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Comments
:lemon:
It’s been several months since I have seen any reporting through Edmunds.com on the above titled issue and it looks like dates are changing on the dates investigations were opened (assume that’s just a procedural issue), but am pleased to see that the investigation is not closed, however, I am concerned that there is still no information about a recall campaign.
Is there a way to know how many of these vehicles were manufactured and are still on the road, today. Or, the totals vs. number of complaints for the model history?
I know from previous conversations we have had that there is little you can say, but, I do have to admit that Ford now being lauded as the car company that didn’t require a government bailout (maybe because they did such a poor job of standing behind their product back then), is a little disturbing.
I guess one question I can ask is that now that the Mercury brand is no longer being manufactured, is this travesty just going to die a slow death or will the Ford Freestar (same components) keep it alive?
Thank you for whatever has been done and can only hope that someday there will be a fair resolution.
PEOPLE............THE ONLY WAY TO KEEP THIS ISSUE ALIVE IS TO CONTINUE CONTACTING THE NHSTA WITH AS MUCH DETAIL OF YOUR "HORROR STORIES". THE CORRECT EMAIL FOR THE INVESTIGATOR I HAVE BEEN IN TOUCH WITH OVER THE YEARS (YEARS???ABSURD) IS: Stephen.McHenry@dot.gov
:mad:
We are now having to tow it to the local guy to have it fixed, and Ford is charging us $200 because they spent 2 hours looking at it. They didn't even try to match the local guys fees to keep the business. Maybe it is because they know about the lawsuit and really aren't saying much at all!! I should also mention, the family friend who helped me push my car through traffic and waited with me for the tow truck.. the same thing happened to his sister a week earlier. He said it would be about $1500 to fix if it was the same thing!! I am going to forward the same information to them, maybe they can get their money back too!!
It sounds like most of us were fortunate enough to not get hit by oncoming traffic!! We are supposed to go on vacation in 5 days, driving this vehicle!! This is setting us back quite a bit as you all know!!"
Thaks,
JoAnne
Good info. Are you saying that if the transmission is not engaging that it may after the electronics dry out?
Thanks,
Greg
You need to write to your Senators, Congressperson, and everyone else! I agree that this is unacceptable, but I believe that Ford could care less. They do have a crash and burn policy!
They actually poured water out of the module. He stated that it did not drip out, it "poured out". He explained to me that the water was getting in between the windshield and hood. He showed me the spot. It took them 5 days to dry out the PCM and they sealed it, the best they could.
Sunday, July 3rd, the "Sprocket with an Exclamation Point" light came on in the bottom left corner of the dash as I was driving home from church with my wife and four children...12, 8, 6, and 1. Then the transmission just disengaged. We were stranded on one of the busier roads in Buffalo, New York. We called a friend to take my wife and family home. My wife got our 1998 pickup and brought it back and we towed the van to our shop.
I called today, and they have not started working on it yet, but NOW I KNOW WHAT IT IS!!! We were supposed to leave for vacation from July 8th through July 17th in Virginia. My kids were looking forward to spending the week with their grandmother for the week. I can take a broken down car, but not my family being put in danger and my children being crushed for the loss of a vacation to their grandmothers. I will file a complaint with the NHTSA, as you suggest. I doubt Ford will do anything. Unfortunately our 1998 pickup is a Ford with a leaking break line in the right rear. I was just about to put it in the shop.
NO MORE FORDS FOR ME. "FOUND ON ROAD DEAD" truly fits my opinion of Ford now.
My mechanic called our Ford dealer because he couldn't pinpoint the exact source. They told him to advise me to sell it. My husband and I wanted to think about the best way to get rid of it. Two weeks later my husband pulled into the road and the transmission suddenly died. Luckily, it was a low traffic area and he was able to push it to the parking lot. It had not previously slipped or showed any signs of failure. It is still sitting in the parking lot while we decide what to do. Any recommendations?
As for the PCM, we replaced that summer 2010 and the van only ran better for about 6 months. It's not flashing the lights on the dashboard or losing power nearly as frequently as it was before replacing the pcm but still every few months it does for a brief moment.
Since rebuilding the 1st tranny, the cruise control quit working...well, it works when it feels like it, which is very rare. The AC is acting up. The air in the rear comes out warm and just recently, the air on the driver's side isn't nearly as cool as the passenger side air. The air on the driver's side is just like using the vents. And whenever using the air this season, the van was really doggy. I'm guessing there still may be water getting in the new pcm?? Not sure...
