NHTSA Complaint #10153073 — 2002 JAGUAR X-TYPE

MY FIANCEE WAS DRIVING WHEN THE ENGINE LOST ALL POWER, THE RED MALFUNCTION LIGHT CAME ON, THEN THE AMBER SERVICE LIGHT. THE VEHICLE WOULDN'T ACCELERATE AT ALL AND WAS A HAZARD TO ATTEMPT TO PULL OFF THE ROAD FROM THE RIGHT LANE! MY FIANCEE CALLED SCARED TO DEATH AS SHE WAS ALMOST REAR ENDED DUE TO THE SUDDEN POWER LOSS. BEING A 3X RE-CERTIFIED A.S.E. MASTER TECHNICIAN WITH NUMEROUS COLLEGE CREDITS IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING THROUGH THE US AIR FORCE, I TOLD HER TO SHUT THE VEHICLE OFF AND ATTEMPT TO RESTART THE ENGINE TO CHECK THE DASH WARNING LIGHTS, BOTH RETURNED AND THE VEHICLE FAILED TO ACCELERATE BEYOND IDLE. AS THE LEAD TECH(SHOP FOREMAN) OF THE LOCAL MITSUBISHI DEALER, I WAS IN CHARGE OF LEMON LAW REPAIRS PRIOR TO BUY BACK FROM THE MANUFACTURER IN SE FLA. I HOOKED UP MY DIAGNOSTIC SCAN TOOL TO RETRIEVE CODES FROM THE OBD2 CONNECTION AND PULLED UP A CODE FOR THE THROTTLE POSITION SENSOR. FORTUNATELY I WAS ABLE TO CLEAR THE CODE AND DRIVE THE VEHICLE HOME- CAUTIOUSLY! AS THE LEAD TECH. AT A BOCA RATON,FL. REPAIR CENTER, I CALLED MY LOCAL JAGUAR DEALER TO INQUIRE ABOUT THE PRICE AND AVAILABILITY OF THE TPS SENSOR AND WAS NOTIFIED THAT THE PART WAS ONLY AVAILABLE AS A THROTTLE BODY ASSEMBLY- FOR THE AMOUNT OF @1500.00 DOLLARS AND THEY HAPPENED TO STOCK 2 UNITS. I NOTIFIED JAGUAR CUSTOMER SERVICE AND WAS TOLD TO TAKE THE CAR TO THE DEALER THOUGH THE VEHICLE WAS JUST OVER THE MILEAGE WARRANTY AND THE LIGHTS WERE NO LONGER ON, BEFORE ANY DETERMINATION COULD BE MADE AS TO THE WARRANTY GOODWILL AVAILABLE TO HELP WITH THE REPAIR. MY PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED CREDENTIALS AND THE REPEATED MENTION THAT MY FAMILY DRIVES IN THE VEHICLE WITH 3 CHILDREN AND MY CONCERN WITH THEIR SAFETY FELL ON DEAF EARS. MY CONCERN IS THAT THERE IS NO REDUNDANT CIRCUIT TO ALLOW SAFE TRAVEL TO A CLEAR ROAD SHOULDER IN THE EVENT OF SENSOR FAILURE AS THIS VEHICLE DRIVES BY WIRES FOR THE THROTTLE. PLEASE RESPOND ASAP AS I FEAR A REPEAT IS DEFINATELY LIKELY!*JB