10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 1 / 1
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 1 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 50,507 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Ranger. While driving approximately 35 mph, the vehicle stopped in the middle of traffic without warning. The vehicle was coasted to the contact's residence and the contact replaced the fuel filter. The failure recurred and the contact replaced the fuel pump. The failure recurred a third time and the vehicle was taken to an unknown independent mechanic who diagnosed and replaced the inertia switch. The dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and did not assist. The failure mileage was not provided.
- Wallkill, NY, USA
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Ranger. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 60 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle able to be restarted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 127,000.
- Galt, CA, USA
Electric fuel inertia kill switch malfunction(over heating and causing eng> shutdown while driving!) extremely dangerous!!
- San Diego, CA, USA
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Ranger. The contact stated that the inertia switch malfunctioned, causing the vehicle to stall while the contact attempted to park. The vehicle would also sporadically fail to start. The vehicle was towed to a local mechanic, who advised the contact that the inertia switch needed to be replaced. The contact did not have the switch replaced. The failure mileage was 52,000.
- Chico, CA, USA
As a passenger entered my truck, their foot hit the inertia switch killing the fuel system. This has now happened approximately 15 times, 3 of which no passenger was even in the truck. This switch is placed in a commonly kicked area and once tripped the first time it becomes extremely sensitive to vibration. One time it cut off while I was idling in line at a drive-thru. It should be recalled and relocated.
- Huntington Beach, CA, USA
Multiple shut offs from the inertia switch has been going on for 2+ years after driving for 30-40 mins truck will just shut down while driving has happened on the interstate, driving around town or sitting at stop light. Ended up melting the connection. Have replaced.
- Cape Coral, FL, USA
Driving on I75 when engine stopped. I lost all power. Was able to coast off the road and onto the shoulder. After five minutes, truck started and drove home without any further problem. Continued to have same problem, didn't matter what speed I was driving or if I was stopped at a light, and it would stop repeatedly in one week or go for months without a problem. Truck would stop and would eventually restart within a couple minutes or up to 30 minutes after it had stopped. I repeatedly had to coast or push this truck from the roadway without any power steering. In early 2011, the truck stopped three times in one day. The third time, it stopped in front of friendly Ford, monroe, mi. They kept it for two weeks but it only stopped running for them one time and it repaired itself before they could find the problem. In may of 2012, it began stopping multiple times in one day. It stopped and would not restart and I had it towed to crest Ford in flat rock, mi. They discovered the fuel shutoff inertia switch had failed and replaced it and the pig tail wiring harness. It apparently had overheated for some time and had melted the wiring harness into the switch. I paid $367.94 for these repairs. At this time the truck only had 28,370 miles on it. The truck was used very little and was always kept inside my garage. The dealer told me to contact Ford for possible reimbursement. Ford told me they did not have a recall for this problem at this time but to keep my receipt in case of a future recall. I feel this is a safety problem. This switch is designed to shut off the fuel pump during a crash so as not to feed a fire. I googled for "Ford Ranger defective inertia switch, " and found thousands of similar complaints where their Ranger would suddenly stop and eventually would require the inertia switch to be replaced and in some instances, it was replaced as many as three times during ownership. Updated 07/19/12
- S Rockwood, MI, USA
Engine died when slowing for a turning vechicle an busy city street. Engine would not start and was unable to move vechicle out of traffic lane until tow truck arrived. Repair facility engine analysis identified the fuel pump inertia shutoff switch which as the fault. It would not reset and was replaced.
- Boise, ID, USA
Driving on freeway approximately 30 to 40 minutes at 55-70mph and engine shuts down with no warning. Pull over wait a few minutes and engine starts. Drive another 30 to 40 minutes and engine shuts down. Pull over wait a few minutes - engine starts. Went to put gas in truck and engine would not start. Reset fuel inertia/shut down switch and truck started.
- San Juan Capistrano, CA, USA
Driving on freeway approximately 30 to 40 minutes at 55-70 mph and engine shuts down with no warning. Pull over wait a few minutes and engine starts. Drive another 30-40 minutes and engine shuts down. Pull over wait a few minutes engine starts.
- San Juan Capistrano, CA, USA
The fuel inertia switch would malfunction for no reason. The car would just die, losing all power (many times happening at 65 mph on freeway). It happened at least 15 different times. The "reset" button would have to be used to get vehicle started again. Eventually, the component "melted, " and had to be replaced. I was told at the dealership not to let the fuel level get lower than 1/4 tank, to prevent this from happening again. Very dangerous issue, which Ford is aware of< but does nothing!
