My Escape suddenly lost power while I was driving. The engine was still running, but pressing the accelerator got no response. I coasted to the side of the road and shut the engine off. When I restarted, the engine ran normally again. This is the second time this has happened. Because I was in traffic, the second incident was quite dangerous. The mechanic says the problem is with the throttle body and that I should not drive until he can get a replacement part. He says the problem is so widespread that the parts are hard to get.

- Atlanta, GA, USA

As I was driving, my vehicle with no warning lost power. The engine was still running, but roughly. I could press the accelerator, but it no longer caused the vehicle to accelerate. After waiting for help to arrive, I cut the vehicle off and then tried to restart. The vehicle started fine. I took it to a mechanic who thought the throttle box may be gunked up. I paid to have it cleaned out and for a gas additive to decrease the likelihood that it would happen again. A couple of days later, my Escape stalled again in the same way and with the same results. It has happened 3 times now since May 2nd. I realize there is an investigation into the failure of the throttle body in Ford Escapes including the 2011 model. What is described in the throttle body failure situations is exactly what I am experiencing with my vehicle. I have been fortunate to be in curb lanes and able to maneuver safely off the road each of the times this has happened. If I happen to be in a center highway lane when it happens, I may not be fortunate enough to have an opportunity to restart my vehicle safely.

- Monroe, NC, USA

My daughter was driving the car in Florida going approximately 45 mph. The red light with a wrench came on and the car would not accelerate. She finally got pulled over to the side of the highway and called the dealership in orlando. They told her it could be a throttle body problem or it could just be trying to reset. They suggested she turn everything off (which she already had) and restart in a few minutes. She restarted and everything seemed fine. About a week later, the same thing happened, only worse, and she took the car in to the dealership. It seemed to happen as she was turning a corner. She had to restart the car 3 or 4 times on the way to the dealership. They ran a diagnostic test and said the throttle body needed to be replaced. So far, it's been a week and it is still not fixed because they cannot find the part. She has had to rent a car until the Escape is fixed. Another expense! evidently, 45,000 of these throttle bodies have been replaced and they are using the parts up as fast as they can make them. How safe can this be"?"!!! we plan to have it repaired, but we should not have to pay for this Ford problem.

- Manitou, KY, USA

On 27 April 2013 at approximately 0930, I was driving my 2011 Ford Escape at 70mph on I-475 on my way from macon, ga to atlanta, ga when I lost all power and control of my gas pedal/throttle body system. I felt a jerking motion of the vehicle, it began to decelerate, and I noticed the wrench icon light was illuminated on the dash. I did not lose power to the rest of my vehicle, only the ability of the gas pedal to accelerate. I was able to coast across a lane of traffic and come to a stop on the side of the interstate. After turning off the car, I was able to restart it, the warning light turned off, and I once again had power to the gas pedal. After driving approximately 10 more miles, the exact same problem happened again. I was then able to get my vehicle to the Ford dealership, who told me I had a faulty throttle body assembly. They said the throttle was sticking in the closed position and had to be replaced. With so many vehicles having this same problem, I feel this is a major safety concern. I am extremely lucky the interstate was not busy at the time my vehicle stalled twice and my family was not seriously injured or killed from a rear-end collison.

- Warner Robins , GA, USA

I was traveling on the highway at 70 mph when the vehicle suddenly just began slowing down. The wrench warning light came on but did not make a noise to indicate a problem. The gas pedal would not work. I was able to safely veer off to the shoulder because, luckily, I was in the slow lane.

- Arlington, TX, USA

Vehicle purchased January 2013 with ~37K miles. First month of ownership, I had code indicating a fuel delivery problem but it cleared on its own. I attributed it to bad gas, though it may have been the warning sign I missed. Today on the highway at approximately 60mph, it felt like the vehicle shifted out of sequence, noticing the lack of power/low rpms I tried to give it gas to no avail. I safely navigated to the shoulder as it coasted down to a stop. The orange wrench lit up. Upon stopping the car sputtered hard and threatened to stall. The gas pedal was useless. I shut the car off, shut off the radio/ac and gave it a moment. It restarted with minor hesitation. The orange wrench had cleared but the check engine light came in (it stayed in through the remainder of this post). It idled ok, allowed me to administer fuel and rev the engine. Thinking the problem had passed, I merged back onto the highway and came up to speed. About a half a mile later I felt the noted loss of engine power (I believe this is the "limp-home" method that is cited in some things I have read today). Again, my gas pedal is useless and I re-engage the hazards and move off of the road. This time the car does not stall but idles around 900rpm with some sputtering. Gas pedal is still useless. I rinse and repeat the above process a third time, when it does the same thing another half mile later, I give up and call a more car savoy friend. His first guess is also fuel pump/something clogged but we are both baffled because the symptoms are not consistent with any condition we have ever encountered. Deciding it could be nursed home, the fourth attempt at starting it, I made the last 2 miles staying 40mph or below. There was no sputtering/loss of fuel delivery capabilities during this attempt. After some research, it sounds like the common throttle body issues found me...

