2004 Ford Freestar problems
Owners have filed 1,600 complaints about the 2004 Ford Freestar with NHTSA. Power train accounts for 54.6% of them — far more than any other system, ahead of electrical system at 7.4%.
Complaints1,600
Crashes25
Fires17
Injuries29
Deaths1
What owners report breaking
Power train 54.6% · 873
Electrical system 7.4% · 119
Structure 5.9% · 95
Seats 5.4% · 87
Engine 4.3% · 69
Service brakes, hydraulic 3.3% · 53
Engine and engine cooling 3.1% · 49
Vehicle speed control 2.1% · 33
Severity
Of those complaints, 25 describe a crash, 17 describe a fire, 29 report an injury and 1 report a death.
Reading the numbers
Across the 3 model years of the Ford Freestar in this data, 2004 draws the most complaints of any of them.
Filings have fallen off, 10 in the last three years against 24 in the three before. That is normal as a generation leaves the road.
The median odometer reading at the time of complaint was 87,133 miles.
In owners' own words
Slowed down while driving on interstate, went to accelerate off of interstate, and nothing. No forward or reverse gears, and I rolled out into the road with no way to pick up speed. Had transmission looked at, and torque converter was bad. Searched the internet, and found out that no one should own one of these vehicles, as its a common, and dangerous situation, not being able to accelerate out of a situation. Power train · reported at 86,000 miles
The contact owns a 2004 Ford Freestar. While driving 35 to 40 mph the spline fell off of the shaft which is connected to the torque converter causing the transmission to fail. The transmission was replaced by a local mechanic. The contact is aware of the safety risk since the transmission failed without any warning and could have potentially caused a crash to occur. The current and failure mileages were 133,654. Power train · reported at 133,654 miles
My van while going up an incline would not move. I pulled over and put it in park. From there it would not move. I could go into drive and reverse,but it did nothing. I had it towed to a shop and was told it was the transmission. The mechanic took it apart and found a problem with the torque converter. It was shattered. I had to pay around 1850 with tow. Thank god that no one was hurt,but they could have been. Power train · reported at 10,108 miles
Verbatim from NHTSA filings. Complaints are unverified owner reports.
Safety recalls
Checking NHTSA for open recalls…