NHTSA Complaint #10660207 — 2012 FORD FUSION

VEHICLE EXHIBITED EXTREME HESITATION WHEN ACCELERATING THROUGH AN INTERSECTION. ENGINE RAN ROUGHLY, AND DID NOT RESPOND TO THROTTLE INPUTS, AND POWERTRAIN 'WRENCH' LIGHT ILLUMINATED. PULLED INTO AN ADJACENT PARKING LOT, STOPPED AND PLACED INTO PARK, WHILE THE ENGINE CONTINUED TO RUN ROUGHLY. ENGINE WAS SWITCHED OFF, AND RAN NORMALLY WHEN RESTARTED. THE TOTAL ELAPSED TIME OF THE ANOMALY WAS APPROXIMATELY 5-10 SECONDS. LATER THAT DAY A SCAN OF THE OBD II PORT INDICATED NO ANOMALIES, AND AN ON-BOARD 'VEHICLE HEALTH MONITOR' WAS RUN VIA FORD SYNC . THIS REPORT ALSO INDICATED NO ANOMALIES. WHILE LOOKING UP THE VEHICLE HEALTH MONITOR RESULTS ON THE OWNER WEBSITE, I NOTICED THAT THERE WAS A 'CUSTOMER SATISFACTION PROGRAM' 13N03 WHICH EXTENDED THE WARRANTY ON THE THROTTLE BODY. RESEARCH ON THIS 13N03 PROGRAM VIA MULTIPLE ON-LINE SOURCES REVEALED NUMEROUS FAILURES OF THE THROTTLE BODY, WITH BEHAVIOR IDENTICAL TO THAT OBSERVED IN THIS VEHICLE. CAR WAS DRIVEN (CAREFULLY) FOR A FEW DAYS UNTIL I WAS ABLE TO VISIT LOCAL FORD DEALER. SERVICE ADVISOR INDICATED THAT FORD WOULD ONLY REPLACE THROTTLE BODY IF THERE WERE STORED CODES CONSISTENT WITH THROTTLE BODY FAILURE, AND THAT DIAGNOSTIC COSTS ($159) WERE MY RESPONSIBILITY IF NO CODES WERE FOUND. AFTER DISCUSSING THE NEGATIVE RESULTS OF OBD II SCAN AND VEHICLE HEALTH MONITOR, HIS OPINION WAS THAT THERE WAS A VERY HIGH PROBABILITY THAT THEIR DIAGNOSTICS WOULD ALSO SHOW NO CODES. BASED ON THIS INFORMATION, I DECLINED TO HAVE DEALER EXAMINE THE CAR, AND REPLACED THE THROTTLE BODY WITH UPDATED PART MYSELF (TOTAL COST $125), AS A MORE EFFECTIVE APPROACH TO PREVENTING RECURRENCE. MY OPINION IS THAT THE 13N03 PROGRAM NEEDS TO BE A FULL RECALL, AS THIS FAILURE IS COMMON, UNPREDICTABLE, AND CAN HAVE VERY SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES SHOULD IT OCCUR DURING HIGH SPEED MERGING OR CROSSING TRAFFIC. *TR