2003 Ford Taurus, we bought this car with 33,000 miles at 120,609 transmission went out with no warning. Lucky my wife did not make it to the freeway. Long story short, out $2200.00 was looking at 2500+ but got them to do it for 2200. Well, here is more bad news. I have put 50,000. on the rebuilt transmission. 2nd gear is going out now.The bad thing is this car still looks good but it is not worth $2500.00, Motor runs good. I do not have the money to keep putting transmissions in this car. I am at 180,000. I will not fix it again. I believe Ford needs to reimburse for the transmission to be rebuilt again.

After dropping my kids off at school and was on my way home car was running great. UNTIL getting off highway ramp. light at top of ramp was red turned green half way up, I applied the gas, high pitched whirling sound then no drive.I was lucky! able to coast through light and pull over.Checked all fluids and all were ok. so ended up having to push car 1/4 mile into parking lot.The most frustrating part was I had to walk 5 miles to get home before I could get any help.This is horse sh*t gave no warning at all.I have owned Fords my whole life, but now I'm thinking it might be time to try another auto Mfg.

Well after spending my week carless and reading the other 100 some posts about Ford Taurus's transmission and it's problems I shouldn't have been so surprised how mine broke. I was driving along for about 7 miles and stopped at several red lights. I stopped at another red light on route 100 and when I stepped on the gas and the car would not move. I managed to get the car off to the shoulder, by my boyfriend pushing it. Of course turning the car on and off did nothing because we were both already sure that it was the transmission. I called AAA to come tow my car to the shop, although this towing has now resulted in my steering being ridiculously off. After a week I had my transmission rebuilt, my car back, and I now have to steer like an idiot until I can get that fixed next. Thank god I didn't actually pay for this car and I inherited it from my grandmother. Now all I can think about is what's going to be next to break.

Yet another member of the Ford Taurus failed transmission club. My 73 yr old mother in law is moving from the heartland to the southwest to be closer to family. She is driving a Ford Taurus 2003 w/ 81,438 miles on it, just had it serviced before she left on her trip to the southwest 11/11/2010. Passing through El Paso Texas 4 lane busy interstate the car loses all momentum and begins to coast to the side of the interstate as 18 wheelers are passing her by at 75 + miles per hour she coasts helplessly to the side of the road. As you can imagine she is very frightened and nervous to say the least. She calls my wife in a panic asking for advice, long story short she calls 911 the hwy patrol shows up and helps her arrange for a tow truck. The car gave no warning at all prior to putting her life in jeopardy. When is Ford going to take accountability for their faulty equipment? After someone is killed? I drove for 4 hrs to rescue my mother in law, loaded the worthless car on the trailer and paid for a room to stay the night as she was in no shape to travel right away. We got the car home and unloaded it at garage this morning. The mechanic said he knew from previous For Taurus encounters what the problem was before we unloaded it. The transmission pump shaft was sheared off, cost to fix $800.00. The pump is only around $100 dollars but to remove the sub frame and all to get the trans out is a lot of labor. Don't buy a Ford anything until they resolve their issues with this transmission. Thanks Ford for almost causing yet another freeway pile up.

I was driving across an overpass and suddenly without any warning or noise the vehicle seemed to act as though it was in neutral. I realized I was losing power and shifting gears did nothing. I had traffic behind me and coming at me.... somehow I was able to drift to the side of the road as it totally lost momentum. Once on the side of the road, I tried every gear... NOTHING. Suddenly transmissionless without so much as a hesitation. I was on a highway overpass!!!! Truthfully, I could have been killed and could have killed someone else. THANK YOU FORD. There have been how many complaints identical to this and FORD feels no responsibility? Friends came to my rescue and stopped traffic on the overpass and a side street so that I could drift backwards out of the extremely dangerous position I was in. Once I got to a side street... they pushed me to a safe parking area. Mechanic looked at it and said... you had complete transmission failure.... odd without any prior transmission hesitation or difficulty shifting. ODD INDEED! More like a NIGHTMARE. Not that Ford Motor Company cares that my job requires that I have a working vehicle and that I'm a single parent. And I don't have the 1800 just to get the transmission not to mention the labor for installation. I could lose my job, my home and who knows what else because of this .... and I didn't even get a three minute warning. I guess I am blessed that I didn't lose my life over it. That is a MIRACLE! Please don't wait for people to die before you take responsibility for your faulty transmission FORD.

i too have joined the transmission club.was on vacation 160 miles from home and tranny decided to take vacation too. after 200.00 rental car bill and 1700.00 transmission bill i am back on the road again.thanks ford for a vacation i will never forget.hey ford, do the right thing and send everyone that has that pos ax4n tranny a letter letting them know that their tranny is a ticking time bomb and could blow at any second! PS. I did save a little money.the Kia Rio i rented got 38 mpg. and comes with a 10 year 100000 mile warranty!

