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:
3 / 10
Injuries / Deaths:
7 / 0
Average Mileage:
51,663 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.
Had to totally replace transmission and vehicle is under 100,000 miles ans only 4 yrs old. When it started hesitating going into first gear I took it to Ford they said transmission fluid was burnt. How does this happen?I cant beleive im the only one who has had this kind of problem. I have only put 10,000 miles on vehicle and I have all maintenance records. Replace transmission thats what Ford says to the tune of $ 4,500. To anyone who will listen Ford does not stand behind its products.the day the car started hesitating I took directly to shop meanwhile the first hesitation into first was the same time engine light came on.
I was driving back from seattle to olympia on Feb 8, 2017. It was around 40 degrees and rainy on and off all day. As I was making it into Tacoma, I suddenly heard a huge boom, like an explosion or shot gun sound which made me panic. Then all of a sudden I was covered in glass. I looked around trying to figure out what had happened while still on the highway travelling 55 mph. There were and on ramp and off ramp near by so cars are passing me; making it difficult to exit. I was terrified of getting hit. I looked up and saw it was the sunroof missing a whole bunch of class. So my first instinct was closing the cover to protect my daughter in the backseat. The moment I got it closed, more glass flew down and hit the cover. I sighed in relief. Eventually I got off the highway and parked. I instantly ran back to my daughter (8 months old) to see if she was ok and she only had a tiny scratch. I had a bunch of scratches all over my hands. I then took a picture of the damage and in a panic called my husband who advised me to go to the Ford dealership in olympia. I waited for about 1/2 hour to settle down but was still in shock the whole drive. Ford wouldn't help me since I was out of the warranty period and was sent to their glass people. I filed a claim with my insurance and the vehicle was eventually fixed.
Vehicle was in drive and suddenly lost power. The accelerator was pressed but the vehicle stopped driving forward even though the engine was running. The engine did not rev. The dash light indicating the transmission disappeared. The vehicle suddenly jumped into gear so hard I suffered whiplash. It did this several times as I attempted to get clear of heavy traffic. I literally thought I had been rear ended at one point as the car jolted so hard. After getting out of the roadway, the transmission failure service now light came on. This is consistant with the PCM wiring harness recall done on other 2013 Escapes but was not covered for my particular vehicle. The jolts to the vehicle kicking in gear destroyed the transmission. I was in motion at the time, in bumper to bumper traffic. I was lucky not to strike or be hit by another vehicle. I have contacted Ford but they state my car was not covered under that recall and that they will not help me.
Message: 2013 Ford Escape... transmission is going out. Car has under 70K miles. Went to Ford and got estimate and got one for over $6,200. I still am paying for my car loan which is about the same amount. I went to 2 other transmission shops and because the car is so new they can't rebuild the trans since they won't be able to get parts. I called Ford, got case number, and their decision was that they cannot assistant with lowering the cost even though they know about 2013 models that have defective transmissions. Since I bought the car used, Ford claims that I do not have ownership loyalty and cannot assist with cost of new transmission. I'm stuck and until I can save for another transmission, driving an unsafe car.
The doors on this car do not stay open & frequently close on you when your entering or exiting the car (even on level ground). After opening the door to get in, it closed back on my hip bone causing an injury. NHTSA needs to make Ford replace door hinges on this car.
- Oxford, CT, USA
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Took vehicle in for coolant leak only to find out the water pump had a leak. I am only at 70,000 miles. This seems very suspect. Does anyone know of a recall for this issue? this was the 3rd check up in less than 21 days for the same leak before it was identified by the dealer.
On at least four occasions lost ability to accelerate car. First two times it was self limiting. The third time car stalled was started again I drove it and the same thing happened, could not accelerate and it also seemed that the car in motion was not responsive. For the third occurrence I brought the car to the dealership, they could find no issues with the car and could not duplicate the behaviors I had described. The fourth time I had just that day picked the car up from the dealership after being serviced for a leak in the coolant hose, my 60,000 mile check up and for my check engine light that was on. The hose being replaced, the check engine light was reset and found to have no reason for the engine light to be on. I drove the car home and while in park it stalled. I stated it back up and it kept exhibiting the same inability to excel, I seemed to have little con troll of it, it stalled again, started again and I pressed on the gas until I was home three blocks away. I felt the car not safe to drive, I called the dealership and had them send a tow truck to pick up my car and bring it back to the dealership where it is now. When it stalled I was on a city street and able to pull over with no harm.
