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Acceleration & cruise control

Mercury Sable Acceleration problems by year

503 complaints filed with NHTSA about the Mercury Sable's acceleration & cruise control. Unintended acceleration, surging, throttle problems and cruise or adaptive cruise faults.

Acceleration complaints by model year

YearAcceleration complaintsCrashesInjuriesRecalls
20095230
200810400
20061120
200538100
200415000
200328000
200256620
2001611280
2000711870
199917441
199832700
199728310
199619420
199520211
199419101
199322311
199220321
19917101
199010200
198914620
19886100
19872000
19862000

Acceleration recalls

Latest Sable acceleration complaints

2005 Mercury SableAcceleration & cruise control

Im owner of Mercury Sable 2005 only 79000 miles..The car problem speed control idle over 2200 so high when stop red light have to brake pedal to slow the vehicle down, and the vehicle failed to accelerrate..

Filed Incident Vehicle speed controlNHTSA 11544491
2005 Mercury SableAcceleration & cruise control

Purchased vehicle from a private seller 10 days prior to incident. Seller informed me they had replaced throttle body sensor to fix unintended acceleration issues. Drove vehicle home on 4/10/22 with one incident on highway where I attempted to slow vehicle after reaching approx 70mph, and vehicle seemed to jolt/shudder as if unable to brake smoothly. Did not drive again til 4/18/22: I attempted to drive vehicle to tire shop to have new tires installed. After backing out of driveway, I accelerated quickly to approx....

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25mph. Acceleration continued past 25mph despite me letting off the gas pedal. I hit the brakes and felt the acceleration continuing to push against them, causing the car to jolt/shake with the application of the brakes. I slowed to a stop at a nearby traffic light, where the engine continued to rev at approx. 2000rpm. When I let off the brakes and drove through the intersection, the car continued to accelerate to around 30-35mph without me pressing the gas pedal at all. I again applied the brakes to regain control of the vehicle, and it again jolted against them as the engine continued to rev excessively. After the next light, I pulled over and placed the car in park. Here, engine stopped revving high, and when I put it in drive again, the issue had ceased. Reading up on complains, have found dozens of similar driver issues with uncontrollable acceleration on similar model-year Mercury Sables and Ford Tauruses, with no clear solution to the issue to allow me to safely drive this vehicle with my child inside. My and my child's safety is placed at risk with increased chance of brake failure, without recourse from manufacturer or NHTSA, who've concluded their investigation despite frequent complaints. Problem has not yet been confirmed by dealer/ISC. Vehicle has not been inspected. No check engine lights or other warning of issue from vehicle. At no point was gas pedal physically stuck in the acceleration position. Issue is known to NHTSA, but not resolved.

Filed Incident Vehicle speed controlNHTSA 11461348
2001 Mercury SableAcceleration & cruise control

Lately my car has been over accelerating to about 4,000 rpm's at random moments. I almost got into a wreck today and I was driving 30 mph. I've cleaned the throttle body and the idle air control valve and still the same issue. The car only has 113,000 miles on it but now I'm too scared to even drive it!

Filed Incident Vehicle speed controlNHTSA 11452347
2005 Mercury SableAcceleration & cruise control

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mercury sable. The contact stated that while driving 55 mph, the vehicle accelerated independently to 80 mph, without warning. The contact mentioned that the brake pedal was depressed to slow the vehicle down. In addition, the vehicle then failed to accelerate. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence. The contact contacted an independent mechanic and informed them of the failure. The dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 130,000. The vin was not provided.

Filed Incident Vehicle speed controlNHTSA 11365405
2005 Mercury SableAcceleration & cruise control

Gas pedal sticks. Cruise control randomly turns itself on vehicle accelerates on it's own without warning. Have had to shut the car off or shift into neutral while driving. It's absolutely terrifying.

Filed Incident Vehicle speed controlNHTSA 11252862
2003 Mercury SableAcceleration & cruise control

So sorry to bother you. I have a mercury sable 03 which has been accelerating by itself because the throttle cable gets stuck. I saw an article that said my year taurus and sable have this problem as well as saw that all those in the junk yard have the exact same problem. In the article it said ford agreed to fix those to stop further investigation. How would I go about getting this fixed? Please and thank you. My vehicle started going 79 and wouldn't stop. Even in neutral it went 4000 rpm until the throttle cable was unjammed. And continues to do so

Filed Incident Vehicle speed controlNHTSA 11204859
2003 Mercury SableAcceleration & cruise control

I was driving my car on a city street and the car started accelerating on its own and I tried to brake but my brakes would not work. I had to put both feet on the break to slam hard enough to try to get it to slow down even a little. I found out that the throttle cable got stuck and could not go back in causing the car to keep accelerating.

