CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2005 Escape has problems where the engine shuts down while driving. Ford finally issued a September 2014 recall. Time will tell if the recall fix really solves the problem.
However the 2005 Escape also has a defect where the PCM (Power Control Module) fries at around 100k miles. Ford extended the PCM warranty to 80,000 miles, but only after most owners were past the mileage limit. Now owners are on the hook for the average repair cost of over $2,000 (!!)
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
2 / 4
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
113,513 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Was driving my car to work - at first if didn't want to start but cranked fine. Let it sit idle and headed to work - 1/2 to work stopped at a light where it started to shudder like it was going to stall (never had any issues before and still no warning lights). Got thru the intersection and loss all power on the busiest street in bowling green. I didn't even have enough power for my emergency blinkers. Stuck where I was was a hazard of me being hit - had it towed to mechanic thinking it was the alternator. Alternator and starter both good - once put on the diagnostic machine - the car started smoking and sparking. End result - I have at least 3 coils, potential fried wire harness and PCM failure (a logged complaint but never a recall). The potential fix with no guarantee that this wouldn't happen again is 5-8K. My family could have been severely hurt if someone would have plowed into us. This is not a safe vehicle at all!
Drove from Washington state to Utah on family vacation 14nov15. Filled up with gas in boise, I.D. and 1 mile into that drive felt a surge and then slight loss of power driving at 70mph. Then it was fine. When we got into spanish fork, ut. We had a loss of power when we came off the high way and contacted our friend who's dad owns his own mechanic shop K&K auto in spanish fork, ut. He got the codes cleared and said the codes were not making any sense as to the possible loss in power. The vehicle ran real good after getting codes cleared. The next morning we headed out on I15 on our trip to our vacation destination and it did it again as we got on the high way, I use an injector cleaner in case that was the problem as my friends dad had suggested. We got to fillmore, ut. And we loss total power and steering control. We coasted off onto an exit ramp there we were about to pass when it happened. Had our vehicle towed to the only mechanic opened at the time on a Saturday afternoon. He said the same thing about the codes. Then he said we had a bad catalack-converter. We had it towed back to our friends dads shop an hour and a half North. The next day he said he thinks it may be the coils but the codes say all of them. So we had him take it to Ford in provo, ut while we rented a car and had some of our vacation, most of it we missed spending days waiting on a word from Ford service after we got in from our couple of days we did get in of our vacation. We thought they were going to do the work while we were gone, but no. Now we are home after paying $730.- for injectors and a new coil. (I thought) they still have our vehicle in the bay getting new catalack converters put on(both) and is an additional $1900.- plus to make it worse they called today and said all the coils have to be replaced. I thought that was done, apparently not, and this is not rare for 2005 Escapes, oh.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving approximately 35 mph, the engine stalled. The vehicle was not able to restart. The failure recurred on one occasion. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the engine needed to be repaired. The vehicle was repaired but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 167,000.
On two occasions, while driving the car has stalled. During stops at red lights-if I do not hold brake and hit gas simultaneously the car stalls. It has cut off twice when I failed to do this. Also, while driving it loses gas while pressing gas for several seconds then speeds up hastily where I would run into another car if I don't quickly slam brakes. Happened end of July and in August 2015. Also, had oil change at Ford dealer and they reported nothing wrong.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Escape. Hile driving at 65 mph, the engine stalled without warning. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 168,000.
- East Hampton , NY, USA
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This vehicle was maintained regularly... there were no leaks/ no burning....no warning...the oil magically disappeared...lucky we were only traveling local and and a low speed. Simply put...the engine blew/ceased with research I have found many owners having the exact same problem. I was am shocked at the sudden engine failure and that others have the same issue, means we didn't do anything to cause this problem.
I was driving home from work and my car would not switch gears, the car stalled and caused me to get into an accident causing damage to the back of my car and the front. I had not had the car for a year.
