10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 5 / 1
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 7 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 57,044 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.
« Read the previous 20 complaints
Out of nowhere car's transmission started slipping really bad on a main street intersection. The car would stall then would catch unexpectedly and launch forward. Then a message came on the screen of "transmission fault service engine now". how in the world does this happen with a 4 yr old car!!!!!
- Haverhill, MA, USA
My 2016 Ford Escape had a total transmission failure without warning while I was driving on a city street, approx. Going 45 to 50 mph. The transmission went out of gear and lost power. The transmission would stall and then suddenly go into gear without warning causing my Escape to jerk forward. I parked my Escape and had it towed to a repair shop. I was told by the repair shop that the transmission was "burned up" and had to be replaced. I had a rebuilt transmission in my Escape, costing me $3,700 in repairs.
- Norman, OK, USA
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving, the vehicle started to jerk the rpms revved up. The transmission fault warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and was diagnosed. The contact was informed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but, provided no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 84,400.
- Fairport Harbor, OH, USA
Here I sit with a 4 year old car with less than 72,000 miles getting it's transmission rebuild!!! after seeing all the complaints I do not understand why this has not been a recall yet?? this is very sorry on Ford end. There should be a recall for this transmission. It gave me very little warning. Made a noise, less than half a mile jumped to 5,000 rpms then that was it... dead on the side of the road. Let's not talk about how hard it is to get parts for this transmission #1 due to the age #2 due to the virus. Fix this issue Ford!!!!
- Clayton, NC, USA
While driving in traffic the car lunges forward and jerks in traffic and losses power. No to little movement with the engine running. Also you can not accelerate that is a non factor and you are in the flow of traffic without warning! my car never gave me any signs of a bad transmission until out the blue one day and a transmission vault light came on my dash! my family and I was visiting my son at his college town of bevercreek Ohio were he attended wright state university and this happened on the weekend. I waited until the weekday to call customer service and Ford gave me a case #cas27510020. My son dropped it off and made the appointment and rented a car and drove back to Chicago. The car is at germaine Ford and they called him back and said $4 thousand overhaul or $8 thousand for replacement and I still owe a year or 2 years worth of payments totally unfair. A car should last longer than 85,000 miles off highway and normal driving! P.S Ford has been sued for there power shift transmission for bad torque converters, who's to say they are not using those same torque conveters in their 6speed automatic select shift transmissions.
- Chicago, IL, USA
2016 Ford Escape with less than 80 thousand miles would no longer accelerate randomly one day. Engine would rev. Dealership stated there was metal in the transmission pan and that the transmission would need to be replaced. They couldn't tell me the cause and that it would cost 7 thousand dollars. Ford does not recommend transmission service until 150 thousand miles and their warranty expires at 60 thousand miles because they know this is an ongoing problem. Now I have a car payment and no car. Ford needs to fix their shotty product.
- Durham, NC, USA
Transmission failed with no warning. Driving home one day, getting off the highway, the car had a delay in accelerating and would then suddenly lurch forward. Tried to make it home with the car, eventually a "transmission fault" message came up. Now car is sitting in my driveway, only 4 years old and I can't use it to work or anything, we barely got home. I've read that a lot of people are having this issue who and what is being done to resolve or to mandate a recall?
- Lincoln Park, NJ, USA
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while her son was driving approximately 75 mph and slowing down in a construction zone, the vehicle failed to accelerate without warning. The vehicle was taken to the signature Ford ' perry dealer located at 3942 lansing rd, perry, mi 48872, where it was diagnosed with a defective transmission. The contact was informed that the transmission would be replaced with a rebuilt transmission. The contact declined the rebuilt transmission. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 116,000. The VIN was not provided.
- West Bloomfield, MI, USA
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Escape. The contact stated after parking the vehicle in his garage, when exiting the vehicle, it began to roll backwards. The contact mentioned that the vehicle was in the park position, he managed to jump in, and use the emergency brakes to stop the vehicle. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact called local dealer tallapoosa Ford located at 1551 us-280, alexander city, al 35010, (256) 234-3432 and was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired as of yet. The manufacturer had not been informed of failure. The failure mileage was 108,420.
- Sylacauga, AL, USA
Transmission failed with no warning. Driving home one day, getting off the highway, the car had a delay in accelerating and would then suddenly lurch forward. Tried to make it home with the car, eventually a "transmission fault" message came up. Had the car towed to a Ford dealership service center (capital Ford, raleigh nc). It took over two weeks for them to look at my car. They then called and told me that the "torque converter had come apart" and that I needed a full transmission replacement for $7500. My car is four years old and barely outside of the powertrain mileage warranty. This is absolutely absurd.
