2005 Ford Taurus
Complaints about this year name cruise control far more often than the model's other years — 27% of them, about 34× the usual rate of 0.8%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 774 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 175 |
| Involving a crash | 40 |
| Involving a fire | 10 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| EPA combined | 19.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- neutral — 23.8% of this year's complaints, against 1.3% across the model's other years (18.5×). Owners wrote it as: neutral, car neutral, shifted neutral, put neutral.
- pedal — 34.8% of this year's complaints, against 6.8% across the model's other years (5.1×).
- cruise — 29.8% of this year's complaints, against 4.4% across the model's other years (6.8×). Owners wrote it as: cruise, cruise control, control cable, disconnected.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- neutral — 24% of complaints, 19× usual
- pedal — 35% of complaints, 6× usual
- accelerator — 23% of complaints, 18× usual
What owners wrote
WHILE DRIVING 45 MPH, THE ACCELERATOR PEDAL BECAME STUCK. THE CONTACT SHIFTED INTO NEUTRAL IN ORDER TO TAP THE PEDAL UNTIL IT BECAME DISLODGED. THIS FAILURE RECURRED TWICE AND THE DEALER WAS CONTACTED WHO ADVISED THAT THE VEHICLE HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN INSPECTED…
WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 60 MPH UPHILL, THE SPEED SUDDENLY DECREASED TO 20 MPH. THE SPEED INCREASED AFTER THE ACCELERATOR PEDAL WAS DEPRESSED. THE FAILURE OCCURRED ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS. A LOCAL MECHANIC DISCONNECTED THE CRUISE CONTROL, BUT THE FAILURE PERS…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16E026000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Ford Taurus was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2005 Ford Taurus? What happened to yours?
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