I purchased a used 2005 Ford 500 ltd AWD in May 2008. I was told it was a lease turn in. The mileage was very low, under 30,000 miles. The factory warranty expired in July 2008. In October 2008, my dash began malfunctioning. The gauges would go completely dead. I could not tell how fast I was going, how much gas I had left or the temperature of the engine. Nothing on my dash would work. It varied from lasting seconds to appx a half an hour. I drove home one night (it took me appx 25 minutes) not knowing how fast I was going or how much gas I had left. Also, the reverse lights were on when my car was in both drive and park. I stopped at a red light (my car was in drive) and the reverse sensor alarm went off when a car pulled up behind me. We took it to the dealership we bought it from & were told it was a cluster in the dash that was a "known problem with this vehicle" but because it was not a "safety issue" Ford did not have to recall this. I feel that not being able to know what speed you are driving down the highway to be a huge safety issue. Also having your reverse lights on while the car is in park or drive seems a bit dangerous as well. We had it repaired and it cost us over $400. About 2 weeks ago, we had to have another "cluster" repaired that was making my transmission shake & the check engine light as well another warning light appear. It was a sensor that went bad and was making my car think it was out of gas. This cost us almost $350 to repair. Not sure what's going on with the sensors/clusters on these cars but it seems to be a safety issue to me.

- Walkerton, IN, USA

Our car stalls while driving. It often happens on the highway, but also on residential streets and at all speeds. The car will lurch forward, the lights on the dashboard will all light up, and then the engine will shut down causing us to have to shift into neutral and try to pull over to safety. When we try to restart the car it will sputter and die again. Occasionally we will be able to get it to a parking lot, we have had to be towed home. We have replaced the fuel pump and spark plugs. The Ford dealership drove it and ran diagnostics on it for weeks at a time and found nothing to tell them anything. This has been happening every week or so for nearly a year, and no one can tell us what's wrong. There are times when it happens every day, and there are times when it doesn't happen for a month. Many people's description of a defective transmission body matches our description, but that part is, apparently, on backorder. The car is essentially un-drivable, because we cannot count on it to get to us work on time or safely.

- Princeton, NJ, USA

We own a 2005 Ford 500 and my wife has taken it to 3 different Ford dealers to have an issue looked at. The vehicle has stalled on her over a dozen times while driving down the highway and it has gone into fail safe mode. The vehicle seems to lurch when in gear either drive or reverse. I've looked up the issue on line and it appears to be very common with this model of vehicle. Throttle body and reprogramming of the PCM. I believe this to be a very big safety issue and there needs to be a recall on these before someone gets severely hurt.

- Springboro, OH, USA

Ford 500 SE 2005. Put the car drive or reverse and the car lunges. Push down on accelerator and car lags. Throttle body defective. Happens every time I drive the car. Part needs to be replaced back ordered until December.

- Sarasota , FL, USA

My 2005 Ford 500 began to surge when changing from park to reverse and also when changing from park to drive. At time it would change from 800 RPM to 1500 to 2500 RPM. Very scary in tight quarters and in a parking lot. Other times it thought it was a Toyota and just take off.fault codes did appear and the dealers first try did nothing to fix the problem. The last time was on the interstate. It terrified my wife. We dropped it off again at the dealer and was told that the repair part would take 14 days. Does Ford have that many problems ? I checked the internet and many Ford products are having throttle body problems. The replacement part was completely different from the original.

- Lawrenceburg, IN, USA

Electronic throttle control is bad. The car lunges forward and back. It also goes into engine fail safe mode. It also caused me a little accident, I went in reverse and the car lunged into the garage wall, broke the frame of garage and car has scratches and marks at the rear. Very scared to drive, wife wont drive. Part is on back-order, and its my only car. Have wife and two kids and I do not want them to drive in the car. This is a serious safety issue and I can not believe how lightly it is getting taken care of. Ford needs to force a recall fast.

- Chicago, IL, USA

2005 Ford 500. Car began bucking/surging/accelerating on own when starting to pull out into heavy traffic from shopping center to main road. Strong braking required to control car. Continued to happen, pulled back into shopping center lot. Would happen in drive or reverse with car taking off on own if no brake applied. Car stalled times two. Was able to get car to Ford dealership in very near vicinity. Continued to happen for service rep while at dealership. Dealership found electronic throttle body to be at fault. A known problem to exist, so stated. Tsb exists for this. Must replace throttle body with updated model. Unit on backorder. Car undrivable till part arrives. Greater than 1 month backorder on part! very dangerous situation occurred. Could have been serious accident.

- Loveland, OH, USA

For approximately the past year our 2005 Ford 500 has been lurching when shifting into reverse with the "wrench" symbol on the dash lighting up. I have had the codes run and nothing comes up. I have been doing internet research on this problem and it seems that many people have reported this issue in online forums with many having to have the throttle body replaced, computer reprogrammed and accelerator replaced. This issue has not shown up on for a recall but I do believe it should as my wife drives the vehicle and almost got into an accident with our three young children.

- Fort Myers, FL, USA

In parking spot. Just started car. Foot on brake. Shifted car to reverse gear. After a couple or more seconds, the car lurched, with my foot on the break, and nearly hit a pedestrian walking behind my car. Upon researching this symptom, I discovered other owners of the Five hundred, freestyle and Taurus reporting the same symptoms. The culprit appears to be a malfunctioning throttle body, which is or was in short supply for replacement. This particular incident is not the first time I experienced this event. This is just the first time a pedestrian was at risk. The pedestrian can be contacted for verification.

- Enfield, CT, USA

Car hesitates then lunges forward, and even feels like throttle gets stuck..

- Houston, TX, USA

2005 Ford freestyle...throttle body issues, when the car is put into drive it jumps forward. RPM's run high on the car at all times. The car will also jump in reverse it also sounds like it is going to drop the transmission at times. This vehicle does this all of the time. It also wants to shut down when you attempt to accelerate, like to get onto freeway for example. I have searched the internet and know this is not an isolated incident! this is clearly a huge accident waiting to happen, not to mention $800 dollars in repairs. I was almost killed in my 1995 Ford F-250 power stroke due to cam sensor issues, which was recalled right after I paid for a tow truck and repairs. This issue needs serious attention before someone gets killed, if they haven't already! Ford needs to be held accountable. Please pay attention to this! I will be replacing this part as soon as I can find one. I have taken this vehicle to a mechanic but not to Ford dealership yet. I no longer trust Ford! not to mention, I cannot afford them...

- Rockport, IN, USA

I have a Ford Five hundred limited. The car has stop running while the car is in gear and moving. It also stopped when I started to drive from a stop light. While it was being fixed at the car dealership it stop (died) on them several times. The Ford dealer company thought it was the power steering pump because the power steering pump was making a knocking sound. They also noticed that if they was to turn the wheel it would usually die on them. The dealership has replaced the battery, powersteering pump, belt and the throttle and the car still dies. My understanding from them is that they have never come across this problem before. What made me take the car in to begin with was that I went to start the car after playing tennis for about 45 minutes and it wouldn't start. The battery was somewhat dead and the security light was flashing rapidly.

- Omaha, NE, USA