I own a 2008 Ford Escape with just over 108,000 miles. My transmission went, while driving home from work in Washington DC rush hour traffic. I was stopped at a light, it turned green, I put my foot down and nothing but first gear, until I took my foot of the gas and it went straight into drive.

I am still waiting for word from my mechanic but the options are a rebuilt tranny or brand new. I can't afford either but what are you supposed to do? Ford, what are you going to do? There are many stories out there like this for this particular model, it is wrong. This should not happen to a transmission with only this many miles on it. Ford, when the recall comes out I want a refund!

Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, I was driving home on the freeway doing about 70 mph. Suddenly the car made this horrific metal crunching noise followed by a second sound that can only be described as flapping (similar to a playing card in the spoke of a bicycle, only if it were metal and on the wheel of a car). I quickly pulled over and called for a tow-truck.

The driver/ mechanic who came to my aide, said that it sounded like the transmission was having issues and then asked how I had been driving it. I explained: exactly as described in the "Owner's Manual." He explained how it should be driven (not as described in the "Owner's Manual" and I was able to drive home.

3-days later, the noise returned. Only this time, the wheels completely locked-up (wasn't even able to roll the car in neutral on the hill that it locked-up on). Called for a tow. This tow truck driver said the same thing: the car is not supposed to be driven the way that it is described in the "Owner's Manual." The mechanic who is now fixing the car told me that I was very lucky. If the complete lock-up of the transmission/ wheels had occurred the first time (at 70 mph) I might have been seriously injured or even killed.

BE AWARE: If all of you were not completely convinced that Ford is the issue here, you are right. The car is not meant to be driven in "D" as the "Owner's Manual" describes; it is actually VERY bad for the transmission to follow Ford's instruction. The car is supposed to be driven most of the time with "Overdrive" Off, which is contrary to the instructions in the "Owner's Manual."

Be advised: not only are they selling a faulty product that goes bad/ needs replacing with less than 100,000 miles on it, but they are also providing the bad instructions that cause it to go bad!!!

Shame on you Ford! I urge everyone to call, complain, do what you can to force them to change their instruction manual and the way the car is built. And get us all repaired free of charge!!!

Thanksgiving day, my son and daughter-in-law along with my 3 granddaughters were stranded 265 miles from home due to a transmission failure. Mileage at time of failure was 93K.

Thanks to AAA, I was able to get it towed to a Ford dealer near my home. I was told that it was an internal failure due to metal bits getting caught in a filter and causing something or other to burn out.

Of course, at 93 thousand miles, it's not under warranty, so now I have to buy a re-manufactured transmission or pay to get the current one rebuilt. And 93 thousand miles sure seems like too low of mileage for a transmission to be going out.

VERY bad engineering, Ford. You've been having a bad run of transmission problems in your vehicles. For a company that once used the slogan, "Quality is job 1", I suspect the actual truth is that "Profit margins are goal 1".

Now that I think of it, I had a Ford sedan many years ago that had a transmission problem.

I think I'm done with Ford.

2008 FORD ESCAPE TRANSMISSION WENT OUT AFTER I BROUGHT IT IN FOR RECALL SERVICE FOR WIRING WITH POWER STEERING/POWER TRAIN/THROTTLE WITHIN 2WKS AND 2DAYS AFTER SERVICE. ALSO ACCELERATOR WOULD COME OFF IF FOOT GETS CAUGHT UNDER IT FOUND OUT WHEN MY HUSBAND WAS ABOUT TO DRIVE ONE DAY AND IT CAME LOOSE AND HE WAS ABLE TO SEE WHERE IT GOES AND PUT IT BACK. TOOK IT WHERE HE BROUGHT IT FROM AND HE WAS TOLD PAY SO MUCH TO FIX IT. I CALLED FORD COMPANY AND TOLD THEM ABOUT AND WAS TOLD THAT THERE WERE NO RECALLS BUT IF I GET IT FIXED AND THERE IS A RECALL I WOULD GET REFUND BACK AND I SAID IF I'M DRIVING AND IT COMES OFF SOMEONE WILL BE HELD RESPONSIBLE AND IT WONT BE ME OR MY FAMILY BECAUSE YOU PAY TOO MUCH MONEY FOR THESE VEHICLES TO HAVE THESE KIND OF PROBLEMS. BUT STILL THEY SAY THEY HONOR THEIR MERCHANDISE. IT IS VERY FRUSTRATING.

