| Components - Details | |
|---|---|
| NHTSA Complaint Number: 005014194 | Incident Date: Apr, 03 2005 |
| Consumer's City: WESTFORD | Consumer's State: MA |
| Vehicle Transmission Type: AUTO | Manufacturers Name: Ford Motor Company |
| Model Name: FREESTYLE | Model Year: 2005 |
| Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No | Component's Description: Fuel system, other |
| Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No | Persons Injured: 0 |
| Vehicle's VIN#: 1FMDK06125G | Date added to File: May, 23 2021 |
| Date Complaint Received: Apr, 03 2005 | Complaint Type: IVOQ |
| Incident Reported To Police: No | Purchase Date: Jan, 13 2005 |
| Was Original Owner: Yes | Anti-lock Brakes: Yes |
| Number of Cylinders: 6 | Date of Manufacturer: - |
| Was Vehicle Towed: - | Description of the Complaints: I recently purchased a new 2005 ford freestyle. we have found this to be a very ood automobile except for one notable defect. this defect is described below.*ak the automobile's specifications indicate that is has a 19 gallon fuel tank. the fuel gauge and instrumentation panel computer all calculate fuel usage based upon a 16 gallon fuel tank. for example, if the fuel gauge indicates 1/2 full, the fuel used is approximately 7.5 to 8 gallons. the fuel gauge will be at empty (and low fuel light come on) at 15.5 to 16 gallons of fuel used. after numerous phone calls, a local ford sales manager indicates that the ford freestyle has a 3 gallon reserve in the tank. all cars i've owned have a 0.5 to 1 gallon fuel reserve but never anything as large as 3 gallons. the owners manual addresses this issue on page 260 as follows: "the advertised capacity is the amount of the indicated capacity and the empty reserve combined. indicated capacity is the difference in the amount of fuel in a full tank and a tank when the fuel gauge indicates empty. empty reserve is the small amount of fuel remaining in the fuel tank after the fuel gauge indicates empty" is 3 gallons a small amount of fuel? this amount of fuel provides almost 60-72 miles of additional driving range based upon the projected fuel consumption. 3 gallons is almost 16% of the total fuel capacity!!! the bottom line is that this must be considered false advertising at a minimum. numerous websites (edmunds.com, etc.) will publish driving range of this car based upon a 19 gallon fuel tank. based upon the fuel gauge, computer and low fuel indicators, the driving range would be reduced by ~16%. we believe this is a design defect. dealers acknowledge that their is no technical problem. we hope that you can make ford motor company aware of this condition and indicate that a they should fix the problem via a technical service bulletin. |
