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.
When driving, the gas pedal will get stuck down and you will not be able to apply more pressure to the pedal to accelerate. This often happens when I go to change gear and then go back to the gas pedal to accelerate again. This typically will only happen from time to time but today it occurred every time I went to change gears. I had to pull over on the highway because I was unable to keep up with traffic and the weather was quite snowy and it was unsafe for me to try to drive without keeping speed with traffic.
Having issue with throttle body and or controller. Break takes time to respond and is stiff. When on an incline road, the car rolls backwards before accelerating forward. The rolled back at stop signs on inclined roads and inclined parking lots. The car shows no warming lights. The car has issues accelerating and decelerating. The car has rolled back while another car was behind it. The car at some instances has come to almost a halt while driving at 70 mph on the highway. While displaying no warming signals. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? This type of issue has been confirmed by the dealership and has been recalled for some ford escapes but not all. The car has been inspected by a technician. The transmission has been rebuild but that did not work so a new transmission was placed inside yet this did not resolve anything. The car has been having these issues for some years.
At times before acceleration, the accelerator gets stuck. The vehicle continues to go unless the brakes are applied. There have been times when I am in traffic and it has happened. The sticking happens either at a stop sign, traffic light, or simply just leaving out of a parking lot. Sometimes it may happen if I am coming out of a turn. Its scary when I am on a busy highway, street, or on/off ramp and there is other traffic speeding behind me. I can not identify the part that is causing this. It may have something to do with the speed control system of the vehicle. This happens quite often since I purchased the vehicle from a family member in July. Most recent was on 12/29/2020.
The contact owns a 2008 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while depressing the accelerate pedal, the pedal traveled to the floorboard. In addition, the vehicle failed to accelerate over 5 mph. The dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The approximate failure mileage was 104,000.
Randomly the car will 'stall' to to speak even though it is an automatic and not a 5-speed. When I say stall I am referring to when I am stopped at a stop sign, red light, yielding to turn, etc - when I go to hit the gas the RPM's rev up high and the car speed is very low and at a rolling speed - even though I push down all of the way in order to get the car to speed up to avoid being struck my other vehicles when turning. The car will then regain all speed at once - instead of gradually. This has happened numerous times while I am trying to merge onto an oncoming interstate ramp or am at a red light or stop sign. I have missed being hit thus far but have had a few close calls. I have a check engine light on and have taken it to several dealerships and auto mechanic shops that have been unable to determine an issue with the car. They have read the check engine code and have found nothing wrong with the car.
- Bland, VA, USA
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On 1/9/20 the car had its last dangerous malfunction of so many sense I purchased the vehicle from a dealership 10/18. The car was parked in a beach parking lot. As my son was getting ready to leave the parking lot he turned car on put car in drive slightly stepped on gas to begin pulling out and the car surged and accelerated full speed by itself. He lost all steering and had no breaks. He had absolutely no control of the vehicle. It went full speed into a parked car about 15 ft away! both cars were totaled. All 3 people involved were injured. There was 2 people in parked car and my son who was burrowing my car. Previous to this accident the Escape has had so many dangerous malfunctions. Some being total steering loss while I was driving 45mph.car was towed and fixed covered by factory recall. Another shock snapped and punctured my fuel tank. My mechanic said I dodged death by driving. He said car was a ticking bomb. Ive replaced 2 ABS sensors at different times because they failed and caused break pedel to vibrate and made it very hard to stop. Another wheel bearing and wheel compartment due to total rust and corrosion of under body. All these things happened in only a little over a year sense purchasing this vehicle from mid cape moters for 6000$ in October.
My lights on dash will all randomly flash while my speedometer and rmp will stop working. My car also seems to not shift well when this happens. My steering feels extremely loose and unsafe. I don't dare to drive over 30mph and have not had anyone be able to tell me exactly what is wrong. My steering has also locked a few times, usually when I'm in reverse. I have to turn the car off and back on to make it work again. I fear for my son and family every time I have to drive to work and school.
Went to accelerate and gas pedal dropped to the floor board and stayed there. I was on the highway at the time. Dealer said it was a broken throttle cable and wants to charge me $300.
The vehicle gas pedal becomes stiff in cold weather condition and doesn't allow me to accelerate from stop. One time the gas pedal cable also came out and pedal would not come back up.
Dec. 26, 2017 accelerator pedal cable snapped and fell to floor. Had to get tow and now in shop. Throttle body and cable need replacement. $700! this shouldn't have happened. It has under 150,000 miles on it. Seems very dangerous. The pedal has been sticking a lot and now this. Vehicle was in Chicago busy intersection. Couldn't even press pedal down to move the car and then something snapped. And pedal fell to floor.