2008 ford escape with 94,000 miles. started skipping 2nd gear--just revs til you either take your foot off gas or drops into 3rd. took to local ford dealer and charged $110 to diagnose. After diagnosing, wants to charge $700 to tear it apart and see whats wrong-why its skipping 2nd gear. If it needs new transmission, will be $3800 to fix. Asked about the service bulletin for the transmission and they were unaware of an issue. I have called Ford corporate and they have documented the issue. Will be taking it to our transmission guy for second opinion. However, was told by Crystal at Ford that wherever we get it fixed, if you hang onto the receipt and there is a recall, Ford will honor that. Should be a recall--see lots of people with 2nd gear issues.

I have a 2008 Ford Escape with just barely 62,000 miles. I noticed just one day that the check engine light came on, it has never been on the entire time I've owned the vehicle. Well then I noticed that the car was having a hard time shifting into gear, it would rev up past 5 RPM before doing a hard shift. If I let my foot off the gas as it was attempting to shift it would do it then. Going up a hill was the worst because I couldn't shift so I would go 35-40 MPH up a hill. When I called to see if my transmission was still under warranty I found out my warranty had expired just a few months prior. Well when I took it to a transmission specialist I was told the transmission would have to be completely rebuilt and that he has been seeing this over and over again with several Ford vehicles. Just so frustrating that clearly Ford has known about this but is not doing anything to fix it. This is my third Ford car and I've never had a problem but I"m ready to trash this Escape.

In 2011 my transmission was found to be cracked, leaking ,etc. The issues were covered under an extended warranty. Three years later (June 2014 to be exact) I've been told the transmission is 'shot'. This says a lot about the workmanship of Ford under a warranty! The car has no 2nd or 4th gear. I was told its not 'unsafe' to drive but 'unreliable'. The car is now sitting in my driveway. Ford wants $4000 to fix it. I called their Customer Service center to ask for financial assistance and was shot down in 5 minutes by a very rude 'Dylan' on the other line. I am the original owner of the car, my parents have 3 Fords (bought 2 brand new) and have never had any major issues with any of their cars. It is blatantly obvious Ford did a sub-par job on the 2011 'fix'. I will never buy a Ford again, my parents will never buy a Ford again and I will not recommend Ford to anyone. Ford you should be embarrassed and ashamed (HA, yeah right).

My first Ford and I'm very sure my last. Bought this as a used vehicle at 80,000km and after about adding 10km to it I thought the transmission was awful heavy shifting and it would jolt into gear at times. As time went on I tried to make sure that I held the brake down and shifted the gear stick slowly and waited for the shift thinking it was my fault by going to fast. No difference. Up to the time that gears two and four went I realized that when I shifted and stepped on the accelerator nothing was happening. In the parking lot I almost hit an vehicle when mine suddenly lurched and jumped into gear. On the highway it wasn't shifting into fourth gear and scared the heck out of me when transports and other cars suddenly gained on me and had to brake because I wasn't able to accelerate. I finally figured out that if I drove it like a standard it would slowly shift into gear for me. I'm in sales and drive for a living. I need a reliable car that is safe for me and my passengers and other motorists. Not this piece of crap that has one problem after another that I am paying for. At least I can claim repairs on my income taxes. So, after I quickly realized that my transmission had failed I took it in and had the tranny replaced at a cost of $3600.00. Thanks Ford. This is a major problem with 08 Escapes and your dealers always act like mine is the first one they had heard of. I also have come across 3 other people with same car same problem. This is a danger and should be recalled. Ford get track and fix your issues before you end up like GM. In the news and not in a good way.

Update from Apr 8, 2015: After one and a half years I still experience very heavy shifting and sometimes it jolts into gear like I've been hit from behind. Startles me something fierce. I cross my fingers and pray that all will be okay.

