I bought the car with about 17,000 miles in January 2008. In March 2008 I went to a pastors convention about 100 miles and by the time I got there and pulled in the parking lot, the transmission started jolting, jerking and shifting really hard. It was making a loud banging sound and felt like the transmission was about to fall out.

I took it back to the dealership and they reprogramed something and did some work on the transfer case and replaced a sensor or module. It helped for a while but it started doing ot again after about 5000 miles. I have took it back several times and the last time the Ford mechanic said that his wife's car was doing the same thing and he has worked on several other cars that have had the same problem and it can't be fixed.

I have hired an attorney and suing Ford. If you have had this problem or want to sue Ford contact: Attorney Jennifer Basola with Krohn and Moss LTD 1-323-988-2400 x 227 or jbasola@consumerlawcenter.com

For those that are experiencing the lunging and jolting transmission issue. I had this happen in the Fall. My engine light also came on. I had taken it to Ford under warranty a few times and they never really did anything about it since the light always went off inconveniently!

A friend of mine, who is an excellent mechanic, read the codes for me and knew immediately what the problem was. My issue....which sounds very similar if not the same.....was more of a computer and sensor issue than a transmission issue. Basically, the throttle position sensor was faulty and was incorrectly telling the computer the position of the throttle, which is directly tied to how the computer shifts the vehicle. It would often downshift/upshift at the wrong throttle position and thus wrong RPM, causing rough and hard shifts. If left long enough, this can wear out a transmission prematurely as well. Imagine going 60mph and intentionally shifting down to like 2nd gear, of course its going to kick and complain! Frustrated with the dealer, I picked up a new Throttle Position Sensor (TPS) and replaced it myself.

My mechanic friend told me this should fix it, but if not the computer may need to be updated with the latest version of the operating software to recalibrate the new sensor correctly.

In my case, the TPS fixed my problem like a charm.

Anyways, if this sounds like it could be your issue, this may be your solution! My friend said it is very common in these cars and there is a TSB for it and an updated version of the program for the computer that can be flashed to the car's computer.

If you're handy, its something very easy to replace yourself. The TPS on the 6cyl engine is located on the top and back of the throttle body. A couple of screws and disconnecting a wire harness is about all it takes.

Good luck!

Just to let people know. I have had a transmission problem with my 2006 Eddie Bauer Explorer ever since 10000 miles. The problem was the lunging and jerking that other people have described. I repeatedly took it back to Ford dealers who unsuccessfully tried to fix it. I finally said enough was enough and successfully sued the Ford Motor Company. I found a lawyer to take the case on consignment. I settled for $6700. The lawyer took 40% which that left me enough to replace the transmission when it finally fails all together. I encourage people to do the same thing. Keep all of you service records.

I purchased my Ford Explorer in Feb of 09. I called the dealership the next day and told them something was wrong, that it didn't shift right. After my third complaint they had me bring in a week later. They called the next day and said the car was fine..nothing wrong with it. Over the months I mentioned that my car really did not drive right, was lunging and getting stuck in gear. After having a complete melt-down, the dealership said they'd take another look. This time after having my car for one week, they called to tell me my car needs a new transmission and shifter. The cost:4591 PLUS tax. The owner of the dealership said too bad. He refuses to help with the cost in any way. His reason is they did not make enough money on the purchase of my vehicle. Over the past 5 years, I have bought two vehicles and referred 8 people whom also bought. How did he not make money off me? I owe $13500 on the car. I do not have 5K to fix. Without this car, I will lose my job. This is a nightmare.

I originally had hard shifting from 1st to second gear when accelerating, so the dealer replaced a module in the transmission. This did not fix the problem. I took it back a couple months later and they reprogrammed the module and that fixed it. Everything was good for maybe a year. Now I have the downshift problem from second to first gear that feels like you just got rear ended. The dealer says some foam in the transmission module breaks loose and gets caught in one of the ~24 valves in this module. They don't want to replace it again because it's already been replaced once and takes all day to fix. They are going to try to reprogram it today. Sounds like that not going to work. I think they need to keep replacing the module till Ford fixes the foam breaking loose problem.

I am so glad I found this board and believe or not I feel a little comforted by the fact that I am not alone. In a nutshell I bought CPO V6 Ford Explorer about six months ago from Cerritos Ford for my wife. As is the way of the world for the first three months we had no issues whatsoever and we have even changed the oila couple of times.

