NHTSA Complaint #10450650 — 2004 FORD FREESTAR

WHILE ON THE HIGHWAY, AT ABOUT 35 MPH, MY 2004 FORD FREESTAR DIED. I WAS ABLE TO COAST INTO A SIDE STREET WITHOUT POWER. AFTER ABOUT 10 MINUTES, I WAS ABLE TO RESTART THE VEHICLE, BUT IT RAN ROUGHLY FOR SEVERAL MINUTES AND THEN BEHAVED NORMALLY UNTIL TWO DAYS LATER WHEN THE TRANSMISSION WOULD NOT ENGAGE IN ANY GEAR. I THOUGHT IT WAS A TRANSMISSION PROBLEM. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED HOME AND THE TOW TRUCK DRIVER SAID IT WAS BEHAVING LIKE THERE WAS A PROBLEM WITH THE COMPUTER. APPARENTLY HE HAS SEEN THIS PROBLEM BEFORE. EXAMINATION OF THE COMPUTER (PCM) AND THE ATTACHMENT PLUG SHOWED SIGNIFICANT WATER ENTRY. WATER ACTUALLY RAN OUT OF THE PLUG AND THERE WAS WATER IN THE PCM ENCLOSURE. AFTER SEVERAL DAYS OF DRYING TIME, THE PCM WAS PUT BACK INTO THE VEHICLE AND THE VEHICLE RAN NORMALLY. FORD HAS ISSUED A TSB THAT COVERS THE PROBLEM OF WATER GETTING INTO THE PCM AND CABLE, SO I AM SURE IT IS A COMMON OCCURRENCE. I BELIEVE THAT IF THE VEHICLE IS ALLOWED TO SET IDLE FOR A NUMBER OF DAYS, THE PCM WILL DRY OUT BY ITSELF AND THEN RUN NORMALLY UNTIL THE NEXT RAIN STORM. NO DOUBT, MANY TRANSMISSIONS HAVE BEEN REPLACED IN ERROR, AND THE PROBLEM REOCCURS WHEN THE PCM AGAIN GETS WET. LOSS OF POWER ON THE HIGHWAY MEANS NO POWER STEERING OR POWER BRAKES, WHICH CAN LEAD TO LOSS OF CONTROL OF THE VEHICLE. THE LOCATION OF THE PCM LENDS ITSELF TO WATER ENTRY AND APPEARS TO ME TO BE A DESIGN DEFECT THAT FORD SHOULD ADDRESS MORE FORCEFULLY THAN JUST TO ISSUE A TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN. *TR