2008 Ford Escape with 69k miles. Gently driven,, well cared for....

Driving down a State Route and with no warning, engine made a fast whining sound and lost all acceleration. Not a good thing to happen on a busy road. No where to get off road, so kept hitting the gas pedal and the RPM's would go up, but I did not go anywhere. Creeping along at less than 5mph. Then it lurches and catches and driving is fine again, then it slows, then it goes,,,,, and on & on. Tried to limp home, and at one point we slowed down again, tapped the pedal to get SUV to go forward and the RPM's went to 5 or 6 and STUCK... and would not go back down. We had no forward momentum at this time, so vehicle was put in neutral because if it would have caught from zero to tacking at 6 we would have spun out and probably crashed.

Had vehicle towed to a ford dealer and found out it was a total transmission failure. ON A 08 ESCAPE with 69K miles???? After doing internet searches, this seems like a really big problem, and why there is not a recall on this I have no idea. To make matters worse, FORD wont stand behind their product. All the dealer told us is we should have bought the extended warranty. I thought if I bought a NEW vehicle and took care of it, it should have lasted longer than this. So now we have to sink around 4K to get vehicle repaired.

And as soon as it had been repaired, we are trading this POS in and getting something else.

NEVER AGAIN will we buy a ford. NEVER

This issue needs a recall on it ASAP before someone gets killed.

Have kept up service on Escape. Had it serviced day before we drove from SC to Florida.. no problems. Then, we were driving back and were just outside of Augusta Ga. when the Escape started jerking and lost compression. We stopped and had the vehicle towed to a Mr Transmission. They were going to do a free analysis to see what was wrong. We had to rent a vehicle to get back home. Mr Transmission took the transmission out of the car and told us it needed replaced at a cost of $4000. We were shocked!!! We told them we would pick up the vehicle and have the repair done here. They didn't put the parts all back and we had to hire a trusted repair place to go get it at a cost of $440. Mr Transmission charged us $600 for tearing it out and putting it back only enough to get it transported.

It is currently being looked at for a cost of transmission replacement. I feel a 2008 should not be having transmission replacement or problems since the vehicle is serviced every 3-4 thousand miles.

At just over 63,000 miles my AWD 6 cyl escape started to slip on take-off, unexpectedly shift into neutral ( or slip) with resulting extreme surge in engine RPM, refuse to up-shift etc. I limped into the dealer and they quickly diagnosed catastrophic transmission failure. The tech said one of the bands had shattered along with misc. other parts and seals, bearings etc. Thank heavens for an extended warranty with $100 deductible. It took 10 days to replace the transmission and in response to my repeated, assertive inquiries they claim the trans. fluid cooler is sound and not leaking and they just "have no idea" why the transmission would fail and that they have never seen it before. Yah, right! This vehicle has been carefully maintained and gently used. It is appalling to see so many similar failures. This should be a re-call or something.

After reading complaints here and elsewhere, I am dismayed. I really like this vehicle for its good handling and overall great fit for my needs, but my confidence is shattered. I don't want to go thru the process of looking for another used vehicle but I guess I have too. You can be sure it will not be a Ford. A Honda or a Subaru maybe, but not a Ford.

Ironically, the vehicle I traded in on this one was a 2007 F-150 pick-up extended cab 4 x 4. A BEAUTIFUL truck, but I didn't really need so much vehicle so I traded it in after 18 months of ownership for almost as much as I had payed for it! Did I mention, it had its transmission rebuilt under the orig. drive-train warranty? Yup!

I'm done with Fords!

Update from Mar 30, 2013: New transmission installed by dealer and I'm on the road again. All good. I hope. I can hear a low pitch whine at slow speeds (lower gears) which seems to go away after 5 or 6 miles. Is this the sound of impending doom? I sure hope not.

Update from Apr 8, 2015: March 2015. Still whining, especially when cold, but no performance issues YET. Sometimes encounter hard upshifts (as in clunk thud) at slow speeds (1st to second gear?). Hope it holds out; I plan to trade for a Subaru probably in in 2016. Engine is the best part of this automobile. Running like a top at 96,000.