Problems with 2005 Ford Freestyle SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford freestyle. while driving 55 mph, the traction control and all wheel drive warning indicators illuminated. an independent mechanic diagnosed that the brakes and wheel sensor needed to be replaced. the vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. the manufacturer was not notified of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 224,000. ...updated 03/13/17 *bf *js

Was coming up to a stop light and the car started to accelerate. when i put on brakes, it accelerated more. to avoid hitting 3 cars in front of me, i went over a curb, up a hill and over and embankment. the car finally stopped in the middle of a side street. the impact of coming off the embankment blew 2 tires and totaled out the bottom of my car. the insurance company has totaled the car. as far as the speed of the car, i was doing 35 until the acceleration failed and when i put on the brakes, it went faster. i read on your website where ford was having problems with lunging and this sounds like what happened with my car. especially when i read from others that have posted there problems with this. i do believe that ford needs to do a recall before someone gets hurt bad. i did go to the er to get checked out but besides seat belt burn, i was fine.

Scary car. a couple of times when car is idle/foot on brake the car would surge forward on its own. this is creepy. first time happened when parking in front of a wall. luckily, i had enough room to not hit the front. i just came home and rolled into parking space. my foot was still on the brake but out of nowhere it just went by itself so my natural response was to brake really hard. it slowed the surging, but dang it! it scared the begezzy out of me. if i wasn't alert, i think that wall would damage the front car...let alone hit someone(s) if they are in front of this idle car. second time when my husband rolled into the mall's parking space and it did it too. i sat next to him and it was just freaky weird. it happened 3 other times also. ford better recall on this problem seeing how many complaints are posted online already. i had to look it up online and found a major car magazine stated it was a major problem. if they don't do anything about this, i think i will have to switch to another car maker. this ford freestyle 2005 awd limited is a scary car: air conditioner and idle/foot on brake = surging or lunging forward. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford free style. the contact was driving 20 mph when the wrench failure light illuminated and the engine stalled. the vehicle also experienced abnormally high rpms prior to the failure. the contact also stated that on a separate occasion the brakes were depressed but the vehicle failed to stop. the vehicle was towed to a private mechanic where the mechanic confirmed that the transmission needed to be replaced. the manufacturer was contacted but the vehicle was not repaired. the failure and the current mileages were 120,000.

Rear brakes on my 2005 ford freestyle have gone out again. have approx. 100,000 miles on the car and this is the 2nd time i have had to replace, not to mention that i have had to replace the tires 5 times on this car. it is an odd size tire so it is hard to find decent ones for the snow and they can be really expensive if you do find them. *tr

I bought my 2005 ford freestyle new in january 2006. by november 2008 the rear brakes began grinding. i had them replaced at my local ford dealership; it was still under the 3 year/ 36,000 miles warranty. now, a year and a half later the brakes are grinding again and need to be replaced. the vehicle has less than 30,000 miles on it but is no longer covered under the 3 year warranty. the brakes shouldn't have to be replaced this often. however, in july 2007 we received a letter from ford stating that the rear brakes would be covered under the original 3 year/ 36,000 miles warranty. this raises a red flag that ford knew about the brake issues but did nothing about it, and still hasn't done anything. *tr

Our 2005 fordfreestyle has a known surging problem. everytime it would surge we would take it to the shop to be told there was nothing wrong. finally the car lunged 2 ft forward and shut down while sitting at a light. we hit the fuel reset button to get it working then went to the dealership; paid around $3000 to replace the fuel reset button and sensors to only have it start back up a week later. went back to the dealership to pay another $1000. now a month later the car is surging again. this time while driving down the road, thankfully a back road, the car just shut itself off and non of the systems worked. the brakes barely worked. we had to let the car coast to a stop. it is currently a very large and expensive lawn ornament. *tr

My left rear brake heats up and smokes. i have taken rides of less then 10 miles. i will be replacing the brake shoes for the 4th time. i have about 50,000 miles on the car. i'm afraid that on a long trip the wheel will lock up and cause an accident. 2005 ford freestyle vin#[xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). *tr

The rear brake pads no my 2005 ford freestyle continue to fail, i am on my 4th set with only 64,000 miles . interestingly the front brake pads appear almost new. ford will not cover the cost of these brakes and hold that replacing the rear brakes every 15-20,000 miles is normal for this model. *tr