- Raleigh, NC, USA
The transmission failed in August 2019. We replaced it with a Ford transmission and now (July 2020) it needs repair again. The serial number on the replacement transmission is 5136077
- Bristow, VA, USA
Vehicle would not go into any gear after parking in parking space. Complete loss of ability to shift gears to anything other than gear it was last in (park). Bushing on shift cable was missing and shift cable was detached as has occurred in previous model years
- Three Bridges, NJ, USA
Shift cable bushing came off shifter cable. Gear shift moves but does not engage in any gear nor does the dash shift indicator show it is in any gear. Truck starts, engine revs and all breaks and lights are working. It was fine yesterday when I parked it in my sloped driveway. Today it will not engage in order to drive.
- Baltimore, MD, USA
The transmission went out with out warning or engine light.
- Sherman, TX, USA
When shifting into reverse the vehicle often shudders or clunks.
- Plymouth, IN, USA
While traveling away from home, the speed changed from 40 mph to 55 mph. When pushing the accelerator, the vehicle would not accelerate. After waiting on the side of the road for three hours, my 2016 Ford Escape with 69,123 miles, was towed back to my hometown to a trusted mechanic. After looking over the vehicle, it was determined the transmission needed to be replaced. The dealer was notified who advised to have the vehicle transferred to the dealership to be diagnosed. A couple days later, the tech called and stated the transmission did in fact need to be replaced for a cost of $7505. The GM of the dealership stated they contacted Ford directly and they were not willing to assist, as 'Ford has no issues with this vehicle and transmissions.' The GM further stated I could roll over what I owed and drive off in a brand new Escape for $500 a month. After research, it's clear the transmissions are defective, costing many people thousands of dollars to repair. My vehicle was taken back to our trusted mechanic where it will be repaired for $3500.
- Georgetown, TX, USA
From the second week of ownership, my vehicle had experienced intermittent hesitation upon acceleration. The dealer could not duplicate. I was very punctual about getting my vehicle serviced as I purchased a service maintenance plan and an extended warranty and believed my transmission was being looked at during the service calls. I presumed it was my imagination however at 121,000 my vehicle stopped in the middle of the road from the speed of 45mph. I was traveling between traffic lights at that time. The vehicle just stopped. I was able to restart the vehicle but it clearly was having difficulty as it was not moving when accelerating. There was no 'check engine' lights or any other warning lights. I turned the vehicle off and turned it back on and it did engage into gear and moved for another two miles then I got the red warning message "service transmission now". because I am still making payments on the vehicle(a 2016 model) I have not been able to afford the repair hence my vehicle has been sitting since October 2019 when it broke down. I saw a recall for the Ford festiva/Fusion that described the same situation but have not seen any information on a recall for this make/model. I have also seen complaints from other owners of this make/model for the same issue and feel that it is dangerous. Normally I drive the freeway but the morning it broke down I was on a surface street. I for sure would have had a bad accident if I was on the freeway. I do not have any repair documentation as I cannot afford to repair my vehicle and make payments on it too!
- Villa Rica, GA, USA
Drove the car 90 miles to the hospital without any problems or no signs that anything was going wrong. After the hospital visit was over, and we started to leave the hospital, the vehicle stopped moving forward while still accelerating. The engine fault failure warning appeared along with the engine light. I stopped the car. Shut if off and back on again. The car proceeded to move forward but then quickly lost the driving power again. It would not move forward on acceleration. When placing the vehicle in gear to move it would make a clunking noise like it was having issues pulling into gear. We ended up stranded at the traffic light in the heavy intersection outside of the hospital. No.accidents happened. I was able to avoid it and had the vehicle towed to nearest Ford garage.
- Fort Ashby, WV, USA
Just as my car reached 61,699 miles, the transmission fails. On March 29, I was driving on ridge rd in oak ridge, NJ and stepped on the accelerator going up a very slight hill to maintain my speed of 40 mph, but the car just started slowing down to a stop and would not move forward. As a matter of fact, it started roll backwards down the hill and I had to immediately step on the brake. The direction I was going in was on a single lane road and there were cars coming behind me.the engine was still running but the car would not engage or move. The engine was revving but no movement. In fact, the car started to go backwards into the other cars behind me. I immediately stepped on the brake to avoid hitting anyone but was not able to move the car out of the road. Someone came out of their home to help me back my car into his driveway while I called a tow truck. My car is still in the shop at fette Ford in clifton, NJ. They wouldn't even help me with financial assistance being that I was only 1,699 miles over the warranty. Is it normal for a transmission to go bad immediately after the warranty? I am an essential worker. Also, my car was in the shop on 3/2/20 before this happened for what they call the works where they check ' tire rotation and pressure check ' brake inspection ' vehicle checkup ' fluid top-off ' battery test ' filter check ' belts and hoses check after a certain amount of miles. They did not properly seal the oil plug because oil was leaking out of my car after I left them and I hadn't noticed until my husband told me. I would think they should have been able to catch anything wrong with the transmission. It was very busy the day I went in for the works and it took hours to get that done.
- Totowa, NJ, USA
- Hoschton, GA, USA