Mileage when the problem started
Owner reports
Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2011 Mercury Milan owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
Driving up an on ramp to an interstate highway, the car would not react to increased depression of the throttle pedal. Tool indicator warning light illuminated on the dash. I barely was able to pull off to the berm, almost rear-ended. This has happened numerous times since first occurrence on 6/11/15-6/12/15 and appears to occur only when I have the air conditioning on. Very dangerous situation!
Throttle body assembly failure on the 211 Mercury Milan premier 3.0 v6 engine. Car entered "limp" mode. Vehicle May be restarted after coming to a complete stop, placing the transmission in the park position, turning off the engine and restarting. Ford serviced the throttle body with a chemical cleaner in early May. The vehicle performed satisfactory for the month of May. Beginning in June, the vehicle began to enter "limp" mode multiple times on a daily basis. I began tracking the occurrences in mid-June and the throttle body has failed on 31 different occasions. Failure May occur at any time or at any speed. Incidents have occurred from a standing start or at interstate speeds of 70 MPH. There is no option other than to allow the vehicle to coast to a stop and follow the procedures mentioned above. …
This happened once several weeks ago with my wife operating the car and newborn in the back. I wasn't in the car so I did not witness the problem. Over the past two days I have experienced the problem first hand several times. Car stops accelerating during normal operation. The check engine light comes on, the accelerator stops working and car begins to idle erratically. The engine does not shut off. Once you coast in heavy traffic to the side of the road, you May turn the car off then restart and drive without issue for an indeterminate amount of time (once it was several weeks, once it was ten minutes). The check engine light will be off and no code will be logged into the computer. I took the car to a mechanic ten minute after an incident and the computer picked up nothing wrong with the car. …
Driving on a straight away the vehicle suddenly makes a noise as if it were shifting very hard although it was not. Immediately lost acceleration and dashboard light illuminates. Pulled vehicle to the side of the road and RPM needle bounced as car lunged but would not accelerate. Called for roadside assistance and my dealer's service department who knew based on my description a possible cause. Vehicle towed to dealer, diagnostics proved throttle body needed to be replaced. Repair made. Research proved that this is a known problem but no recall has been made. It was a very foggy morning and several multi car accidents had been reported. Had I been on busier stretch of road at the time of the break down I could have easily been killed with slowing down suddenly and without any evident cause. A recall should be issued and refunds made to those who have already experienced this failure.
August 2012 - driving approximately 35 MPH and the vehicle suddenly jerked and the safe mode light and engine light turned on and I could no longer accelerate. Put car in neutral, then stopped, put it in park. Turned engine off, then waited a couple of minutes and tried again. It started, but after accelerating past 10 MPH, it did the same thing. After 3 attempts, the vehicle went back to normal driving condition. The engine light went out on its own. July 2013 - driving on the highway with cruise control set to 64 MPH, same thing happened but was quite scary because we were on the highway which was busy and we had to get over to the shoulder and then once we were attempting to accelerate, we had to try to merge with busy traffic. The engine light is on so we were able to have the issue diagnosed and it is a faulty throttle body that needs replaced.
I brought my 2011 Mercury Milan from sandy springs Ford last year. The vehicle now has 60K miles on it and I am experiencing stalling/acceleration problems which are happening more frequently since the initial fault. When driving my car decelerates and I cannot pick up speed so the car eventually stops. The wrench light came on indicating something was wrong. This happened to me 4 four times since last week (3 times on the highway) and I had to hurry up and pull my vehicle over on the side of the highway as the speed decelerated and before it stopped (dangerous). I took my car to the dealership today and that said that it was a throttle body issue and that Ford has been receiving numerous complaints regarding throttle bodies. I am highly concerned for the safety of myself and others driving these Ford vehicles.
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 Mercury Milan. The contact was driving 10 MPH when the vehicle accelerated abnormally as he depressed the brakes and shifted into neutral. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who ran a diagnostic test but could not duplicate the failure. The dealer kept the vehicle for two weeks with a flight recorder hooked to the engine, but they could not duplicate the failure. The manufacturer was notified who stated he has to take the vehicle to the dealer for them to inspect the failure. They offered no other assistance. The failure mileage was 7,000 and the current mileage was 16,500. Updated 08/03/12 the consumer stated the sudden acceleration occurred on four separate occasions. Updated 08/07/12
Driving near 55 MPH on local highway and applying pressure to gas pedal to accelerate. Felt and heard a 'clunk'. Vehicle immediately lost ability to accelerate with pressure applied to gas pedal. Exited to shoulder. Noticed yellow service (wrench) indicator light was on. Put the car into park and turned off ignition. Re-started vehicle; service indicator light did not come back on. Put the car into drive and re-entered traffic flow. Did not have an incident in another 30 miles of driving. Took the vehicle to dealer for diagnosis. Dealer diagnosed problem as requiring new throttle body. Very dangerous situation.
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 Mercury Milan. The contact stated that while driving approximately 55 MPH, the wrench warning symbol illuminated as the vehicle began to decelerate rapidly. The vehicle was maneuvered to the side of the road where the engine was turned off. After restarting, the vehicle was able to resume normally. The failure recurred twice. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for diagnosis however, the technician was unable to detect a trouble code or duplicate the problem. The failure persisted. The manufacturer was not notified of the defect. The approximate failure mileage was 67,000.
I was driving down a local road at about 35 MPH. All of a sudden, without warning, I could not get my gas pedal to do anything, like it was out of gear, and the engine seemed to be sputtering. I pulled off the road, shut the car off and after a few seconds, restarted the car, it restarted and drove fine. It did the same thing again the next day. It has happened a number of times since the first time... Happening about once per day. It seems to start up OK after I shut it down, but very unsafe to be driving down the road and then have no power and have to pull off.
NHTSA investigations
Floor mat interference with accelerator
On May 27, 2014, Ford Motor Company submitted recall 14E-028 (Ford recall #14S07) to correct a safety-related problem with certain driver's side Ford optional all-weather floor mats sold for use in model year 2006 through 2011 model year Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan, Lincoln Zephyr, and Lincoln MKZ vehicles built at Hermosillo Assembly Plant (HAP) from November 9, 2007, to October 31 ,2010.NHTSA testing determined…
Acceleration complaints in other Milan years
Frequently asked questions
How common are acceleration problems on the 2011 Mercury Milan?
NHTSA has 22 complaints about the speed control & acceleration of the 2011 Mercury Milan, 12% of the model year's 191 complaints.
Is there a recall for 2011 Mercury Milan acceleration problems?
No. NHTSA lists no speed control & acceleration recall for the 2011 Mercury Milan, though it has 7 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 2011 Mercury Milan acceleration problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 48,000 miles, and 10% before 25,000 miles.
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.