general problems of the 2005 Mercury Monterey

It was raining and my vehicle kept going into neutral and stalling. I'd press the gas, nothing would happen. It wouldn't go into reverse. When I put it in neutral the engine just revved up. Putting it park was ok. Check engine codes p0715 and p0340 appeared. A flashing check engine light (!), and solid check engine light appeared. Putting in drive, it would only go into 3rd gear. 1st gear worked if I moved the prndl to 1. Reverse didn't work at all. I could have easily been killed if this happened while driving anywhere but my neighborhood. This is different from the recent torque converter recall that is also scary and also results in loss of forward momentum. My problem is with the pcm. The dealer performed diagnostics and repairs according to Ford's TSB 06-14-10 which indicates this is a common problem on all 1999-2007 Ford vans. If they've known about this for 7 years, and it affects nearly a million vehicles, why hasn't it been recalled? surely NHTSA has received complaints about this. I have a friend who had this happen on her 2004 Ford van within the last year. She also lost reverse and the car would limp in drive just like mine did. The repair shop knew exactly what to do and repaired her pcm. I've asked her to file a NHTSA complaint as well. This is a safety concern. I paid my Ford dealer to fix because my safety is at stake, and obviously because the vehicle was performing sub-par, but I feel this particular issue should be covered by Ford, not by the customer, just as was done with the recent rear seat rust and torque converter recalls on this same vehicle. This is no different. It is beyond normal wear and tear.

The computer system in the van has malfunctioned in the exact same way twice. It says the rear sliding door is open when it is, in fact, closed. It also beeps for 60 seconds every time you stop and start going again. This has already been taken in and repaired twice. It is more than a hassle for us to get the van in to be repaired due to having infants and working a very strict schedule in the military. . . Which is why we bought a new vehicle.