I have a 2005 ford freestyle. i have had several lunging incidents where the car feels like it wants to lung forward or backward when backing out a parking space etc.. the first time i reported this incident was on 08/25/09. the next time was on 09/22/09. the dealer ordered a new throttle body. there were so many issues with the throttle body on this car that they were on back order. the dealer allowed me to drive for 5697 miles before the part arrived. i requested a rental under warranty and they said they could not justify a rental. on 02/08/10 my new throttle body was installed. today is 02/22/2012 and i am having the same issue all over again. the ford freestyle is by far the worst vehicle i have ever owned. i am on my second set of (rear) brake pads and rotors. i have had the engine mounts replaced. our air conditioner only works properly during the winter. i have found numerous pages of forums with people from all over the united states dealing with the exact same issues on the exact same cars. i recently discovered that a class action law suit has been filed against ford for the throttle body issue. i have pages of documented issues with this car. *tr

2005 ford freestyle on third rear passenger side caliper after only 57,000 previous calipers froze needing replacement to the tune of $350.00 per occurrence. ford aware of problem but will not do anything as not in warranty period. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford freestyle. while driving approximately 35 mph, the contact depressed the brake pedal but noticed the brakes would not respond. the contact continued to pump the brake pedal applying excessive pressure until the brakes responded. the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for diagnostics where the mechanic was unable to diagnose the failure, but suggested having the brakes replaced. the brakes were replaced three times but to no avail. the contact stated there was a manufacturer recall but the vehicle was not included in the recall. the vehicle was not repaired. the approximate failure mileage was 300. updated 03/14/12*lj updated 03/3/12

While driving in heavy traffic with snow and slushy streets, the traffic ahead of me stopped. i applied the brakes and the abs activated for about 1 second and then i had no brakes at all. no matter how hard i pushed the brake pedal, there was no abs activity and no brakes. fortunately i was only going about 5 mph. i struck the vehicle in front of me. it had no damage but i had a broken bumper cover ($1300 to repair). i took the vehicle to the dealer i bought it from to have the abs and brakes checked. they found nothing wrong. i wrote a letter to ford, explaining what happened. they said they were forwarding my letter to their engineering department for evaluation. i have heard nothing from them yet. *tr

I own a 2005 ford freestyle which have rear brake issues, i received a letter in july 07 telling me of a possible problem with my rear brake pads that they may have gotten wet and expanded which would cause the pads to drag on rotors and wear out sooner. so i took into a ford dealer they replaced my pads and rotors for the rear brakes only, this was at around 30000 miles. i now have 48900 miles on the car and my rear brakes are completely worn to the metal on the pad. i tried to talk with ford customer service but was sent right back to the dealer which said they would not help me with the replacement the rear brake pads. i understand by reading your website that brake pads are not considered safety relate issue but searching the internet relate to ford free style rear brake issues i was very surprise to find others that are having the same problems. they are even talking about rear calipers that are locking up and not allowing the pads to move away from the rotors, so there not dragging and wearing out which is what i belief has happen in my case. i am trying to find help in resolving this problem because of all the cost related to this repair having to be done in a short amount of miles between repairs and before it does become a failure and does cause someone to lose there life. oh i do have to say that my front brakes which take most of the braking has 48900 miles on them and i am just replacing them. through my own research i understand that gm escaped this rear brake design that the 2005 ford freestyle has because of all the issues and problems associated with its design. thank you for any help that you can give use ford freestyle owners. *tr

This freestyle has surged several times since purchase. we replace a failed throttle body in 2010. recently in shop in 9/11 for nonstart. *tr

My rear brake system on my 2005 ford freestyle has gone out 2 times within 51,000 miles and the struts have had to be replaced 3 times. the brake warning light does not come on. the first incident was covered and repaired under warranty. *tr

Had front and rear brakes replaced at 35,000 miles now 14,000 miles later rear pads and rotor wore out. first time they said pad got wet in a warehouse. now they said it is my problem because warranty is up, i say they did not fix the problem they just tried to cover it up. ford customer service say they have not had any complaints a lie. how many deaths before they hear complaints. *tr

On my 2005 ford freestyle with 21,400 miles the rear brake pads were worn with less than 3 mm of pad remaining. at 6 days past my 3 yr / 36 k mi. warranty, ford cust service and ford corporate said there was nothing they could do to help me. they did admit that they extended the rear brake warranty to 3 yr/ 36 k mi - however i was past the 3 yr date (even if by 6 days) -- thankfully my dealer contacted their ford rep and he authorized the entire rear brakes to be replaced -- my copay was $119.68 vs $475.00. i grilled them as to what all was replaced and they said the pads, rotors, and caliper mounting plates and brackets and bolts etc. they said they rear brake issues that most everybody is having is due to the wrong caliper mounting hardware used. this caused the calipers to be always miss- aligned and excessive pad and rotor wear. simply replacing pads and rotors will not fix the actual cause of the problem (the mis-aligned calipers) hopefully this may help someone who is replacing pads and rotors every 7k mi. fords indifference to this problem is absolutely un-acceptable. i wish all of our complaints could be submitted to an attorney for a class action suit. it seems ford does not want offer a fix for this unless you catch it while under warranty. hope this helps. *tr

