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 / 8
Injuries / Deaths:
6 / 0
Average Mileage:
54,855 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.
Vehicle stalling at different times. There is no codes when it happens and no set time. Don't feel safe driving this vehicle as we are seniors and don't want to get stranded some were! going back to my personal mechanic on 2/2/21 to see if they can fix the problem. I think Ford should foot the bill as this car is unsafe for our highways.
I purchased my 2013 Ford Escape in Dec 2020. I have only had it a little over a month. 3 weeks ago I noticed a humming noise coming from the rear of the car. As I was approaching a red light, slowing down to stop, without warning, the car stalled. I was able to pull over safely, put it in park and restart it. I had no other issues that day. Now it has become a daily occurrence. It all starts when I hear that humming noise and then I know that the car will stall on me when I slow down or stop. The check engine light came on once and my husband hooked it up to read the code P1450. I have not had it repaired yet. It is so scary, knowing that my car will stall on me in traffic! tonight, on my way home from work, I heard the humming noise again, while driving 65mph on the interstate and then I heard a very loud pop which sounded like it came from the passenger side floor board area. Luckily the car stayed on and did not stall on me until I exited the interstate and came to a stop. It stalled on me and wouldn't start up right away. Even though the A/C stopped working, the car made it home without any other issues tonight.my husband told me to check this website for recalls and I found almost 1200 complaints on the very same thing that I am experiencing! how can a huge company like Ford not see the issue and help us" I am scared to death to drive it! I have to get on the interstate to get to work. Ford...you need to do something because this is not ok! I haven't taken it to a shop yet but they will probably tell me the same thing that everyone else is getting told! NHTSA you have to do something! how can you see all these people with the same issues and not make Ford fix the issue?" it is not safe to drive this vehicle! my safety, along with others on the road that have to slam on their breaks to avoid hitting me when I stall out, is a huge safety concern!!! please help!
I was driving home when the engine to my 2013 Ford Escape started smoking enough to engulf the inside of the vehicle with black smoke. The engine then caught fire while I was still in drive. I placed the vehicle in park and jumped out when in a matter of seconds the entire engine was in flames, seconds after that the whole vehicle was on fire. The fire dept. Came to put it out. The fire dept. Left and the fire was extinguished. Approximately 45 minutes later, the car started on fire again. This time it was letting off small explosions' of sparks. The fire dept. Came again and extinguished the fire. I asked them if they had any idea what caused it. One fire fighter's reply was "no idea, I have never seen any thing like this before in my life" the car had 89000 miles on and had been inspected by Ford a few months ago with no complications found in the engine. The heat gauge never raised to make myself, the driver aware of any over heating. The fire started right infront of my home as I was pulling into my driveway while I was still in drive/motion.
- Cedar Rapids, IA, USA
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I've been having problems with the coolant system and my vehicle has been shutting off while driving. There has been a severe leak near the engine and I don't know what other problems it may have caused. I almost had an accident riding into traffic with the car shutting off in the middle of driving.
Axel seal was damaged causing transmission fluid to leak. However, there was no sign of a leak due to it caking on to the undercarriage causing the transmission to fry.
I PURCHASED THIS VEHICLE ON 12/10/2020 AND THE VEHICLE SOUNDS LIKE A REMOTE CONTROL CAR WHEN IT IS EXCELLERANTED. WHY"??" IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG WITH MY TRANSMISSION OR MOTOR. I HAD A 2014 FORD ESCAPE (VIN #[XXX]) BEFORE THIS AND IT MADE THE SAME SOUND AND WAS TOLD THE TRANSMISSION AND THE ENGINE WERE SHOOT. I HAD TO JUNK THE 2014 AND PURCHASED THE 2013. HELP??!!! INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
Every winter while driving my 2013 Ford Escape info screen displays "hill start assist not available and ABS icon flashes. The radio also goes off and on. I have taken it to two different dealerships to get this corrected and I am told they could not see any codes for this problem. In other words I am lying. I am sure by checking with others, I am not the only one with this problem. I hope that this can be resolved because I don't know if and when this will effect anything else.
My vehicle was in motion on the highway going about 80mph when the speed suddenly deceased drastically and suddenly to about 10mph. A warning message appeared stating 'transmission not in park. Select P.' I do not know the cause of this incident. Temperature of the car was normal and there were no warning lights shown on the dash (engine light, gas light, etc).
My coolant levels become low about every two weeks. I'm alerted by my dash light, I fill then check for leeks. No visible leeks but coolant keeps needing refilling. I have almost overheated once and car when into limp mode until got down to a reasonable temp. I'm afraid to drive long distances if fear I'll be stranded because overheated.
