Print this page

CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2013 Ford Escape has been in the news quite a bit and for all the wrong reasons. Within a few months of its release the SUV was recalled three times, twice because of engine fires.

In July 2012, due to a fuel line that could split and leak, Ford told owners to park their cars because even driving to the dealership for repairs was deemed too dangerous. Instead, in a somewhat unprecedented move, Ford sent tow trucks to pick up the affected vehicles and handed out rental cars while the owners waited for repairs.

A few months later the Escape was recalled again because antifreeze could leak out onto the engine due to a freeze plug becoming dislodged. As the coolant hit the hot engine there was, once again, a threat for fire.

The 2013 is the first model year of the Escape's 3rd generation and proves once again that you want to avoid the first model year when at all possible.

10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
8 / 61
Injuries / Deaths:
14 / 0
Average Mileage:
55,047 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.

2013 Ford Escape engine problems

engine problem

Find something helpful? Spread the word.
Get notified about new defects, investigations, recalls & lawsuits for the 2013 Ford Escape:

Unsubscribe any time. We don't sell/share your email.

2013 Ford Escape Owner Comments (Page 45 of 61)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #337

Aug 092017

Escape

  • 43,165 miles

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

At times, engine fault - service immediately warning appears upon starting car. Car hesitates, jerks and has limited acceleration. Both map sensors have been changed. Problem still exists. Ford refuses to replace wiring harness at their cost. Escapes have been recalled for this matter. However, Ford is saying that ours is not covered under previously issued recalls.

- Indialantic, FL, USA

problem #336

Oct 282017

Escape

  • 53,000 miles
Car continued to shut off while driving locking up steering, brakes, etc. Car was brought to tunkhannock Ford on 10/24 and remained there until 5 P.M. on 10/27. Told was doing it for them. I'm informed by a tunkhannock Ford employee, the car was only taken out off lot & test 1 time. On 10/28, my wife, 4 & 8 yr. Old are driving & the car stopped 7 times total on route 6 in tunkhannock where a truck driver got out and assisted my wife as she was stuck in the middle of the highway with flashers on. After arguing with the service writer, sales manager for compromising the safety of my wife and daughters - I was still denied a loaner vehicle where we paid enterprise for a rental in order to get to work. I requested a loaner from their other tunkhannock dealership and was still denied and all I was told by matt kerr, sales manager is "I understand your concern, I have young children also but it's out of my hands." Effective today 11/3/17, they still have our spare key & have yet to call to check on the status of the appointment that I did not go to scheduled for 10/30/17. I called montrose motors owned by the same previous owner of gateway Ford where this car was purchased and they got it in immediately - provided a loaner vehicle hassle free and said many loyal customers have left tunkhannock Ford for their crudeness with service by writing up work orders for loyal customers bringing their vehicles in for air - we don't care how long they needed to assess the car - our formal complaint which we are pursuing is tunhannock Ford has jeporadized the safety and well-being of my family - especially my 2 daughters by denying me a loaner vehicle

- Tunkhannock, PA, USA

problem #335

Oct 232017

Escape

  • miles
The engine light is on. And I got it check and it says the coolant sensor was not working but the light came on saying low coolant and it was not. Somthing is wrong with it.

- Thorsby, AL, USA

problem #334

Oct 272017

Escape

  • 118,693 miles

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

Initially I had been having issues with the engine light coming on and off. Initially when I took the vehicle to be looked at, by the hunt Ford in la plata, md. They changed the oxygen sensor. So the light went off. Then a few months later in 2016 the light came back on. Eventually I started driving on route 5 North and heard a 'pop' noise in the engine area. The vehicle started to lose acceleration and would hesitate. Then eventually my check engine light came on and started blinking. Prior to the engine light blinking the car begin to misfire, hesitate when trying to accelerate, and the engine would overheat from time to time prematurely. The car would sometimes stall and misfire when trying to accelerate or when sitting idle. When I looked online it shows a recall for these specific issues for the same make, model & year, but not for my specific engine liter. For example, it shows the engine overheating, misfires and engine wiring splices may cause stall for 2013 Ford Escapes but only for 1.6L. My car is experiencing very similar issues as those listed under the recall, but my engine is a 2.0L. So while on my way home Friday, 10/27/2017, I started to have issues with my vehicle. I was traveling on Pennsylvania ave towards DC, when I reached an intersection (southern ave), and the car started to jerk and then the engine light started blinking. At one point I began to see white smoke once the engine light started to blink, and smelled fumes. Not too long after that began to occur, I make a U-turn at the light and pulled over in front of the funeral home. Before I was pulled over on the side of the road (while making the U-turn) the car started to misfire and stall. So I turned the engine off, and called aaa to have it towed. A few days later I had a mechanic come and run a diagnostic on the vehicle at the home. I have attached a copy of their report.