Anyway, a few weeks ago my wife started noticing that the car seems to make somewhat of a clunking noise whenever she drops down to around 20 miles an hour and she also notices that the car seems to occasionally rev high when she is driving. Honestly, I thought my wife was probably just being paranoid but I decided to go ahead and take it in anyway to assuage her concerns and move on.

Well, just got a call from the Ford dealership, not the one we bought it at by the way, informing us that there is a transmission issue and that they have to completely tear down the transmission to find the problem. Needless to say I was completely shocked. This was a CPO car that we bought with less than 40k mikes and it's having transmission problems???

What's even more infuriating is that even though this is covered under the power train warranty Ford has to do an inspection and approve the repair. Basically, if Ford believes that there is any indication that we caused this damage they wont pay. Yeah...I guess I better tell my wife to stop putting the car in reverse while going 80 miles an hour and to stop doing her off-roading through the mean streets of Pasadena with our two year old daughter. This is just ridiculous!

The day I drove home from the used car lot, I noticed that the car felt like it was occasionally being "hit from behind" as I would come to a stop. I thought maybe it had been sitting on the lot for a while and just needed to warm up- 500 miles later and the problem was still there. Luckily the dealership had a 30-day warranty on it and was able to help me out. None of them (at the dealership) seemed to be able to notice the jerking feeling that my husband and I got when we drove the car, They did some kind of re-programming and the vehicle hasn't jerked since then- occasionally it feels like it wants to. Hopefully this problem does not come back and hopefully Ford can issue some kind of a re-call so we won't have to pay for their error!

I am also having the same problem as everyone else. My car lunges forward. It is a good thing I have had my foot on the brake when this has happened because I have been pulling out from work and I would have been hit. Also, when I pull out the transmission hesitates when it shifts from second to third gear, it is almost as if I have completely let off the gas and then gave it gas again. Next problem... when I am slowing down whether I hit the brake or just let off the gas my car makes a terrible noise. It sounds like a whining noise, and a loud pop. It feels as if I have been hit from behind. It sounds as if my car is about to quit right then and there. This has only happened about three times but when I start the car and before I even pull out there is a loud noise. It sounds like something has hit my car. I am yet to figure out what this is. I took my car to the local Ford place and of course their first answer was to take the transmission out and look at it. I said no, I am not spending this much and then the problem may not even be resolved. My local mechanic put Sea foam in the car and this helped the whining noise for about two weeks but now it is doing it again. The more people I talk to that has an explorer even dating back to 2002 has this problem. I have thought about trading and getting something else but the more research I do on Ford vehicles they all seem to have the same problem and Ford is doing nothing to help.Please let me know if you have any suggestions to try.

My '06 Ford Explorer was purchased with 18,000 miles on it. The transmission has always lunged/jolted when coming to a halt. Recently on a 4th of July road trip, when accelerating there was a very loud knock. Fast forward two weeks, I am driving on the highway today and it starts lunging almost like I am pressing then laying off the gas. I am not sure what is going on, I am trying to figure out where to take it. I am so disappointed in this. Sounds like there have been MANY problems such as this with the 2006 Ford Explorers.

My husband and I just purchased a 2006 Ford Explorer on June 5, 2009, as my husband drove home we noticed it lunged forward as we came to a stop, almost like being rear ended. He took it back to Carmax on June 16 and had the vehicle checked. They assumed it was the brakes, and machine rotor,resurfaced pads, and change ele. (controls/features)entertainment system. It worked for about the 1.5 hour drive home and then started doing it again. We took the vehicle back on June 26th and they did the reprogramming that has been mentioned by people on this site. I've had it for a week now and it seems to be running fine, but I did place a complaint at this website

(http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/complaints/results.cfm).

If there are enough complaints, recalls can be made and we can have this problem fixed for free. I am astonished at how many people have the same problems I am. we thought we got this fully loaded vehicle for a steal at $14,000 but are now learning why it came at such a great price!

Just picked up a used car from the local CarMax last week. I missed the five day money back guarantee, and now my new SUV is in the shop because the tranny skips a beat when I apply the brakes...it feels like I have been rear ended. I am hopeful that the local CarMax does the right thing, and I will report back after I learn the painful or not so painful truth.

Update from Aug 17, 2009: Took it back to CarMax and they could not fix it so they took it to the local Ford dealer. The dealer updated the computer to the latest patch (or whatever they call it) and it is fixed. I received a 6 month 6,000 warranty on this repair and as of now am happy. I am going to put 1,000 miles on it this week so I should know if the fix worked or not. If it did not I will report back otherwise the fix was simple and painless! Without the warranty from CarMax this would have cost me $140.