For the last 2 years our Escape will stall out while driving when the weather is cold but after the car has been in motion for more than 20 minutes, this has been terrifying with my child in the car we have almost been in several accidents due to the car just stalling out while driving in traffic, we have taken it to the dealer and other mechanics and nobody can figure it out we have repaired the turbo and catalytic converter among other various repairs that have cost us thousands of dollars and nothing has fixed this issue. This is a safety issue! I've almost been hit by a semi on the freeway because my car stalled out while driving it! it happened again today.
Frequently and usually right after I turn the car on, the ABS light will come on, the traction control light will come on, and then my car will stall. I can usually crawl into a parking space/off the side of the road. Occasionally the hill start assist light will come on and occasionally the 4WD disabled light will come on. The ABS and traction control have come on on the interstate and highways before, but they have only caused my car to stall (luckily) right after I turn it on and begin to move. The hill start assist will usually only come on if I come to a full stop while driving, whether I am on a hill or not. This happened once when we first got the car (4.5 years ago). It did not happen again until about 6 months ago. It now has started happening very frequently at multiple times a day for the past 2 weeks or so.
2013 Ford Escape ecoboost 1.6 my vehicle stalls at low speeds or while idling. This only seems to happen after the vehicle is warm. It never happens first thing in the morning only after I have parked the vehicle for a short period of maybe 30 min or less or while idling. Sometimes the RPM would shoot up to 6 and the vehicle feels like it is thrusting forward after which it would either stall immediately or I am able to keep driving without issue. It has happened in the middle of a busy intersection and luckily there was a police officer passing and he was able to escort me to a side street while the vehicle stalled a real times to get there. Before I pull on to a road after stalling I have with traffic I have to drive around the parking lot to make sure that the vehicle will not stall again before pulling into traffic. This has also happened on the highway on ramp after I had just refueled. Once the vehicle passes the stalling issue it drives without issue. I have so far replaced the fuel pump and flp sensor and this has not fixed the problem. This has also happened in stop and go traffic. I am actually scared for my life driving this vehicle. I won't allow my daughter to drive it for fear it may kill her.
My sister has been using my vehicle to take me to my appointments here are her words describing her experience while driving my 2013 Ford Escape SE ecoboost: 'this SUV has issues with acceleration and overall performance. There are major delays when gas pedal is being pressed (sometimes all the way to the floor) with very high RPM's while in motion hesitation is specifically true when traveling uphill will stay same speed until you're no longer on an incline & acceleration will increase when the gas pedal is slowly being released then needs to be pushed down normal force to keep at the speed consistently. Was on highway doing 65 slowed down I take exit had to merge onto another major highway & had gas pedal completely down while doing 45 got to 50 & it nearly got me killed when a 18 wheeler came up behind me I'm assuming they expected my vehicle to ccelerate but despite my don't being all the way down on there gas pedal it took too long to reach 65 mph at 50 mph RPM's revved high at 5 RPM. This is just one situation I've encounter while driving on the highway with this vehicle. Also have had issues keeping coolant in vehicle have to add more every few months, ac works as it chooses & just had an issue with stalling while in idle waiting in traffic but that's a random unexpected event happens sporadically sometimes I'm not sure if it's going to start again and after many attempts it starts and I won't have a problem. With that for days maybe weeks until it happens again.'
I purchased a 2013 Ford Escape on 10-22-2019 and I have been having problems since 02-16-2020 with the SUV stalling out in traffic while I'm driving it then I have to start the SUV about 3 times and push the gas pedal all the way down to the floor for it to catch and take off and once I get to my destination and turn the SUV off it smells like it's burning I have taken it to a mechanic they change the spark plugs thinking that was the problem but it wasn't it please help me fix the problem because on 10-19-2020 I was almost in a car accident because it stalled out on me once I pulled out into traffic
2013 Ford Escape "overheated", sent vehicle into limp mode and check engine light came on. Happened on interstate at high speed (75 mph) and almost got hit. Had towed to Ford dealership. Said stand pipe in cooling system was bad. Informed 2014 Escapes recalled for this reason and there were a lot of other 2013's he had seen for this very same problem!
While pulling into traffic my car just starting shaking and cut off. This problem has been happening since January of 2020 and I have taken it to the local Ford dealership 3 times and they said they can't duplicate the problem. The last time I took it to the dealership they fixed the cannister purge valve which actually made the problem worse. I was doing it maybe once a week, now its doing it four times a day. The Ford place has told me that at this point since they can't duplicate the problem that they are just guessing what is wrong with it. This is very unsafe.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Chicago, IL, USA