I have owned this Escape for only about 9 months. I have had many sporadic issues with the gas pedal. The gas pedal has stuck a few times and I have been unable to press down on the pedal. It seems to act up worse when the weather gets colder. I have had a few instances where I was driving and was unable to accelerate and had to put my vehicle in park and keep pressing down on the gas pedal until it finally allowed me to accelerate and move forward. When the pedal locks up it is like pressing against a wall and there is no give in the pedal but when it does finally press down it causes a high acceleration and cause the vehicle to launch forward. This is definitely a scary situation when you are in traffic and all of the sudden can't drive your car. Thankfully I have not been in any accidents because of this issue but I feel it is only a matter of time unless this issue is fixed. After doing a bit of research I see that there are many other people who have had similar issues with this make. It is very unsafe and I am always worried about being stranded or having this cause an accident. As a mother of a 4 year old this is definitely a scary issue to have! I love my Escape and would love to keep it but I do not feel safe driving it like this. I hope that this issue is being looked into after seeing other complaints about this problem and I hope that this issue can be resolved!
Upon accelerating on an on ramp, the shifting did not work properly. It will not easily shift from 1st gear to 2nd gear. I had someone put a computer reader on the truck and it said it was a gear shift ratio for gear #2. the out take sensor was replaced with a new one, however that did not fix the problem. I do not have any other problems with any other gears. All others shift flawlessly except for the afore mentioned. Thank you
In 2016 November my gas pedal stuck to the floor and I freaked out and ran into my neighbors garage and I had 10 fired fighters and sherriff look at my turned off Escape and the accelerated pedel was completely sitting on the floor of the vehicle and it also was towed to Ford and said the accelerator pedal link was completely broke and it was not covered under insurance for they said this is a manufacture issue and not insurance and so I had to use the front end damage to pay for the $1500 repair on a part that should not have broke, Ford has now over 100 complaints to this say problem and no fix.....this vehicle accelerated and rammed a neighbors garage door and I could have been killed and all the sheriff and firefighters say they have never seen an accelerator pedal depressed to the floor and I was lucky....Ford fix this....this is going to kill someone and it I had injuries from the whiplash.
Car fails to accelerate properly while driving. After stepping on the gas while driving, I feel a strong pull, and the car doesn't accelerate more than 20mph. It seems to happen at random times and no sensor lights come one.
Loss of 2nd and 4th gear/ limp mode. I purchased a used 2008 Ford Escape with 69,980 miles. No complaints till hit 89,000 miles when all if a sudden there was no 2nd and 4th gear. I was getting ready to pull into traffic. Put foot on accelerator went to about 16mph and refused to ho faster. Rpms revved up to 4000+ the yellow wrench light came on. Once got to 20mph hard shift into gear.and did this again at 40mph except wont shift into higher gear. Was told it is in limp mode. So I did internet research on this. Said over 368 complaints just on this specific problem, specifically on the 2008 Ford Escape. I tried resetting the PCM. Did not fix problem. Replaced the throttle control sensor. Did not fix problem. Now that leaves the 2nd & 4th gear band assembly. I called and got 3 estimates, they ranged from$1900-$3000. Part cost $89 and a new transmission cost $1700. Replacing this part can be done without having to remove transmission and said to about 2hours. My complaint in if this is a common issue why aren't you replacing part or fixing this? there has been several investigations and still nothing! this is the first Ford I purchased and will be the last! which is a shame because I love my truck. Just can't afford to fix it. So I will park it and pray Ford owns up to their faulty parts and assembly and fixes this. And I will make sure everyone I know and everyone I meet knows about how Ford knowingly put in defective parts on many vehicle so they could make money fixing them. Think about it. All these ( throttle control sensor and 2nd & 4th gear band ) go bad at 89,000 mile.
The contact owns a 2008 Ford Escape. The contact stated that the accelerator pedal was difficult to depress and became stuck in the depressed position intermittently. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.
The gas pedal collapsed to the floor while driving my car. I was fortunate enough to coast in to a parking lot. I was able to play with the pedal returning it to the normal operating position. Took car to Ford dealership. Service department replaced the cable assembly/throttle control. I have seen a lot of similar complaints online about the same exact problem with the 2008 Ford Escape.
The accelerator pedal sticks often and requires extra foot manipulation to get it to work properly. This occurs mostly when accelerating from a stop and makes pulling out into traffic a dangerous proposition. This occurs on city streets and from stop lights on larger state highways. It has also failed to depress, causing the vehicle to be immovable for a time.
My 2008 Ford Escape I purchased in October of 2016 since purchasing my gas pedal completely seizes while driving at any speed. This is a safety hazard. I have done the research to provide that other years have been recalled for the same issue with the throttle body. This vehicle doing this puts not only myself but my 4 month old child in danger. Driving today in Michigan in rush hour traffic for over 60 miles this completely seized on me. This is a serious issue in which I think needs to be looked into. Im hoping for it not to take an accident for this to be researched.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Shawnee, KS, USA