April 25, 2001 I drove the car 5 minutes to the local pool and car was parked for about an hour. |then drove friend back home from local pool to her house about a 5 minute drive, I then turned the car ignition was off, suddenly there was smoke coming from under the engine compartment area. Tried to open hood, grey smoke billowed out from under the hood, then sparks fell on the pavement from under the car and then flames burst out through the open crack of the hood. The fire seemed spontaneous, there was a burning smell like dirty air just before the smoke started. Fire department, police and ambulance were called. It had never occurred before the car was towed to a local body shop and was taken to another location by the insurance company. I know that recall work was done on the car twice and can verify with the service department. I believe that work was done on the brakes and the gas pedal as instructed in the recall notices. I believe the car is still being examined by the insurance investigators as of May 8, 2011. I have been informed by the insurance appraiser that the vehicle is a complete write off.

- Ontario, 00, USA

The contact owns a 2002 Ford Escape. The engine caught on fire while parked in the garage. The fire department extinguished the flames. The vehicle was completely destroyed. The cause of the failure has not been determined. The failure mileage was 130,000.

- Acton, CA, USA

The contact owned a 2002 Ford Escape which was purchased in October 2001. The vehicle was parked in the driveway and he smelled something burning from inside the house. He later heard a loud explosion from outside and upon further investigation he saw flames coming from under the hood on the driver's side of the vehicle. He was successful and extinguishing some of the fire. The police and fire department were called and had to use excessive force to open the hood and extinguished the remainder of the fire. The sheriff stated the fire originated from the master cylinder. The failure and current mileages were less than 100,000. Updated 1/5/09 the consumer stated the vehicle was a total loss. Updated 01/09/09.

- Fan Marcos, TX, USA

The contact owns a 2002 Ford Escape. The dealer performed a recall repair on the vehicle to prevent it from catching fire. Two months after the repair, the vehicle caught fire in the contact's driveway after it had been parked for two minutes. Ford stated that they are not responsible for any damages. The recall number was unknown. The failure mileage was 112,653.

- Pittston, PA, USA

The contact owns a 2002 Ford Escape. The vehicle caught fire after it had been parked for nine hours. Prior to parking the vehicle, the ABS warning indicator light illuminated. The fire was extinguished by using snow. No repairs were made. There was no property damage. The contact has pictures. The vehicle was inspected in March of 2007, but not repaired for NHTSA campaign id number 07V156000 (service brakes, hydraulic:antilock:control unit/module). The current and failure mileages were 130,000.

- Marine City, MI, USA

The contact owns a 2002 Ford Escape. The engine failed to idle in 20 degree weather. The ABS module caught fire. There were no injuries. A fire report was filed. The contact reported the fire to Ford Motor Company and they advised him to file a complaint. The current and failure mileages were 130,000.

- Marinecity, MI, USA

The contact owns a 2002 Ford Escape. The contact heard a popping sound when she turned off the vehicle. She then noticed flames coming from under the passenger side bumper. The dealer and manufacturer have not inspected the vehicle. As of August 2, 2007, the cause of the failure has yet to be determined. The current and failure mileages were 89,000.

- Lowellbille, OH, USA

(1) approximately 100 miles of highway driving led up to (2) a loss of power at all speeds with excessive rpms for given speed followed by a flashing check engine light, followed by considerable engine and cabin vibration. (3) Ford diagnosed the problem as a rare internal engine failure in cylinder #4. no remedy has been provided. The engine can be replaced for about $6,000.

- Spokane, WA, USA

Vehicle would stall at any given time, whether going down the interstate or during city driving. Steering would be very difficult and brakes were inoperable. This occurred about two months after we had purchased our 2002 Ford Escape with 42,000 miles on it. After the fourth "stall", we had the vehicle towed to the dealership where we purchased it. They connected a "black box" underneath the dash and had us drive the vehicle to see if it happened again, which it did a couple days later. They towed it back to the garage. Apparently our problem was something to do with, I believe, our harmonic balance or something like that. According to the technician, whatever was not working properly, it caused the engine to not know which cylinders on the engine was firing and that is what caused the engine to shut off. They fixed the problem and we now have 73,000 miles on the vehicle and had no other stalling problems. The work order reads as follows: Diag, eec test, no codes present, found sticky ng, R&R iac, retest all okay at this time; also, while they were performing the maintenance they also discovered that our power steering rack was leaking, which was covered by our extended warranty. The power steering rack was replaced. The mileage on the vehicle at the time of repairs was 44,546. I'm very thankful for the folks at our dealership in omaha. They gave us a rental car while diagnosing our problems and stuck with it until they found the problem(s). The extended warranty we had purchased covered all repair costs.

- Bellevue, NE, USA

: the contact stated while driving 70 mph on an interstate, smoke was observed to be coming from behind the vehicle and flames were coming from under the hood. There was nothing unusual about the way the vehicle was operating before the fire started. The type of fire was classified as fuel. The service dealer was notified who determined that a rod shot threw the engine and made a large hole that caused the fire in the motor. The service dealer was willing to repair the motor if the contact would make a co-payment. The manufacturer was not alerted. A police report was taken. This occurred in state of Arkansas.

