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.
On March 19 2020 at approximately 4:30 pm, I turned the key in my ignition and heard a clunk type noise and the vehicle did not start. I tried again and the vehicle started as it always had except this time a heavy smoke poured from the tailpipes and the engine light came on. I let the vehicle parked over night and tried to start it the next morning. When I turned the key the dashboard lit as usual but I heard a clunk type noise again and the vehicle failed to start. Each time I tried to start the vehicle all I would get is a clunk type noise once. The vehicle will not start and not try to start.
The vehicle has 49000 miles on it. I called Haldamen Ford in Hamilton NJ but they never heard of this type of problem and I would have to tow the vehicle in for analysis. I called Ford Customer Service and I am waiting for them to get back to me. Based on all the complaints with this vehicle, I am worried the Ford dealer will charge me a lot of money for a problem that Ford has created with this motor. Some mechanics i have spoken with think either antifreeze has seeped into the engine seizing it or the turbo booster has gone bad sending metal into the engine. I do not think this vehicle is worth replacing the motor unless Ford steps up fixes this design flaw.
This second major engine problem. Timing Belt, timing solenoid, camshaft sensor, crank shaft sensor. All go bad in less than 80k miles. Trouble codes p369, p365, p302. Worst vehicle ever... symptoms were misfire engine light, wouldn't start.
Like others have mentioned my Escape stalls on me and the engine light comes on. After I restart it normally works for a little while before stalling again. This primarily occurs when I sit in the car and it is running while parked but it has stalled when I am driving too. On my first trip to the repair shop they replaced the battery cables and the battery. It happened again and the replaced the fuel sensor. It is still happening and I don't think the shop has any ideas of how to fix this other than to keep replacing different parts at an expensive cost. If anyone knows how to fix this please let me know.
I bought a used car in June 2019. Salesman told me it had one owner before me and was never in a collision. I hit a deer the week I bought it and when I went to the collision center, the gentleman showed me how the passenger side door post was bent and the inside of the passenger door has Bondo coming out all around it. On the drivers side there is a collision sticker for a shop in the same area I bought the car.
I brought to a second collision place and was told the same results, both will put this in writing. One of them recommended I notify the dealership and ask them to remedy the problem, After calling the dealership DAILY (it’s 3 hours from me), leaving messages and never getting anywhere I went online to the NH BBB. After contacting the dealership several times they finally agreed to replace my vehicle. I need to call the manager to make arrangements. I did that again daily to get nowhere but in the process in December the vehicle broke down and now requires a new engine as the spark plug came out of one of the cylinders and now no compression after repair.
This is the 2nd time I've had to replace the engine on this POS. The turbo went out at 150k, and we put a used engine with 70k in. So now with 110k on this motor, it blew. Not sure what the problem is this time, but it seems to be a ring issue.
- Mary H.,
Annandale, US
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
My youngest brothers good friend bought a 2013 Escape new and drove it for 95,000 miles over 4 years with just a few issues but they were major issues. He had the radiator replaced, then the coolant reservoir, then the water pump and finally the head gasket, all at that 95,000 mark. The dealer stated that all was well but had taken 4 trips over 8 weeks to diagnose and repair all the issues.
During the time in the shop he bought a new Subaru and then sold me the Escape. I've known him for well over 15yrs, know that he bought it new, know he goes to the dealer for EVERYTHING and even have the CarFax to back it all up.
Fast forward 3 weeks of me owning the vehicle and the engine fails. My local shop stated that it needs a complete engine replacement and the signs were showing and leading up to it per the previous repairs. He and I took it to his dealership to hear the same diagnosis, $6,800 to replace the engine. This is a problem!
5yr old car with 100k miles..... is that all you get from a Ford now?
My other Fords lasted much much longer!
2001 F150 still going strong @ 295k
2005 Escape had alternator problems and fried electronics @ 13yr and 240k
2001 Ranger developed a knock due to lack of maintenance at 17yr and 260k
My son's 2001 Tribute (escape) is going strong at 18yr and 195k
This really scares me about my wife's 2013 Edge with 85k that is beginning to show SYNC issues.
I've always been a Ford man, but this Escape is testing me!
Update from Mar 31, 2019: I just got the car back on 20 March after dropping it at the area's largest dealer on 9 January, The dealer that he bought it at NEW. It took them 10 weeks to diagnose, repair and test a new engine. The bill was to be $6800 but luckily the extended warranty didn't expire until 100,000 miles. I had about 800 miles to spare!
It still isnt "perfect" but hopefully I can get another 100,000 miles and 6yr out of it before it is useless again.
Have had the car since new in Sept 2012. Always kept it properly serviced at a dealer. Low coolant light came on a couple of times. Each time I added less than 500ml of coolant the next day when the engine was cool. This happened over a period of a few days. Next day the check engine light came on. Took it to the dealer. They ran tests for 2 days before they finally checked the cylinders with a borescope and found that coolant was leaking into cylinder 3. Both the head and the engine block were warped. Engine must be replaced. Called Ford Motor Customer Service, but they refused to help. The car has less than 70K miles on it, and many people have reported this exact same issue, even down to the same cylinder. Total cost to replace the engine was $8K.
Bought what I thought was my first grown up car and the whole engine needs to be replaced! Really?!?!! I'm still making payments and now I have to spend 6800$ to buy a new engine for a car that is 4 years old??? This is not fair and should never happen!!! What are my options???
