Joining the 2003 Ford Taurus failed transmission group! On a trip, using the cruise control at 70 mph, stopped at a rest stop for about 5 minutes, got back in the car, started it up, drove about 200 yards, and out of the blue with no warning at all the car would not go forward, engine would rev up, but it would not go anywhere. Ended up being towed back home over 100 miles, took it to the Ford dealer and am out $3600! I am ticked off! I love my Ford Taurus, but not sure I will ever buy another Ford if they don't do something about this problem! I cannot afford to replace my car right now. I am retired and on a fixed income!

Recently purchased from a private seller the 2003 Taurus, at 49k miles. Driving with only 58k miles the car decides to just stop, no drive, no reverse, no anything, but a body.

Transmission is gone........ I cannot believe that there was not a recall for this problem! The car is in absolutely excellent condition fully loaded, you name it for a 2003 it has it.

What are we left with - a cost of $2,000.00 to fix. Too many situations with the transmission on this site for Ford not to have a recall! maybe going foreign next car.......

Ford should step up to its faults on this one!

Yet another defective torque converter!! Actual mileage on my car 39,464!! I have filed a complaint with NHTSA and I called the Ford 800-392-3673 number and filed a complaint with Ford. I was fortunate enough not to be on the road when this happened to me, I was just trying to get to work! I cannot afford to have this fixed at this time and I do have another vehicle I can drive, which is a Ford also. If Ford does not take care of their loyal customers, or any customers on this issue, I am DONE with FORD. If you had one of these defective torque converters and had it fixed, Ford is suppose to reimburse you IF THEY PUT OUT A RECALL ON THEM! File your complaints with NHTSA and call Ford @ 800-392-3673. Let your voice be heard, or buy a Honda, which is what I will be buying from now on, if this is not resolved

Update from Nov 14, 2011: Just picked up my Taurus, paid $1295.00 to replace the stripped torque converter. I recently just filed a compaint with my State Attorney General also, along with Ford

Bought the car brand new, currently has 108K miles, up to this point no major problems to speak of. All of a sudden, went to take off while stopped at the light and the car responded as if it was in neutral. Fortunately I was able to coast into a parking lot and I was able to use AAA for the tow. I'm waiting to hear back from my mechanic now but from the postings on this site I'm expecting the worst. I can't afford another car right now (recently bought a brand new Buick Enclave that we love - so far) so I will have to bite the bullet and fix the Taurus. I am terribly disappointed to hear that this is a common problem and that Ford has done absolutely nothing about it.

Had worked hard all day and had went to friends house for a little fishing at the private pond. Had great and relaxing time fishing, but had to leave early to get up to report to work at 530 am the next day. Started my 2003 Ford Taurus SE started to back out of friends drive and lots of revved up motor sounds, but no movement. Borrowed friends car to go home and report to work the next morning. Having little or no money, my friends and I tried to trouble shoot the problem. Realizing it was beyond our talent, I called my insurance carrier and I had my 2003 Taurus towed to the nearest Ford garage 20 miles away. Paul Miller Ford, in Lexington Ky informed me it was a torque converter and probably would need transmission. Handle it for $3500. Come on, car not even worth that much, however, I still owed a finance company so I needed to repair this car. Called Ammco Transmission and they said they could repair for $700 if Torque converter only or $1700 if transmission repaired. Of course, needed transmission so have paid $1700. However, computer not set and needed to return to have transmission cleaned and computer reset. Two weeks later and over $2500 spent I now have an automobile I need to drive until I die. Which may be sooner than I want due to stress from this incident. FORD really does need to address their problem with this transmission. Having read a great deal of the other responses, It appears we all have the same problem.

I came off of a major hwy w/o incident, only to get stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. As traffic began to move, I hit the gas & my car barely moved... sounding like it was in neutral. I thought maybe I'd accidentally hit the gear shifter, but when I looked over, it was still in drive! I hit the gas again, and WTF!!! I had just enough momentum to get into the right lane & pull onto the side street. That was it... put the car into park & it never went into gear again! I had my elderly, mostly blind aunt with me, as I'd just come from taking her to her doctor. Luckily, my 4 y/o was not in the car, but I had only an hr + a half to get to her school to pick her up, and it was half hour away! It was hot as heck outside, but luckily my car was still running & everything else, including the AC still worked! Thank goodness it didn't happen 10 minutes earlier, on the hwy, or I probably would have been rear ended & worse!!! The tow truck took about 45 minutes & my insurance covered $50 of the $70 fee, thankfully, so I only had to give the tow guy $20 on the spot! That was all I had!! He towed it to my home, as I don't have the money to even get it looked at, never mind worked on, or have it stuck in some repair shop... being charged for storage! I was able to call a friend & help me drop off my aunt & get my daughter. This happened about 2-3 weeks ago, and yesterday, I finally got a friend to come look at the car; he's not a mechanic, but his dad is, and so my friend has a basic knowledge about cars. He looked at some minor things & then made a guess as to it being the torque plate/converter. Well, when I googled it, it fit everything that I experienced, and as I went thru these complaints... I found myself getting very angry! Based on what I relayed to an actual repair shop, it's gonna cost about $2200 to rebuild/repair... They'd give me a 2 year/24,000 mile warranty, that's also valid in Florida. Oh, did I mention... in 3 weeks I'm moving to Florida & was supposed to be driving my Taurus!!! Thank goodness this didn't happen then!!! I don't have the money for the repair, and have no thought as to what I'm gonna do. I'm not working right now, and currently borrowing a family member's car for the next 3 weeks. Here's the other part of this that is really peeving me off... I've had an issue with my Taurus from "day 1" involving this "popping sound", kinda like when u squish a plastic bottle & it pops back... I've had it pretty consistently almost every time, upon coming to a stop & then re-accelerating. I've brought it in to Ford several times & every time, I'm told... "It's not doing it now, and there's no issue that we can find". I had a 7 year/75,000 mile extended warranty, and kept bringing up the issue, in order to get it fixed within that time frame, so that it'd be covered. Well, I'm at 8 years/89,000 miles, and now the tranny's shot, and I'm reading that the "popping" noise I've heard all this time, is a symptom of this specific tranny issue with the torque converter!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yeahh i can yell as much as i can? fu*cken ford taurus is awful!!! it is not worth to buy ever again.They will just ripped u off. As*@ole stop selling ford taurus.There should be a recall for this 2003 model.Gonna print all the complaints and send to General attorney.Problem in the transmission is what happened to my car.I was on interstate and it suddenly like its in neutral..it wont shift until i just stop and had my car towed. ford taurus bullshit!!! STAY AWAY FROM THEM.I hope no one will buy them and that they will lose business and they will go back to the farm and plant corn

