273 views
New Reviewer
0 comments
stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full
3.3
Updated by user Apr 22, 2016

I wanted to post an update on this issue. I called it a problem with the "Fly by Wire" system, It's actually called "Drive by Wire".

Sorry for the mistake. Still, Ford has done nothing to help resolve this dangerous issue and I can not believe that they have gotten away with not having to do a recall on various Ford model vehicles that they have this faulty system installed in. There are hundreds, if not thousands of posts I've found from other's on line that have experienced this same problem. People are getting hurt and even killed!

Why hasn't anything been done!?!?!?

Toyota had a similar problem that they had to recall thousands of their vehicles, but yet Ford is getting away with this and it's caused more accidents and reports than Toyota!!! Something needs to be done!!!

Original review posted by user Oct 22, 2015

I own a 2006 Ford Mustang GT. I wanted one of these Mustangs ever since the new retro style was introduced in 2005.

Oct. 2013, I found my 2006 Mustang GT at a local dealership in State College PA. I fell in love with this car Immediately and I was lucky enough to get a salesperson that went above and beyond than he had to to help me get this car. After getting it, there were some issues that I found that needed to be taken care of and after it was all said and done, the dealership has pretty much black listed me mainly because they got a hefty fine for selling the vehicle without catalytic converters installed on it, also certain repairs their service department had done, they purposely installed the cheapest parts they could find while also damaging certain parts on purpose because they hated the fact that I got them into trouble so they took it out on my car.

Well, I guess they're not used to having someone like me who takes pictures before leaving my car with them so that I can go back and review what repairs they've done and can find every single problem, scratch, damage and installation mistakes they did. I called them out on everything until they finally just gave me the money needed to cover the cost for parts so I could fix it the correct way on my own. It's unfortunate that all of this happened. I've been burned so many times by dealerships and their games, that I wasn't going to let it happen again and I cover all my bases to make *** sure that I get money's worth and any issues I find wrong are fixed correctly.

They did eventually step up and do the right thing, but I recently tried to trade my Mustang in on another vehicle that I've been looking for that they now have, but they will not work with me, nor do they want the car back even though I apologized to them and even wrote them a long thank you letter expressing my full gratitude for helping take care of and fix my car and was told everything was fine, there was no hard feelings and that they hope I do come back if I ever needed to purchase another vehicle. I even went as far as writing recommendations for them online to others and sang their praises to all who'd listen. I guess they lied.. again!

Anyway, the main reason I'm writing is because of a defect I've been experiencing with the Fly By Wire throttle/acceleration control system that Ford installed in these newer 2005 and up Mustangs. On four separate occasions now, I've experienced an issue when I'd come to a complete stop in my 2006 Mustang GT and while my foot was still firmly pushing down on the brake pedal, all of a sudden, the throttle would open up causing the engine to start racing faster and faster, launching the car forward or would cause the back tires to break lose and start spinning while still causing the vehicle to move overpowering the breaks. The first time this happened, I was parking in a parking lot stall and had come to a complete stop. Before I could even shift the transmission into park, the throttle opened up and the engine began to race and the next thing I know, I'm up and over the concrete wheel stop that was in front of the parking stall and I'm now sitting in the grass median where I finally got my wits about me enough to react and slammed the shifter into park to stop the car and had to shut the ignition off to stop the engine from racing.

I thought it was my own fault, that somehow my foot must've been touching or resting on the accelerator pedal at the same time I was pushing on the brake so that the harder I pushed on the brake, the more the throttle would open up as well. I felt really *** that I could actually make a dumb mistake like that and embarrass myself in front of other people in that shopping center. So I just shrugged it off. A few days had past and I was out driving around when I had to stop at a red light.

I came to a complete stop behind another vehicle that was in front of me and once again, out of the blue the throttle began to open up causing the engine to race and the car started moving forward overpowering my brakes that I now had all my weight pushing down with my foot on the brake pedal trying desperately to stop the car. The only thing that saved me from hitting the car in front of me was that the light turned green and the guy in front of me must've thought I was being an *** squealing my tires so he gunned his car to quickly get away from me. Freakin' scared the *** out of me. I took my time getting home and when I pulled into my garage to park, it happened again.

