CarComplaints.com Notes: The top problem trend for the 2014 Escape is transmission failure at around 70k miles.
This is relatively low mileage for an expensive transmission failure ($4,500 average to fix), but unless the trend becomes more established, we are only awarding the 2014 Escape our "Beware of the Clunker" badge for now.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
10 / 3
Injuries / Deaths:
5 / 0
Average Mileage:
65,700 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.
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving 20 mph, the vehicle made a loud grinding sound. The contact pulled over and shut-off the vehicle. The contact stated that the failure recurred a second time after the vehicle was restarted. The vehicle would not restart. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed with metal shavings inside the transmission fluid. The vehicle was not repaired. A local dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 102,000.
I have a 2014 Ford Escape SE with 67000 miles and when I was parked burger king parking lot with engine running a message came on that said it was overheating so I parked it and looked under hood saw it had an antifreeze reservoir that was low so I proceeded to get an appointment for cloninger Ford morganton nc for the works oil change and coolant reservoir and they checked it put antifreeze in it and said any problems call them. I left and it seemed ok, until I had it runnung in the driveway and it was overheating it said again so then I called told them what happened and got appointment to come in again and I went and showed them that the reservoir was empty again so maybe I had a leak since they just filled it up a week ago at my appointment same dealer service dept. After they looked at it they said the engine needed to be replaced due to the engine coolant system causing a crack in the engine and it would be $8000. Plus labor to repair and there was no recall for it and it was out of warranty and they were seeing it more and more on this car and I would be better to trade it in. It now sits in my driveway until something can get done. I truly believe consumers should be covered for this with all the complaints here and with attorneys on the internet who are exploring same problem.
While driving on a main city road, vehicle was suddenly in neutral. Was unable to get it to stay in drive. Vehicle was not drivable and had to be towed. Currently transmission being rebuilt.
On 3/20/21 when driving my 2014 Ford Escape my husband and I noticed a humming noise. Then it seemed as if the car wasn't shifting and was idling real high. Then there was nothing, no power of speed or shifting. No check engine light, just a red light came on saying transmission fault service now. We had to have the vehicle towed to our nearest Ford dealer. To find out this is not a recall and it was a catastrophic transmission failure. He said it will cost us $5100 for them to get a new transmission which are back ordered. I also called Ford directly about this and they said it is not an open recall, and the car is out of warranty by 3 months!! I find this terrible I have had this vehicle for 5 years and taken good care of it and for Ford to not take care of its customers on something like this I feel is horrific!!
On or about August of 2019 my car began pulling when I was on the freeway. The car then just turned off and I was luck to veer off to the right without hitting any other cars. The car was towed to the dealership (serra Ford in rochester, mi) only to find out I needed a new transmission. The car was only 5 years old and even though it was out of warranty (mileage) 112,000 miles on the car and Ford refused to assist me in repairing the car. I have purchased Ford cars since 1998 and kept them for over 8 years. I have never had to replace a transmission on a car let alone when its only 5 years old. Serra Ford (matt) stated that the overdrive band failed first which caused the transmission to overheat. The material then desenagrated and metal was sucked into the tube for the actual transmission pump. He recommended another transmission but I wanted to know why they engine light never came on when the overdrive band failed? I asked the same question to the rep at Ford and no one could answer me. I feel like I would not have had to purchase another used transmission had the sensor indicated that something was going on with the engine. I really want Ford to refund me for the money I had to spend on my transmission.
- Apopka, FL, USA
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I was driving my car on the highway and the RPM increased and it started studdering and eventually cut off. Took it to the Ford dealership and now I need a transmission. There is an active recall regarding the transmission but according to them it doesn't have anything to do with the issues with my car. I would think any issues with the transmission would cause my transmission to go out. This is not the first issue I have had with this car. My engine caught in fire for no reason and had to get a new engine. I have had nothing but issues with this car since that time.
My 2014 Ford Escape titanium's transmission stopped working. My car was in park on the side of the road and when I put it in drive, my transmission slipped and would not move forward. I had to get my car towed and two mechanics said the transmission is done. My car has 80,000 miles and was well taken car of.
Power trained failed twice. First time Aug '18 with 37K miles and second event Feb. ''21 with 67K miles. Both events the vehicle suddenly displays a 'transmission fault: Service now' which renders the vehicle unable to drive. First event randy wise Ford dealership repaired by tech (name chandler) our six speed transmission. They replaced under warranty; direct clutch rebuild, replace friction material & seals..etc. The second event: Same vehicle suddenly displays a 'transmission fault: Service now.' I return the Escape to randy wise (manager mike) and informed us that diagnoses (scope) "reclutch failure" code. Same issue. They stated iy was out of there 2 year warranty and I had three out of pocket options to fix & no warranty. I contacted Ford customer service (erica) to file claim. Erica contacted the dealer and return back to me in 5 minutes stating the three out of pocket cost was my only options. No escalation was offer beside wirting a note to the as customer service dept. I request the name of te Ford zone manager for SE Michigan and she could not provide the contact. Transmission failure twice with less than 68K miles. The vehicle would lunge when coming to a stop. Upon take off from a stop, it would have very little power or high RPM's & move slow causing safe driving issues. Placing the vehicle in drive (from park position, the vehicle lunged forward... rough, clumpsy the whole time we have owned. Very disappointed in Ford, Ford product adn Ford authorized dealer service work. This vehicle is a lemon and should be a law protecting consumers from such faulty Ford products.
