Which parts fail
Components named in complaints (accelerator pedal, throttle, sudden acceleration, cruise control).
Mileage when the problem started
Owner reports
Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2005 Ford Five Hundred owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
while we are in idel for a period of time the car wants to surge forward without pushing on the gas. it wants to rev withough the has pedal being pushed. It does it at red lights, stop signs, and if Im in a drive through.
Tl contact's client owns a 2005 Ford Five Hundred. While the client was driving 35 MPH, she removed her foot from the accelerator pedal; however, the vehicle continued to accelerate. She attempted to apply the brakes, but the speed continued to increase. The client also applied the emergency brake and encountered a pickup truck traveling in the same direction. She crossed over the double-yellow line on a 2-lane road and passed the pickup truck. The driver of the pickup informed police that he noticed brakes being applied, smelled, and saw blue smoke coming from the vehicle. The vehicle continued accelerating. The air bags deployed. The client then side swiped a guardrail for approximately 40 feet. The front tire blew out and the vehicle was pushed across the roadway. A police report was filed. Two passengers sustained injuries. …
I was in heavy traffic and the car just stalled out on me while sitting at a light. Had to put my hazards on and try to restart car, restarted and then as soon as I put it into drive it stalled again. This happened 3-4 times until I could move to the next light and stop and go through the whole process all over again. Finally got on the highway and got home. Thought it was a fluke. Happened a second time while picking up children from daycare. Stalled out while at low RPM and would not restart. Had to have it towed. Had fuel filter replaced. Happened a third time at the store. Had to have it towed. Towed it to the dealer and the dealer spent over 6 hours to come to the conclusion that throttle body needed to be cleaned and PCM reprogrammed/updated. Without much confidence, they returned the car to me and said they could not replicate the problem. …
One day driving my Ford Five Hundred as I am gettin on the freeway the car didnt accelerate effectively activating RPM surges but the car wouldn't speed more than 30mph doing so taking long nearly causing a accident in addition to slowing flow of traffic after finally getting home and parked the next day the car didn't start it would crank but wouldn't start I had a mechanic come look at the car everything was in order the PCM would also click when trying to start after doing research I discovered NHTSA had a recall for Ford Five hundreds 12n03 and in the summary it included throttle and PCM reprogramming and cleaning or replacing the throttle body. Therefore I brought the car to a Ford dealership and they confirmed theses being the cars issues however Ford dealership said that my PCM needed to be replaced not reprogrammed which is not covered under 12n03 protection program.
Transmission has very hard and delayed upshift and downshift making it difficult to control speed when accelerating and decelerating. RPM gets stuck around 3000 at lower speeds and upon engaging into gear has made my tires squawk with a sudden lunge in speed and same problem when trying to stop, the car lunges forward. It acts as though it is in neutral but then when it engages into gear sudden changes in speed occur causing rapid acceleration or deceleration. The problem gets worse after the car is up to normal operating temperature. It doesn't occur as often at colder operating temperature. This problem makes it difficult to get back up to safe highway speeds after having to stop for traffic or red lights as well as hard to get up to speed to safely merge into traffic from an on ramp. As far as "when" this happened it is every day as I drive daily.
I was at red light person crossing road I was I. Drive foot on brake, rpms shot up engine reeves cat lunged forward I pressed harder in brake almost hit person. At the time no warning lights. Then at pharmacy drive thru w car I. From and I. Back of me car did same thing. I had to press brake hard to prevent moving hitting car in from of me. I was in drive but foot on brake! No warning lights at time. Had throttle body replaced still had similar problems progressing little did I know when throttle body is replaced has to be reprogrammed by Ford! Spent so much money and time trying to figure out problem. This is a flaw w Ford 500 2005 throttle body many complaints and test does never issues recall, unsafe. I could have killed someone.
Tl contact owns a 2005 Ford Five Hundred. While driving approximately 3 MPH in reverse the vehicle accelerated and crashed into a fence. He turned the vehicle off when the engine fail safe light came on. When he restarted the vehicle the check engine light came on. He shifted the vehicle into drive gear and it accelerated without him engaging the accelerator pedal. The failure occurred intermittently and had become progressively worse over time. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who stated that the throttle body needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not been repaired since the contact would be responsible for paying $695.86 to repair the vehicle. The failure and current mileages were 59,240.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 Ford Five Hundred. The contact stated while driving approximately 5 MPH into the garage, there was an unintended increase in the acceleration which caused the vehicle to crash into the wall. There were no injuries; however, the front bumper and hood were damaged. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where the throttle body was cleaned and reprogrammed. The exterior body damage had not been repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 78,000. ..updated 01/30/13 updated 2/1/2013
I have researched online and a lot of people with my same car are having the same problem. While driving my whole dash board goes out . I can no longer see how fast I'm going. Everything goes to 0 the gas goes to e and my reverse lights stay on until the dash board comes back up. If and when it comes back on my check engine light will be on. This has been happening every since I purchased the car 3years ago on and off.
(etb) electronic throttle body on my car causes an acceleration that makes the car jerk forward. I've almost hit a wall, and god forbid this happens on the highway I could cause an accident. Its unsafe and should be recalled. Poor design I guess but it's not worth my life. This happened while idling in drive thru when I tried to go forward it idled really high then dropped down. Would bot accelerate afterwards.
NHTSA investigations
Idle instability
On November 29, 2012, Ford Motor Company (Ford) initiated Customer Satisfaction Program 12N03 to extend warranty coverage terms for repair of engine idle RPM surge caused by throttle body deposits in all model year (MY) 2005 through 2007 Ford Freestyle, Five Hundred and Mercury Montego vehicles.The program extends the coverage for up to 10 years of service or 150,000 miles from the warranty start date of the vehicle…
Acceleration complaints in other Five Hundred years
Frequently asked questions
How common are acceleration problems on the 2005 Ford Five Hundred?
NHTSA has 104 complaints about the speed control & acceleration of the 2005 Ford Five Hundred, 20% of the model year's 510 complaints. The component named most often is accelerator pedal (3 mentions).
Is there a recall for 2005 Ford Five Hundred acceleration problems?
No. NHTSA lists no speed control & acceleration recall for the 2005 Ford Five Hundred, though it has 2 recalls for other components. If the problem is widespread, a repair may still be covered by an extended warranty or a manufacturer service bulletin — ask a dealer.
At what mileage do 2005 Ford Five Hundred acceleration problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 94,000 miles, and 7% before 25,000 miles.
Is it dangerous?
Owners linked 3 crashes, 0 fires and 2 injuries to speed control & acceleration problems on this model year. If you notice symptoms, have the car checked before driving further.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.