Problems with 2000 Ford Taurus VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL

Part of the engine, top portion closest to the firewall on the passenger side of the vehicle, caught on fire while i was driving on a city street near my residence in lancaster, ca. i noticed the smoke emitting from under the hood when i came to a stop at the stop light.

Car fails to accelerate at times. gas pedal is depressed but engine does not seem to be getting fuel. after repeated attempts -- hitting accelerator -- engine will suddenly "catch" and lurch forward. seems to be a throttle problem, but ford dealer will not address. even though car falls in recall range for 2000-2003 tauruses with "sticky" throttles (recall was issued in 2013), dealer says it is "not on recall list." over 450,000 vehicles are -- but apparently mine is not one of them. seems like a very dangerous situation to me. you're driving in a 55 mph zone an suddenly your car slows to 20 mph no matter how hard you press the gas pedal. then after 20 seconds it suddenly takes off? not good. *tr

I was driving about 35mph and i let off the gas pedal and noticed the car was gaining speed. i then shifted in to neutral and the motor began to rev to 4k rpms. my throttle had got stuck. i tapped the pedal and got it to stop. turned around and proceeded to take it home and it happened again this time pushing me through a redlight.

Tl* the contact owned a 2000 ford taurus. the contact stated that while driving at 45 mph, the vehicle suddenly accelerated independently without any warnings and the brakes failed to stop the vehicle. the contact attempted to regained control of the vehicle but it crashed into a ditch. the contact sustained back and neck injuries that required medical attention. a police report was filed. the vehicle was towed to salvage yard and deemed destroyed. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the failure mileage was 136,000.

Another car pulled out in front of me and i had to slam on my brakes. when i tried to accelerate, my car suddenly sped up tremendously and i was barely able to stop the car using the brakes (the engine revved past 4 rpm!) i immediately put the car in park and turned it off. i tried to restart the car and it did the same thing (past 4 rpm!) the car had to be towed to the car dealership. even though there has been a recall for this exact issue...they said they will not honor it!!! although i was irritated that someone cut me off and almost caused a wreck, i look at it as a blessing in disguise. i was seconds away from getting onto 610 in houston rush hour traffic. can you imagine if that cable had snapped then and me car accelerated to a high rate of speed and i would be unable to stop?!?! *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2000 ford taurus. the contact stated that after having the vehicle serviced, the accelerator pedal was too close to the floorboard, making it difficult for the vehicle to accelerate. the vehicle was not taken to a dealer for a diagnostics. the manufacturer was notified of the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the approximate failure and current mileage was 162,000. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2000 ford taurus. while driving approximately 20 mph, the rpms suddenly increased. the vehicle then suddenly accelerated independently to 60 mph. the contact shifted into neutral and applied the brakes in order to stop the vehicle. the vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing. there was a concurrent investigation under nhtsa action number: pe12033 (vehicle speed control:cruise control vehicle speed control:cables) that could have been related to the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the approximate failure mileage was 177,769.

Tl* the contact owns a 2000 ford taurus. the contact stated while trying to stop the vehicle and depress the brake the rpm's increased excessively causing sudden acceleration. the gear was placed in neutral and the contact depressed with force in order to stop the vehicle. the dealer was not notified of the failure. the manufacturer was notified and stated the vin was not included in nhtsa recall campaign 02v266000: service brakes, hydraulic. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure mileage was 93,600.

Tl* the contact owns a 2000 ford taurus. the contact stated that while attempting to make an u-turn he engaged the accelerator pedal and the vehicle lunge forward. the contact mentioned that the accelerator pedal became stuck. also, the contact stated that he had to engage the brakes and shift into neutral in order to stop the vehicle. the vehicle was not taken to the dealer. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the vin was not available. the failure and the current mileage was 115,000.

Tl* the contact owns a 2000 ford taurus. the contact stated that he attempted to decelerate while driving downhill in rainy weather when the rear end of the vehicle swerved and caused the contact to crash into a guard rail. the vehicle was towed to the contact's home and was not repaired. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the contact did not sustain any injuries during the crash. the contact stated that the throttle control failed and caused the rear-end to lose control. the failure and current mileage was 172,455.

Tl* the contact owns a 2000 ford taurus. the contact stated that while driving 35 mph, the brakes were applied and the vehicle unexpectedly accelerated. the vehicle was shifted into neutral and the brakes were applied to assist with stopping. the manufacturer had not been made aware of the failure. the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. the failure mileage was 94,000 and the current mileage was 94,010.