I was driving home from wok at 10:15pm when the engine completely shut down. I had the vehicle towed to the local Ford dealer. They determined there was a problem with the PCM and coils. A family member had had the same problem with her 2005 Ford Escape. I checked with the dealer to see if there was a recall for this problem, but was told there was not. Hower, information on carcomplaints.com stated that there was a recall issued in October, 2014. I was not notified of the recall. Upon calling Ford, I was told that my vehicle was not part of the recall, and the vehicle is out of warranty, and I was responsible for the repair. The total cost of the repair was over $2,00, which I feel I should be reimbursed for. How can Ford pick and choose which vehicles they will repair? evidently safety is of no concern to them.
Our daughter was driving her 2005 Ford Escape. She had just gotten on the turnpike - as she was driving the dash board lights started flashing and the car started slowing down - the steering wheel locked up and the car died. She luckily was able to get to the side of the highway and was not hurt. It was about 99 degrees outside at 2:00 in the afternoon. We had to have a tow truck take the vehicle to a car repair shop. It was determined that the spark plugs and coil had burned up and it would be $2,200 to repair the car. After looking online, this is S common problem with 2005 Ford Escapes. There are no recalls. Ford has said to keep the receipt in case there are recalls in the future. That is little relief from the fact that we are out $2200 now and don't feel safe having our daughter driving this vehicle any longer. She has had regular maintenance on her car. One other problem with vehicle is that the leather interior has started coming off the side door panels - it's like the adhesive has just worn out. We have tried to fix this but it looks bad and no one will guarantee a repair on it because they say it's a manufacturing error and it is a difficult repair. This 2005 Ford Escape should be considered a lemon!! we have always driven Ford with no problems - very disappointing.
On several ocassions, vehicle security alarm sounded several times while trying to start engine. Alarm horn eventually deactivated after pushing key button during several starting attempts. Drove vehicle out of parking lot slowing for stop light and vehicle completely shut off. Major safety concern. Restarted engine and gauges swing minimum to maximum continually with air bag light on, check engine light on, theft light on. Gauges worked alternately during min-max swings, then stopped working completely. Day after occurence, new battery was completely drained and would not hold a charge. When trying to charge battery, vechicle had clicking sound in gauge console. Had vehicle towed to auto electrical mechanic who tells me it is a faulty dash console and not the vehicle computer and dash gauge console needs to be replaced at a new part cost of $700. Replacing dash gauge console with a new one to find if this fixes vehicle problems. Major consern if engine shutting down while driving.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Escape. While driving at 65 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning and all electrical functions failed. The vehicle was able to be restarted. The contact stated that the failure recurred several times. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 76,300.
Ford customer care case #cac-4150994-B2G8C6 & #4151017-N07B9 this was the 2nd major incident; the first occurred in 1/2009. The second major occurrence was 2/2014, when the check engine light came on and the vehicle very quickly lost all power and engine shut off, the power steering and power brakes also did not respond. The vehicle would not restart and had to be towed a Ford dealership. The dealer stated the PCM had failed causing the coils and spark plugs to also fail. The vehicle was at the dealership for 2 weeks waiting for a replacement PCM; dealer stated there was a shortage of PCM availability due to an extremely high nationwide demand for the part. Dealer replaced the PCM, as well as all coils and spark plugs in mid March 2014; the total cost of was, $2,875.70. The PCM, coils and plugs had also been replaced in 1/2009 for the same failures. Coils and plugs were also replaced an additional 2 more times between 2009-2014. When the PCM fails, the vehicle immediately looses all power, steering and brakes, and stops dead in its tracks and cannot be restarted causing a potentially catastrophic situation. Had this failure occurred in traffic, a major collision would have been eminent and a fatality probable. When I contacted Ford on 3/19/2014, they stated they are aware of the issue and assigned 2 customer care case numbers; but they refused any reimbursement or compensation of any kind. The multiple incidents of defective PCM failures should be investigated as a potentially deadly safety issue.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Escape. While driving at 65 mph, the engine warning light illuminated first and then all the lights on the instrument panel illuminated. In addition, the vehicle stalled. The contact also mentioned that the vehicle shook. The vehicle was not able to restart. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the spark plugs were burned. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.
