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 Taurus owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Taurus. The contact stated while driving 45 mph, the vehicle accelerated independently from 45 mph to 65 mph. The contact stated the accelerator pedal was not being depressed during the failure. The brake pedal was depressed to slow the vehicle to a stop. The contact pulled over to the side of the road and inspected under the hood. The contact noticed that the cruise control cable was jammed up into the accelerator cable which caused the accelerator cable to open. The contact moved the cruise control cable back into the correct position and drove back to their residence. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 125,000.
I was on my way to work. When I came to the stop sign to turn on the main road. I felt my car jerk. I thought it was weird and kept driving anyways. Then I noticed the resistance was gone from the gas pedal and it went straight to the floor. So I came to the stop light and kept my foot on the brake. When the light turned green and I had let go of the brakes. My car was accelerating on its own. I had to keep pumping the brakes so I wouldn't crash or hurt anyone. I managed to pull into a mechanic's shop and asked for help. The mechanic told me that it was my cruise control and that it wasn't disengaging. So he had to disconnect it from my car.
For a while now I have noticed that intermittently when barely stepping on the accelerator pedal, the car will accelerate but continue to speed up even with my foot off of the accelerator. I have to step on the break extremely hard to come to a stop, and car will still be doing around 40mph when at a complete stop or light. The check engine light has been on, and I have taken it to a mechanic twice, one of the times he had it for a month trying to figure out what that light is about, checking everything possible, but I am not sure if that light has anything to do with the accelerator.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 Ford Taurus. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken for service at an independent mechanic, while in service with the contact inside the vehicle, the technician asked the contact to shift the gear into reversed to check the rear brake lights. The contact stated that when she shifted into reversed, the vehicle accelerated in reversed, the contact depressed the brake pedal but the brake failed to stop the vehicle. The contact stated that the vehicle went through the business front glass door and came to a stop on a street. The contact did not sustained injuries. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to the contacts residence. The contact mentioned that she contacted the insurance company for the vehicle and property damage. The vehicle was not yet taken to a dealer for a diagnostic testing nor the manufacturer was contacted. …
The car was accelerating on its own. So we had a mechanic fix it he replaced the throttle cable. Approximately 4 months later it started doing it again. The car accelerated and my daughter hit a car in front of her. Gorno fords fixed the car they replaced the throttle cable agene. That was around May 3, 2015 that they fixed the car. Around June 12, the car accelerated and I could not stop the car and I hit the care in front of me. I called gorno Ford but they said that they could not do any thing to help me. Even though the fixed the car.
As I was driving to work on the highway the car began to accelerate by itself the brakes were not able to slow the car down the brakes were grinding it against the accelerator the accelerator or the grpm was over 3000 I managed to get the car off of the highway was able to pull into a parking lot but the car would not stop and so I wound up having to hit a pole to stop the car
My wife was driving the 2005 Taurus when the engine started making a loud noise, I went to haul the car to the auto mechanic when I came to the car I started it and the engine started to accelerate to over 3000 RPM's w/o touching the throttle, I was able to load the car into a trailer and the next morning when unloading at the auto mechanic again the car accelerated to over 3000 RPM's making it difficult to unload, the noise turned out to be a broken flex joint on the exhaust and with that repaired it stated to idle normally, the car was brought home and my wife started driving it again. As she was driving it to school to drop off the kids the car accelerated again on its own and she had a great difficulty stopping it and had to shut it off on the road, a friend then got the car off the road and parked into the grass because it was still accelerating on its own. …
My son was driving the car Sunday February 19 2017 and it started to accelerate on its own at very high RPM. He had a hard time trying to stop the car. We took the car to a repair shop and they believed they found the problem and said we were all set. My son picked up the car and the next day him and myself were in the car on the freeway and it accelerated again on its own. This time I was driving and was able to get it to slow down by tapping the gas pedal to make the acceleration (high rmp) stop happening. But as I drove it would do it again. I was afraid that when we got off the exit I wouldn't be able to get it to stop. It went back to the repair shop and they replaced another part and again today it happened to my son, high acceleration on its own. This is not safe and can not be figured out. I have seen several complains on line about this same problem. …
While driving his low mile 2005 Ford Taurus both on the highway and on city streets, my son has experienced several incidents of unintended acceleration or stuck throttle while letting off the gas pedal in order to slow down or brake. Additionally, the cruise control does not work. Driving on the very busy highways of northern california with its prevalent stop and go driving make this condition extremely dangerous. An internet search of this issue shows this is not an isolated incident. As I have been a mechanic since 1973, I decided to take a look at the throttle cable / cruise control cable to see if these two issues were related. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the cruise control cable was decoupled from its post mount (see pictures). …
My car accelerates rapidly even when my foot is off the gas pedal; I notice this begins to happen when I go above 50mph. For example, tonight I was driving at about 55mph when I had to brake to go around a curve; I would say I slowed to around 35/40mph. As soon as I took my foot off the brake, the car began accelerating and went all the way up to 65mph within a few seconds. My foot was not on the gas pedal when this happened, and I had to apply a lot of pressure to the brakes for an extended amount of time to get my car to slow back down. This also happened last night, driving at the same speed, except instead of braking for a curve I had to slow for traffic. Once again, as soon as I took my foot off the brake it accelerated. …
NHTSA investigations
Stuck throttle
Preliminary Evaluation (PE)12-005 was opened to investigate allegations of speed control cables detaching from the throttle body and subsequently interfering with the throttle closing fully to the idle position in model year (MY) 2005 and 2006 Ford Taurus vehicles.The speed control cable, throttle body attachment arm (?nail head?) for the speed control cable, cable mounting bracket and cable routing for the MY 2005…
Acceleration complaints in other Taurus years
Frequently asked questions
How common are acceleration problems on the 2005 Ford Taurus?
NHTSA has 529 complaints about the speed control & acceleration of the 2005 Ford Taurus, 68% of the model year's 774 complaints. The component named most often is accelerator pedal (11 mentions).
Is there a recall for 2005 Ford Taurus acceleration problems?
No. NHTSA lists no speed control & acceleration recall for the 2005 Ford Taurus. 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 Taurus acceleration problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 94,000 miles, and 2% before 25,000 miles.
Is it dangerous?
Owners linked 18 crashes, 1 fire and 8 injuries and 1 death 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.