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Here's my experience. I have a 2006 Freestyle. In October 2009 at 55,000 miles I had to have the transmission replaced (thank goodness I had the extended warrenty. Then again in August 2011 at 83,000 miles I had to have it replaced again.....again it was under warrenty. It has a 3 year warrenty on the current transmission. If it wasn't for we still owe on the car I'd be getting rid of it. I can't believe I've had to have the transmission replaced TWICE and the car is only 5 years old!!! Anyway, my suggestion.......new car! This one is not worth the headache!
I have had problems with both these vehicles and both times transmission, the 2005 started with a lurching forward at any given time when at low drive speed (IE: pulling into park and backing up to get out of parking space.) greatly increased in the heat of the summer with air-conditioner on. Then the noise started from the transmission, I looked at it and tried to hear where the noise was coming from but with no success as it seemed to come from everywhere and a couple locations. So before I even had a chance to bring to ford the Torque converter and gears associated had blew up and caused catastrophic damage to the transmission which required a rebuilt and a $4500.00 bill, after the replacement I still had issues with lurching and lunging forward and was told that i had to replace the Throttle Body Module, at another $905.36, re-programed the computer ( flashed ). I did not have enough time to have tested everything that was done as i was T-boned at an intersection 1 1/2 weeks later that wrote off my car. I was not a happy camper, as not only did I loose my money from the transmission, i have been out of work since November 23,2011 to date. I don't know if I will be able to return i have been suffering from health related issues from the accident and have no time frame to getting better.
With the write off of my 2005 ford freestyle, i needed another vehicle, the girlfriend and i enjoyed this vehicle so much we decided to go ahead and get another freestyle as we liked its all around functionality for what we used it for and that is allot of highway driving to and from the trailer and space. we purchased the 2007 ford freestyle on December 23/2011 and loved it ever since, I realized that we were having the same issues as we did with the 2005 in the summer of 2012 with regards to the lurching and lunging.
I brought my 2007 back to the dealer i bought it from and they informed me of the throttle body issue. I asked if warranty will cover they checked into it for me and said no.
I could not afford a $1000 dollar repair. The lurching had stopped so I decided not do anything at that moment. I had bought some cleaners to see if the throttle body issue would stop or lighten up and it did for the most part. Odd time here and there would i have the issue.
I then started to hear a noise from the time i would start my freestyle until I engaged drive or reverse, the noise would go away even in driving, with a week of hearing this noise i noticed when i would put the car in reverse and move i heard a very loud gear winding noise.
I paid close attention to it, keeping track of things as well, i finally decided to bring into a shop with my after market warranty, it is currently being investigated for transmission issue, the mechanic has suggested to me that he thinks it some kind of a ( plemun gear ?? ) not sure. but he needs to open the transmission and go from there.
I called Ford Canada today, reported issue and was told there is a 1 time customer service satisfaction recall/??.
I have the number for it and was told after the transmission is fixed bring to a ford dealer and this will be taken care care of the following is what Nancy said at ford, they will clean the throttle body and or replace and re-flash the computer. Now i think this might do it but i have my doubts.
Plus this does not fix or help me with the transmission issue as i think the two are directly related, this whole transmission is based on electronic signals sent to it via the computer and throttle body.
My question to anybody that wants to listen and i would also direct to Ford is, if you know the throttle body is causing the electronic lunge forward, on a system that is mechanical, would this not cause early failure in the transmission as its the transmission that is being told what to do by the electronics that are being fed by the computer?????.
I know it seems simple to ask and the question is simple and may not be related but i cant seem to understand why one part fails and its fixed by replacing and re-flashing a computer that controls everything from top to bottom in the car. Its not right, I Believe there is a direct issue with the computer to the transmission because there are more electronics in this CVT transmission than any other, I believe the lurching forward that goes on is not the only issue. I believe that the problems the computer has with the throttle body and the signals it sends to the computer to cause parts within the transmission to prematurely wear and or break. because who knows what else the electronic signal is activated at the wrong time within the transmission.
Sorry if I sounded long winded in this but I believe I have a true and valid point with Ford and ford is hiding more than what they are saying or just fixing as a customer satisfaction. I am not happy with them even though i enjoy there cars and trucks and think they are the better one of the north American dealers and would go back to them with a new purchase if I could afford it.... But I think they need to stand up to this issue and fix both the transmission and computer as I am no computer wizard I do know computers can send more than one signal at a time to cause parts not to function in the right order. Hence causing catastrophic failure in the transmission.
Thank you.
mjbelfiori@rogers.com
Right now we're trying to recoup our loss because we can't afford to replace the transmission. I hope you get things sorted out on your end.
And as far as my previous expenses on replacing the transmission (I paid about $2700 in June 2012 to put a used transmission from a 2006 model) they said 'this recall only covers the "cleaning procedure" and not the total transmission replacement'.
Either way, I think it was more of a reap-off than help.
To summarize: I'm not going to buy a ford myself in the future, nor would I recommend it to anyone.
