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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:
3 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
70,969 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.

2005 Ford Escape engine problems

engine problem

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2005 Ford Escape Owner Comments (Page 1 of 7)

problem #128

Dec 152019

Escape

  • 172,586 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The contact owns a 2005 Ford Escape. The contact stated that after starting the vehicle and shifting into drive, the accelerator pedal was depressed however, the vehicle failed to respond. The failure also occurred after stopping at a stop sign and then attempting to drive off, where the accelerator pedal was depressed however, the vehicle failed to respond and stalled without warning. The vehicle was pushed out of the roadway and restarted after waiting for five minutes. The vehicle was then driven to the residence. The vehicle was not taken to be diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 172,586.

- San Jose, CA, USA

problem #127

Oct 122018

Escape

  • 119,000 miles
The contact owns a 2005 Ford Escape. The contact stated that the brake indicator illuminated while exiting a parking area and the vehicle suddenly accelerated at a high rate of speed. As a result, the vehicle drove over a median and crashed into a concrete wall. There were no injuries. The vehicle was towed to a tow yard. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer was not notified. The vehicle was not included in NHTSA action number: DP12006 (engine). A police report was filed. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 119,000.

- Smyrna, GA, USA

problem #126

Dec 112017

Escape

  • miles
The gas pedal get stuck when the temperature is cold. And is danger because if you are in the stop and you star drive may be gas pedal is not working and you are in the middle the intersection and produce accident. And is all the time when is cold weather

- Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

problem #125

Dec 222010

Escape

  • 85,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Throttle cable sticks when the 2001-2004 was recalled I questioned Ford they said too bad even though I purchased the vehicle in April of 2004 it is a 2005 and they would not cover me on the recall gas pedal sticks a lot using brakes at same time when in park it won't go until you do gas and brake

- Evansville, IN, USA

problem #124

Sep 302017

Escape

  • 165,000 miles
I was driving on an interstate and I noticed that the car was going faster than it should as I was heading towards an exit ramp. I pulled over on the shoulder amd the car was revving up like 4000 RPM all by itself. I drove the vehicle alternating between neutral and drive as it was revving up too high. I parked in a lot. Turned the car off... it was revving up like a race car... all by itself. Very scary. Could have died. The floor boards were clean. Nothing could have stuck to the accelerator pedal.... no way this could be operator error

- Salt Lake City, UT, USA

problem #123

Jun 172017

Escape

  • 137,000 miles
Gas pedal getting stuck/not working off and on for last year; gasket was replaced, now recently sticking again. Today, was on arterial when pedal stuck, luckily no traffic as for several minutes vehicle would not move. Got pedal unstuck after several tries and lifting with toe, so was able to get home. Car in shop now. Dangerous!

- University Place, WA, USA

problem #122

Feb 252017

Escape 4-cyl

  • 100,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The contact owns a 2005 Ford Escape. When the accelerator pedal was depressed, the vehicle failed to respond without warning. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 100,000...updated 05/23/17 the consumer stated the accelerator pedal was solid when attempted to be depressed. It was difficult to press. The throttle body cause build up of carbon. Updated 12/4/2017

- Perkasie, PA, USA

problem #121

Nov 252016

Escape 4-cyl

  • 1 miles
The gas pedal will get stuck down. The vehicle will stall. I would have to use my foot to try to lift the acceleration pedal up. Sometimes it would pop into place quickly while other times, I had to keep lifting it up with my foot. This happened while on the freeway and other cars were coming full speed behind me, but I was unable to get the vehicle back in motion in a speedy manner. This has occurred early morning, midday, and night. It has been on the city street and the highway. I researched and saw that Ford had a recall for 2001 - 2004 for the throttle body issue which is due to the sticking acceleration pedal. When I went to Ford, they said that my VIN was not included in the recall nor the consumer appreciation for certain models although it was the exact same issue. My vehicle is a 2005 Ford Escape. The mechanic said that there were many cars that came in with this issue, but the sales woman pretended as if she never heard of the issue. I paid almost $1,000 to fix an issue that other vehicles had fixed in a recall.

- Los Angeles, CA, USA

problem #120

May 012012

Escape

  • 85,000 miles
Throttle body sticks when it's wet outside or cold.

- Spencerville, IN, USA

problem #119

Dec 152015

Escape

  • 120,000 miles
Accelerator sticking in neutral position. Mechanics can't find whats wrong and its very likely to cause an accident. I have read many articles that this is common in older models

- Marysville, WA, USA

problem #118

Jun 212016

Escape

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Hi I have a 2005 Ford Escape & up into about and year I started had having engine failure, my vehicle would start & stop, to sum this up, im affaid to drive when this accures praying that know 1 runs into the back of me...ive tooken it to the auto place to get a reading & ive replaced everything that it read ignition coils (twice), fuel filters, tune A/C compressor, wouldnt come on etc....I can go on & on..& im still having the same problems & finally ive decided to google these accurances, to find that there's other vic..that has occurred theses same incidents....this is a serious matter, that Ford needs to address / resolved before someone doesn't make it. Vic. Just shutting down in the middle of traffic....& it also accures while stationary & while turning, this has been going on since Oct. Of 2015 & in between replaceing parts it stalled for a while of the killing & now it has started back up full force about a week ago. 6/13/2016 & today is the 6/21/2016

- Kenner, LA, USA

problem #117

Feb 032014

Escape

  • miles
Rear wheel wells rusting out as well as rear seat wells under doors rusting off in huge chunks, cruise, cd player doesnt work, radio shorts out on volume control goes louder instead of lower volume, also front axle had to be replaced at joe lake tire do they use timken products?

