NHTSA Complaint #11052150 — 2005 FORD FIVE HUNDRED

BOUGHT THE VEHICLE USED IN MAY 2010. REALIZED EARLY-ON THAT THE TRANSMISSION WAS NOT SMOOTH, BUT WILLING TO SETTLE FOR LESS THAN PERFECTION SINCE IT WAS A 2005 VEHICLE. IN LATE 2012 OR EARLY 2013, I RECEIVED 'RECALL' NOTICE THAT PCM (I.E. - POWERTRAIN CONTROL MODULE) COULD NEED TO BE REPROGRAMMED DUE TO STALLING, HERKY-JERKY TRANSMISSION, ETC. TOOK CAR TO DEALERSHIP, THEY RAN DIAGNOSTICS, CHARGED ME $100, AND TOLD ME THAT MY CAR WASN'T EFFECTED BECAUSE NO ERROR CODES WERE NOTED AND CHECK ENGINE LIGHT WASN'T ON. I WAS NOT HAPPY, AND REFUSED TO TAKE MY CAR TO THE DEALERSHIP FOR REPAIR. PROBLEM PERSISTED, UNTIL CHECK ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON IN OCTOBER 2017 AT ROUGHLY 125,000 MILES. TOOK TO LOCAL MECHANIC, WAS CHARGED $150 FOR SENSOR REPLACEMENT. LIGHT CAME BACK ON A DAY LATER. TOOK BACK, REPLACED SENSOR FOR FREE (NICE!), BUT LIGHT BACK ON A DAY LATER. TOOK TO A DIFFERENT MECHANIC, WAS CHARGED $250, REPLACED MULTIPLE SENSORS, LIGHT BACK ON THE NEXT DAY. TOOK BACK TO 2ND MECHANIC, WHEN THEY SHARED WITH ME THAT IT WAS LIKELY THE PCM AND THE DEALERSHIP WOULD NEED TO FIX. CALLED DEALERSHIP 3 DAYS IN A ROW, ON HOLD FOR NEARLY AN HOUR THE 3RD TIME, WAS NEVER CONNECTED TO A SERVICE WRITER OR TECH, LEFT 3 VOICE MAILS FOR SERVICE MANAGER AND WAS NEVER CALLED BACK. RESEARCHED ISSUE AND FOUND NHTSA ACTION NUMBER PE11018, WHERE FORD INITIATED A CUSTOMER SATISFACTION PROGRAM 12N03 TO EXTEND COVERAGE TERMS OF REPAIR OF ENGINE IDLE RPM SURGE CAUSED BY PCM NEEDING REPROGRAMMING WITH SOFTWARE CONTAINING UPDATED IDLE SPEED CONTROL. PER NHTSA, SYMPTOMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE CONDITION MAY INCLUDE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT, DIAGNOSTIC CODES (DTCS) P0505, P0506, OR P061B. FORD ISSUED BULLETIN TSB 11-10-21 THAT INCLUDED UPDATED POWERTRAIN CONTROL CALIBRATION.