- Suffolk, VA, USA

Driving about 30 mph, when the light changed to yellow. I put my foot on the brake, but instead of stopping, the car lunged forward and I hit the car in front of me. I called the police and a police report is available.... updated 04/11/13

- Novi, MI, USA

The contact owns a 2011 Ford Escape. The contact was driving approximately 2 mph when the vehicle unexpectedly lunged forward as the contact was braking to a complete stop. In addition, the wrench warning symbol illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who detected that the throttle body actuator was faulty. The contact planned to take the vehicle to the manufacturer for the repair. The manufacturer was not notified of the malfunction. The approximate failure mileage was 40,000.

- Metairie, LA, USA

Periodically the vehicle seems to lose power or hesitated then accelerate, I've never had it stall out. Although it happened a few times early on this problem has been more frequent lately. I have also noticed that when accelerating, for example on an incline, the vehicles takes several minutes to shift into gear. The vehicle idles very rough, it has been since I bought it but has gotten worse recently. I've mentioned it to the technician when I've taken it in for service and was told this is normal for a four cylinder. I've had many cars over the years 4 cyl and 6 cyl and I've never had this happen. I've read some of the other complaints with the same description as what my vehicle is doing.

- Woodbridge, VA, USA

The contact owns a 2011 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving 70 mph, the vehicle began to decelerate independently and would not accelerate beyond 5 mph. The vehicle was taken to a dealer for diagnosis and the contact was informed that the throttle body would need to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The failure and current mileage was 32,000.

- Olathe, KS, USA

We were just pulling out onto the highway when the car lost all power. It jerked forward and then stopped. We were stopped on the highway and could not get the car to forward. I turned the car off waited a few minutes and then tried again. The car again jerked forward went a short distance and then shut down again, on the highway. Luckily we were only a mile or so from the dealership where we bought the car. We turned the car off and started it 5 times and were able to get the mile to the dealership. When this first happened, a wrench appeared on the dash, signaling a powertrain issue and to get to the dealership as soon as possible. After the car was looked at by the mechanic at the dealership it was determined that it was a defective throttle body and would cost $400 to repair. According to the dealership, this is a major issue for Ford, and I don't understand why something so serious that it can cause a serious accident or death is not being recalled. I guess Ford doesn't want the cost to repair their defective parts and obviously does not care about the safety of its customers or the lawsuit that will follow. For this reason, I have notified all of my family and friends not to buy another Ford. I would hope that the NHTSA would be concerned about the safety of our citizens and make a recall mandatory, not give in to the mighty Ford company and their lack of concern.

- Ocoee, FL, USA

The contact owns a 2011 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving approximately 5 mph, the vehicle suddenly lost acceleration power. The vehicle was coasted to the side of the road. Upon restarting, the vehicle resumed as normal. The failure recurred three times. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for diagnosis. The technician was unable to duplicate the failure. The manufacturer was notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 28,520....updated 03/27/13 updated 3/28/13 the consumer stated while on his way to the dealer, the vehicle went into a lurching motion four times. Traffic was light at the time, so he was able to coast to the side of the road. Three were recorded on the black box, which reached its capacity. The last one, caused the wrench light to illuminate and it remained on. The dealer replaced the throttle body. As of 03/22/13, the vehicle was performing as designed. The consumer stated he entered a four lane divided road with little traffic coming toward him. As he entered the first westbound lane, the vehicle went into a lurching motion, slowing down his forward movement with traffic coming closer to the drivers side of the vehicle. The vehicle then went into neutral mode and he was bale to coast into the left turn lane, continue through the traffic light controlled intersection and coast to the side of the intersecting roadway. He noticed the tax showed 2,000 RPM. He cycled the key and the engine started and operated normally.

- Hobe , FL, USA

The contact owns a 2011 Ford Escape. The contact was driving approximately 5 mph and applied the accelerator however, there was a delay in vehicle response. The failure recurred sporadically. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where the technician updated the computerized system however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer for a second time and they were unable to diagnose the vehicle. The manufacturer was not notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 200.

