3 of 4 interior door latches broke in normal use when attempting to exit the vehicle and the part is integral to the door panel. ford dealer says the parts are no longer available and ford has provided no other means of repair. exiting the vehicle may not be possible in an emergency and may pose a serious threat to life & safety.
Pulling into a space in a parking lot, upon application of the foot brake, the car experienced sudden unexpected acceleration, jumped the curb, and struck a tree in front of the parking space. acceleration stopped when the car was shifted out of d into p. front bumper of the car was damaged, and a wrecker had to be called to pull the car over the curb, which was preventing backing up the car. fortunately no one was injured, but this sudden acceleration is very similar to what other complaints about this car describe. it was like the cruise control came on and started to accelerate the car. *tr
The front interior door handles, on the driver and passenger sides, became dislodged from the internal door opening mechanism, cannot be returned to the original position, and do not work. the door can only be opened by rolling down the electric window and pulling the outer latch. ford service centers can no longer procure the part (the door trim panel) to do the repair as ford has discontinued manufacturing them and has no more in stock. another report of the same problem exists in the nhtsa database, and it appears similar to the problem that lead ford to recall the 2008 expedition and navigator. i have contacted ford, and there is no recall on the 2004 lincoln. i have been unsuccessful finding the part in the aftermarket. it is the entire trim panel sold as one piece. since the ford service center cannot repair the door without the part, i have resorted to removing the door panel, resetting the handle, and drilling screws through the panel to help hold the door handle in place so that it will open the door and not become dislodged from the mechanism. but this has failed repeatedly, the entire plastic holding the handle in place has broken loose, and only works now when i treat the handle in a very delicate and awkward manner. i fear that during a fire or crash i or a passenger will not be able to open the door to escape. since the parts are not available, the ford service center cannot perform the repair. having seen how the mechanism works, i am not completely confident that the original design was sufficient to hold the door handle in place over time, and that a replacement part may not be sufficient.