Premature wear on the rear disc brakes. the rear brakes were change under an extended warranty at 13,000 miles by ford. now at 32,500 miles the rear brakes are down to the rotor. the dealer and ford told me that this was a one time deal. apparently they know there is a problem with the rear brakes or else they would not offer an extended warranty on them. one service rep told me that 20,000 miles on rear brakes is normal and another told me that you should get 2 front brake pads to 1 rear brake pad. another problem that i had was the instrument cluster. the gauges would all go to zero. it took 4 times and 8 days to the dealer across a span of 6 months for them to figure out what the problem was. thanks *tr

I own a 2005 ford freestyle and there are 45,854 miles on the car. over the previous few months, while backing up, i heard a grinding noise from the rear of the car. as a retired salesman who drove over 1,000,000 miles without replacing any brakes on a car, i did not immediately come to the conclusion that this noise was coming from the rear brakes. i was under the impression that the front brakes historically would fail before the rear brakes would. i finally did take the car to brakes only america, inc., in lansing, mi, where i was told that the entire rear brake system was worn out. i had to have the rotors and pads replaced for a cost of $269.85. staff at the brakes only store told me that the quality of the rear disc brakes are not of the same quality as the front, which on my car, are still in very good condition. i contacted ford motor company today, march 3, 2008, and they told me that until december 31, 2007, the company reviewed each complaint regarding these rear brakes on an individual basis, even after the expiration of the warranty. because of the timing of my rear brakes failing, ford said that it could not help me with this matter. if there was a recall from ford, i did not receive this notification. *tr

Rear brakes replaced 3 times by dealer in less than 37,000 miles. *tr

On december 22, 2007 my 2005 ford freestyle car was making noise on my entire 30 mile trip to work. i took a guy from work for a ride and he told me he was pretty sure it was my rear brakes. the car warranty had just expired, i had approx. 36, 800 miles on it. we took it to the closest place who could look at it right away, this was an independent shop. they informed me that my rear brakes, rotors and 1 caliper required replacing. the caliper had locked up and i had no brake pads left. they also told my husband that i was very lucky i didn't drive much farther as it was very dangerous. the shop said it looked like i had been driving around with the parking brake on. i never use my parking brake and there is a large light that comes on the instrument panel when it is on! upon urging from friends who couldn't believe how early the rear brakes needing replacing i did a little research and found so many forums and complaints about the exact problem. i shudder to think what could have happened to my family and i had i not gone to the closest place. ford customer support told me they had a "customer satisfaction plan" in place for this issue. i was told to take my receipt for the repair to my ford dealer and they would submit it for reimbursement because it happened prior to dec. 31, 2007. even though i was over 36k. ford customer support just informed me today that they will not reimburse me because the dealer did not do the repairs. i can not believe ford knows of this major safety concern and has not issued a voluntary recall. when the supervisor at ford customer support told me i should have taken it to the dealer instead of the closest place i asked him "what if i would have had an accident and died on the way to the ford dealer?" his response was..."i don't know, i don't have a crystal ball". safety and concern for their customers is obviously not a big concern. *tr ...

Rear brake premature wear, rotors warped. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 ford freestyle. the contact experienced brake failure. he took the vehicle to a shop and the mechanic stated that the brakes and rotors were very damaged and the vehicle should not be driven. the vehicle is currently located at the repair shop. the contact called ford, but they refused to offer assistance. the vin, engine size, and number of cylinders were unknown. the current and failure mileages were 7,000.