- Howell, MI, USA

I was driving on the interstate at 70mph when my car seemed to just completely lose power. I had to coast to the side of the road, put the car in park, turn it off and restart it. The incident happened exactly the same a couple other times. Also happen once when in the middle of the city. I was at a busy intersection and the car lost power in the middle of the intersection. I was not able to go anywhere until I turned off the car and restarted it. I was nearly T-boned at 5 months pregnant. Dealer was having a hard time figuring out what was wrong but finally figured out that it was something wrong with the drive train which caused the engine to stall.

- Stockport, OH, USA

2011 Ford Escape. Consumer writes in regards to vehicle acceleration while foot is on brake. The dealer was unable to duplicate the problem.

- Saint Peters, MO, USA

There have been several different occasions where my car will not accelerate during cold weather months. January 4, 2013 was when I nearly got into an accident because of it. One morning when I was on my way to work, I pulled out onto a main road and my car's acceleration drastically slowed down (to about 5-10 mph on a 40mph road). The vehicle behind me almost slammed right into me because my brake lights were not on (and why would they be? I had my foot on the gas petal trying to make it go!) the fact that Ford doesn't acknowledge this problem is scary! I am honestly concerned that one day this will cause me to get into a serious accident.

- Maynard, MA, USA

After stopping and upon acceleration the engine completely shuts down and the car stalls. After putting the car in park and restarting the car, it runs okay. This has happened to me 4 times over a 23 month period. Each time I have taken the vehicle to the dealership. The first two times I was told the car was still breaking in and it must be due to the gas I was using. The third time, they replaced the throttle body. To my knowledge the "wrench" light only came on once. They said they had a number of vehicles that this had happened with and replacing the throttle body helped. Three weeks after they replaced the throttle body, it happened again! this time only the engine light came on. Ford says they need a code to try to fix the problem. The dealership told me that there was one other person, who has the same make and model as mine that this is happening too. This person also had the throttle body replaced. The fact that no code is tripped is a problem in itself! please help! I do not want anyone to be killed because of this problem.

- Sterling, VA, USA

The contact owns a 2011 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving approximately 40 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact merged to the shoulder and restarted the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where a technician advised that the throttle body assembly would need to be replaced. The vehicle did not have a diagnostic test performed. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact that the vehicle was not included in any recalls. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 45,500 and the current mileage was 47,000. Updated 01/09/13

- Cape Coral , FL, USA

While pulling onto highway onramp the vehicle began to jerk violently and suddenly shut down and would not accelerate. It was a busy traffic time and the sudden deceleration of my vehicle caused others to have to suddenly brake to avoid a collision. Pulled vehicle to side of the road and shut it off. Restarted and the problem seemed to be fixed. Began driving vehicle to dealer with hazard lights and problem occurred about 4 more times. Dealer replaced throttle body assembly, which fixed the problem. It was a scary incident as we were just seconds away from joining heavy traffic on the interstate.

- Summerville, SC, USA

2011 Ford Escape was being driven @ 55 mph in traffic & it suddenly lost power. Orange wrench appeared, motor running rough. Steered to emergency lane. Turned off ignition, waited, re-started. I went on to my meeting the to the Ford dealership near where I work. They said to drive it there (if possible) next time without cutting off the engine. Two days later (local dealership closed) while driving 55 mph, rainy night, county road, no "emergency lane", was able to get pulled over (not always an option on a country road). Daughter was with me - frightened her. Turned it off, restarted. Next day (Saturday) I took it to local Ford dealer. Said need the light on, but would see if the diagnostics told anything. Borrowed car from my daughter. This was inconvenience to me and her. Dealer called Monday, said it clears the code each time the car is re-started. They kept my vehicle overnight. Did it again with the mechanic driving. He drove it at about 10-15 mph to the dealership. I got online and there are many issues involving throttles. Many recalls, but not on my model. On Tuesday afternoon diagnostics showed it was the throttle. This is a safety related defect & it should be immediately recalled. I drive about 60 miles a day on the interstate & I need my vehicle to be dependable. If a semi truck came up behind me it could have caused a wreck, or even loss of life. I love my Escape & have been a loyal Ford customer. Sometimes you just have to admit there's a problem & make things right. Ford should resolve this once and for all. I picked it up last night & am driving it today. I will be in fear of it happening every time I drive this vehicle. My vehicle has low mileage, is maintained regularly. This should not have happened, nor should I have to pay repairs. I would like a refund on the repair costs.

- Shelbyville, KY, USA