2006 Ford FREESTYLE - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2006 Ford Freestyle receives high safety ratings in various crash scenarios, with a 5-star rating for both the front and side crashes on the driver's and passenger's side. While it has not been rated for overall safety, the vehicle scored well in individual crash tests. The car has stability control, which is crucial for maintaining control in various driving conditions. However, it lacks both collision warning and lane departure warning systems, which are advanced safety features found in newer models.

Despite its good safety ratings, the Ford Freestyle has a relatively high number of complaints, with 1298 reported issues. Additionally, there has been one recall and one investigation related to this particular model. This suggests that while the car performs well in crash tests, there may be some issues to consider when it comes to overall reliability and performance.

auto generated summary, may be inaccurate.

Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

1,298

Recall Count

1

Investigation Count

1

Safety Rating

Not Rated

Search Vehicle Details

Advanced Search

The advanced search lets you search by safety ratings and features. This will return a list of vehicles that match your search criteria.

Safety Features

2006 Ford Freestyle 4-DR Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2006 Ford Freestyle 4-DR

Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

ESC is an advanced safety feature in vehicles designed to help drivers maintain control during challenging driving conditions. By continuously monitoring various factors such as steering angle, vehicle speed, and individual wheel speeds, ESC can detect and reduce the risk of skidding or loss of control. It achieves this by automatically applying brakes to specific wheels to stabilize the vehicle.

No
Forward Collision Warning (FCW)

Forward Collision Warning (FCW) is a safety feature in vehicles that helps prevent frontal collisions by alerting the driver of an imminent collision with a vehicle or obstacle ahead. Using sensors such as radar or cameras, FCW monitors the distance and speed of vehicles in front, and if it detects a potential collision, it provides visual and/or auditory warnings to prompt the driver to take evasive action.

No
Lane Departure Warning (LDW)

Lane Departure Warning (LDW) is a safety feature in vehicles that alerts drivers when their vehicle unintentionally drifts out of its lane without signaling. Utilizing cameras or sensors to monitor lane markings on the road, LDW detects when the vehicle crosses these lines and triggers visual, auditory, or haptic alerts to notify the driver of potential lane departure.

No

2006 Ford Freestyle 4-DR Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2006 Ford Freestyle 4-DR Where possible we've included the ratings for the oldest and latest models of this car so you can compare how the safety ratings have changed over time.

Frontal Crash Ratings

Combines Driver and Passenger star ratings into a single frontal rating. The frontal barrier test simulates a head-on collision between two similar vehicles, each moving at 35 mph.

Test 2005 Score 2006 Score 2007 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Front Crash Driver Side Rating 5 5 5
Front Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 5 5

Side Crash Ratings

Combines Side Barrier and Side Pole Star Ratings into a single side rating.

Test 2005 Score 2006 Score 2007 Score
Overall Side Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Side Crash Drivers Side Rating 5 5 5
Side Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 5 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Front Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Rear Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Overall Side Barrier Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated

Rollover Ratings

The Rollover Resistance test measures the risk of rollover in a single-vehicle, loss-of-control scenario.

Test 2005 Score 2006 Score 2007 Score
Rollover Rating 4 4 4
Rollover Possibility % 0% 0% 0%
Dynamic Tip Result No Tip No Tip No Tip
Side Pole Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated

Complaints for the 2006 Ford FREESTYLE

This chart show the number of complaints for each car component. A Higher number of complaints could indicate that this car might have a common fault. Something to look out for when purchasing one.

Component Complaints

Choose a component to see what complaints people have made about them.

Complaint:
"car lurches forward when parking. it is worse if the ac is on."
Components Involved: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Date of incident: 2020-06-07
Complaint:
"i put my car in reverse and the speed increased while i had my foot on the brake, i changed gears to drive and it did not increase on its own. once again on reverse and had another sudden increase of speed while my foot was on the brake. if i wasn't careful it could have caused an accident."
Components Involved: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Date of incident: 2019-11-06
Complaint:
"when letting up on my brake pedal from a stop my car will randomly accelerate and lunge forward. this problem has been going on since 2017. this problem seems to effect many freestyle owners, and is a safety concern for my family."
Components Involved: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Date of incident: 2019-02-06
Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2006 ford freestyle. while driving forward or in reverse, the vehicle randomly surged. the cause of the failure was not diagnosed the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was notified of the failure. the failure mileage was 65,000. updated 05/30/17*lj updated 09/08/2017*js"
Components Involved: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Date of incident: 2016-01-08
Complaint:
"upon utilizing the drive through of a fast food restaurant, the breaks were being feathered to creep up to the window; the 2006 ford freestyle lunged forward unexpectedly and almost hit a women and her kid crossing in front of the car; i moved the car from the drive through and stopped at the edge of the parking lot before continuing onto the side street; at this time when i moved my foot off the break the car again unexpectedly lunged forward sticking the nose of my car out into traffic, cars swerved into the far lane to avoid colliding with the front of my car. i immediately brought the car to the ford service dealer. upon arriving at the ford dealership it was diagnosed that the throttle body was failing, additional research revealed that ford issue an extended warranty for a cleaning of the throttle body; however the dealership indicated that the throttle body needed to be replaced as it is faulty, the cleaning wouldn't suffice."
Components Involved: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Date of incident: 2016-10-10
Complaint:
"while driving the cars rpms will accelerate the car, in drive or reverse, i must be aware so that i do not hit anyone/anything and brake. at times once i brake the car will turn off, i will get a wrench or engine or both. this can also occur while at a red light."
Components Involved: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Date of incident: 2012-09-06
Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2006 ford freestyle. while driving at approximately 60 mph, there was a sudden increase of engine rpms and the vehicle accelerated independently. the vehicle was merged over to the side of the road, where it was turned off and restarted in order to continue driving home. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was not notified. the failure mileage was 137,000."
Components Involved: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Date of incident: 2016-01-08
Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2006 ford freestyle. while driving approximately 30 mph, the brake pedal was depressed and the vehicle suddenly accelerated. the contact stated that the service engine warning indicator illuminated. the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the throttle body failed. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was not notified of the failure. the failure mileage was 128,889."
Components Involved: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Date of incident: 2016-10-06
Complaint:
"when put into drive or reverse car accelerates or lungs without using gas peddle, this happens many times. took to mechanic they down loaded ford update to computer did not fix problem. we always have brake depressed when put into gear or it will move violently."
Components Involved: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Date of incident: 2009-05-06
Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2006 ford freestyle. the contact stated that the vehicle would accelerate without warning. previously, the failure only occurred while the air conditioner was activated; but began occurring every time the vehicle was started. the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. the failure mileage was 67,000. updated 11/19/15 *js"
Components Involved: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Date of incident: 2016-01-04