- Brandywine, MD, USA

problem #333

Oct 302017

Escape

  • miles
The vehicle will shutdown during operation and lose electrical power. This has occurred 3 times over the last year. The vehicle's ECU will show overheating and engine overheating during operation and shutdown. The dtc have been checked and cleared several times with no answers for the issues.

- Port Arthur, TX, USA

problem #332

Oct 102017

Escape

  • 29,100 miles
Tsb 16-0052 indicates a defective part that can cause engine shutdown from loss of coolant. This can be sudden and is, therefore, a safety issue. Loss of engine on a freeway at speed in traffic can cause a fatal accident. This should be a safety recall, not a tsb. The first indication is a check engine light.

- Murfreesboro, TN, USA

problem #331

Oct 282017

Escape

  • 70,000 miles

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

While driving down the highway at 65 mph, an alert appeared stating "low coolant". in the past the car had stated the same alert before alarming that the car was overheating and needed to be pulled over. At that point the car would then going into limp mode. Due to this history, we knew we had to attempt to get to the side of the highway as soon as possible. Within one minute, the car did alarm "overheating" and went into limp mode. We were only able to get to the left hand shoulder of an on-ramp (middle of the highway). At this point we got out of the car and found that the coolant level was normal. After waiting 20 minutes we drove in reverse up the on-ramp to get off the highway, because we were confident we could not safely get to the next exit (several miles away). We then had the car towed to a local Ford dealer (phil long Ford of denver). This is the dealership where we had previously brought our vehicle to repair this same issue. At that time, the dealership replaced a broken temperature sensor, stating that this was what was causing the overheating issues. Our vehicle also had maintenance completed on it as part of the 13S12 recall (risk of overheating) in 2015. The issue clearly has not been resolved after multiple "fixes" have been performed.

- Parker, CO, USA

problem #330

Oct 252017

Escape

  • 59,000 miles
While driving low coolant and engine over-heated warning lights came on and car quit.under some traffic conditions serious injury or even death could result.

- Cincinnati, OH, USA

problem #329

Oct 272017

Escape

  • 118,693 miles
Initially I had been having issues with the engine light coming on and off. Initially when I took the vehicle to be looked at, by the hunt Ford in la plata, md. They changed the oxygen sensor. So the light went off. Then a few months later in 2016 the light came back on. Eventually I started driving and heard a 'pop' noise in the engine area. The vehicle started to lose acceleration and would hesitate. Then eventually my check engine light came on and started blinking. Prior to the engine light blinking the car begin to misfire, hesitate when trying to accelerate, and the engine would overheat from time to time prematurely. The car would sometimes stall and misfire when trying to accelerate or when sitting idle. When I looked online it shows a recall for these specific issues for the same make, model & year, but not for my specific engine liter. For example, it shows the engine overheating and engine wiring splices may cause stall for 2013 Ford Escapes but only for 1.6L. My car is experiencing the same exact issues as those listed under the recall, but my engine is a 2.0L. At one point I began to see white smoke once the engine light started to blink, and smelled fumes. Not too long after that began to occur I pulled over to the side of the road and the car started to misfire and stall.

- Brandywine, MD, USA

problem #328

Jan 012017

Escape

  • 90,000 miles
As many other Ford Escape 2013 owners, my car stopped working properly putting my life and those of my wife and kids at risk. It started when the engin began to cut off when idle. At the begining, there were no check engine light. Car will restart but a 150 M later the engine will start fighting to stay on and most of the time the engine lose the battle. So I restart again until ( after 2, or 3 times) the engine stays constantly on. My big concern was with the hazardous and risky situations I found myself in, specially while getting inro a busy road or a high way and having the engine to shut down andlet I didn't have time when the engine let me out of power. Some drivers are in hurry and might not have the time to stop their vehicle before hitting me. That's why I always parked my car on the sidewalks while in distress. When I took the car to one of Ford dealers, they couldn't find the issue. I took it to a private mechanic and he made me change a lot of pieces but still not fixed yet. I am going back to the dealer and hopefully they'll fix the issue. It cost me $ 2500 until now and still looking for the issue.

- Edmonton Alberta, AK, USA

problem #327

Oct 152017

Escape

  • 79,000 miles

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

Greetings, I have a Ford Escape 2013, 2.5 liters, and I almost crashed because the vehicle suffered an electrical malfunction. In the screen of the car it said: "motor damage, turn off". this almost caused me to loose my life, because the car lost all the energy, stopped in the middle of the highway, and the motor was hesitating. I looked for a recall and I found a Ford number 14S17-S1 but that recall is for 2.0 liter and my Ford Escape 2013 is 2.5 which means that it doesn't have the same electrical wire that is recalled from the 2.0. I went to the dealer to find an answer, but the car does this malfunction intermittently and once you turn it back on the code disappears like if nothing would have happened. I took the paper of the recall to the dealer and they said that they cant do anything because the code disappeared and my car doesn't have the same system of the 2.0 liter.

