NHTSA Complaint #10312407 — 2003 FORD EXPLORER

I BOUGHT MY 2003 EXPLORER NEW. APPX. 2-3 YEARS AGO (DON'T HAVE EXACT DATE YET, STILL SEARCHING FOR INFO) IT WOULD SUDDENLY STALL AND SHUT OFF. THE RPM INDICATOR WOULD ALSO JUMP REALLY FAST. I TOOK IT TO THE DEALER AND THEY SAID IT WAS AN IDLE ISSUE AND "FIXED" IT. A FEW DAYS AGO, I NOTICED A SIMILAR ISSUE AND NEARLY CRASHED. AS I WAS ROUNDING A CORNER, THE VEHICLE SUDDENLY STALLED, THEREBY CAUSING MY POWER STEERING TO FAIL. I QUICKLY PUT THE CAR IN NEUTRAL, RESTARTED IT AND REGAINED STEERING, VERY NEARLY COLLIDING WITH A VEHICLE IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION. THE CAR SEEMED OKAY FOR A FEW DAYS, BUT THEN DID THE SAME THING AGAIN. TWO NEAR HEAD-ON COLLISIONS ARE TWO TOO MANY. I STOPPED USING THE VEHICLE AND HAD MY DEALER LOOK AT IT. THEY CALLED ME YESTERDAY AND TOLD ME IT WAS THE IDLE AIR CONTROL VALVE, WHICH WILL COST $332 TO REPLACE. I CHECKED ONLINE AND FOUND THAT THIS IS A KNOWN ISSUE (TSB 0335, FEB. OF 2003). I NEED THIS VEHICLE SO I WILL HAVE TO GET IT REPAIRED, BUT THINK FORD SHOULD TAKE SOME KIND OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE DEFECT. I HOPE IT DOESN'T TAKE SOMEONE HAVING A SERIOUS COLLISION DUE TO THE DEFECT FOR SOMETHING TO BE DONE. THANK YOU FOR ANYTHING YOU CAN DO. *TR