I bought this used 2008 Escape 25 days ago and it immediately started with transmission problems. Pulling the gear shifter into Drive, it only goes into Neutral and takes a 2nd pull of the shifter. It slips, stalls or seems to stall at a stop sign and when at highway speeds. There is a subtle kick from the rear like it's a lightweight vehicle trying to punch thru the wind. Once at take-off from a stop sign, upon accelerating, 1 second later, it kicked hard from the rear like it slipped gears and then went back in. Someone reported on one of the complaints that there is a cracked housing - so maybe that's it - it's losing pressure and can't perform in that condition.

Bottom line, if you're looking at a used car to buy, look at the top 3 complaints on this site - take them seriously so when you test drive, try to test out the transmission as if you're a maintenance guy: stop & start, try to shift fast & slow, rev it, hold the brake and do all sorts of stuff to hear the vibrations of the transmission. This fix will cost about 5k, so if you can get an overpriced Ford Escape that has a warranty - do it.

Basically, there are lots & lots of these Escapes on the market with a bad transmission and the other 2 top complaints, but dealerships are still pricing them at full value - they are not reducing the price to consider the actual mechanical state. Only the new buyer will do that after it's too late. Draining the savings account to buy a used car can result in a loss of 5k. If it still happens to you, complain to your State agency right away as there are laws against selling dangerous vehicles such as ones that stall when going around a turn and almost creating a crash.

trouble getting out of first gear, high rpm

Really dont expect to see transmission problems after 62,000 miles!! Grew up with Fords only with the knowledge of always being reliable but after this and reading the many transmission complaints form this year model Ford needs to get their act together and offer at least some partial help, if it was 100-120 thousand miles I wouldnt have too much of issue but 62??? Not Impressed and now without a car for 4 days

Update from Sep 24, 2015: transmission band cost $103.00....labor $1600.00....what a friggen bunch of rip-offs!! obviousely there is a problem with how these are made and work...FORD needs to cough up compensation!!