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.
Vehicle enters limp mode and all power is lost, engine starts to stutter and tachometer jumps, wrench light (power-train) comes on. 3 times in 1 week. Mph = 60, 45, 30. Avoided accident and pulled over. Restarted vehicle and back to normal. No check engine light or codes stored. Dealer states they cannot diagnose unless they can recreate the problem. Danger of rear ending, T-bones upon left turns, and intersection pileups.
While driving at highway speed I lost acceleration. SUV shook then lost speed quickly. Was able to pull onto off road. Wrench lite on dash. I turned off SUV then restarted and lite went away. Drove to next turn off so I could turn around to head home. Samething happened on way home but after restarting SUV the wrench lite changed to engine service lite. Was able to get home from there. Took for service which concluded electronic throttle body was dirty so it cleaned. Was able to drive for about 20 days when issues accrued again. Throttle body needed replaced.
During a basic oil change, we were informed the oil pan needed to be replaced because the threads for the plug were stripped. The service manager, I am basing this on what we were told by trained Ford technicians, stated "the oil pan is made of aluminum and it has stripped out." When asked what the plug was made of he said, " steal.". so now we have a car that has an oil plug that could come open at any time because it has become unsafe due to steal on aluminum creating a hole larger than was designed. We have a piece of the pan that has been stripped by the plug. So, I am going 75 mph down the highway and the plug comes out because it no longer fits correctly. Suddenly my engines freezes up. I'll be lucky to keep it on the road. We are very concerned that we will have an engine issue due to the engineering of the oil pan/plug. As of now they want us to pay $485 for anew oil pan that was poorly engineered. A steal plug on an aluminum pan is asking for trouble. We request Ford be required to replace the pans with steal ones.
I was traveling 60mph in my 2009 Ford Escape on the highway and all of a sudden an orange wrench warning light came on and my car immediately drops to less than 10mph. I was fortunate enough to be able to get to the median with out incident. The car did start up again and was able to get to a mechanic after it did the same thing about 10X in a 15 mile drive. The mechanic said this was the second time in less than a month he had replaced the electronic throttle body in a 4 cylinder Ford Escape. This is very dangerous!!
I had just come off a highway exit ramp and drove about 100 yards at 40mph, when the car suddenly slowed down to a stop. The odometer dropped from 40mph to zero in about 4 seconds when I just coasted to the side of the road. A wrench light appeared on the dash. I place the car in park and the only power I had was the electric that powered the headlights. I shutoff the ignition and restarted the car after about 15 seconds. The start was sluggish and when I placed the car in drive, it jerked forward. The car acceleration was poor for about 10 seconds before it finally caught the proper gear. I drove the car another two miles at 30mph with a little bit of hesitation in the engine. At this point the wrench light on the dash shut off. I have had no further issues since.
- Carmel, NY, USA
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While driving the vehicle at around 50 mph it lost all reaction to the accelerator and coasted to a stop while in heavy traffic. I turned the car off and waited 5 minutes, then started it again and began to drive. Within seconds the vehicle repeated the incident. I managed to get it into my driveway after repeated stops and restarts of the engine.
As I was driving and the cruise control was set the road I was traveling had slight hills. It seems as though when the car went to down shift and speed up is when it lost power and went into limp mode. The last occurrence was on 10-17-13 while I was driving on a flat road. I had to brake for traffic when I went to accelerate is when it lost power and went into limp mode.
Earlier in the day, the car lunged and it felt like it had dropped out of gear. Later that evening while driving home from vacation, I lost all acceleration from the pedal. Luckily I was able to coast off the highway and get out of the flow of traffic. I turned the car off, let it sit for a minute and then restarted. It went into gear and I was able to get the car home. It did this about 4 more times over the next few days. A computer test showed it was the throttle body. I just replaced and the problem seems to be resolved. This failure could have placed my family in a very dangerous situation, especially if we would have been crossing traffic when all acceleration was lost.
When driving on a busy 4 lane road, the vehicle suddenly lost fuel power and began creeping down the road at less than 5 km/H the wrench light was flashing and it was a few hundred meters to the nearest side street, fortunately I was able to make it to the side street without getting struck by traffic moving 60 km/H faster than I was, I thought that the computer may have had a one time failure but this happened again 3 days after with my young son in the back seat. That was Monday Oct 14 2013, I am super mad at Ford for not recalling this throttle body problem already it seems like a constant point of failure and it is unsafe to drive these cars when this is happening.
The first time I had a throttle failure (first time wrench light came on), I was on the free way going about 65 mph. My acceleration quickly died and the gas pedal was inactive and useless while my car slowed down. I pulled over on the side of the freeway left shoulder going North on the 5, and after a few minutes, my car turned back on and worked fine. I took my car to Firestone to cleanup throttle, only to find myself experience another car breakdown for the same reason the next day on the freeway going the same speed, this occurred 2 more times going about 25 mph the next day. All 4 times, , my wrench light came on my Escape as well as completely dying as far as acceleration. Each time, I had to pull over to the side. The last time this occurred was earlier today 10/10/13 as I was makin a left at a red light. Where I was afraid my car would not make it through the intersection.
