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 2004 Ford Mustang owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 Ford Mustang. While attempting to drive off from a parking space, the vehicle accelerated from 0 to approximately 40 MPH. As a result, the vehicle crashed into the front driver's side of another vehicle the air bags did not deploy. A police report was filed. There were no injuries. The vehicle was damaged, but was not towed. The cause of the failure was not diagnosed. The dealer and manufacturer were not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 171,000.
Dt: the owner was going to leave driveway it took three times to go into gear. Then, when it went into gear, it went about 10-20 feet by itself and crashed into the owner's house. The owner never had foot on the gas pedal. The owner had foot on the brakes the whole time. The owner sustained shoulder injury. Had about $400 in home repairs, about $6000 in car repair, and doctor bills as a result of accident. The owner called Ford, who said it must be an unusual accident, and they had never heard of this problem.
Tl contact's daughter owns a 2004 Ford Mustang cobra. While driving 25 MPH, the contact removed his foot from the accelerator pedal and the vehicle continued to drive forward. He stated that the pedal was stuck to the floor. The vehicle drove over a curb and, crashed into a fence and a pole, and then drove down a slight embankment. The contact received recall notice number 06s43, which could not be identified. The current and failure mileages were 65,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 Ford Mustang. While driving 25 MPH, the accelerator pedal became caught in the floormat and caused the vehicle to accelerate. The contact had to shift into neutral to stop the vehicle. The dealer and manufacturer were not contacted. The failure mileage was 169,865.
I own a 2004 Ford Mustang cobra. On the day listed below, I entered a very busy freeway in phoenix and had to give full throttle in third gear in order to merge into an opening. When I went to release the throttle as I moved into the opening, the throttle stayed at the wide open position with the pedal still to the floor. I had to push the clutch in, hit the brakes hard, and shut the engine off to avoid hitting the car in front of me. It was close. Then I had to negotiate a safe exit to the side of the road. What I found was the throttle pedal was stuck under a piece of the carpeting. I have found this is not an uncommon occurance in this model. (Mustang) I can probably give you the names of 25 people who have suffered this problem. Please!! This is a huge safety issue. Please do what you can to resolve this problem. …
Complaint on my 2004 Ford Mustang gt (orginal owner of both). Vehicle has problems relating to the position of the carpet around the accelerator pedal. After minimal use of the vehicle (5000 miles or around 3-5 months of use) a large hole developed on the right side of the accelerator pedal. If the accelerator is depressed fully or almost fully the side of your shoe can catch on the hole long enough to pose a saftey hazard of not being able to take your foot immeadatly off the accelerator pedal. I have had this happen on several occasions, and have to be very concious of my foot position on the accelerator pedal when driving to prevent this problem now that I am aware of it. Ford deems this problem as normal wear and tear on the car and will not cover replacement of the carpet under my bumper to bumper warrenty. Pictures are available, please contact and I will forward them to you.
I have read about this issue from other 2003/2004 cobra owners and did not think it was a problem for me after inspecting my car. However, on July 30, 2005 I experienced an issue where the accelerator was stuck on the floor at full throttle. This happened on a city street and could have caused a serious issue if I did not have a large open space to pull off. I was forced to kill the ignition and stop the car. As I am sure you know when doing this you lose all power steering and braking so it is not a safe or easy task to bring the vehicle to a stop. In order to resolve the issue it required me reaching down and yanking up on the pedal with considerable force to remove it from the carpet where it was embedded. While most issues with cars can be over looked this is possibly a very bad accident waiting to happen.
I was proceeding through intersection on a left hand turn lane driving in the wrong gear for the speed at which I was going(20 MPH), I down shifted into second gear and the gas pedal was stuck to the floor for a half a block heading towards the next intersection that had a red light for me. I couldn't stop the car so I turned the key off. After looking at the pedal I noticed the carpet doesn't fit right like it's short and my gas pedal arm is extremely weak and bends towards the transmission scraping the carpet through the range of up/down motion. I think the carpet is half the problem the other half is the gas pedal arm. The right side of the gas pedal rubs the carpet. I pull the pedal off of the carpet every so often within days the pedal is rubbing it again.
The top of the clutch pedal assembly when depressed and released rubs the wiring harness to the brake switch, neutral safety switch and others shorting out the brake lights and making the cruise control inoperable. It works for a while but then it blows the fuse again and someone has to stop me and tell me my brake lights don't work. The dealer has replaced one of the wires for the brake switch which is in that same wiring harness and says the problem is fixed but sooner or later it will rub the rest of the wires bare too. I have also replaced the brake switch a couple times because when it shorts out it melts it if the fuse doesn't blow right away. I am afraid one time someone will rear end me or I will get a ticket.
I have a 2004 Ford Mustang cobra. I have had the accelerator pedal become stuck under the carpet on more than one occasion. One of the events happened while I was on a dyno-jet testing horsepower, and it was captured on video. The other even happened while driving, and I was nearly killed. I just happened to think fast and switch the key off. I have fixed this by cutting away a section of carpet under the pedal. I am not happy with this solution because this is a limited production car, and cutting carpet is not a thing that I wanted to do. But I was afraid that if I did not do this I would be injured or killed the next time it happened.
Related recalls
Vehicle speed control › Accelerator pedal
On certain mustang cobra passenger vehicles, the rear surface of the accelerator pedal May come into contact with floor carpeting during heavy throttle application. The unique surface profile of the accelerator pedal May catch in the cutout on the floor carpeting behind the accelerator pedal.
Remedy: Dealers will install a shield over the cutout in the carpet behind the accelerator pedal. The recall began on April 26, 2006. Owners May contact Ford at 1-800-392-3673.
NHTSA investigations
Accelerator pedal interference
Pe05-038 was opened on July 7, 2005, with 11 consumer complaints to odi alleging incidents of throttle sticking due to accelerator pedal interference with the carpet.odi has received an additional 24 complaints since the pe was opened.during pe05-038, Ford supplied complaint and warranty information regarding 86 additional incidents of accelerator pedal interference in model year 2003 to 2004 mustang cobra…
Accelerator pedal interference
On April 3, 2006, Ford motor company submitted a defect information report to NHTSA concerning a defect condition that could result in interference between the accelerator pedal and floor carpeting in approximately 19,140 model year 2003 and 2004 mustang cobra vehicles (Ford recall no.
Acceleration complaints in other Mustang years
Frequently asked questions
How common are acceleration problems on the 2004 Ford Mustang?
NHTSA has 35 complaints about the speed control & acceleration of the 2004 Ford Mustang, 27% of the model year's 130 complaints. The component named most often is accelerator pedal (26 mentions).
Is there a recall for 2004 Ford Mustang acceleration problems?
Yes — NHTSA recall 06V-108 (accelerator pedal, Apr 7, 2006). Recall repairs are free at authorized dealers.
At what mileage do 2004 Ford Mustang acceleration problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 9,000 miles, and 76% before 25,000 miles.
Is it dangerous?
Owners linked 4 crashes, 0 fires and 0 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.