From a speed of 20 mph, i began to apply the brakes to slow down for a stop sign and noticed that the vehicle speed continued to accelerate even as i was applying the brakes. i was able to bring the vehicle to a stop with great difficulty and when i released the brake, the vehicle surged forward without any pressure on the gas pedal. this same problem has happened a total of 10 - 12 times since the first incident. i have tried to drive this car as little as possible due to this problem and would really appreciate having ford correct whatever defective mechanical issue is causing this dangerous condition. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2000 ford taurus. the contact stated that while driving 55 mph, the accelerator pedal became stuck in a partially depressed position and the vehicle surged forward. the contact applied the brakes in order to release the accelerator pedal. the failure recurred intermittently. the vehicle was not taken to have the failure diagnosed or repaired. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure and offered no assistance. the failure mileage was 88,000.

Tl* the contact owns a 2000 ford taurus. the contact stated that while driving 40 mph, the vehicle suddenly accelerated without warning. the vehicle brakes were applied but the contact had difficulties with getting the vehicle to stop. the contact took the vehicle to a local mechanic but the mechanic could not diagnose a failure. the failure mileage was 169,000.

I was cruising on the freeway, as i approached my exit i began hitting the brakes and noticed the car was hardly slowing down. i continued to slam on the brakes attempting to get down to the off ramp speed limit until i realized it wasn't going to happen. i was rapidly approaching a busy intersection and before i could even think to put the car in neutral i had to turn quickly into a snowbank to avoid an even worse accident. i was terrified and i'm just happy no one was severely hurt or killed, my car suffered damage and the effects are still there. *tr

My mother had a horrifying experience and a accident while driving my 2000 ford taurus. as she was putting car in drive, when leaving restaurant the car suddenly went out of control and sped up on its own and even while she had her foot on the brake all the way to floor car would not stop, the accelerator was stuck and she was terrified as she was heading head on to the restaurants brick building where she ended up crashing into and people inside restaurant said they were hurt as well as my car got badly damaged and the building. my mother and the people inside are lucky to be alive because of this problem with the gas pedal and brakes this could have been a deadly accident. my mother is bruised and still very sore from the accident and the impact was so hard when she crashed into the brick building that both front air bags failed to deploy. please someone needs to look into this because this i understand that this has happen to others who own 2000 ford taurus. i called ford and they said they had a recall on this vehicle in 2002 and the problem was corrected but here it is 2009 and it has happened again so something isn't right with these cars and it shouldn't have to take someone to die before ford realizes that this problem is still happening and they need to do something about this. there are several complaints about this same problem. and if ford said they corrected the problem in 2002 then why is it still happening??????????? please do something before its to late. i was really upset after reading all the complaints about 2000 ford taurus owners who are having the same problem with there car and this was after the 2002 recall when ford claim they fixed it. i wish i knew this before i brought the car or even let my mother drive it because i would never have put her life or others in jeopardy like that. tow truck had to pull my car from building and then it had to be towed away. *tr

While driving off the parking lot of our corner convenience store, my son turn on the a/c only to have smoke and flames shoot out from the vents. in an instant panic he looked around and found that they were trying to flag him that flames were shooting from under the car. he immediately crossed the street and was able to get out of the car safely. the flames burned through the top of the hood and thankfully the fire dept was quick and was able to extinguish the fire. everything under the hood was destroyed and even the front tires wouldn't budge when trying to push the vehicle out of the way afterwards. we had the vehicle towed to our home and still are in possession of it. though no work has been done on it and in our opinion nothing left to work on, we know that there has to have been something faulty. several mechanic friends all say the same thing about looking into the cruise control deactivation switch which has been having recalls, however, our make and model is not on the recall list. still we know it doesn't just happen without a cause we are grateful that our son was not injured and though he was definitely traumatized, we realize it could have been worse as we hear the stories. we now have no car and still owe a balance since it turns out what we thought we were paying for in liability w/ comp and collision turned out to be only liability. the ford company says it can't help us and so we were given to this site for some kind of direction. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2000 ford taurus. while driving 25 mph, the vehicle shifted from 2,000 rpms to 5,000 rpm's. as a result, the vehicle accelerated from 25 mph to 50 mph without depressing the accelerator pedal. the contact shifted from the drive position to neutral in order to slow the car down. the mechanic stated that the throttle body sensor could be failing ,and was a common failure with ford vehicles. the contact has not yet notified a ford dealer or the manufacturer because the vehiclewas out of warranty. the current and failure mileages were 62,000. *ak

Tl*the contact owns a 2000 ford taurus. when driving below 65 mph, the vehicle fails to accelerate properly. the failure occurs at least four times per day. the contact also stated that the transmission is leaking. she stated that the 1999 ford taurus has safety recalls for the vehicle speed control and power train automatic transmission cooling unit lines. the contact would like the safety recalls to include the 2000 ford taurus. the purchase date and recall numbers were unknown. the current mileage is 115,000 and failure mileage was 100,000.