- Fajardo, PR, USA

problem #326

Oct 132017

Escape

  • 84,000 miles
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Escape. While driving 20 mph, an abnormal burning odor entered through the engine compartment and the oil warning indicator illuminated. The contact managed to pull the vehicle over into a parking lot. The contact and passenger exited the vehicle and observed smoke under the vehicle and oil leaking profusely from under the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer. The local dealer (crown Ford, 420 merrick rd, lynbrook, NY, 11563, 516-599-0600) did not diagnose the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. In addition, the contact mentioned that the oil had just been changed two weeks prior at chatham Ford (781 main St, chatham, MA, 02633, 508-945-0500). The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 84,000.

- Harwich, MA, USA

problem #325

Oct 092017

Escape

  • 45,000 miles
I was driving on a freeway at 65mph and the engine cuts out to an idle. The check engine light came on. I almost got rear ended getting the car over to the side of the road since it lost all power. After pulling over I was able to start the car as the light went out. This happened 3 more times where the car would cut out to a rough idle, these occurred while I was on city streets but almost caused 1 accident as it cut out. After shutting the car off it would restart with no issue. This last time the car had to be towed to planet Ford to be repaired. They said it was a throttle body issue and it cost me over 700 for the repair even though it is still under the powertrain warranty. I do not see why this has not been recalled due to the car being unsafe to drive and I do not know why the replacement of the part alone will not cause further stalls of this vehicle. I have found other people with the same issue where the car goes into "limp home" mode. I am currently having the car repaired or I would be able to attach the invoice for the throttle body repair.

- The Woodlands, TX, USA

problem #324

Oct 052017

Escape

  • 105,000 miles
I was going down the road, my battery light came on then my engine light came on then it started beeping and said my engine was over heating. Got pulled over and had to get it towed. Car would start but would not move. Mechanic told me the water pump locked up and broke a belt. I have read numerous comments of people that this has happened to. There should be a recall on this

- Florence, AL, USA

problem #323

Oct 042017

Escape

  • 85,622 miles
Car continuously overheats. Have had it to 2 different mechanics they cannot find anything wrong. No leaks, no bad hoses. Had paid about $500 to citrus Ford of Ontario for a crossover valve to stop the over heating. Not yet corrected. Over heated today 10/4/17 while moving about a half mile from where I left in a matter of 5 minutes. I read of a recall on the same model of having cooling issues but my VIN evidently doesn't fall within the parameters. Otherwise unknown reason why it is over heating

- Running Springs, CA, USA

problem #322

Sep 252017

Escape

  • miles
Engine coolant leak and on Ford website there is a call back on my vehicle but does not show on my VIN

- Corpus Christi, TX, USA

problem #321

Sep 192017

Escape

  • 83,000 miles
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving approximately 45 mph, the vehicle stalled. No warning indicators illuminated. The contact coasted to the side of the road. The contact called the dealer where the vehicle was purchased from albion motors Ford located in albion Michigan and was advised to bring the vehicle in to the nearest Ford dealer. The vehicle was towed to the dealer la fontaine Ford in gladwin Michigan that determined that the vehicle had experienced an engine failure and needed a new engine. The manufacturer sent an investigator from headquarters, who evaluated the vehicle and diagnosed the cause of the failure as a fractured serpentine valve and got cut between crank case and motor causing for the engine to seized. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and case was filed number: Cas13226467. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 83,000.

- Lake, MI, USA

problem #320

Sep 292017

Escape

  • 68,000 miles
2013 Escape developed coolant leak. I saw online where this problem was a recall. When I took it in to the dealership they informed me that even though mine has the same problem my VIN# is not included in this recall! if Ford Motor Company knows they have this problem with this vehicle why are they not all covered" how many have to catch fire" also, they also tell me I have an oil leak in the turbo. I have never seen any evidence of an oil leak in this vehicle.

- Piedmont, SC, USA

problem #319

Jul 172017

Escape

  • 75,000 miles
I had a code PO456 and P1450. The car runs extremely rough when in motion or sitting with the engine running the car also is using a lot of gas sometimes when I need to pull off from a stop light it excellorate or hesitate or cut off completely. Also the check engine light is on sometimes it will go out then it comes back

- Oakwood Village, OH, USA

problem #318

Sep 292017

Escape

  • 71,100 miles
Coolant loss, with no trace of where the coolant is going. The coolant loss will cause the low coolant alarm to appear. The low coolant alarm will then cause false overheating alarm, which by Ford design causes the engine to loose power, which causes a serious safety issue.

- Mauldin, SC, USA

Read the next 20 complaints »

Not what you are looking for?