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I broke down twice with the same issue as I mentioned before in my posts several months ago. Both times I broke down it was hot and dry. We have been in a tremendous drought in Austin Texas this past winter and into the summer months that was during the first breakdown in Feburary.
Then we broke down in California on a vacation, we were driving in the Mojave Desert and it was 112*F on July 4th on our way to see the fireworks in Las Vegas with three kids in the car. Not fun. But we made it out of there safely after 7 hours of waiting for a tow truck on a holiday weekend. This last breakdown we were going 80 mph on somewhat of an incline and then the transmission gave out. It was hot and dry. The van started slowing down rapidly and it was hard to get over to the right side since that lane is designated for large trucks. We got lucky to have had enough momentum to make it to a call box and exit ramp.
1. SaferCar.gov links to here: http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/defects/defectsearch.cfm
2. Type in the defect # (in this case the torque converter is PE09033 )
3. Click on Document search in the results at the bottom
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This returns the document results here:
http://nhthqnwws111.odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/documentList.do?docId=PE09033&docType- =INV&fromPublic=true
And Ford's recent response to the Office of Defect Investigation is here:
http://nhthqnwws111.odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/docservlet/Artemis/Public/Pursuits/20- 09/PE/INRL-PE09033-37150P.pdf
How many of us believe that this is not a safety related concern and that it does not present an unreasonable risk to safety in these vehicles?
I am starting my response to this letter right now. Ford must be kidding!
It will be interesting to see how the agency (NHTSA) replies. Ford attempting to use cost as the motivating factor in this issue is pathetic, but then, to state "Steering and braking are unaffected and the vehicle can be safely parked" is even more ridiculous.
How many of us believe that this is not a safety related concern and that it does not present an unreasonable risk to safety in these vehicles?
I am starting my response to this letter right now. Ford must be kidding!
Problems of this nature can attract the unscrupulous folks who will solicit indiscriminately. Please check your profiles to be sure you are not disclosing more personal information than you may wish to. To see what others are seeing, click on your screen name or My Community Profile located at the top right of the page. If you have any concerns, please contact me via email, karen@edmunds.com.
Right now on our rebuilt transmission there is a 3 year warranty from Ford. I almost went to a private transmission shop and called Jasper- but the prices were almost the same and after shopping around I realized if this transmission gets recalled I have a better claim for a (crossing fingers) a possible refund from Ford since I used their parts/service/labor/dealer etc.
At least call the Ford customer line and tell them your concerns and also log a report to the NHTSA if you feel the situation is unsafe - because right now Ford is claiming to the office of Defect Investigations that the failure/warranty/complaint rate is low for this vehicle! I personally think the failure is high for the vehicle, but a lot of problems go unreported!
It's not difficult to GOOGLE anyone and find them. Morale of the story is not to trust anyone calling on the phone. Find out if the person is really who say they are when they call.
For that matter, you should not trust anyone on this site either. Someone said that they thought Ford monitored the site, and I would think that they would want to know how to plan the next move. They know something is coming at them because of the NHTSA investigations.
The unscrupulous folks in this matter has been Ford.
How many people are killed or injured when their vehicle is on the side of the road? I know that around here there are quite a few. Many are police officers, but it seems that a vehicle on the side of the road distracts drivers.
I took my husbands 98 Ford pickup truck, and he drove the van. Two weeks later, he finally experienced the failure, phone me at work, and tells me it failed on him on I95. Why would anyone put themselves in this much jeopardy?
Personally, it would be so much easier to walk away from all this stress, throw up my hands and say this is no longer my problem, but I believe that as an American I have a civic duty "every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty"- John D.Rockefeller Jr
Anyone want to guess?
Now that you know your trade in price - do a cost calculation. How much do you have to put in the van? Lets say it is $3500 for a rebuilt transmission from Ford with a warranty, and $300 for the A/C. You probably need tires? Then you can figure the Van is going to last another 54k at least because the rebuilt transmission probably doesn't have the defect.
The only dealer that knows transmissions go bad on this vehicle are the Ford/Merc dealers. Reporting the problem to NHTSA or Ford I personally doubt would affect trade in value since they probably check CarFax to make sure it isn't wrecked, then a Kelly Blue book to see what it will sell for at the auctions.
For Ford to say that loss of motive power is not a safety issue because braking and steering are not affected and the the vehicle can still be parked, is nothing short of obscene. What good are the brakes and/or steering if the vehicle is not moving?!? How do you steer a car that is not moving? The brakes are useless because, again, the vehicle has stopped moving!
Hey Ford, what happens when the vehicle loses "motive power" in a tunnel on a freeway in front of a tractor trailer that is traveling even at the posted speed limit?
Here is what happens; a fatal collision. It is just a matter of time before this scenario plays out; if it hasn't already.
Also, how dare you suggest that the main motivation for the complaints we have filed is financial. My main motivation, and that of every other decent citizen who has taken the time to file a complaint, is that you put our families in danger. In my case, my wife and 5 of my 6 children were put in harms way when our Freestar lost "motive power." Steering and braking didn't matter at all when my family was a sitting duck in the middle of an intersection! My wife had to get out and push the vehicle to the side of the road!
My secondary motivation is the fact that every Ford representative, from the dealership on up to Corporate, and especially the clowns at the Customer Relationship Center, lied to me and my family, disavowed any knowledge of this problem, and treated us like we are garbage.
And yes, money is an issue to a blue collar man with 6 children. Your defective transmission cost me and my family nearly $4K that we had to borrow jsut in time for the holidays. How would you like to have to explain to your children that Christmas will be sparse because Daddy had to fix the family car that only has 45K miles on it?
I am so sick and tired of corporate thugs who prey on working families and don't back their product.