This time I reacted a little to quick giving myself whiplash slamming the shifter up into park. I was scared out of my wits by this. I had told my older brother about what was happening and he wanted to see if it would do it again. I reluctantly got in and started my car and put it in reverse.

So far so good. Now my brother is standing right in front of my car as I shifted into drive. I no sooner did that and the car wanted to *** forward. I immediately pushed down on the brake as hard as I could to stop the car so my brother could get out of the way.

He thought I was joking at first till he saw my face and just as he went to jump out of the way, the car overtook my brakes and shot me forward slamming my front bumper cover right into a homemade cart we have sitting at the back of our garage for holding new and scrap plywood/lumber and pinning my brothers right foot between my lower valance and the cart. Luckily he was ok that it just got his sneaker and not his foot, but it still scared the *** out of both of us nonetheless! I haven't driven the car since. I contacted Ford's main customer service department to let them know about this problem.

They sounded very concerned for my safety and made it sound like they would help to fix this for me. I was told they never heard of this happening before with my year, make and model, but that they would have a local Ford service represenative get in contact with me to handle my case. After a week went by, I finally got an e-mail from a Lauren Layton expressing how sorry they were to hear about my problem and how Ford is very concerned about the safety of their customers. So as a gesture of good faith, they offered to pay to have my car towed to my nearest Ford dealership and their service department look at and hopefully fix this issue.

But,(There's always a But!), because of how old the vehicle is and the fact that the warranty has run out, any costs for parts/labor I would incur, I would be responsible for. Ok, I could understand that if this was in fact something that I caused or it was a part that normally wears out from normal use, but that's not the case here! This is an absolute 100% defect in their Fly By Wire system causing it to malfunction and for some reason a signal is improperly being sent from the car's computer telling the throttle to fully open! This is Ford's mistake/defect, not mine and they should fix it at no cost to me!

I could've been hurt or worse, severely hurt or even have killed someone else because of this defect. I searched online to find out if anyone else has had this same issue, and sure enough, I've found hundreds of posts from people that have damaged, wrecked and even had someone die when this happened to them. Fords even been in a couple class action law suites because of it. So they lied to me when they said they never heard of this issue.

Plus they're beating these law suites because they're playing off the fact that these people are naรฏve or inexperienced/unknowledgeable with the whole mechanical workings of what's going on with their vehicle, that they're explanation of what's happening when their car does this is slightly off, instead of saying about the throttle revving the engine, they're saying that the accelerator is stuck open or the accelerator pedal is going to the floor etc. etc. This is an electrical defect in the Fly By Wire system and there's a miscommunication going on somewhere with the computer wanting send out a false command to fully open the throttle while at the same time the brake pedal is being pushed down. Ford needs to step up, acknowledge this defect and fix it before anymore people are hurt or die just because they want to pretend that they know nothing about this problem, keep it hush hush, burn out peoples savings that are trying to fight them with the court system to the point they give up and eventually hope that this will go away.

Ford knows exactly what the problem is and they've even added a fix on 2010 and newer Mustangs to stop it from happening!?!?!? Come on Ford!, Own up to this, show you do actually care about your loyal and new customers and fix this defect before anymore people get hurt or die!!!!!!!!

Reason of review: Damaged or defective.

Monetary Loss: $16000.

Preferred solution: Honestly, I want a new Mustang GT that isn't going to take off on it's own possibly hurting/killing me or anyone else!.

Ford Pros: I liked the retro styling of the newer 2005 and up mustangs.

Ford Cons: That ford wont fix reported defects.

Location: Bellefonte, Pennsylvania

Do You Have Something To Say ?
Write a review

Comments

chat-icon

Please avoid publishing any personal information and promotional content

You will be automatically registered on our site. Username and password will be sent to you via email.
Post Comment

Ford Reviews

  1. 261 reviews
  2. 119 reviews
  3. 88 reviews
  4. 44 reviews
  5. 15 reviews
Ford reviews