Recalls for the 2006 Ford FREESTYLE

Component Recalls

Choose a component to see what recalls people have made about them.

Recall:
"on certain passenger vehicles currently registered in the following states: alaska, colorado, connecticut, delaware, idaho, illinois, indiana, iowa, kansas, kentucky, maine, maryland, massachusetts, michigan, minnesota, missouri, montana, nebraska, new hampshire, new jersey, new york, north dakota, ohio, pennsylvania, rhode island, south dakota, utah, vermont, west virginia, wisconsin, and wyoming. the side door latch mechanisms may experience water intrusion allowing the latch mechanism to freeze in cold weather."
Consequence:
AS A RESULT, THE DOOR LATCH PAWL MAY NOT RETURN TO THE LATCH POSITION WHEN THE DOOR IS CLOSED, AND THE DOOR COULD OPEN WHILE THE VEHICLE IS MOVING.
Remedy:

DEALERS WILL INSTALL A SHIELD OVER THE FRONT LATCHES; SEAL A DRAIN HOLE IN THE REAR WINDOW TRIM MOLDING ON THE FREESTYLE REAR SIDE DOORS; AND APPLY GREASE TO ALL FRONT AND REAR SIDE-DOOR LATCH MECHANISMS FREE OF CHARGE. THE RECALL BEGAN ON NOVEMBER 8, 2006. OWNERS MAY CONTACT FORD AT 1-800-392-3673.

Component(s) Involved: LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES > DOORS > LATCH
Date of incident: 2006-10-05

FORD Overall Complaint Ranking

This table shows the ranking of car manufacturers when it comes to most complaints and recalls. The manufacturer with the most complaints is at the top. However this doesn't necassarily mean they should be avoided. Some manufacturers might just have more popular or affordable cars which a lot of people have bought. Which means there's more scope for a complaint to be made. Use the ranking table below as a part your wider research into buying a car.

FORD ranks 1 out of 44 in the complaints ranking table.

Manufacturer Complaint Count Recall Count Ranking
FORD 208,358 3,259 1
CHEVROLET 111,306 2,082 2
TOYOTA 81,019 1,852 3
HONDA 61,937 1,268 4
NISSAN 56,226 930 5
DODGE 45,756 827 6
HYUNDAI 44,150 649 7
GMC 34,441 1,410 8
KIA 29,832 501 9
CHRYSLER 27,698 254 10
TESLA 26,230 730 11
BMW 24,890 1,877 12
VOLKSWAGEN 23,125 829 13
MERCEDES-BENZ 19,066 2,925 14
SUBARU 18,513 703 15
MAZDA 10,599 364 16
PONTIAC 10,430 138 17
CADILLAC 9,434 444 18
AUDI 7,865 1,093 19
BUICK 7,851 279 20
SATURN 7,672 84 21
MERCURY 7,374 135 22
LEXUS 6,373 408 23
LINCOLN 5,897 423 24
ACURA 5,722 382 25
MINI 5,585 366 26
INFINITI 4,000 187 27
MITSUBISHI 3,912 397 28
VOLVO 3,875 727 29
PORSCHE 2,646 1,231 30
SUZUKI 2,272 123 31
FIAT 2,205 80 32
SAAB 1,536 76 33
JAGUAR 1,195 198 34
SMART 528 17 35
GENESIS 436 42 36
ISUZU 249 37 37
ALFA ROMEO 161 37 38
MASERATI 76 46 39
BENTLEY 46 159 40
POLESTAR 42 2 41
LUCID 14 6 42
CODA 4 2 43
MAYBACH 0 0 44

Related Vehicles

Why not check out other FORD vehicles?

2005 EXPLORER SPORT TRAC
FORD
  • Overall Safety Rating: Not Rated
  • Complaints Count: 565
  • Recall Count: 3
View Car
2013 MUSTANG
FORD
  • Overall Safety Rating: Not Rated
  • Complaints Count: 260
  • Recall Count: 6
View Car
2020 MUSTANG GT350R
FORD
  • Overall Safety Rating: 5
  • Complaints Count: 47
  • Recall Count: 6
View Car
2007 FIVE HUNDRED
FORD
  • Overall Safety Rating: Not Rated
  • Complaints Count: 199
  • Recall Count: 2
View Car