The brakes went out suddenly. after taking to a mechanic we were informed that the master cylinder had a catastrophic failure which resulted in leaking brake fluid corroding the brake booster. research has led me to believe that this is a common problem found in these vehicles. thankfully my wife was only backing out of the driveway when it happened so she did not have an accident.
Below please find my account of a very frightening event that took place when my 2017 ford expedition malfunctioned. in late august, 2018 we were on vacation in seattle, wa., visiting my son and his family. five of us were in my expedition and my son was driving. we pulled up to park by his house on a steep road. he put the vehicle into park, applied the parking brake, removed the keys, and proceeded to get out. there were three adults and two children (ages 7 and 4). all three adults got out and were helping the children out when the car rolled forward on its own. i was out of the vehicle on the passenger side. i tried to hold the door handle to stop the vehicle from rolling but it took off. my son who was outside of the vehicle also realized what was happening, jumped back in, and applied the brakes to stop the car. it rolled about 12 feet downhill before he could stop it. the two children were still in it. the street was on a very steep incline that i would guess to be about 25 degrees. if my son had not stopped the car it could have rolled about 100 yards through two intersections and into a house with the two children in it. i don't even want to think about what could have happened to them. we took the expedition to a ford dealership in seattle (ford of kirkland) to get it checked out. they stated that they could not find anything wrong. after returning home from vacation, we took it to the local dealership (bolton ford, lake charles, la. where it was purchased new) and they said that they could find nothing wrong. what do i do now? can ford explain what happened and reassure me that it will not happen again?
After driving in moderate rain for 15 miles and then braking in moderate rain, a loud grinding noise was heard, brake pedal became hard and no braking action was available. i was able to safely get the vehicle to the shoulder and come to a top using uphill grade of the road way. the vehicle was taken to the woodhouse ford dealership in blair, ne. brake message light was on. the service technician wrote the following: "usind ids found code c109d-20 as the only code stored. performed vacuum system checks. checked for leaks through lines, passed. tested vacuum supply from intake at idle, about 19". tested vacuum from vacuum pump, found vacuum pump to intermit fail to produce vacuum. hoisted vehicle, removed and replaced vacuum pump. reassembled vacuum lines and roa tested vehicle to verify repair. post road test vehicle brake system functions properly at this time with normal pedal feel."