| Components - Details | |
|---|---|
| NHTSA Complaint Number: 004304472 | Incident Date: Oct, 14 2004 |
| Consumer's City: CHANDLER | Consumer's State: AZ |
| Vehicle Transmission Type: AUTO | Manufacturers Name: Ford Motor Company |
| Model Name: ESCAPE | Model Year: 2003 |
| Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No | Component's Description: Vehicle speed control:cables |
| Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No | Persons Injured: 0 |
| Vehicle's VIN#: 1FMCU94133K | Date added to File: May, 25 2021 |
| Date Complaint Received: Oct, 18 2004 | Complaint Type: IVOQ |
| Incident Reported To Police: No | Purchase Date: Feb, 28 2003 |
| Was Original Owner: Yes | Anti-lock Brakes: Yes |
| Number of Cylinders: 0 | Date of Manufacturer: - |
| Was Vehicle Towed: - | Description of the Complaints: On 10/15/04 i had just entered a 6 lane interstate (high speed urban traffic) and had to quickly move over 3 lanes as the right 2 lanes were exit only about one half mile from my entrance point. after accelerating to merge into a gap to the left i found that the car was continuing to accelerate even though i was not depressing the accelerator, and was about to rear end a flatbed truck. the brakes had little effect on slowing the car. after some violent maneuvering and several near collisions i was able to get to the shoulder and switch the ignition off. the car was towed to a local ford dealership, where they found the problem was a defective accelerator cable. the plastic covering had frayed/disintegrated, jamming the cable such that the throttle return spring(s) were unable to close the throttle. the service writer said he had not seen this problem before. however, i did a cursory search on the nhtsa website and found a significant number of similar and identical incidents (only searched 2003 model year and only "vehicle speed control: accelerator pedal" component). there were 8 incidents that were clearly the result of defective accelerator cables (10068000, 10015965, 10047388, 10023519, 10051175, 10024424, 10026817 and 10082787) and 6 that were probably/possibly the result of defective accelerator cables (10018602, 10043060, 10062971, 10015506, 10092028 and 10040552). the seriousness and number of incidents would seem to warrant investigation/recall. i requested the defective cable from the service writer, but he indicated that as it was a warranty item it had to be returned to ford. however, i did take 2 pictures if they would be of any help.*ak |