Well I had my car 4 years, I am the 2nd owner and was told the first owner was an older couple that drives a car until the warranty runs out and trades it in. when I bought my car it had 36,000 miles on it so I thought it wasn't a bad deal if I only knew what was going to happen. Now I have kept up on oil changes, power steering fluid, antifreeze, and transmission fluid. Little did I know that hot summer afternoon my car would just stop with me and my 6yr old in the car, sweating our asses off, groceries in the car, and stuck on the side of the road for almost an hour and half. We were driving home on hwy 17 when I slowed down and went to get over and pass someone and the car did nothing. It hit the gas and the engine revved up but did not move at all. We were able to get on the side of the road with cars passing at least 60mph wondering what happened. I cut the car off and tried to start it and put it in gear and same thing, so I got out and checked the fluids everything is good I mean nothing was even a little low. So now, I'm trying to figure out what me, my son, and my groceries are going to do. I called my grandmother who is at a doctors app an hour away. So my $150 worth of groceries were mostly bad and were fixing to die of a heat stroke being a single parent is not easy and I was expecting my car to at least hold up until it was paid off I have another year to pay on a car I can't drive because I can't afford to get it fixed. I am really in a bind and feed up with ford that will do nothing but charge me to fix it which is $2500. I am putting my grandparents in a bind because they have to drive me everywhere and I don't know what to do any advice?

I was driving to work when the car just revved really high and would not go forward anymore. It was almost like it was in neutral. I coasted to a parking lot and turned the car off, restarted it and tried again. But nothing, no drive or reverse. This is a serious issue because of this problem that Ford has known about, but failed to fix......I may lose my job and home because I have no way to get there because I can't afford to fix the car. And to top it off, I am still paying on it!! This is BS and Ford needs to do something about this!

My granddaughter is using the car in Ford and we will be in Florida Oct 15th, Here is her report to the National HIghway Traffic Safety Administration and were she intends on taking it further. We are quite upset that she could have been in a serious accident. it was two to three days later and this matter was on the Orlando News media. Here is the link http://www.clickorlando.com/news/25130713/detail.html

On Sunday, September 19, 2010, I was driving on the Interstate 4 in Orlando, FL when without warning I was forced to coast to the shoulder of the road, because what I would later find out was both the torque converter and pump had gone out in my vehicle. At the time of the incident there was less than 62,000 miles on my vehicle. I had to have the vehicle towed twice, first to my boyfriend's house and again to a garage where I would have to pay more than $1500 to get the transmission completely overhauled. Currently, I have a part-time job as a Sales Associate and make $8 an hour. At this rate, I would have to work more than 188 hours to cover the cost of the repair alone. And this doesn't even factor in the fact that the Kelley Blue Book value for the vehicle is now equivalent to half of the cost of the repair. That is absurd!

I spent the week without a vehicle and I had to rely on friends to transport me to and from work. During that week I learned about many other people who have had similar problems with a 2003 Ford Taurus and the torque converter. Five days after I experienced problems with my vehicle the local news did an expose on what else, but a failing torque converter in a 2003 Ford Taurus. Within the Orlando area, three people took it upon themselves to get some attention from the media. The news even reported finding internal documents within Ford detailing the problems with the transmission. Incredible!

I find it absolutely irresponsible, negligent, and morally wrong that Ford who has known about the problem, has not voluntarily issued a recall, and perhaps even more unacceptable that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has failed to effectively step in and require Ford to notify the public of this extremely dangerous issue.

Please follow up with me with information on how to make a formal complaint, as I find that this is a potentially dangerous situation as a reported 600,000 vehicles were manufactured with the same torque converter that I had in my 2003 Ford Taurus. I fail to see how this matter isn't as serious as the problem Toyota recently had, as the car is now seven years old and will typically be handed down to young drivers who have recently received their drivers license. And of course the 600,000 is a conservative number, because a serious accident continues to grow unavoidable as long as there are no forced recalls on this matter.

While driving on the freeway, at 70mph, in rush hour traffic the transmission on my taurus failed. No warnings, no previous indication that there was a problem My taurus has 79,000 miles. Luckily my husband was driving the vehicle because I am not sure I would have known what to do. Everyone should file a complaint with https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/index.cfm. I am so ticked. Like others I do not have $2000 disposable money to throw into a vehicle that is only worth $3000. I bought this car new so I know how it has been driven. My next stop is Ford Motor Company! I have always owned a Ford but unless they make this right my next purchase will not be american made!!!!