Well.. To begin with I'm Ford Girl for 30 years. I have bought F350's, F250'S, 3 Explorer, etc.. In Feb. 2006 I went to Galipin Ford and leased a 2006 Pearl White, fully loaded, everything - running boards, leather inter, sunroof, 6 cd player, etc. Within the first and 2nd year the car was in the dealership so many times I can't count, I was always driving there having them fix something. My service records that Terry Miller – General Manger at Galpin Ford is about 4 1/2" high. While under warranty.. I had to bring it back so many times for them to fix my sunroof (can't count how many times) I've had 2 CD's players put in (the one in my car is broken now - so that will be 3 CD players I've had to put in my car) it will not play CD's, Keep in mind when I got this wonderful lease, I bought the Maintenance package for $1,500 plus extra mileage for my SUV. I never missed a check up and always brought my car in for all the problems I kept having in the two years.

Re-Cap - 2008 - I go into Ford to due the 35,000 service and see about an early termination (suggested by my salesman - who sold me on the lease) and possibly buy another Ford. Wasn't happy with the one I have because I had so many issues with it, It is a lemon. After I dropped off the SUV and came back several hours later, my salesman (who I bought my last SUV from) brought a paper from "Galphin Ford's" mechanic and it said, I had appox. $3,200 worth of repairs????? HOW COULD THIS BE THE CAR WAS KEEP UP, SERVICED, AND no dings or anything. The Salesman (I have the name) kept telling me I'd have to pay out that amount in order to buy another SUV and he'd just add it into the amount. He was arguing with my girl friend who came with me and we left (taking the piece of paper with us) the "quote" of what it needed - the mechanic’s check list".

AMAZING INSIDE MY SUV - was the exact same paper - ONLY EVERYTHING THAT WAS WRONG ON THE SALESMEN'S COPY WAS PERFECT AND CHECKED GOOD ON THE CHECKLIST LEFT IN MY CAR??????? IT WAS VERY OBVIOUS THAT THE SALESMAN WHITED OUT "GOOD" AND PUT 'BAD" YOU COULD CLEARLY SEE THIS. I was so mad; I need a few days to figure out what I was going to do. Clearly I WOULD NEVER BY A CAR FROM THIS MAN WHO IN GOOD FAITH WAS FRUDUALNT AND LIED ABOUT MY CAR NOT BEING IN GOOD SHAPE. I had 30 days left to make a decision, I went to the dealer Feb. 28, 2008 - I wanted nothing more to do with this dealership and really didn't want this SUV it was nothing but a lemon but I felt I had no choice but to BUY IT OUT of the lease. I was so frustrated and angry at being lied too, I ended up paying out the lease.

WITHIN 33 DAYS OF BUYING my car from Galphin Ford MY TRANSMISSION WENT OUT. I went back to Galipin Ford and Spoke with Terry Miller - Then General Manger - and showed him what his salesman did and told him my concerns and the fact that I hadn't even owned the car 33 days and the transmission goes out. Terry was great.. He gave me a free rental and had the transmission 'FIXED"... My car was in the shop again.. for hmmm what 2 wks, then it lasted about hmmmmmm 30-40 days and then my TRANSMISSION WENT COMPLETELY OUT AGAIN.