All Ford has accomplished with this ridiculous, disingenuous, preposterous, obscene, and dispicable response is motivate me even more to see that justice is done.
Ford, maybe you could use some of nearly BILLION dollar profit you just reported to redeem yourselves and recall this vehicle before someone gets killed. What do you say?
Jim Genovese
Annapolis, MD
We did manage to get to the next town safely and I am now dealing with getting the van fixed, HAHHHHHH!! My dealer told me "you should have gotten the extended warranty." He said the van was so far away, he wasn't going to get it. He recommended I have a service/repair place out in that rinky dink town look at it. He didn't even recommend a Ford dealer out that way.
After finding this information, I realize that I had the van towed to the dealer in April 2009 for the same thing. My hubby went to move the van cause it was sitting out for a while and it was hard to start. It wouldn't stay started and the idle was very high and would rev up and then die out. He kept starting it and it would die. Then he managed to start it but it wouldn't go into reverse or drive. He had it towed to the dealer and on Monday they said it started right up, nothing wrong, NON ISSUE!!! Not to mention, every time I would run errands on rainy or wet days, the van was harder to start. It wouldn't catch the first or second time.
Also, if I started the van with the a/c on it made a loud clunk sound. Even if I turned the a/c on shortly after starting it, same thing CLUNK. Amazing piece of junk. If they can't find the problem, there's nothing wrong. AMAZING! NEVER AGAIN!!! I could afford to fix it but I would never have been able to replace members of my family or, God forbid, leave my 17 yr old daughter without her family.
If it was raining I would take this print out to the dealer.
Link for the PCM correction: TSB
Something really bad could have happened to your wife and kids stalling out in the middle of an intersection. There are such crazy drivers that are not paying attention to where they are going.
We broke down twice. The first time, I wasn't as smart so I didn't know to go look up information regarding the defect. I was worried because we were lucky to have gotten to a place we could get help and a place to stay with three little ones. I am sure there are plenty of people just like me out there.
The second time, I got curious because usually transmissions don't breakdown twice during the ownership of one car in my experience as an automobile owner. And Aamco told me it should not happen again the first time we broke down. Also, the place where we were stuck was very unsafe. We were in the desert at 112*F in heat with a 4, 5, and 7 year old. No one around, trash all around, you could tell there could be wild animals around us. Some strangers would come drive around and then drive off. We were so scared. And when my husband had to try to call from the call box which was about a mile away, we were left behind in the scary dark night. If something would have happened to him on his walk to the emergency phone box or to us while we were waiting for him, guess who I would have blamed without a doubt. Especially since it was the second time we broke down because of this defect.
Because I was not so intelligent to do the research the first time and could not afford to sell the car or trade it in after the first transmission failure, do you think it would have been our fault for breaking down a second time? I bet that is the way Ford would have won that case if something would have happened to us out in the middle of the Mojave Desert in the dead of summer.
I started asking questions and that is how I came to find this site and how to file with NHTSA and Safercar.gov. We have always been lucky in our choices of used vehicles and most of the vehicles have been Fords. This is the first major mechanical issue we have ever had in the 30 years I have owned a vehicle. This time was very different. I don't have any ideas how to inform other people like me to file. I have told other people around me that have Ford vans to look into it. I have also called and sent emails to "7 On Your Side" News in California as well as Texas. I am hopeful they will be interested in this story.
If you take it to an independent transmission shop I would watch out for a repair that doesn't involve a total transmission replace - if you plan on keeping the van. I was told by the dealer that once the torque converter splines strip off the metal shavings float through the rest of the transmission making it pretty dirty. I am assuming this is what is wrong, based on your report from NTB saying the transmission is "gone".
As far as towing goes, if you don't have AAA auto club, you can ask your car insurance rep if they offer roadside assistance, it is usually a minimal plan they tack on to the insurance - or sometimes credit cards do?
When you know more, post it. Don't forget to call/write Ford Customer service and/or the NHTSA if you feel there is a safety concern.
Ford will work better with a Ford dealership than an independent transmission shop so for that reason I would take the vehicle to a dealership. The second time we had to have our van to the dealership the bill was reduced by five hundred dollars. The third time it died in rush hour of I95, my husband had the van towed to the dealership, and the told the tow truck driver to get his charges paid by the dealership. The dealership did pay the tow truck driver.
They never did resolve the issues with the vehicle, but the amount we had to pay out was somewhat reduced.
BE ASSERTIVE. THIS IS A FORD PROBLEM AND THEY NEED TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY.
TSB 06-14-10 actually supercedes TSB 05-23-07 and updates the procedure and model years. Why is it that so many people are having their transmissions replaced when actually, the transmission driveablity issues are due to water entering the powertrain control module causing the harsh or delayed shifts, engagements, no reverse engagement and engine lean condition causing misfire and rough idle. No wonder Ford was able to post $1 billion dollar profit, all those trannies that were bought.
Still gonna get rid of my Ford!
Now, I totally understand why Ford is permitted to put our lives in jeopardy and fleece us all at the same time. Our government condones it, or the government is totally incompetent.
Well 2 weeks later was driving down the highway and when I went to go from a stoplight it wouldnt go. I had to be towed back to Ford. What is the problem?????
Stay Tuned!!
Jim Genovese,
Annapolis, MD
Ford is under the belief that it's all about customer satisfaction issues, and that the complaint rates are low and primarily related to inconvenience with the repair process or overall vehicle dissatisfaction.
If the CEO,engineer, or attorney who writes the letter may have a difficult time understanding the cost factor because I am sure they make a considerable amount more money than the average low to middle class person. However, the safety issue far out weighs the cost factor. Maybe they should drive their family around in the Freestar