I was driving and my car suddenly seized up like it was in neutral and wouldn't move and is now undrivable. After researching I have found this year vehicle is known for this to happen.
On 8/6/20, I backed up to the waa garage door, stopped, and attempted to put the car into park. The shift level indicated that it was in park, but the onboard computer indicated that the car was in reverse/neutral, the last gear used. The battery was detached in an effort to resent any electrical malfunction. This action was not successful, and the car remain "in gear". the vehicle would not start, as it was not actually in park. The vehicle remained in an electrically "on" mode, further causing the battery to fully discharge and die. The vehicle was towed to the dealership for repair 8/12/20. Dealership repair notes indicate "replaced transmission shifter cable due to bushing on transmission linkage being worn out. This description matches Ford recall notice 18S20, for a 2014 Ford Escape, 6 speed transmission and NHTSA recall notice 18V471000. This repair was completed 8//17/20 and paid out of pocket. Requesting recall expansion to include this vehicle, and compensation for out-of-pocket expenses.
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Escape. The contact stated that upon placing the gear shifter into the park position, the transmission control module would recognize the vehicle in the reverse position and would roll backwards without warning. The contact then took the vehicle to an independent mechanic who linked the failure to NHTSA campaign number: 18V471000 (power train) however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The contact then reached out to the manufacturer online and was informed to contact NHTSA for assistance. The vehicle remained in possession of the mechanic and had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 84,000.
Torque converter, transmission, warning lights on Thursday, 12/3/20, my daughter returned home and explained that she noticed a whining sound as she turned into our neighborhood. About 2 hours later she started the car for me and I could not distinguish any sounds to be concerned with and told her she would be fine to drive it to her volleyball practice'I said''it doesn't sound like anything that will cause it to die on the side of the road.' Within 10 minutes after leaving called to say the car was losing power and barely moving on a busy city street. She had to coast across oncoming traffic with no power to get to a street where she could wait for me. Ultimately where she was stranded was a dangerous spot to be for other cars turning onto the street because of a wall blocking their view of her vehicle until they made the turn. When I arrived I confirmed that the car was not driveable. Shifting in and out of gears barely generated any movement. It took 20 minutes driving on a residential street at about 3 mph to reach a parking lot (it took one minute to get the car over a slight hump turning into the parking lot) where I left the vehicle overnight until I could have it towed to a Ford dealership. Ford diagnosed the following 'suspect torqueconverter internal failure sent metal through thepump (whine) and through out the rest of thetransmission.' Two repair options new transmission for $5,809.18 or overhaul for $5,181.57. This is a common issue and is dangerous enough to warrant a thorough investigation. Vehicles should not go from running fine to complete failure while driving on busy roadways. Replacing a torque converter is one thing but a failure of a torque converter causing a $5,000+ repair job is another thing. Warning light after failure may also need to be investigated. This vehicle has a record of regular routine maintenance.
I own a 2014 Ford Escape it has 101,000 miles on it. The car has been well maintained with all the normal maintenance done at mileage recommended. I was on the interstate in traffic when all the sudden the vehicle just shut off, which left me in the middle of the interstate due to the bumper to bumper traffic. I had the vehicle towed to shop and come to find out the transmission went completely out. Called the Ford dealership and of course the warranty had just expired on it and was told that they weren't aware of this problem with these vehicles and there was nothing they could do about this problem. T this point it was going to cost me over 5K to have everything fixed. Come to find out Ford knew about this problem with this particular year make and model of this vehicle and are pretty much a joke. This problem should be a recall giving the fact I still owed money for this vehicle.
I was driving on a state highway and the car started slowing down. When I pressed the gas the engine revved but the car had no power. The car stopped in the middle of the road, and when I tried to shift to the "sport" shift it was clear that the transmission would not engage properly. I pushed the car (out of the highway) onto the shoulder and turned the car off. I waited about 15 minutes, started the car and drove it 5 miles home. Once on the way home I had to turn it off for 15 minutes again. It was shifting erratically and was barely able to make it home. When I got home and pulled into the driveway, the "service transmission" light came on. This was the first indication that I was given that there was a problem. This is very dangerous, since the car just died on the highway with no warning. I am very lucky that it was not a busy highway and that I was able to get out of the road quickly. I'm told by the dealership that it is the torque converter and the entire transmission needs to be replaced. This needs to be recalled before somebody gets killed by having this happen on the highway. We should at least get a warning *before* it happens.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Buffalo, MO, USA