Rear brake failed for the second time with in 27,000 miles. ford refused to help. i believe there is a problem with the braking system in this suv. also, had to replace both strut bearings and i have on starting to go out again. i think this car should have never left the plant. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 ford freestyle. the contact stated that there was a lot of dust coming from the rear brakes. the vehicle was taken in for inspection at 11,000 miles and the local technician informed him that the rear brakes pads were defective. they were replaced by a ford dealer and the vehicle was inspected. one year later the pads were defective again and needed to be replaced. the contact stated that tsb 10021463 was directly related to the failure; therefore, it was a known problem. the failure mileage was approximately 16,590. the current mileage was 29,652. updated 12/14/2011 *cn the brakes and rotors had to be replaced three times. updated 04/25/11

2005 ford freestyle - rear rotors and breaks need replacement after 29k miles. *tr

Rear brakes get very hot during normal driving and smell like the pads are burning. also, a large amount of brake dust covers the rear wheels. *ak

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 ford freestyle. the contact stated that the rear brakes are grinded down to the rotor. ford stated that this is a common failure among this type of vehicle and is not taking any corrective action. the rear brake rotors were also worn and needed to be replaced. the failure was noticed while driving 20 mph. the failure persists. the engine size was unknown. the current mileage is 18,000 and failure mileage was 17,500. updated 06/08/07. *jb

Have a 2005 ford freestyle with 23,200 miles when a dragging sound came from the rear brakes - by this time it was to late. rear brakes and rotors had to be replaced for $353.00. we questioned that this seemed premature - we were told by the dealer this is normal, they see it all the time. i would have to agree with the other complaints - i believe this is a design flaw and should be investigated. *jb

We took are 2005 ford freestyle in for warranty work . the car had a noise in the rear of car. ford say the brakes are down to metal to metal . the car has 31614 mile on it the car is under warranty. ford says they only warranty brakes for 12 months. i took the car to ford to be repaired and they had to also replace the brake calipers on the rear because they are bad also i have had the car 16 months and driven the car 26119 miles. ford has had to tsb on this the first one is 06-22-17 the last one 07-5-9. rear brakes drag , noise,dust, and/or premature pad wear. this is a safety problem because i had no brake left on the rear of this car . metal to metal. i have tried to talk to someone at ford i have made contact with them three time with no help . *jb

I am leasing a 2005 ford freestyle and last april 20/07 i brought the vehicle to witt lincoln mercury in escondido, calif. for an oil change. the recorded mileage was 15,524 miles and after the service was done i was informed that the rear brakes require immediate attention as the rotors need to be machined and the pads are worn out. i feel that ford motor co. should be made aware of this problem that the brakes prematurely wore out. i started the lease last july 2005 and i do mostly city driving. this is the first time i have this kind of car problem where the brakes wore out too soon! *jb

We bought our 2005 ford freestyle new in june of 2005 and currently have 50,000 miles. we are on the third set of rear brake pads and are trying to work with our dealer on getting this set replaced again. after looking through this site and many other consumer forums, this seems to be a real problem. the dealership gives us the same speech and we were told the last time the brakes were repaired, that after 36,000 miles, the repair would not be covered under our warranty.*ak

Premature rear brake wear on a 2005 ford freestyle sel fwd with 20,300 miles on it. notice much more brake dust on rear wheels. dealer "acknowledges" there is a problem with this and other cars in the same family yet ford will not investigate or cover repair costs. how long before a mishap is caused by a failure of this safety device? obvious design flaw in the brake pad or in the electronic braking program. please investigate.*ak

Our 2005 freestyle hit 36k miles and immediately the back pads/rotors went bad. grinding noises took me into ntb. they stated that the calipers were frozen and to go to dealership. dealership said they weren't but the pads/rotors were bad and needed to be replaced/resurfaced - at $475! this is crazy. at 36k miles we have to replace the rear brakes? premature wear & possible brake failure does not sit comfortably with me - especially since the dealer swears up and down that the calipers are fine. *jb

Tl*- the contact owns 2005 ford freestyle with a current and failure mileage of 23,489 miles. the contact went to the dealer to have the rear brakes serviced ,and was informed that there was a service bulletin for the rear brakes. when the dealer tried to get the manufacturer to cover the cost, the manufacturer denied the claim. *ak

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 ford freestyle. while driving 20 mph the contact heard the brakes producing a squeaking noise. the vehicle was not driven on a regular basis. the dealer stated that the rear brakes failed and were currently being replaced. this failure occurred often with ford freestyle vehicles. the current and failure mileage were 16,000.*ak updated 05/21/07.*jb

Tl*- the contact owns a 2005 ford freestyle. while driving 35 mph he heard a rattling noise when the brake was depressed. the dealer stated that the brakes and rotors should be replaced. the brakes and the rotors have not been replaced. the vehicle currently had 22000 miles. *ak

Rear disc brake pads failed with 20,000 original miles. *jb

2005 ford freestyle - i was told the rear brakes need ed to be replaced just after the warranty expired. another owner with only 24,000 miles was told the same thing at the same time i was. this was not driver related. *ak