- Los Angeles, CA, USA
Two times in 2 days I was driving when the vehicle suddenly stalled/shutoff. Fortunately both times I was able to pull over out of traffic. It felt like my pedal went dead, I lost my power steering as well. Since I was able to connect to the internet through my phone I was able to search "Ford Ranger suddenly dies while driving." An overwhelming amount of results indicated to reset my inertia fuel shutoff switch. I found it, reset it and the truck started again. After the second time this happened I researched Ford Ranger recalls, only to find this was not one of them. I feel very apprehensive about driving my truck, not knowing why it suddenly decides to trip the fuel shutoff switch. This is extremely dangerous and it needs to be recalled.
- Apo, AE, USA
Fuel shut off switch - the wire harness connecting to the fuel shut off switch are melted. Ford replaced one of these switches during my warranty period and since then I have replaced this switch twice. I now notice that the harness connected to this switch has wires that are melted. This switch has activated numerous times while I have been driving and when this happens the vehicle fuel is interrupted and vehicle stalls. I have had this happen on interstate 4 and on various other roads. I find it hard to believe that my vehicle is the only one this happens to. I recently picked up a new switch which has been revamped with an additional wiring harness and a new connection bracket. The problem is that the old harness that this will be attached to has bare wires exposed with no insulation covering them. I am concerned that this constitutes a fire hazard. I have spoken to the Ford service department in lakeland, fl. But have had no reasonable explanation on this problem.
- Lakeland, FL, USA
2005 Ford Ranger edge. Engine stalling due to faulty fuel cutoff switch which got hot enough to melt the plastic switch itself. Truck stalled 20-30 times total with half of those times at freeway speeds.
- Phoenix, AZ, USA
I was driving 65mph on the freeway (which was smooth) and my inertia switch went out. This shut off my power steering, my power brakes and I was almost killed by a semi truck because of this. It happened 10 times today, usually when coming to a stop. This has happened multiple times, and Ford has not yet issued a recall. About two weeks ago, the same thing happened (on the freeway), and once again almost caused an accident. They have already tried fixing this before and it continues to occur. I have read multiple instances of this occurring and believe this is an extremely dangerous defect, and almost cost me my life. I have a 2005 Ford Ranger. Thank you for reading my problem, I am very disturbed by this and hope Ford will fix this.
- Escondido, CA, USA
My 19 year old son owns a 2005 Ford Ranger we purchased through a dealer last year. For the last month or so he had to reset the fuel pump inertia switch to get the vehicle started again. This is very dangerous since one time he was on the expressway going 65 and the truck turned off on him. It's happened to him about 5 times and now he is afraid to drive it. Don't know if the inertia switch is bad or if something else is causing this. I hate to take it to the dealer since they tend to throw parts at it and not fix the problem. I think this is so dangerous it should be recalled by the Ford dealer.
- Elma, NY, USA
Driving East on I-10 near Ontario, cal at 70 mph 5/22/2010 9pm, truck died the inertia fuel switch was open. Had to drive with son holding down on the button to keep truck running to get off freeway at 4th St. Inertia switch is dead used a paper clip on wires to drive home. Also the wire connector to the inertia was melting some. First time this happen is in Oct 14 2005 and 4 or 5 times sense.
- Apple Valley, CA, USA
Inertia switch tripped in 2008 while parked!? walked home, looked up on internet, found out how to reset. February 2010 the inertia switch tripped again while coasting down smooth road. Pulled over and reset switch. Daughter reports inertia switch tripped a couple of weeks later, fortunately I told her how to reset it. This could be very dangerous and life-threatening, especially if it happened on a crowded freeway! I feel that Ford knows this is a problem, have created a relocation kit. For a hundred bucks! I feel Ford should pay for it. I have only 7K miles on this truck, in five years!
- La Mesa, CA, USA
On May 6,2005 our truck just died, towed to dealership and was told the inertia needed to be reset. The switch was sensitive and went off. Usually inertia switches are to prevent fuel from getting to the engine when involved in an accident. Our truck was not involved in an accident and just died. The dealer just reset the switch. On June 28 our truck died while driving. Dealership decided to put a new inertia switch in. On August 29, 2005 our inertia switch kept switching off. Now we have a history of this problem according to the dealerships paperwork. Waited 3 days until July 1, 2005 for a new inertia switch. Replaced switch. On August 23,2005 inertia switch kept turning off again! furious my wife and I called the manager 10 minutes before closing and asked where the location of the switch is so we could turn our truck on again. They told us and said to call in the morning to set up an appoint to replace the inertia switch again. A week later they replaced the part again! we told the dealership that we were concerned about this situation because we bought this truck brand new for our son to drive to school/work and now we were worried for his safety. Unfortunately on September 9,2005 are fears came true. Our son was on the highway and the engine died and he avoided another vehicle and hit the center divider going around 70 mph. Our son was injured and now this truck is under litigation...updated 10/22/12 updated 10/22/12
- Rancho Cucamonga, CA, USA
- Bowling Green, FL, USA