Keep in mind I was told by Ford that they took out my transmission and checked everything and replaced what was broken. When in fact, they didn't do that at all, they only fixed part of the problem without pulling out the transmission, so now Ford had to replace everything they just did and now FIX THE TRANSMISSION AGAIN. Terry the General Mngr.was great.. he paid for it again and gave me rental car for another hmmmm 2 wks.. When I pick up my car.. I noticed it started smelling funny.. Hmmmmmmmm I drove it to work and it really smelled funny.. and GUESS WHAT.. MY RADIATOR WAS LEAKING.. (was told by my mechanic - it was damaged when the guys AT FORD pulled out the Transmission) SO I spent $487.00 to replace it. i was so upset the last thing I wanted to do was have my car towed back to for and pay them to fix something they broke. At this same time I'm told I need a oil change.. but just had one by Ford.. I drove the car and 4 mths later my break ABS light came on.. Now mind you, I've paid for all maintenance on the car and my Breaks were suppose to have been done at the 35,000 mile warranty ck up. . Not only did I have to get front and rear breaks but the rotors I'm told were turned so much they can't be turn them any more. Plus there is a ''RING" ON THE BACK LEFT TIRE BEHIND THE AXEL OF THE CAR (ABS RING) IS BROKEN AND THEY NEED TO TAKE THE ENTIRE REAR END OFF IN ORDER TO REPLACE A $9.00 PART. The Break shop ended up welding the 'ABS" ring and it only cost me $525. Then I'm driving to work and my car smells funny again and water is leaking out of the rotator (I MUST RENT A CAR AND its IN THE SHOP FOR A THRID ONE) ....Then I'm driving and my sunroof won't go back again (remember Ford has fixed this SO MANY times), THEN I GO PLAY A CD.. GUESS WHAT.. CD PLAYER WON'T WORK AGAIN..I'VE ALREADY HAVE HAD 2 IN CAR, NOW I NEED A THIRD ONE, Then I heard a LOUD NOISE FROM MY ENGINE - I take it to Ford because I think it is my transmission but the Service man (I have his name) said, noooo it's not your transmission it's your ratator.. I said, NOW WAY.. IT WILL BE THE 4TH ONE I'VE HAD TO PUT IN... BUT INFACT, IT is the Tension belt ($187.00),

Then I go start my car AND THE BATTERY IS DEAD, I NEED TO BY A NEW BATTERY .. REMEMBER THIS IS A 2006 FOR GOD SAKES..

Then I'm driving home on mothers day (09) and my car is over heating, I have to towed 71 miles home MOTHERDAY NITE WITH MY 2 KIDS AND DOG - GETTING HOME AT 1AM ) and then IN THE MORNING I HAVE IT towed to my mechanic FOR $105 (KEEP IN MIND I'VE USED ALL MY Triple AAA towing for the year I only get 6 and yes used all 6) It is not my ratator but it is now my Intake manifold, temp. gage cost $387.00...

Now CURRENTLY I'M driving home and my car won't go down RPM'S, It starts to jolt and then go into drive, it jolts when trying to get in reverse. and is RPM's KEEP GOING HIGHER.... transmission problems AGAIN.. THRID TIME I'VE BROUGHT IT BACK FOR THIS. KEEP IN MIND.. MY RUBBER IS COMING OFF THE LINING OF MY DOORS AS WELL.. YES THIS WAS BRAND NEW 2006 TOP OF THE LINE.. AND ALL SAID AND DONE.. NOT INCLUDING ALL THE MONEY I'VE DROPPED INTO IT, THIS CAR HAS ALMOST COST ME NOW A TOTAL OF 40,000 AFTER I PAY OFF MY LOAN- WHICH I STILL HAVE FOR THE NEXT 4 YEARS.. TALK ABOUT A MAJOR LEMON.. Terry Miller of Galpin Ford is trying to get a hold of his “Dealer” rep at FORD AND HE HAS TOTALLY AGREED I’VE GOT A LEMON, he waiting for “Jenifer” his Ford Rep. to see what FORD CAN DO FOR ME.. BECAUSE I HAVE A HORRIBLE LEMON. THIS IS MY COMPLAINT.. I’m AM SOOO UNHAPPY… I have been a FORD GIRL FOR 30 YEARS.. BUT IF THIS IS THE PRODUCT THAT WE ARE EXEPECT TO GET FOR $40,000 I’ll never buy another FORD AGAIN. EVER.. WHAT CAN BE DONE? What can FORD DO TO TRY TO HELP ME AND KEEP AS A LOYAL CUSTOMER?

Terry Miller the General Manager of FORD IS AN AMAZING MAN AND IS TRYING HIS BEST TO HAVE FORD HELP, BUT WILL THEY IS WHAT I WANT TO KNOW. HE'S SAID, THE CAR IS A LEMON.. I SAY THE CAR IS A LEMON... WHAT CAN I DO?

THE CAR IS CURRENTLY IN GALPIN FORD SERVICE FOR THE TRANSMISSION PROBLEMS AGAIN AND WAS TOLD BY THE SERVICE GUY. THEY'RE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT THE PRICE? THE TRANSMISSION IS BAD AGAIN.. I WAS NEVER TOLD I'D HAVE TO PAY FOR THIS EVEN THOUGH IT IS OUT OF WARRANTY.. I THINK FORD SHOULD EAT THIS COST AND FIX IT RIGHT ONCE AND FOR ALL .. IT'S NOT LIKE IT'S AN OLD CAR IT'S JUST A LEMON.