I had purchased a used Escape, in very good condition, in Aug 2014. I bought from the original owner, a family member, with only 55K mileage over their 10 years of ownership (they were upgrading). I drove the car an additional 1,500 miles here (to 56K, total) over my first two months of ownership, and the car had passed all its regular annual inspections. Suddenly one night on the road the car's engine began chugging when I attempted to travel beyond 45mph, and a blinking yellow check engine light appeared. Upon restarting that indicator did not come back on, but the engine was still sluggish and so I attempted to coast home at managed speeds (as I was only a mile away) to have a mechanic check it out during business hours. I didn't even make it home. The engine light went on full and I soon lost power completely, with barely enough notice to pull off the 6 lane highway. The sudden power loss seemed very unsafe as I had to steer manually with no power steering nor acceleration. After the car stalled out it would not even restart for a long period of time. I towed it to a mechanic the next day and they read me a long list of error codes that had been identified, all of which went back to the power control module (PCM) failure, apparently, as described in tsb 10-18-10. I have been told by two different mechanics, including my local Ford dealership, that it would cost at least $2,000 to service the PCM and replace all affected spark plugs, coils and cylinders. Despite the very low mileage below the 80K PCM warranty, the vehicle reacted rather sporadically and unpredictably and it created an unsafe condition. I would have liked to have been informed sooner of this known issue. There should have been a recall notice since the PCM is known to cause a hazard. I now see that there are 113 complaints logged at carcomplaints.com, citing similar PCM and/or engine problems.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Escape. While driving at 40 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The failure only occurred once. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who stated that the spark plugs needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 200,000.
Have tried and called Ford dealers mechanics I found out yesterday tech bulletin issued plugs coils new computer cost over 2700. Defective engine mounts rattle Ford new in 2005 coils would burn out computer. Never issued recall or warranty. Car is junk still paying called Ford took info. Said sorry nothing they can do paint terrible rust. I hv a piece of poop car with balance not safe to drive round idle stalls decelerating jumping. Great. Ty Ford glad U get rich of us.
Was driving at highway speed (appx 55mph) in 5 O'clock traffic in raleigh, nc on us 1 and the vehicle lost speed. All emergency lights came on. Forced to pull the vehicle off onto the shoulder and was almost rear ended. The vehicle sputtered and totally cut off. Attempted to restart the vehicle but it kept cutting off. I was unable to restart the vehicle and was stranded on the highway. After a call to a family member and to aaa, the car was towed home 3 hours later. The next day, the car was towed to crossroads Ford in cary, nc. They determined that the PCM, spark plugs and ignition coils all failed at once and charged me $2700. Error codes P0351, P0354 and P0353 appeared on the diagnostics. The vehicle was repaired the next day. This is a huge safety issue since the vehicle suddenly undergoes a catastrophic failure with loss of power and acceleration and could lead to an accident.
Around 150,000 miles the vehicle started stalling when slowing down or coming to a stop after exiting the highway, but it would only happen on very hot, humid days. I took a 2,000 mile round trip down South and it started happening more frequently, stalling at every toll booth, and didn't need to be as hot or humid for it to happen. They finally diagnosed it as the transmission solenoid, which I replaced. It ran ok for a few months, then it started up again. This time they said it appears to be running too rich, but they don't know why or how to fix it (I have consulted 2 garages). It intermittently idles rough, acting as though it wants to stall out and actually has several times.
I was driving at 30 mph when the service light came on. Two minutes later vehicle lost acceleration power, seemed to stall. Had to coast to side of the road quickly to get out of way. The service light is no longer on and vehicle seems to be driving ok. Was told it was a sticky throttle body.
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving at an unknown speed, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was taken to the to an independent mechanic, who was unable to determine the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 90,000. The VIN was unavailable.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Bowling Green, KY, USA