TRANNY occasionally shifts HARD

I have a FWD 05 Ford 500. It has the 6 speed automatic. My car has the same hesitating acceleration problem that others on here say is normal. But, now that mine is getting close to 100K i'm noticing that the down shifts are more noticeable and that every once in a while the transmission shifts EXTREMELY HARD as if its confused on which gear to be in or go to. But it only does this on occasion. Any suggestions?

Have you had your transmission serviced? If not, have it serviced at the dealer. Yes it's more money but, they will remove and drain your torque converter which is very important and will refill the transmission with the correct fluid type and filter.

A friend of mine is also having this problem. It happens when you slow down from about 35mph and then start to accellerate. It seems to shift hard like it 's stuck between gears. She has had the fluid changedt at about 50K and the car ohas about 92K on it. We were told be Auto Zone that there isn't a filter on this car and the transmission is chain driven. Is any of this true?

Hope this helps.
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1431199,parttype,8600

Chances are the valve body is beginning to fail. You can google AWF-21 transmissions for this car and should be able to find A LOT of information regarding this...it's a pretty common thing and unfortunately you'll be looking at spending about 1700-1800 bucks and that's if you don't go to ford. Fords quote was about $2300. I even found some local transmission part suppliers and the vavle body alone was right at $1000! (you'd think it's gold plated). You can do the flush but that's a slim chance it will resolve the issue.

I have an 06 Five Hundred with the same 6spd and had to deal with this a couple of months after buying it used with 90K. Good luck!

wow, somehow I missed that the original post was TWO YEARS AGO!!! LOL