I was driving to work on the expressway during the morning rush hour doing 70 mph when my vehicle stalled. I had to risk moving over three lanes to the off ramp without having power. I rolled up the exit ramp and pulled safely to the side of the road. I was able to restart the car but noticed both the check engine light and service light were on. The car died two additional times before I got to an auto repair shop. The repair shop told me the service code was P2111 which indicated a problem with the throttle. This was a terrible incident and I was relieved to make it safely off the road.
The contact owns 2009 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving approximately 60 mph, there was a sudden reduction in engine power as the vehicle failed to respond upon engagement of the accelerator pedal. The wrench warning indicator illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was maneuvered to the side of the road where the engine was turned off. The vehicle resumed normally once restarted. The failure recurred five times. The manufacturer was not notified of the defect. The contact was awaiting diagnosis of the failure by an authorized dealer. The approximate failure mileage was 75,000.
I was driving on a city road and the engine randomly died when I was traveling about 40mph. All the lights and radio/electronics remained on (never lost time or preset radio stations, headlights, dash, etc) but as I tried to give it some gas, it wouldn't respond. When I realized the engine was not running after a few seconds, the rpms were at 0 and the battery light and oil light was on. No codes thrown or check engine or wrench light. As I pulled over and put it in park, I attempted to start it, and it started right up like nothing was wrong. Didn't "cough" or crank and crank...fired just like it was brand new. I took the vehicle in to a local body shop and they checked normal issues that would cause the Escape to randomly shut off and did not find anything. Then I did research and determined there was an investigation upon the throttle body. This same issue has happened a total of 3 times, of which the most recent was in July and September.
I was driving appx 50 mph and out of the blue the car briefly sputtered and the wrench light came on. I pressed the gas but couldn't accelerate. I coasted to the side of the road and turned the engine off. When I cranked it back up everything seemed to work, and the wrench light was off. I called my Ford service department from the roadside and immediately drove it in for diagnostics. They said it was the throttle body, and the part was back ordered. Left car at Ford because I didn't want to take the chance of this happening again on a road or highway with no place to pull off. Bought the car new in 09 from this dealership and have had all scheduled maintenance done at this dealership. No mechanical issues until this one. Driving habits are normal.
While traveling in heavy traffic the engine seemed to quit. A "wrench" icon light came on and the car came to a stop. I was unable to pull to the side of the rode and remained in the middle lane of an interstate highway until I managed to restart the car, approximately 5 minutes. The car ran normally for about 10 minutes and stopped again this time in the middle of an intersection. Research confirms this problem is common for my model, code P2111. This failure mode is a safety issue and the frequency of failure is evidenced by the throttle body being on factory back order for and extended period. Ford should issue a recall to replace the faulty modules and pay for the modules people like me were forced to purchase.
While driving the Ford Escape under normal driving and road conditions at 60 mph, I lost complete acceleration and had to steer the vehicle to the shoulder off the freeway to avoid traffic trailing behind and beside me. It was a dangerous situation to say the least. The engine was still running but I had no power to accelerate. I turned off the vehicle and restarted it. I was able to drive the vehicle slowly off the freeway with intermittent loss of acceleration and into a parking area. I was able to drive the vehicle to my home slowly with intermittent losses of acceleration, having to stop multiple times to turn off and restart my engine. I attempted to drive the vehicle from my home to an auto mechanic shop and the same situation occurred on the way to the shop. The engine check light and the wrench light was on the dashboard. The mechanic performed a computer diagnostics and it indicated a dirty or damaged throttle body. The mechanic cleaned the throttle, and I test drove the vehicle again. Within a short time of driving the vehicle the loss of complete acceleration occurred multiple times again. At that point the mechanic indicated that I would need to replace the throttle body. I called the Ford dealership and explained my situation, whereby they responded that they could examine my vehicle to determine the cause of the problem. They also indicated that the throttle body is not under the powertrain warranty. I strongly feel that this defect which poses a life threatening situation for owners, should be under recall as it has become a common problem with this make & model of Ford vehicle. I have read many on-line testimonials of other owners having the same problem and even some that had serious auto incidents.
Car seems to loose power. Although the engine is still running it seems to not be able to accelerate or move. I have to turn on my blinkers and coast to a safe place and stop and restart my engine.
The contact owns a 2009 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving approximately 45 mph, there was a sudden loss of engine power. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and the dealer but no failures were found. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 89,700. Updated 12/20/13 the throttle body was replaced. Updated 12/26/13
I turned on car, proceeded to drive, yellow wrench illuminated on dash, tried to accelerate, vehicle was bucking and losing power, turned vehicle off and it was fine. Until 9/23/13 when the car repeated this action again.
Several times, driving at high speeds, lost complete control of acceleration. Engine throttle revved but pushing pedal made no difference. One occasion we almost wrecked at high speed. The car remains on, but acceleration pedal does nothing. Turn car off, turn back on and it works fine. Has happened in park, slow speeds and high speeds. Ford won't do anything. Please help!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Hope Mills, NC, USA