During a U-turn the drive belt separated and the edge started whipping around the front of the engine. A portion of the belt got wrapped around the timing belt pulley. On this engine the Crankshaft pulley and cam shaft pulleys do not have a keyway or splines, or any mechanical means of keeping them in place. The belt segment caused the timing of the engine to be off. For $750 the dealership reset the timing and performed a technical service bulletin job on the cam solenoid. On the test drive the engine had no power and illuminated the service engine light. The intake cam "Phaser" was not operating and would need to be replaced for an additional $1700. Ford motor company stated that since the damage was caused by the drive belt, and it is a non covered part, the powertrain warranty does not cover the repairs, and the extended service plan would not cover the repairs. The dealership offered to reduce the bill to 2139, as a showing of "Good Will".
The 1.6L timing belt is covered by a flimsy flexible piece of plastic. The crankshaft and camshaft pulleys are not mechanically locked in place. A simply serpentine belt failure can cause major damage to the engine, and Ford will do nothing to assist with the cost of the repairs.
Like many of the posters on here, I get a random Engine Failure notification from time to time and the car will jerk, sputter, and lurch until I turn the car off. When this happens, it is almost always after the car has been running for a few minutes, then parked, then turned back on around an hour later. For whatever reason, this is the secret recipe for this behavior.
When it happens, I turn the car off, then immediately turn it back on and all is resolved...until it happens again a week later, of course. The circumstances are typically such that I'm traveling at low speeds when the car shuts down, so I haven't had any instances that were truly dangerous. I have, however, stalled in the middle of parking lots and roadways and had other cars swerve around me to avoid a rear-ender. Certainly not a safe situation.
This is the second time this has happened repeatedly over the course of a few weeks. The first time was a year ago when I had about 10,000 miles on the car. I took it in for a warranty repair and they said they couldn't identify the issue, or replicate the problem. I did some online research and found a forum like this one. I printed out the summary and took the car back in when it happened again. I was told by Ford that it was a wiring issue. Specifically they pointed to the wiring harness. The repairs were performed and everything worked well for a year.
Now, exactly a year later it is happening the exact same way. Interestingly, it seems to only happen when the outside temperature is very hot or the car sits in the sun for a period of time. I don't know if there is any correlation, but that seems to be one of the key failure ingredients in my case. In any event, I bought the car brand new in 2013 and have had it in the shop for either warranty or recall repairs a half a dozen times. Those repair trips ranged anywhere from one day to five days in length. Truly a pain in the ass. And shocking that Ford is not doing something about what is obviously a dangerous situation.
You can't have people's cars just stalling out in the middle of the road. This also seems to correlate with RPM fluctuations that I thought may have been related to the turbo charger. My car is currently back in the shop and I am waiting to hear back from Ford. It is covered under warranty right now, but my understanding is that this is more than a $1,000 repair normally. Now I am in a position where I either will be forced to sell the car before the 3yr/36k warranty or spring for an extended warranty. I just wouldn't feel safe driving this car anymore without having a warranty in place. Who knows where I will be when this happens and car doesn't start back up. Or worse yet, where I'll be when it dies in the middle of heavy traffic and something terrible happens.
2013 FORD ESCAPE LEFT ME AND THREE OF MY GRANDCHILDREN STRANDED....WAIT TIME FOR ROAD SIDE ASSISTANCE 3 HOURS 40 MINUTES...WHICH MEANS 9:45 PM. ONLY HAVE 16,000 MILES ON CAR...HAVE HAD NUMEROUS RECALLS...LAST ONE IN AUGUST...WAS TOLD FORD RECOMMENED A NEW MOTOR (DON'T KNOW WHY)..YES I HAVE ASK SEVERAL TIMES! A WEEK HAS PASSED AND I AM STILL MAKING PAYMENTS ON THIS CAR, STILL PAYING INSURANCE ON THIS CAR AND STILL PAYING FOR XM RADIO ON THIS CAR BUT THIS CAR IS NOT IN MY POSSESION.......!!!!!!!!!!!xxx!!! I PAID $30,000 PLUS FOR AN EXPERIMENTAL CAR MADE BY FORD!!! WHY DO I HAVE TO SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES??? THE VALUE ON CARFAX WILL DRAMATICALLY DROP FROM ENGINE REPLACEMENT AT 16,000 MILES PLUS NUMEROUS RECALLS..I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE, FORD IS! I AM JUST A "GUINEA PIG" FOR FORD AND IT"S COSTING ME OUT THE BEHIND!!! MENTALLY EXHAUSTED ALREADY!!! BUT-IT'S AT MY EXPENSE....I'M IN THE RED $30,000 PLUS ! I FEEL I SHOULD BE COMPENSATED BY FORD!!! BY THIS "EXPERIMENTAL VEHICLE" THAT YOU ARE STILL TRYING TO GET RIGHT BACK FROM ME OR PUT ME IN A NEW CAR """AT YOUR EXPENSE"""" THIS TIME, NOT MINE!!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
On March 19 2020 at approximately 4:30 pm, I turned the key in my ignition and heard a clunk type noise and the vehicle did not start. I tried again and the vehicle started as it always had except this time a heavy smoke poured from the tailpipes and the engine light came on. I let the vehicle parked over night and tried to start it the next morning. When I turned the key the dashboard lit as usual but I heard a clunk type noise again and the vehicle failed to start. Each time I tried to start the vehicle all I would get is a clunk type noise once. The vehicle will not start and not try to start.
The vehicle has 49000 miles on it. I called Haldamen Ford in Hamilton NJ but they never heard of this type of problem and I would have to tow the vehicle in for analysis. I called Ford Customer Service and I am waiting for them to get back to me. Based on all the complaints with this vehicle, I am worried the Ford dealer will charge me a lot of money for a problem that Ford has created with this motor. Some mechanics i have spoken with think either antifreeze has seeped into the engine seizing it or the turbo booster has gone bad sending metal into the engine. I do not think this vehicle is worth replacing the motor unless Ford steps up fixes this design flaw.
Does anyone know of any class action suites?
- chellmotors, Trenton, US