Filed Incident Vehicle speed controlNHTSA 11191700
2001 Mercury SableAcceleration & cruise controlEngine & cooling

Tl* the contact owns a 2001 mercury sable. While driving 50 mph on the highway, the accelerator pedal suddenly dropped down and the vehicle accelerated to 120 mph. The contact shifted into neutral, but the rpms continued revving at maximum capacity. When the vehicle started to slow down, the contact turned off the engine. The vehicle eventually came to a rolling stop on the side of the road. The contact waited ten minutes and attempted to restart the vehicle, but the engine revved up again; therefore, the contact...

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quickly turned the vehicle back off. The vehicle was towed to the contact's home. Future ford of sacramento (4625 madison ave, sacramento, ca 95841, (916) 473-1047) stated that there were no recalls on the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 180,000.

Filed Incident Vehicle speed control · EngineNHTSA 11180282
2005 Mercury SableAcceleration & cruise controlBrakesVisibility & wipers

Can not see out my front and back windows. I will clean the windows 3-4 times a day. Improper codes requesting repair and once repaired still the same thing. Starts no cranks. Very dangerous conditions, could not continue to work due to vision issues. Anti theft functions preventing me from operating my car.

Filed Incident Vehicle speed control · Service brakes · Visibility / wiperNHTSA 11130293
2001 Mercury SableAcceleration & cruise control

Sudden acceleration and continued high rpms. Accelerates without depressing accelerator pedal. This is a known issue for mercury sable / ford taurus 2000-2003 and I just discovered a recall was done in 2013 by ford. The cause is a malfunctioning of the throttle body and/crusie control cables.

Filed Incident Vehicle speed controlNHTSA 11121080
2001 Mercury SableTransmission & drivetrainAcceleration & cruise controlDriver assistanceCrash

Transmission issues included a near death experience when faulty cruise control wiring / functionality caused automatic transmission to rev to to high rpms. Was unable to shift to neutral gear and was forced to jump from vehicle to avoid potentially fatal wreck. Brake pads burned through to the calipers when trying to brake.

Filed Incident Power train · Vehicle speed control · Electronic stability control (ESC)NHTSA 11067172
2004 Mercury SableAcceleration & cruise control

Car accelerated by itself to above 55 mph at local road, when put to parking, the engine kept running at more than 3500 rpm, it was crazy, nearly killed some kids.

Filed Incident Vehicle speed controlNHTSA 11043314
2000 Mercury SableAcceleration & cruise control

Tl* the contact owns a 2000 mercury sable. While driving 60 mph, the vehicle accelerated without warning and the rpms increased to 500 or more. The local dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was notified of the issue and did not assist. The contact was referred to nhtsa. The failure mileage was 116,000.

Filed Incident Vehicle speed controlNHTSA 11023485
2003 Mercury SableAcceleration & cruise control

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 mercury sable. While stationary, the vehicle accelerated rapidly on its own without warning. In addition, the "check engine" indicator illuminated. Fairway ford in san bernardino, california determined that the speed control cable needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 170,000. ...Updated 10/23/17 *bf updated 11/1/2017*js

Filed Incident Vehicle speed controlNHTSA 10994484
2002 Mercury SableAcceleration & cruise control

Driving(in motion) on busy road(city street) near home, accelerated to 45mph, tried to slow down for light, removed foot off gas and car did not slow. Had to slam on brakes in order to avoid car stopped at light. Took all my strength on brake to keep car stopped. Put in neutral, no change. Put in park no change,still 4000 rpms. Wanted to get vehicle home so I put on flashers drove home while applying brakes.I was scared to death. Should have pulled over and turned car off but wanted to get it home so I could avoid...

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a tow. I am pretty handy and am doing research in order to fix myself.Popped the hood at home and immediately saw that the cable going to the throttle body was broken and hung up on a clip on the linkage cover. Image is of another vehicle with the same exact problem.

Filed Incident Vehicle speed controlNHTSA 10990855

Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaints and recalls, checked daily. Complaints are owners' own reports and are not verified. How we use the data

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