2000 ford taurus with sudden acceleration. *kb the consumer managed to stop the vehicle. another motorist pulled the consumer out of the vehicle, because the vehicle's brakes were on fire due to them overheating. the fire was put out. the mechanic stated under the circumstances in which the consumer was driving, ice forms in throttle body which would cause the vehicle to accelerate uncontrollably. *jb

Tl* the contact owns a 2000 ford taurus. the contact stated that upon shifting into reverse, the vehicle accelerated forward. the contact applied the brakes, but the vehicle continued to accelerate at a low speed until crashing into a building. the failure recurred a few years later and the vehicle crashed into another vehicle at a low speed. the failure occurred on a third occasion, but did not result in a crash. the vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer on various occasions, but a failure was never diagnosed. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure and offered no assistance. the failure mileage was 30,000.

The incident happened as i was driving home in my 2000 ford taurus sel on the illinois toll road on 12/20/2005 using cruise control in extremely cold weather (8-11 degrees). i drove several miles, and then exited the expressway when suddenly the accelerator stuck at about 50-55 miles per hour. the accelerator pedal would not release. i drove the car for nearly 2 miles trying to decide what to do, and was unable to stop the car completely. finally, near my home, in an open, less-traveled area, i tried to stop, but the engine continued to race, and the car jumped forward. i proceeded through the red light, pulled over to the side and flipped the key to the off position, which stopped the car. i immediately lost all steering capability and came to a stop. i tried to restart the vehicle, but the engine revved to 4000 rpm and i immediately turned the car off. after trying this twice, and tapping the pedal heavily to try to release the stuck accelerator, i proceeded to open the hood with the car off. i tried to find the accelerator cable in the cold (now 4 degrees) and dark. after searching for approximately 15 minutes, i again tried to start the car and it started normally. i was then able to drive home cautiously. tomorrow i will contact my ford vehicle for service. this has happened a few times recently, but it never stuck for more than a few seconds. however, this incident was not only extremely frightening and dangerous, but also could have potentially damaged the engine and brakes. the nhtsa must recall these vehicles immediately, as this is an extremely dangerous situation!! i am lucky that i was driving at approximately 2:30 in the morning with little traffic, with no other passengers in the vehicle, and that the brakes were able to slow the vehicle. otherwise, this could have been a potentially deadly situation for myself and other motorists. *jb

On 12/2/04 i brought my vehicle to ford for a repair. my cruise control was not disengaging from the steering wheel, i had to step on the brake to accomplish this. the repair was done. i had no further problems with this until aprox 12/14/05. the same exact problem recurred with the cruise control not disengaging from the steering wheel. when i contacted the ford dealer who did the original repair, i was told i would have to pay for the service repair since they only warranted for 12 months or 12,000 miles. i feel this is a safety hazard. clearly a repair such as this should not recur if new parts were used. either there should be a recall for this issue or faulty parts were used. when i contacted ford mfg i was told the same >>>my warranty had expired (by 2 weeks i should add)>>>so i was out of luck. no wonder ford is going under! anyway, that's my issue. please advise. *jb

Dt: took 2000 ford taurus to the mechanic for service, and they said new spark plugs were needed. ford dealer replaced another part on the vehicle. currently, when it gets up to 40-50 mph it lurches 2 0r 3 times.*ak

Dt: the contact stated when coming to an abrupt stop the engine continued to race and lurched forward. this occurred for only a short time. the consumer then had to apply the brake and put the transmission in neutral to get it to stop. the vehicle was seen by the service dealer who attached a black box. the problem occurred only once during the testing period. because the problem was intermittent the dealer was unable to obtain accurate diagnosis. the contact was concerned about hitting someone when this occurred. this problem occurred on another ford vehicle which was previously owned by the contact which was involved in an accident. *ak updated 11/29/2005 - *nm

The vehicle's gas gauge failed and as a result the needle always indicated that the tank was empty. *nm the consumer stated the vehicle accelerated fast. *jb

Dt*: the contact stated while driving at various speeds on normal roads the cruise control always fails to disengage. the dealership and manufacturer were alerted, but no inspections were completed. the dealer replaced the cruise control switch for the second time within in one year. updated 03/20/06. *jb

2000 ford taurus was involved in an accident when the consumer was trying to park the vehicle. the accelerator pedal became stuck and the brake equipment was not responding.*mr pulls to left. tires were rotated and front end alignment performed. check engine light came on and the dpfe sensor was replaced.

While driving consumer would simultaneously depress the brake/accelerator pedals. dealership was notified, but did not resolve the problem.

