2007 Expedition brake failure and ? throttle failure

[brianmacaulay]

Hello,

I have had three episodes over the life of this car where for brief amounts of time (up to 25 seconds or so), the car accelerates and at the same time the brake pedal will not depress and the brake will not work. This happened first with my wife, but we let it slide at that time not knowing what to think. About 7 years later it happened again with her. We took it to a Ford dealership and had it completely checked and they could not find anything wrong. Then it happened 2 months ago with me. Same thing. The car was in my driveway in park, I put my foot on the brake, shifted into drive, and the car accelerated forward, smashing through the garage into the back wall. I furiously pressed the brake but it did not depress and did not work. I took it to a different Ford dealership and still they could find nothing wrong. At this point I am going get rid of the car as it is clearly a huge hazard and I would be a fool to continue driving it.

I dont see any recalls noted for the above problems in a review of the internet.

What would you readers request of Ford in this situation if you were me? What else might you do?

 

[Don Hall]

You are not alone:

Ford Expedition Car Accelerates On Its Own Problems

Details of all Vehicle Speed Control/Car Accelerates On Its Own problems of Ford Expedition.

www.carproblemzoo.com

 

[Motorcity muscle]

That's scary, first I heard of this happening, read thru Don's link, not good. Wouldn't drive it till they figure it out. Can push shifter into neutral to stop motion.

 

[tommyddsr]

I read the issues and noted that nobody reported using the emergency brake. I find that odd as this was definitely an emergency. I guess people nowadays consider it a parking brake. The emergency brake is strictly mechanical and will not fail as long as it was maintained. Definitely wouldn't drive it until issue is resolved. And if you sell it full disclosure is warranted as you don't want to be responsible for hurting someone else. Probably will drive the selling price down but then again it is defective.

 

[ManUpOrShutUp]

I read the issues and noted that nobody reported using the emergency brake. I find that odd as this was definitely an emergency. I guess people nowadays consider it a parking brake. The emergency brake is strictly mechanical and will not fail as long as it was maintained. Definitely wouldn't drive it until issue is resolved. And if you sell it full disclosure is warranted as you don't want to be responsible for hurting someone else. Probably will drive the selling price down but then again it is defective.

Well, the way it's positioned on the floor vs being a handbrake makes it difficult to use in an emergency. On a lot of new vehicles it's now electronic and virtually useless in an emergency.

 

[tommyddsr]

I guess I'm old enough to remember all my car emergency brakes being on the floor . Didn't see a console mounted handbrake until I started seeing them in the imports in the late 70's and early 80's. You can always take it out of gear too!

 

[brianmacaulay]

Thank you for your replies. Don, many thanks for sending that link. It is frightening to think that there are 32 similar incidents out there.

I checked with my wife and while I thought the episodes lasted up to 25 seconds, she said that they a maximum of 10-15 seconds. I agree that shifting into neutral is the way to go. The emergency brake is tough to get to since it is so high and against the door area. During my episode the whole thing lasted 2 seconds and my reaction was simply panic and slamming on the brake and watching in horror as the car accelerated and smashed through all my garage contents into the back wall of the garage - I didnt have the time or the presence of mind to shift into neutral or attempt to get to the parking brake.

Seems like the common theme in the reports from Don is that the dealership can never find anything wrong when the cars go through diagnostics. That is frightening. One posting said they had the throttle mechanism replaced and the problem still recurred.

Thanks again.

 

[ManUpOrShutUp]

I didnt have the time or the presence of mind to shift into neutral or attempt to get to the parking brake.

In situations like that, where a split second maneuver is required, it's all about muscle memory. We may know what to do, but unless we've done it many times before we likely won't react fast enough. I imagine most of us had few experiences with runaway vehicles.

 

[Brons2]

My brake booster is definitely less effective when I first pull out of the driveway if I don't let it run 10-15 seconds before putting it in gear. The pedal goes hard and has very limited effectiveness. If I let it run a bit before putting it in gear, it's fine.

When I do have the problem, it feels like I have no power assist. I'm old enough to remember driving vehicles with manual brakes and it feels like that when I have the problem, but worse.

 

[Trainmaster]

Several things can make this happen. Wide open throttle would reduce engine vacuum and the power assist could be lost from the brakes.

Either find someone who is literate to go over the throttle body and throttle to find the problem or sell it. Most "mechanics" are part changers who never, can't or don't like to learn or read.

Ford won't do a thing for you; the truck's 15 years old. It earned its retirement, and you need a vehicle that can be trusted to operate in a predictable manner. There's also a huge liability issue; you're aware of the problem and have not remedied it. Fix it now or say goodbye.