with soft soft brake pedals on the road, which could cause accidents and lifes.

Nothing bad has happened, yet. A couple of years ago, we noticed that the brakes became much softer. It became necessary to push further down on the pedal to engage them. We took the care to a shop in March of 2016. The mechanics checked the whole system, and thought it was the master cylinder, so he put a new one it. He called us to tell us, that wasn't the issue, so he removed it, and did not charge us. I did some on line searches, which I've continued, and saw that there were similar issues with that NHTSA was looking at, and heir might be a recall. I've continued to check every few months, or so , for the past 2 years, but still no word of a recap. I checked on muffed. Com today, and Ford still has not recalled the problem. The only recall appearing for that car is the current air bag issue (16s26). My wife tells me that now she's used to it and that if it is a safety issue, Ford would recall it. I won't drive the car. I think it's a accident waiting to happen. I doubt this will accomplish anything, or that I'll get a response, but I'd like to know the status on this situation, and want to go on record as reporting it. Maybe Ford will take care of it eventually if enough people complain.