The myfordtouch system will sporadically shut down. At times this shut down is evidenced by a loud pop through the audio speakers, then the audio goes out and the bluetooth phone connection resets. Often it will display an error screen saying "shutting down to save battery" with a progress bar. That progress bar never finishes to the right before the system restarts. This will happen multiple times during a trip, with no similar characteristics between trips where this issue occurs (day/night, highway/city, warm/cold, driving or stopped, none of it matters) and I can't recreate it on demand. It will happen one day and then not for a week or two. The lack of ability to recreate means that the Ford dealer will not repair it. The Ford service rep suggested I replace the battery and on his advice I did. However, this not fix the problem. He tested the alternator, and checked for error codes all with no change in the situation. Ultimately it has been with the dealer 3 times for service, with no resolution. I have video of it occurring on 11/6/2016. It has happened as far back as July 2016. Most recent occurrence was today, 11/10/2016 date entered in field below is last time it happened.
Today I hurt a pop sound and L looked under my car and saw something hanging. My local chevron station mechanic said it was my "heat shield". it had ripped to shreds. Last Nov. At santa margarita Ford I had major transmission work done on my 2013 Escape. My mechanic doesn't think the heat shield was put back on correctly. Same dealership wants to charge me over $400 to replace it. No way!
Door latches broke on 3 separate occasions. 04/17/14, 04/02/15, and 10/31/15. First one happened when I opened the rear driver side door and then closed it. It was like metal hitting metal, no way to close and latch door. Second time closed and locked door, when I came out of grocery store, driver door was open about 1/2 inch. Tried to close door but it was again metal hitting metal. Had to drive home holding door shut and drive with one hand, right turns especially dangerous. Third incident passenger rear door, opened door, when closing it, it was metal hitting metal again. All three times I had my 2 small grandchildren in car seats in the back. This is a life threatening situation that needs immediate attention from Ford to correct these door latches. Besides the danger it is an expensive fix. It has cost me almost $900 for these repairs. Ford needs to fix this before some one is seriously injured or killed. The only one left to break is the front passenger door. This is a big concern for me!
The latch systems on both rear doors have broken causing them to fly open. The driver's side rear door broke in January of 2016 upon opening in the garage, the car was stationary. The second rear door broke 6 months later, in June of 2016, also when the car was stationary. In both cases a passenger had to hold the doors closed on the inside to be able to get them to the dealership without them flying open while driving down the street. Each door cost over $300 to repair.
Driver rear door latch broke, door will not shut. Flew open while I was driving. Despite this same issue with other Ford models, dealership would not even attempt to get Ford to warranty this. Cost me $340.
Looses power, unable to accelerate even when gas pedal pushed to floor. It's been to the dealer twice. No problems detected. Unable to duplicate. Seems to occur while driving various speeds 55-45 mph, city driving, stop and go traffic. Usually occurs after a stop/go traffic lights, right hand turns. Occurred after first time between 25K?-30K miles. 2013 Ford Escape 1.6 ecoboost engine.
While driving on a highway the from of the bottom heat shield on my car just dropped and started scrapping on the pavement. By the time I was able to pull over the shield was pretty scraped up. It appeared that whatever was suppose to hold it up, was not there. I know that I did not run over anything or have anything hit the underside of my car. That afternoon I brought it to a Ford dealership in rutherford, NJ where I was charged $368.84 for remove and replacement of the heat shield. This Escape is garage kept and there should have been no reason for this happening.
Latches locks linkages this is the secon door with problems. First tha back door and now the driver door doent close. It opened during driving and doesnt close. 3/28/16.
Correspondence with flood Ford of East greenwich, ri to: Michael whyte (Ford service adviser), re: Crash risk with 2013 Ford Escape (stalling while driving and also lack of being able to accelerate vehicle while engine is running). Vehicle was brought to 2 different Ford dealers for same problem and was told that they could diagnose and/or replicate problem. This issue and circumstance has been reported numerous times upon goggle searches (please see below). I contacted the Ford customer relationship center again today to document the situation surrounding our vehicle (case # 8980601). Please note that I had contacted them originally on February 29th (case #8916920) and they referred me to the flood dealership after we had brought the vehicle to the tasca dealership on February 28th and 29th. They tried to contact the service department at flood Ford at 4:00pm today but were not able to get through. I also contacted the consumers for auto reliability and safety and they responded back with the following message and strongly emphasized not to drive the vehicle because of the potential crash risk. I am also in the process of reporting the defect to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and have also contacted the wjar consumer advocate department surrounding our dilemma to see if they can help us as well. Hopefully the experts at Ford can help provide additional insights as to how to best address this situation. With best regards, victor www.autonews.com/article/20140815/oem11/140819918/Ford-recalls- > 2013 -Escape-for-11th-time-this-time-for-wiring-problem > > > M.carcomplaints.com/Ford/Escape/2013/engine/engine_stalls_shuts > _do > wn_while_driving.shtml > > www.lemonlaw.com/wordpress/Ford-Escape-stalling-problems-contin > ue- > 160000-vehicles-recalled/
Using the over door handle assist on the driver's side when exiting the vehicle, both ends snapped off (broken at the base) causing me to hit myself in the face and cut my nose with one of the broken ends. My glasses did prevent the broken end from hitting my eye.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Sebring, FL, USA