I've also experienced many of the other smaller issues such as the back-up beepers stopped working years ago, the side rear doors sometimes don't open or close when trying to open/close them. The rear side doors don't always lock/unlock when they're supposed to. Side view mirror on passenger side hasn't worked for years and the drivers side only works on rare occasions, has always been that way.
I'm sure there are more little issues but I can't think of them all right now.
Can someone please give me the contact info again for both FORD and NHSTA and tell me what specifically I need to put in my letters (main points that others have all used). And also, for the class action lawsuit, what is it that I need to do there???
Thank You
In March of 2010 on our way to a wedding our tranny went out with out warning..going up a slight incline in the road it just stopped. We were in the middle of Iowa on a county road with noone around. 2 hours from home we had a relative come and tow the van back for us and take it to a friends shop who in turn we had to have towed to another shop to rebuild tranny. Luckily we were only charged 700.00 to have it fixed.
Fast forward to this year. Earlier this spring we started to experience issues as my husband states (started falling on it face). You would drive along and it would just get sluggish and then resume normal. A friend of ours suggested it was the EGR Valve, which we took off and cleaned and the problem seemed to stop for a bit. Then it seemed to come and go, we hadn't noticed much until last night when my husband drove it to work and barely got it home. Said he came off the interstate and then it just started running rough and kept wanting to die. And smelled very hot when he got it home. Last week we had a couple of pretty good rainstorms and now it's very hot and humid outside. Now it sits in front of the house. I am seriously think or praying that its this PCM and not the tranny.
We are in no financial state to have to rebuild another tranny. The company I worked for closed in March and we only have one income and no employment in area. And have spent every dime we have trying to keep vehicles running this summer. And it just continues to be one headache after another. We are at our wits end, and are in no situation to get rid of the van at this time.
We too have experienced the cruise that only works when it wants, the drivers side window that only works when it wants, lost all the security lighting inside. Broken back door latch(happened while at grocery store when it was -30. Delay when putting in reverse, surges, radio reset, driverside back door that wont open half the time, air in back wont work. And you would think after all of this we would have moved on. We would but cant afford to.
The subject vehicles suffered from a design issue whereby water could run down onto the cowling under the hood and located in the area of the windshield wipers and then drip onto a computer module, the Powertrain Control Module (PCM), which could be manifested in a variety of symptoms depending on which part of the circuit board became wet or which of the connector pins shorted out. In addition to causing an engine to stall, which may or may not then restart, the water intrusion could also cause the transmission to shift poorly, the vehicle to have erratic power, a malfunction indicator light to come on, or result in an inability to start the vehicle, an inability to shift the vehicle into either forward or reverse. Also the problem could cause a higher than normal idle RPM in Park, or for the radio to malfunction, or the interior lights to stay on. During this investigation ODI was concerned with the effect of the engine stalling or a drastic and sudden loss of power either of which may create a safety risk. In reviewing the actual number of these types of incidents, collectively referred to here as engine stalls, the number was found to be below what would be considered a defect trend. For example, the number of engine stalls identified in Ford's warranty claims for the model year (MY) 2004 subject vehicles, the MY with the most failures, was 200 out of population of 125,865, for a failure rate of 0.16%. The one crash recorded by a complainant to NHTSA, VOQ 10311522, alleged that the engine stalled, due to water intrusion into the PCM, while the road was turning causing her to go off the road and according to the police report the vehicle then hit an embankment and a tree stump. Ford reported in their response that there were three alleged crashes but none of these were validated as being caused by a problem with water intrusion into the PCM causing a stall. Accordingly this investigation is closed. The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that a safety-related defect does not exist. The agency will continue to monitor complaints and other information relating to the alleged defect in the subject vehicles and take further action in the future if warranted.
IS IF YOU REPORT THE PROBLEM RIGHT TO COSTOMER SERVICE AT FORD MOTOR COMPANY
MY 2005 FORD FREESTAR TORQUE CONVERTER WENT AT 101000 ONLY PUT 100000 MILES AFTER I HAD PURCHASED THEN VAN FINAL COST OF REPAIR WAS 2500.00 THANK GOD I DIDN'T HAVE MY 3 LITTLE GIRLS IN THEN VAN CONSIERING MY 2 YOUNGEST WERE UNDER 2 AT THE
TIME
I got this reply from Stephen McHenry today, Aug. 1,2011. The case is still ongoing. We need more people to report there complaint to NHTSA at www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/index.cfm
The investigation into the failure of the torque converter in the Ford Freestar is not completed, the water intrusion into the PCM was a separate and distinct investigation. The complaint you filed with us on March 1, 2011 is still on record and part of the current, open, investigation EA09-016 on the torque converters; you can obtain more information on that investigation at our website www.safercar.gov.