My daughter was driving home from college. Engine revved up but car wouldn't move. Towed it to a repair facility who said the transmission was bad. A remanufactured transmission was going to be $3,400 to $3,600. I went with them rebuilding the transmission and that was lowered to $2,500. Car had regular service and care. It gave no previous warnings or problems that the transmission was having problems. The transmission just stopped working. I feel this is a product defect and that Ford has a responsibility to make it right. I don't feel comfortable letting my daughter drive this car knowing this has happened as it makes me wonder what could fail next without any warning. I have two Ford vehicles now, but I am very tempted to get rid of them.

Looks like no surprise another 2003 Ford Taurus with a bad torque converter or transmission!! I was driving to work and stopped at a signal light waiting to make a left turn. The light turned green. I punched the gas pedal to change lanes because there was a very slow moving truck in front of me. It was an uphill turn with two lanes of traffic. Thank goodness I was in the outside lane. I cleared the intersection and then the car acted liked it was in neutral. The motor was running but nothing happened when I pushed the pedal. I was able to drift to the curb. First I tried putting the car in low gear. Pushed the gas pedal. Nothing happened. Turned the motor off. Started again. Tried to accelerate. Nothing happened. I could tell by the sound it wasn't going into gear. Called my husband to wish him a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Called tow truck. Called local mechanic. So strange my husband described our problem to the mechanic. You want to guess his response??? You guessed it! Said he had replaced SEVERAL torque converters lately in Ford Taurus'. I'm upset after reading all the comments on this site. It sounds like a very common problem with the Ford Taurus especially the 2003 model. I was thankful it broke down where it did. This problem has great potential for a very serious accident. No warning signs! Cars can be replaced and my next will not be a Ford. Lives can not! I would hope that Ford will do the right thing and make known the problems with this car before it leads to a tragedy if it hasn't already.

My Ford SES transmission just failed as I was coming home from the city. How embarrassing standing on the side of the road with no help. Luckily the tow driver of the $135 tow trip was nice. But Now i have no idea how i'm getting to work in the morning. Great This is just what I DIDN'T need. Thanks FORD. There was no warning all of a sudden my car started acting like it was in neutral and no gears would engage. Now i'm in between a rock and a hard place. No car, don't know how i'm going to get it fixed or when i'm going to have the time. I could go to work on the bus but when am i going to get this problem fixed if I do. :( i'm totally bummed. Someone warned me this would happen and now it has.

Driving back from a family vacation from PCB on June 13th 2011, our 2003 Taurus transmission went out about halfway through the trip. It left my family stuck in Eufaula Alabama on the side of the road at 11 pm. We were going through a red light when the car stopped accelerating and now will only go into park or neutral (it seems). We had to have family come and rescue us and tow us back the folllowing evening. Now mind you it was 101 degrees, I am due any day now with my 3rd son and had my oldest 2 sons in the car with me (7 and 9). The car had NO issues prior to the trip. If it had not been for the local police and the kindness of a local church we would have been in some serious trouble.

So on Sunday the fair was in town thought we would take the kids for the first time (kids 2 1/2 and 9 months) got everyone loaded drove around the corner and BAM! Just like that, no warning, the car loses all power. Not a single gear worked. Shut it off turned it back on NOTHING! I thank God that this happened when it did. Side road, no traffic and my brother with a truck and tow strap right ahead of us. Strapped it on towed it around the block back into the garage and this is where it is going to have to sit. There's no way after reading all this I will fix the transmission and take the risk of this happening again but in a more serious situation. I am just horrified by the number of complaints on this problem and how nothing has been done about it. Ford is obviously well aware of the problem. What is wrong with you people! Do the right thing already! Get the vehicle off the road before it ends in a serious tragedy for some family.

Ford Taurus(2003) with108000 miles and the torque converter just went. No leaks, no funny noises, no warning at all. I was driving along slowed down to turn and went to go again and had NOTHING but an engine that raced. I was very lucky not to be re-ended and was able to coast to a safe place to park. Ford wanted 1500.00 to fix. I was able to get Cottman to do for 1150.00. I have another 2003 Ford Taurus with 87000 miles. Is this going to go soon??? Come on Ford, I understand there are a lot of problems with torque converters. Maybe a recall should be issued.