- Monroe, MI, USA

problem #116

Jan 222016

Escape

  • miles
Vehicle jerking 4WD light keeps blinking, power lock light pops on car act like it wants to shut off

- Gastonia, NC, USA

problem #115

Nov 202015

Escape

  • miles
I received my Escape as a birthday gift two years ago. On several occasions since my gas pedal stops working and I have been unable to press it down, it won't go. This has happened while on city streets and on interstates. On a couple of occasions I have been able to pull over or off the road, put it in park, turn off the engine, restart my car and get it going again. I have tried pounding on the gas and that does nothing, it won't budge. I have no idea when this will happen, so I cannot just expect it to, it happens, day or night, hot or cold temperature, driving down a straight highway or turning on a city street. I am afraid it will happen while I am driving in the snow or while one of my kids are driving it. I have tried explaining to them what to do, but of all the things they need to worry about while driving, the gas pedal sticking should not be one of them.

- Fairborn, OH, USA

problem #114

Mar 152015

Escape 4WD 6-cyl

  • 144,410 miles
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.

- Raleigh, NC, USA

problem #113

Mar 032015

Escape 4-cyl

  • 120,000 miles
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.

- Portland, OR, USA

problem #112

Dec 242014

Escape 6-cyl

  • 155,900 miles
As soon as I hit about 60 mph, between 2-3 RPM, my car begins to stall and feels like the gas pedal is grinding and won't let me go any faster without vibrating the entire vehicle. I initially thought it was the transmission slipping so I took it in to a transmission auto shop where the found absolutely nothing. Which is very odd for an auto shop to not find anything. About 1 week after this problem, the service emission light came on. I was driving home from work the day the light came on and the car completely stopped on the highway, in rush hour traffic. Thankfully I was close to the side of the highway and was able to pull over. I got to the side and put my car into park, turned the engine off, and waited a couple of minutes to allow my heart rate to come back down to a normal pace. I turned the key and the engine turned back on. I drove it into an auto shop to see what the issue was, and the reader showed cylinder 2 misfire. The first possible fix was to replace the coil on plug, which is what I did. I got home today and am still experiencing this scary feeling of my car not being able to excel above 60. I read many reviews this evening and so many people have experienced very similar issues. This is not safe and people are at serious risk or getting injured and/or in an accident. The average cost to fix the issue - reported by many users on www.carcomplaints.com/Ford/Escape/2005/electrical/computer_pcm_failure.shtml, is $2000. When you have a 2005 car of any kind, $2000 seems very high to fix when the car is 10 years old. Please investigate this issue further as this is unacceptable that Ford has yet to recall this issue.

- Kansas City, MO, USA

problem #111

Feb 032014

Escape 4-cyl

  • 150,000 miles
Whenever the outside temperature dips below freezing, my gas pedal will suddenly get stuck and the car coasts to a stop and will just sit there idling. The first time it happened I was able to "stomp" on the pedal and it freed up, that is no longer the case. When the temperature dips into the 20's it is even worse and will get stuck, eventually free up and be fine....unless I then enter highway speeds, it will do it again. I have found that warming the car several extra minutes seems to eliminate the problem at slower 35mph speeds. However, upon entering highway speeds, even after warming the vehicle for ten minutes, it will get stuck after several minutes of travel at highway speed. It will free up after coasting to the side of the freeway and sitting for several minutes with car idling, but can then get stuck yet again after several minutes at highway speeds. This creates extremely deadly situations! I called Ford and they said there is no recall for this vehicle and I also went to the local Ford dealer they claim to have never heard of this problem and have no idea what could cause it.

- Arlington, WA, USA

problem #110

Jan 052015

Escape

  • 173,200 miles
Vehicles gas pedal gets stuck up and cannot be depressed at all while car is on and I am driving. It happened this week several times on very cold days. While driving or while stopped at light and trying to go I cannot depressed the pedal, even when pushing hard. Eventually it depressed for me after several tries. Vehicle gas pedal has also gotten stuck down twice previously with car accelerating uncontrollably, which happened for almost a minute then it popped up - resulted in near collision { thank goodness its a manual transmission]. I have read in many on-line discussion boards of many other individuals having their gas pedal on Ford Escapes stick up or down also.

- Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, , AS, USA

problem #109

Dec 042012

Escape 6-cyl

  • 86,000 miles
After totaling a 2004 Escape, I purchased another 2005 Escape because I loved it. Well not so much anymore. I bought the vehicle from a dealership in September 2012. Only three short months later I started having the exact same problem I am reading in all complaints. I tried to push on the gas and nothing. It was misfiring bad. I then took it too a shop and they told me coils 1, 3, and 5 were out and needed to be replaced. The dealership wanted close too $2,000 to repair it. I was furious because I had bought my 2004 from the same dealership and my family alone had purchased a total of 6 vehicles from the dealership. I was a loyal customer and was not going to pay to have it fixed. So they split the cost of $1000 with me. Now it is acting up again and I've replaced the fuel filter and the thermostat bc that's what the computer said only for it to still not be running. I am a single mother, college student, and server and it's 2 days before christmas so I am very disappointed! fix the problem Ford!!

- Seminole, FL, USA

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