Stephen McHenry >
Investigator, US D.O.T.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Office of Defects Investigation
NVS-213 Room W48-308
1200 New Jersey Ave., SE
Washington D.C. 20590-0001
********
Fax *********
Investigation: EA09-016
Date Opened: 11/10/2009
Principal Investigator: Stephen McHenry
Subject: Torque Converter Output Shaft Failure
Manufacturer: Ford Motor Company
Products: 2004 and 2005 Ford Freestar and Mercury Monterey
Population: 205,219 (estimated)
Problem Description: The torque converter output shaft may fail, resulting in a sudden loss of motive power with no warning.
FAILURE REPORT SUMMARY
ODI------------- Manufacturer ---------------- Total
Complaints:------------ 124------------------- 0--------------------------- 124
Crashes/Fires:----------- 0---------------------0 ----------------------------- 0
Injury Incidents:--------- 0--------------------- 0----------------------------- 0
# Injuries:----------------- 0--------------------- 0----------------------------- 0
Fatality Incidents:-------- 0----------------------0----------------------------- 0
# Fatalities:--------------- 0---------------------- 0----------------------------- 0
Other*:-------------------- 0---------------------2791------------------------2791
*Description of Other: Warranty claims indicating loss of motive power.
Action: An Engineering Analysis has been opened.
Engineer: Stephen McHenry
Date: 11/10/2009
Div. Chief: Jeffrey L. Quandt
Date: 11/10/2009
Office Dir.: Kathleen C. DeMeter
Date: 11/10/2009
Summary: ODI has received 227 owner complaints alleging a sudden and unexpected loss of motive power due to an internal transmission failure in the subject vehicles. Of those complaints, 124 can be attributed to the torque converter output shaft splines stripping causing a sudden loss of power to the drivetrain. The remaining 103 complaints experienced a loss of motive power but the specific internal failure cause within the transmission is not known.
ODI is continuing to assess the scope, frequency and safety-related consequences of the alleged defect.
trip my speedo stopped working and my traction light and antilock brake lights came on. I pulled the dipstick for the tranny and found the fluid was white. It was full of water from the
rad..I put on an external rad cooler and flushed the tranny 3 times to remove the water.I am lucky so far becaues it still works as well as it did.My dash lights are still on and my speedo
still not working.
I just wanted to let all you Freestar owners know that this could be your next problem.I called
my local dealer about it and they have never heard of this issue with a freestar.
I've had many people who tell me that I am fighting a loosing battle, but you still have to try.
“F---- GM,” Farley tells the books’ author, Bill Vlasic. “I hate them and their company and what they stand for. And I hate the way they're succeeding. Ford is back because people trust us. And that is a powerful message. I'm a car guy. I wake up each morning thinking about cars. Watch out. We're only going to get better."
Farley is also quoted saying “I'm going to beat Chevrolet on the head with a bat. And I'm going to enjoy it."
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2011/07/22/ford-exec-drops-f-bomb-on-general-moto- rs-in-upcoming-book/#ixzz1UaAmEMpX
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2011/07/22/ford-exec-drops-f-bomb-on-general-moto- rs-in-upcoming-book/#ixzz1UaA2sGzu
Thanks
I have had an attorney call me from CA wanting me to get involved in a suit but my findings on this is that the attorney get's rich and the owners get a few dollars. My van only has 84,000 miles and so far everything else is fine. I am hoping that Ford is forced to do a recall.
My personal experience was with our torque converter on our 2004 Freestar. I did not have the other issues, yet... but from reading everything else, it sounds like I will have the same issues soon.
Good luck everyone!!
I really don't know what to say about it. We finally made it to 100k miles but it has fought us every step of the way. Luckily and Thank God i bought a good 5yr 125k warranty on this thing. Transmission went out at 70k. I think its acting up again. Warranty company is aware of issue with Ford. They tried to stick us on not servicing the transmission at certain mileage. Warranty company decided to change the mileage recommended from when we originally bought the policy. New struts. Tensioner, Crankshaft sensor, Air Conditioner, plus some others i cant think of. AC is out again but I don't blame Ford for AC issues. however the stupid Check Engine light is on yet again. Warranty company has doled out over $4500 in repairs vs. my 1600 i spent on warranty. Warranty expires in Feburary of 2012. Its gonna be outta here.
My poor Buick Regal 1999 has seen more cars come and go from my driveway. She keeps on running and reliable. 185k and drive it daily. all original.