This is the 3rd taurus I have owned and the first with this kind of failure I had a 95 when I sold it w/170k tranny ok and original My 99 sable I still have w 160 k does slip a little but still works. I purchased the 2003 in July w/59k on and all was well until tonight. The damn thing just failed no WARNING!! Went to pickup one of the kids and DEAD. I got the car for my wife cause the 99 was showing age. But after reading the complaints with the cars UNDER 120K THIS IS CRAZY. At a time when the economy is iffy and many people are on tight budgets a major repair on a vehicle is not helpful.A LITTLE HELP FORD IF YOU WANT TO STAY IN BUSINESS!

Update from Nov 12, 2010: I had the car towed to a transmission shop and the torque converter was bad.Where the shaft goes into the converter the teeth in the converter were damaged. I was told it was common especially on the 2003. the repair job was 1070 dollars which also included replacing the mount. I did lodge a complaint with Ford. Also checking this site it also seems the 2003 has more complaints than the others. On Oct 19 when I lodged my complaint I checked complaints from 1998-2007 and 2003 had the highest by a long shot 114 verses less than 50 for each other year. If more people would call Ford as well maybe something will be done.

I came out of the grocery store and put my $200 worth of groceries in the trunk of my 2003 taurus ses with 112000 mi. I turned my engine on and put it in reverse and nothing. I put it in drive and again nothing. My ice cream was shot. Got it towed to the garage and the mechanic told me the tranny was shot and would cost from $2100 to $2400 to overhaul. After replacing the rack and pinion steering at 50K, The cam sensors at 80K and the timing cover gasket at 90K I'm done putting my hard earned doggie dollars into this heap. It does have a great muffler.I know why Ford didn't need a Bail-out. They make a fortune in replacement parts. By the way I was religious about my routine maintenance/oil changes and changed the transmission fluid and filter @ 90k as per recommendations. SHAME ON YOU FORD

My girlfriend was driving to work on Sunday on Interstate 4. She was driving at 65 MPH when without warning her transmission failed. Luckily she pulled off to the shoulder without harm. Her engine was running fine, but the transmission acted like it was in Neutral.

The car only has 62,000 miles on it, and the car is only 7 years old. This is ridiculous that Ford has not done a recall yet. It's a very dangerous condition for anybody to be in.

The problem was the Torque Converter and Pump went bad on the transmission. This is a very expensive repair. This kind of job can not be done at home, it requires a lift and the sub frame to be dropped out of the vehicle.

Although I am a fan of Chevy, I know there is no such thing as a perfect car, GM has put out some crap. And all vehicles break down, it's physics, you add a lot of heat and a lot of moving parts, things are bound to fail. But I believe it's every car manufacturers responsibility whether it be Ford, GM, Toyota or whoever that if there is a consistent problem with their automobiles that can cause a potentially dangerous scenario for their customers to rectify the situation and ensure people are safe on the road.

If they finally decide to do a recall I believe they should reimburse the people who have already had to pay out of pocket for this severe negligence.

My grandmother bought her 2003 Ford Taurus brand new and has had it for 7 yrs and has hardly driven it at all as it only has 43k miles on it! She pulled out onto the highway yesterday, she got in her lane them she just heard the engine rev up and it would not pull. She coasted as far as she could and tried to get out of the highway but it was sticking out in the highway. She is nearly 80 yrs old and she doesn't drive on the interstate. This is a very life threatening concern as it could have been worse if she had not made it over to her lane. No wonder Ford didn't need Government Bailout money because they just keep ripping people off without fixing their problems!! It is funny how Auto Manufacturers will recall a freaking taillight because is may leak but when it comes to bigger finance situations, the customers are on their own!! Ford, do the American thing and fix your crappy cars!! First On Race Day to the scrap yard!! Look at Complaint #70 and go to the website and file!!

The first converter gave out 22K miles back and was covered by a warranty. Last week the new converter blew out. Cost was $1477. No warranty on the previously replaced converter. Both left me and my wife on a freeway and we had to call a wrecker for a tow.

After reading all the posts on this site I won't be getting another Ford. I had just replaced the brakes, shocks and struts. After being fixed at Keller Ford it did drive OK on the way home. Its very frustrating to realize there is such a problem with the converter and Ford hasn't helped more than they are.

My wife's 03' Ford Taurus was a very good car for the several years we have had it, but just like so many people on here, we were going on a family outing and without any notice the transmission just completly quit working. It is very disturbing after reading all of these complaints that the Ford moptor Co. has not had a recall on these transmissions. I have never been a big fan of Ford myself but my wife and her family only buy Ford vehicles, I think everyone on this page should get together and personally complain to Ford for these problems. We are like a lot of other families right now and are not in a position to take on another payment or come up with $2000.00 to repair this car when it's only worth about $3000 on kelly blue book. I guess that is why they have no resell value just like most Ford vehicles. For a company that says how much pride they take in customer satisfaction, this is a real shame.