My Ford Freestyle (2005 AWD) has the same issues as you mention here. Over a year ago, I saw the notes about cleaning the throttle body and finally had that done by my mechanic in Sept 2012, before I received the “letter” from Ford in Dec that they would “clean” the throttle body or reimburse me if I already had it done. I put in for the reimbursement in Dec, but before I even received my check, I started having the sound problem exactly as you describe with the transmission. I did not even think they could be related, since I’m not a car expert. My mechanic is the one that said the sound is most likely the transmission, but he does not work on transmissions. So I took it to a transmission shop near my home and they too said it was the transmission, but they would have to charge me $450 just to give me an estimate of a repair cost. At that point, I figured with 116,000 miles on the vehicle, I’d be better off just starting to search for a new vehicle. But now that I’m hearing they are related, I’m wondering if you’ve been able to get any satisfaction from Ford. I’m sure they won’t give in very easily, but like you, I like the size and features of this vehicle and have not been able to find something comparable. I’m leery about buying a used Freestyle considering this tranny issue will probably come up again. Please let me know if you’ve received any more info on this.
BTW – on another thread on this forum there is a link to join a class action lawsuit: http://www.seegerweiss.com/news/seeger_weiss_investigates_cvt_transmission_defec- ts_in_ford_and_mercury_vehicles.
It is being handled in their Philadelphia office. Call the 888 number on their home page and they will give you the Philly number.
Once the Freestyle is finished, I will spend the extra to buy aHonda again. Ford, do you read these forums?
You should have gotten a letter from Ford stating that they will do the cvt repair for free. I had the problem at 90K miles, three years ago. I paid out about $1200 for a new throttle body (after many angry calls to Detroit). Because I'd already had the repair done, Ford reimbursed me $1000. Nevertheless, I'll never buy a Ford again either.
They used the same CVT on the Ford 500 model. From what I have heard they switched to the conventional 6 speed transmission in 2008 because it cost too much to manufacture the CVT, and they felt the 6 speed would get similar mileage. I don't think they had any problems with the transmission when they switched to the 6 speed; those problems showed up later.
Took it to a dealer in Flemington, NJ, even though 80 miles away because the dealer has a great reputation for having the technical expertise to actually repair this transmission with a 12 mo 12k mile warranty (as long as you don't drive it until the case is unusable), as well as replace it with a 3 yr/100K mile warranty.
The service manager informed me that the transmission is on a 60 day backorder from Ford, however they had a team locate 3 Genuine Motorcraft CFT30 transmissions in the US, and should have one here within 4 days.
OK that is a $6300 replacement that has taken 11 days to get moving and probably another week to complete.
It sucks that any transmission should cost almost as much as I paid for the vehicle and I have to pay for it with SS money, but if I can get another 3 years out of it!......
How do I sign up for that lawsuit again?
Oh, and I have not called Ford corporate customer service, yet.
If you persist, your service manager should be able to locate one of the few CFT30s that are lying around in some warehouse, like mine did, rather than waiting for one on 60 day backorder!!!
That's not the worst of it...He stated the tranny is whining and it's going to need replaced in the near future. So I asked how much is the replacement? His answer was $6000. I could not believe what he told me so told him not to do any service work and that I would pick up the car after work. This tranny replacement is B.S. I am going to call a Ford rep in Dearborn, Mi. tomorrow to file a complaint and hope that they can help me with this matter. By the way, the Freestyle has only 86k miles. This recall was neglected by Ford...
My big question is.... Is there a class action in Canada yet? anyone have a link. I simply bought into there wonderful technology speech and followed their advice on not servicing it. Now my wife and kids are driving around in this till we need to call a tow??? FORD, you should be ashamed!!!
Then it happened three times in two kilometres and ended up with the wrench and engine light, which wouldn't go off. In a strange coincidence, it happened in front of our mechanics place. They said the wiring into the throttle body was loose, also a switch was flipped open in the throttle body. They fixed the switched and taped up the wiring and it was good for two days, then again, wrench light. Three wrenches since.
Because of the mileage of the car it is not worth having any sort of repairs. I'm going to see how much it is to do further work on the throttle body. The most annoying part is that I bought new tires for this year, which at this point are probably worth more than the entire car.
The biggest issue though is the safety one. When the car goes into wrench mode, it is a floating whale of an accident waiting to happen and you never know when. Driving on side streets, driving in the slow lane in case I have to pull over, and there is no way that I can let my teen drive this car now.
Meanwhile, the other car is a 2013 Toyota Camry with 155,000 miles and still going strong.
Guess which dealership I'm going for my next car? :mad:
My parents have written a letter and are ready to present their complaint to Ford. What phone # is the best one to call and complain? Is it 800-392-FORD? Does anyone know what happened with the class action suit that was filed?
How did you manage to get that many miles on a 2013 Camry?
freestyle now its only worth 1,000 because of the transmission this is really sad.
However, buying this car as a one year old low mileage dealer vehicle, and paying $22,000, to have it be worth $1200 less than six years later is a disgrace. I have a ten year old Sunfire that's worth more than $1200.
And critics can't say that Oh, that was dealer trade in value, because there is zero value on the private market. It is an untouchable vehicle.