While parking the vehicle in the driveway consumer noticed that the speedometer was not working. *ak

The brake light was repaired through a recall and currently the cruise control did not work. manufacturer was contacted, and they stated that it was not related. dealer stated it will take two weeks to receive the part. *ak *nm

The cruise control failed to disengage when the brake pedal was applied. the consumer had to turn the cruise control lever to disengage the system. this occurred two days after the brake light switch recall 04v106000 repairs were performed. this was the first time that vehicle was driven since recall repairs were done. *ak this caused the consumer to become very close to slower moving traffic before the consumer realized what occurred. the consumer stated that the recall was originally done carelessly. *sc *jb

Had a 2000 taurus which went out of control. going approx. 57 mph down a highway my car suddently decided to speed up on its own. i suddenly was going in the upper 70's. i put the brake clear to the floor and got the car down to 65 mph. i took my foot off and the car sped up again. i slammed down on the brake again and got it back to 65 mph. called the police and begged for help as i was nearing a high school entrance. rear ended a minivan before i got to the school. was told that the throttle body stuck. it immediately became "unstuck" upon impact. had to be towed to ford in jefferson city, mo for repairs. repairs and rental car costs added up to over $700. used information from this site and contacted ford directly. after two days was told i would be reimbursed to "maintain customer loyalty."*ak

Suspension clips that hold the wires to the cruise control, airbag, and horn gave way resulting in malfunctioning cruise control. that then destroyed the clock spring in the cruise control. the service technician also noted that 'we were lucky the airbag didn't go off since the wires to that were also included in the bundle of wires held by those clips". as a result, the wires dangled down near the brake pedal and were eventually worn through.*ak

I have had a horrifying experience in this car. the accelerator has stuck and speed fastly exceeded. this time which i may add is the last time because i returned the vehicle to where i purchased it , i almost went underneath an 18 wheeler in steady traffic. my daughter was with me on this occasion. i will not risk her life or the lives of others including myself. i am concerned the dealer will ruin my credit but i have been seeking council and have many offers to take the case. there have been a number of other things like the air bag light, brakes have failed on separate occasions.*ak

Cruise control did not disengage by itself and vehicle suddenly accelerated. dealer stated call nhtsa.*ak

The consumer stated vehicle surged intermittently while either pulling or reversing into the driveway. also, the problem would occur while driving 25 mph or more. please. provide any further information. *jb

While traveling on the highway and without prior warning the vehicle will stall. *ak

The vehicle experienced sudden acceleration. *jb

When at a stop, brake applied, and vehicle will lunge forward. consumer had to apply brakes hard to stop vehicle. this has happened 5 times, vehicle has not been examined by dealer.*ak

After getting recall 01v075000 repairs done for pedal extenders consumer was unable to shift gears. also, brake lights have gone out due to this recall.contacted dealer, and dealer was not willing to do anything.*ak

While driving out of parking lot, applied gas pedal and pedal broke. dealership was aware of problem.*ak upon entering highway the gas pedal snapped and broke off. consumer was unable to accelerate. *jg

While driving at 15mph and making a turn, engine kicked into reverse at high speed. had to slam on brakes and put vehicle in neutral to stop vehicle.*ak

Brake lights would continuously stay on, also, has affected cruise control contacted dealer. *ak

Spark knock on acceleration; more noticeable during warmer weather. *ak

As consumer released the brake after stopping at a stop sign, and turned the wheel to the right, the vehicle suddenly accelerated to what seemed to about 60 mph in about 10 seconds, the vehicle went towards the right and struck a curb, and the brakes did not appear to work, once the vehicle came to a rest the engine then shut off, the windshield broke and the drivers side door would not open, consumer suffered minor injuries.*jb

While accelerating onto highway vehicle stalled without any indication. after two tries vehicle restated . dealer was contacted, could not duplicate problem. please provide further information.*ak

Consumer was slowing down for a traffic light when vehicle started to accelerate instead of slowing down. consumer shifted into neutral , heard engine rev. shut key off in order to stop vehicle. restarted vehicle, and it ran normal for another mile. consumer will contact dealer to determine cause.*ak consumer has noticed that tauruses with adjustable pedals have a softer brake pedal with more play than other vehicles. *slc

Vehicle accelerated suddenly and unexpectedly, resulting in a collision, and causing minor injuries.*ak

Vehicle was involved in a frontal collision. upon impact, passenger's airbag did not deploy, resulting in minor injury. vehicle was totalled.*ak vehicle suddenly accelerated and did not slow down, vehicle crashed into a dumpster, stopping the vehicle, consumer contacted manufacturer and was told there was no way of telling what caused the accident. *jb