10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 6 / 0
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 4 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 29,028 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
Car accelerated from 25 to 75 mph without my foot being on accelerator. Cruise control was off. Subsequently, stopped and turned off vehicle. Restarted and vehicle would accelerate from any speed when I took my foot off the accelerator. I had to control my speed on a winding, narrow, road with no shoulders. I could only control the speed of the car by riding the brakes. The brakes overheated. When I came to a stop the car engine continued to run at 5,000 RPM. I came to a stop, then shifted into park and the engine continued to run at 4,500 rpms. Pushed the ignition to shut off engine and had my car towed to the lexington, va Ford dealer where I purchased the car.
- Lexington, VA, USA
No crank to start vehicle
- Mankato, MN, USA
The vehicle started running rough and missing at 75 mph with about 5000 miles on it. Check engine light came on, cruise control shut off. I took it to the dealership and they said I had 3 trouble codes but I don't know what the were. They reprogrammed something a gave me the car back a week later. Two weeks after that I started getting another check engine light with the code P0420. The local dealer says they can't fix it or honor my warranty because it's a us spec vehicle and I'm in europe. I have a brand new vehicle that I have to clear the code every other day. To make matters worst the small door that covers the odb port won't close correctly. I'm sure it wasn't designed to be opened every other day.
- Apo, AE, USA
Intermittent issues with the transmission not being able to shift into park. When it happens, the shiftier freely moves between all positions except will not go all the way forward to the "park" position. It can eventually be moved forward by fiddling with it or one time a passenger was able to force it. Even when this is done, the indicator in the instrument panel does not always show a gear selected so in those cases, it is unknown whether it is truly in park.
- Detroit, MI, USA
At 10,000 miles my Escape transmission began slipping. It takes forever for it to shift but no transmission light comes on. My gas mileage has also gone way down as a result of this. Ford claims it's fine. But it does it often. Also when the engine stop is engaged at stop lights, it doesn't always start back up and I have to put the car in park and restart the vehicle.
- Gore, VA, USA
I have had my Ford Escape for just over 30 days. About two weeks into owning it, I had stopped behind a vehicle. The start/stop engaged and when I went to accelerate again the power train fault illuminated. In order to move the vehicle, I had to put the vehicle in park and restart the vehicle. This happened 3 weeks after the first time, again today. This could cause major safety issues if the vehicle behind you does not stop in time.
- Des Moines, IA, USA
Vehicle shuts off while driving. Steps to reproduce issue: Keyfob is inside vehicle in drivers coat pocket, mobile phone is intermittently connected to vehicle via usb cord, vehicle is on, engine running, start/stop is on, vehicle is driving then stops at a stoplight, start/stop engages and idles engine for at least 15 seconds. When foot brake is released vehicle shuts off, instrument cluster, radio, infotainment, etc turn off. To restart vehicle transmission must be placed in neutral or park and vehicle on/off button pressed. Vehicle restarts, powertrain malfunction error displays and infotainment system appears to be rebooting and displays welcome message such as before it was set up. Vehicle was immediately brought to dealer; blackwell Ford in Plymouth mi both times. Dealer could not reproduce issue or pull detailed information beyond general fault. Dealer performed 1265od eec system diagnosis quick test, 1265od45 engine module diagnostic pin point test, 12650dx1 eec system diagnosis quick test twice, road tested, ids test P164C, ppt aa in pced manual, reset kam and retest pass, and upon request checked that PCM firmware was the latest version. Dealer requested permission for extended mileage testing with skytracker installed after 2nd fault, permission was given. Issue occurs approximately every 30 days driving 2 trips/day. Issue presents a high and severe risk of fatal incident because vehicle is stopped at a green light and may be rear ended by an approaching vehicle at high speed. Because vehicle is off, airbags and other safety equipment may not activate increasing risk of fatal incident. Vehicle was bought new with 10 miles recorded on odometer in February of 2019, as of April 2019 the issue has occurred twice. Once on February 22nd and once on April 3rd.
- Redford, MI, USA

- Lexington, VA, USA