Picked up kids from bus stop (5 and 6 years age) with 2001 ranger parked in gear on gravel driveway grade with emergency brake engaged. loaded kids and myself, started vehicle and released emergency brake. brake pedal went to floor, vehicle took off down hill. pushed and pumped pedal hard to engage rear brake valve; no rear brakes. engaged emergency brake (now at considerable speed on grade). left rear wheel locked skidding vehicle to right side on gravel drive, corrected with steering avoiding roll over. subsequent inspection revealed extensive premature corrosion to vehicle frame, suspension and brake components. both front and rear brake lines compromised with catastrophic failure during emergency. my kids and i could have been killed or injured because ford saved a few bucks using below standard imported steel. ntsb; are you in some way being paid-off by ford to ignore the thousands of safety complaints and incidents associated with extensive corrosion on these vehicles? do not even attempt to assign blame on salty eastern roads; many other vehicle driven under identical conditions do not fall apart so consistently and completely. many undercarriage parts on my ranger are not even recognizable due to near complete disintegration. my truck has an 'a' title and was rust proofed prior to delivery. i take good care of my vehicles and regularly wash undercarriage. how many people will be injured or killed before action is taken? *tr
I was driving on a residential road, coming up to a third speed bump. i stepped on the brakes to slow down a little bit and my engine revved and started going faster. i hit the brakes and my truck spun out, off the road and stopped. the seat belt harness did not lock up; the shoulder strap stayed loose, and my head was being hit against the steering wheel. then, somehow i fell out of the truck. this has never happened before. 05/17/13 i took my truck in to get the recall fixed, and get everything checked out. *tr
Undercarriage and frame has excessive rust problems causing parts on frame to fail and fall off. *tr
I hit the brakes and the pedal went to the floor. i was lucky that i was going relatively slow and there was no traffic. brake line from abs unit to rear brake hose had failed. i am surprised that this hasn't been a recall as i have two friends with ford rangers who have had the exact same failure. one resulted in as crash. i also informally ask other ranger owners and many have had the same failure. i have owned many other cars, for longer time periods and far more mileage without this kind of failure. *tr