2006 Ford Freestar problems
NHTSA has received 453 complaints about the 2006 Ford Freestar, and 46% of them involve drivetrain & axles. Next are transmission (11%) and electrical system (9%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 453 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Drivetrain & axles 46% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 5 and 6
- Injuries and deaths
- 1 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 95,000 miles 407 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 27 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 11 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 36 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 55 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 102 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 68 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 40 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 32 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 22 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 5 |
| 200k+ miles | 9 |
What the data shows
Of the 407 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 95,000 miles. For drivetrain & axles specifically, the median reported mileage is about 100,000 miles (193 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 5 complaints mention a crash; 6 complaints mention a fire; 1 injury reported. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 91% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2006 ranks 3rd most-complained-about out of 4 model years of the Ford Freestar with enough data (140 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 2 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
While driving on the interstate my ford free star caught fire under the hood. I was unable to open the hood and put the fire out. The van totally burned.
I was driving on a highway in my ford freestar 2006 and the minivan seized, I lost control of the vehicle. The brakes were not working properly and I had drifted off onto the side of the highway were the grass and a few turns helped slow down my vehicle. I had to immediately jump out of the vehicle because there was smoke coming from the engine, but the vehicle would not stop. When the vehicle finally stopped, I jumped out and an ambulance assisted putting out the fire.
Dt: consumer's vehicle was involved in a car accident on september 19, 2005 while going 25 MPH. Upon impact, the air bag cover over the driver's side and passenger's side came out about and quarter of an inch; however, the actual air bags never deployed. On the driver's side it was a side impact and passengers side it was a head on impact.
I was driving down a country road and had just dropped my kids off thank goodness. Nothing seemed to be wrong when all of a sudden the engine revved high. I was try'n to look to see what was go'n on when I wrecked into the ditch about 60MPH. Out of nowhere the transmission failed and was stuck n a ditch and no one to help.
Where to start.... Every time its raining my van starts to putt and stall out I have almost had 3 accidents due to my van stalling on a main road trying to get home...issue #2. I use my key pad to unlock my vehicle on nights that im working and lately it will unlock then re lock n unlock over and over with out being touched. I was driving down a road and it would unlock and lock.. Its not safe if its unlocking its self and my 2 year old reachs he could open the door while driving... Issue #3..