I had to have the rear brakes replaced on my 2005 ford freestyle at 24,000 miles. the reason i consider this a safety hazard is that i do not know of any vehicle that has to have the rear brakes replaced at such low miles. thus, when the grinding noises appeared at less than 20,000 miles, i never even guessed that it might be the brakes. i have talked to other people with this issue and no one can believe that rear brakes had to be replaced at that low a mileage total. there is a tsb out that says that ford understands that this is happening and will replace the brakes at no cost if they wear out at less than the regular warranty period. however, if this is such an issue that they have a tsb out on it, i believe they understand it is an issue and many people can't afford to replace brakes on a new car so they may continue to drive in the hopes it is not a big issue. *jb

Just got a repair bill for my 2005 ford freestyle to replace rear rotors and pads - car has only 22,000 miles and is not being driven in any unusual manner. previous ford products were ford windstar and f150 both requiring brake service around 90,000 miles. premature wear of rear freestyle brakes is referenced all over the internet. there appears to be a design flaw with car that does not meet customer expectations. dealer service manager claimed > that ford designed brakes to minimize front nose dive during braking. > what could be the reason for this? why did all my other ford products not > need this? does it have something to do with safety crash ratings? > i feel this is a totally unacceptable design since i will need to change > brake pads on an annual basis. ford customer care just said this was normal and had no alternative rationale. it would seem that ford should at least provide some reasonable rationale for the premature wear. *jb

2005 ford freestyle, purchased new. ford has serviced as well as nys inspections. at 30,000 mile service the rear brakes had little disc pad left,rear rotors were warped beyond repair, caliper frozen. ford said not covered by warranty (bumper to bumper 3 yrs 36,000 miles) and had to pay $475.00. caliper now frozen and again not covered by warranty. called ford at 800-392-3673 and confirmed problem that rear brakes failed before front brakes, they acknowledged there was a design flaw, but refused to cover with warranty, and said to keep my receipts in case a recall was issued.

2005 ford freestyle rear brakes replaced at 15k in march of 07 per customer and tsb then one year later at 8k more down to yellow and ford noted to watch. year later in september 09 now 8k more brakes once again in red! *tr

Premature brake wear and grinding noise from rear wheel area. *jb

Defective brake design on 2005 ford freestyle. premature wear. ford/dealer only agreed to replace rear pads and machine rear rotors without doing anything to correct design flaw, and they required i pay a part of the cost of the repair. ford/dealer refused to do anything to correct the related problem involving front brakes. *jb

At 15,000 miles scheduled maintenance dealer found out that brakes were worn to the metal and that brakes and rotors needed replacement. dealer stated that car must have been driven with emergency brake on for this to happen, which was not the case. dealer could not find faulty part for it to be covered under warranty. had to replace rear brakes and rotors and costs not cover under warranty. sent a letter to ford. they called to say nothing could be done. sent me back to dealership. one week later the brakes were burning. dealership this time replaced pads with updated pads with no costs. *jb

I have more than one complaint. 1) shortly after buying my used 2005 freestyle i would be driving both at higher and lower speeds and i would loose all control of the vehicle. it would not respond to gas or steering. it was like it was losing power but it was still running. i had several near misses when this would happen. i was lucky that when i bought my freestyle it was "certified" and under warranty, otherwise the repairs would have cost me over $1200. my ford dealer replaced the kind of sensor/brain as they called it. has been working sense. 2) air compressor needs to be replaced now. i thought the a/c wasn't blowing cold enough, i finally told it to a repair shop i trust and he said he couldn't understand i had any cool air at all. 3) brakes, rear most of all, have been replaced several times. way too soon and anytime it's wet they squeal like crazy. guess i need to have them changed again. 4) transmission issues are starting now. i roughly have 90k miles and hoped this would be my last car for several more years. i hate to trade it in and start another car payment and let this car get back out to some other unsuspecting soul. *tr

The right rear brake caliper has locked up and is not working, i have an '05 ford freestlye sel 2wd. it has burnt through 2 brake pads already. *jb

I purchased a ford freestyle new, had braking problems from start, 1st time in to dealer said no problem, 2nd time replaced front pads, 3rd time rear pads and cut rotors, i had an issue with cutting rotors on vehicle w/7000 mi. 20,000 miles later, rear brakes are shot, rotors need replacing, ford service manager says "normal wear and tear, this vehicle is designed to wear out brakes quickly. " "also told me he won't listen to me, i don't tell him what to do" when i said if this vehicle is made to go through brakes quickly it is a design flaw, and ford should stand behind their products. *nm