- Little Rock, AR, USA

I have a 2002, Ford Escape with 92,000 miles on it. There has been no major problems with ethe vehicle leading up to the failure that I am describing in this statement. On October 31, 2006 I was driving East-bound on M59, just East of schoenherr road in sterling heights, mi. I was approx.15 miles from my home in auburn hills, mi and had approx. 10 minutes left untile I would have reached my destination. This was the first time that I had driven the vehicle all day. It was approx. 47 degrees farenheit and about 3:35pm. It was not raining, but a little windy. Upon making a stop just past the trafic light (due to heavy traffic dlays), I noticed smoke coming out of the engine compartment from under the hood. Within a minute of noticing the smoke outside, smoke started coming through the dash of my vehicle and into the interior cab. I rolled down the windows and made it into a parking lot, wher I had to evacuate the vehicle. Upon putting out the fire and inspecting the vehicle, the fire department was unable to determine the cause of the fire. The insurance adjustor looked at the vehicle today and we are still awaiting the insurance company's opinion as to the cause of the fire and what they will be willing to do about it.

- Washington Township, MI, USA

On several occasions, my 2002 Ford Escape has stalled out in the middle of intersections, on the freeway, and at many inopportune times!!!!! I have been quite scared to drive my SUV any more. It starts to chug like it is not getting any fuel, the check engine light will come on, and the SUV will immediately die. I lose my power steering, my brakes, my everything! and almost get hit. I have taken my Escape in for service several times, but they claim that it is just a glitch in the computer, and reset it. Then they told me that they could never get it do what I was saying, so I had to come in right when it was doing it, or they wouldn't be able to help. In the mean time, I have stalled out several more times, gone in, and no one can figure out what is wrong. I have heard from several people that this is happening with many Ford Escapes, and I am scared that the situation will escalate to me being in an accident, or my SUV starting on fire when it gets so warm.

- Waukesha, WI, USA

Problems with 2002 Ford Escape XLS would not start. The consumer stated it would take three tries before the vehicle would start. The consumer was told by the dealer they could not find any technical signals.

- Roosevelt, NY, USA

3 years old, 60,000 miles - transmission has completely blown. Its in the shop currently. The oil pan is leaking. The rack and pinion steering is leaking fluid.

- Broadview Hts, OH, USA

Complaint regarding 2002 Ford Escape. The vehicle would hesitate, skip and cut off while driving 40 mph. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where they replaced a part which the manufacturer indicated was the latest fix for the problem. The part did not repair the problem and the vehicle continued to hesitate E, skip and stall.

- Unknown, DC, USA

While driving 45 mph check engine light appeared on the dashboard and remained on. Consumer was able to restart vehicle, and took it to the dealer for inspection. Mechanic determined that the engine needed to be replaced.

- Anaheim, CA, USA

Intermittent stalling problem occurs with my 2002 Ford Escape (V-6 engine) at speeds between 30-35 mph and always when I am going down hill and in a decelerating situation. I have a 9 mile commute on a hilly, curvy 2 lane road and during the stall I lose all power steering and braking. I have had some very close calls on curves where I could easily have lost control and gone over an embankment or hit an oncoming car. I have actually learned to become a defensive driver mechanically by keeping my eye on the RPM gauge when I decelerate because I've noticed that the RPM's sometimes drop erratically when the car is about to stall and by giving it a little gas I can avoid the stall. The car has been back to the dealer 3 or 4 times and all tsb fixes have been performed, yet the car has stalled at least 3 more times since the last fix. The dealer wanted to put a flight recorder on to help diagnose the problem, but wanted me to put a $500 deposit on the device!! why isn't Ford taking this problem more seriously? from the numerous complaints I have read on this site, it's obvious that a very serious problem still exists with this car.

- Great Falls, VA, USA

The driver applied the brakes and the pedal went to floor, the vehicle stalled and the consumer was able to restart the vehicle. The consumer will take the vehicle to the dealer for analysis. When the problem happens again.

- Choctaw, OK, USA

Vehicle was being driven at approximately 35 mph when it stalled and the wheels locked up. Please provide any additional information.

- San Luis Obispo, CA, USA

I own a 2002 Ford Escape and only one month of having it all of the lights lighted up on the dash board and the engine stop while going down an interstate ramp. The second time it happened I was in traffic going at about 10 mph when it shut off causing to rear-end the car in front of me. It's a problem that has not been fixed, I brought it to the dealer they claim that nothing is wrong with it. The dealer checked it and said it has happened to other cars, but that the problems had been fixed that it was only on the ones from 2001. The dealer also said that they couldn't award the warranty that the engine shutting off wouldn't happen again, but since April 2002 it has happen at least 5 times with 1 accident.

- Metairie, LA, USA