I paid for my 2008 FORD ESCAPE and warranty just expired in July 2018. I've taken my car for service routinely with Ford dealership and just received service the week prior. I explained I was going for a trip to AZ (400 mile round trip) and needed a full check and service. Everything passed with flying colors. On my return trip up a hill, the wrench light came on and I lost power and limped home. I took it to the service department and 2nd and 4th gears are out and it will take a week to fix. No warranty coverage and I just hit the 90,000 mile mark. Unbelievable that a transmission goes out at a 90,000 mile. I'm so disappointed in the vehicle after paying so much for it and maintaining all services. No discounts were offered.

I bought this car with 110,000 kms on it in March 2017. I spent quite a bit of money purchasing this car (at least it was quite a bit of money for me, this is the most I have ever spent on a car) assuming that this would be a good reliable all wheel drive for the snowy Calgary winters. But a couple months later I noticed that the transmission struggles to shift from 2nd to 3rd gear. I have seen this happen before on my old Honda Accord and this basically means that the shifts will keep getting worse over time eventually leading to transmission failure. Not impressed with Ford's quality.

Almost paid off then I feel a funny(not laughing) lurch when the transmission changes gears. The rest of the problem list includes 1. Sticking throttle plate first thing in the morning. 2.shaking in the steering wheel at traffic lights and sometimes loss of power steering especially at low speed like in parking lots when you really need it. 3. Clicking noise when turning on the AC. Comes from the top of the heater /radio panel. 4. Shimmy from front passenger tire at high speed. But the tire guy shows me lumpy rear tires that he says are the cause, probably from bad shocks.

This is only a five year old car. Can you say honda

My rant:

I bought my 2008 Escape brand new in May of 2007 and purchased the extended 100,000 mile warranty. Of course, my Escape had 127,000 on it when the trouble happened. I was driving my beloved Escape around town and all of a sudden, after NO warning WHATSOEVER, I drive away, the rpm's rev up and the transmission doesn't change into 2nd gear. I let off the gas and the transmission reluctantly changed into 2nd gear. It shifted perfectly into the other gears.

I pulled into a oil change establishment and they checked my transmission fluid and said the level of fluid was perfect. Next, I drive my car to my VERY trusted friend who is a mechanic. He drives it and says the transmission needs to be replaced. He said he had replaced one earlier in the week on a 2008 Escape. Uh Oh!!!

Since I bought it new from a dealership that I and my extended family have shopped at for at least 50 years, I decided I would take it there and see what they said. Sure enough, 2nd gear was destroyed inside the transmission. A Ford rebuilt transmission and labor to install it would be $3,488. I gave them the okay to fix it and two days later it was ready for pickup. The dealership also fixed a leaking tire while they had it at no additional charge! lol!

Now, with today's economy, how many of us "regular people" have an extra $3,500 to hand out right at Christmas time or, as a matter of fact, at anytime? Thank the LORD that I have a home equity account that I can borrow from!

I paid a little over 25,000 hard earned dollars for my Escape. I still love it. However, I am concerned after reading the posts on this page regarding the failure of the 2008 Ford Escape's transmission, I may have to sell it and buy another vehicle. It will not be a Ford because I think there's a flaw in the trans and Ford should recall them.

Thanks for your time!

So I bought my ford escape 5 months ago before my husband deployed, less that 2 months later the transmission started to slip randomly. I took it to the dealership and surprise surprise they could not find a problem. So I leave feeling frustrated and it does it again, and again and again. I took it in today to be looked at and was told to come back when i "can replicate the issue" My transmission jerks at stoplights half the time and i am ALWAYS afraid someone is going to end up hitting me because of this. It is dangerous for me and everyone else on the road, All i have to say is when I go back next time I better actually get some help.

My car started jerking all the time. Then it started hesitating while I was driving it. Then it would stall while driving on the major highway. I took into Ford and they said it was the transmission. So they had my car from Saturday to the following Friday. They didn't replace the transmission just parts. I took it back a week later, and complained that it was still jerking into gear, they couldn't find anything wrong. A few months later I received a recall letter for the transmission. I took it back and they still couldn't find anything wrong. Now here we are over a year later and the car is STILL jerking.

I'm actually unsure of what the mileage was when we first noticed the problem but it was less than 3,000 miles. We bought the Escape in Feb 2009 and it only had 195 miles on it. Before long we noticed it lurching into gear while downshifting at low speeds. We took it back to the dealership where we bought it and they said they could not duplicate the condition. Later on we took it to another Ford dealership and they said the same thing. Still, awhile later, we took it back to the second Ford dealership a second time (three times total now) and got a transmission mechanic to ride with us. He did notice it a little bit but only cleared the computer codes. This basically only changed how or when it lurched into gear but did not cure the problem completely. Late we got a recall notice to check it for a leaky transmission cooler. The cooler turned out to not be leaking so instead of replacing it they said they put an additional bracket on it to try and keep it from leaking. It now has 15,000 miles on it and still downshifts roughly, sometimes so hard it feels like its trying to kick the rear axle out from under us. I'm tired of taking it in without the problem being fixed. JEERS TO FORD!!

Well, would'nt you know it. Another 2008 Ford Escape with a leaking transmission cooler. Lucky me, only had the car for not even four months, and just over the 35,000 bumper to bumper warranty. So much for this being a Certified Used Ford car. Car began leaking transmission fluid, then lunging jerking forward violently when moving forward. It's a good thing no accident was caused by this. It will happen with one of these cars and Ford will have to do a recall. Overall cost to fix $800.00... Dealer charging me $300.00 to fix. Ford motor Corp will pay $500.00 of this. I don't feel I should have to pay anything for a major transmission problem on a car I have had barely 4 months! I have Called Ford Customer Service ...terrible. Will not budge on this issue since no recall was issued. This should be covered under Power train warranty!!! Well, my first Ford...but my last

I brought my SUV to the dealer to get a regular service done. First they lost my keys, I go back the next day they still didn't find the keys and to fix this they reprogrammed new ones. Ever since my Escape has been doing this thing only in the AM where it Won't move when I step on the gas peddle, then it "lurches" forward. I just found a similar problem on here by another Escape owner. They probablly screwed up something when they had to reprogram the replacement keys! I'll call the dealership in the am to set up a time for them to fix it, I hope!

The car fails to move in drive or reverse, then lurches forward. It was bought off the lot on Labor Day Weekend with 88 miles on it, and sporadically noticed the transmission problem in the following weeks. Brought it to the dealer on 30 Sept and the problem did not appear, nor were there any computer codes, so they kept it overnight. It acted up the next AM when they tested it. Still no computer codes. The dealer called Father Ford and they said the computer controls the hydraulics in the transmission and it needs to be reprogrammed. (MSVista?r) It was reprogrammed, road tested so the computer could "relearn" its routine, and was pronounced repaired, no charge to me, almost $300.00 to Father Ford. It was discharged on 22 Sept 08.

Sunnysidefran