The problem is the cruise control cable can come a loose from the throttle body when the accelerator is pressed. When the driver releases the accelerator, if the cruise control cable has come loose, the fitting at the end of it can get jammed in the cam that rotates the throttle plate, and it won allow the throttle to close, causing the engine RPM to stay high. This can happen randomly. It may happen while driving, and it can be duplicated when the car is in park. Several other people have had this concern. I "googled" throttle sticking on 04 Taurus, and came back with several hits, including some shadetree fixes. I feel this should be a recall as it can lead to a crash if the brakes arent powerful enough to overcome the engine's power output or the driver doesnt think to turn the ignition off (or they turn the key too far and lock the steering too) and/or engine/transmission damage.

- Cedar Hill, TX, USA

Vehicle throttle got stuck, daughter was drive had to put car in neutral to kick throttle down, found out that cruise control cable is coming off throttle body and jamming, been happening multiple times for last year

- Monroe, CT, USA

Took car to brooker Ford dealership on 7/15/14 complaining about gas pedal sticking, motor racing to over 6000 rpms. Had come close to hitting cars in front of me several times while pushing brake pedal down hard. They checked car and replaced air control valve. Total cost to me was $352.77. A big chunk out of my S.S. now the same problem has returned, but is much worse this time and is much harder to tap pedal hard to try and get it to slow down. Will be going back to dealership.

- Rocky Face, GA, USA

On June 4, 2014 while driving at highway speed the engine and all power died on my 2004 Ford Taurus LX. All operation and gauges of the vehicle were operating as designed before the incident and there was no indication that a failure was imminent. After the engine died all steering and breaking became unresponsive almost to the point of being inoperable. The car was maneuvered to the shoulder without incident and towed to an auto-repair shop. The repair shop said the codes on the car indicated that the pats (passive anti-theft system) shut down the car as it thought it was being stolen. Speaking with Ford dealerships this is apparently a known issue.

- Vacaville, CA, USA

When accelerating at about 40 mph the cruise control would not work when I tried to engage it, however the car began speeding up quickly while my foot was off the gas peddle. I tried to engage/disengage the cruise control but got no response, except the engine RPM and car was still speeding up, the car was getting close to 60mph and I began putting on the brakes the car was still trying to accelerate and RPM still going up as I was stopping the car. This car continues to accelerate faster on it's own when driven and today 5/19/14 again from about 35 to 50 in about a mile, this was not as severe as the first time but is troubling and a waste of my gas and brakes. This is a Taurus sel with automatic trans. And a 3.9L V6 engine. I found the cruise control cable off of the lever it connects to near the intake manifold( after reading about other Taurus models/years with the same problem). I will be contacting a Ford dealer to see if they have a fix as cable is still very loose after I tried to reconnect it.

- Shelby Township, MI, USA

We were driving into Aurora, il on hwy 88. Suddenly, the engine began speeding and we had to apply the brakes and ride the brakes to keep the speed at 45. We were in a work zone, there was a lot of traffic, and the car was hard to control. We pulled into an oasis/rest area where we turned off the car and restarted it. We would push down the accelerator and the revving would drop off some, but it continued to be a problem. When we returned home, we took the car to our mechanic, who did fuel injector cleaning and flushed the transmission; he also found that the accelerator line had disconnected the cruise control. We thought the problem was fixed. Today, it happened again. We googled it and discovered the NHTSA's investigation of sudden, unexplained acceleration in the Ford Taurus model. My wife is now afraid to drive this care or have me drive it. Please advise.

- Waterloo, IA, USA

Vehicle did not slow down when foot removed from gas pedal. Engine ran at high rate of speed even with brake on. When vehicle was shifted to neutral, RPM gauge showed engine running at 3500 to 4000 RPM. Mechanic found cruise control cable had disconnected from throttle and prevented throttle from moving properly, causing it to be stuck open.

- Dumfries , VA, USA