I purchased my Ford Escape new and had all maintenance and repairs completed at the Ford dealership where I purchased the vehicle. Ford and its dealerships have been aware of this problem for years, yet they failed to advise the owners of vehicles that were inclined to experience swollen lug nut issues. Ford had a class action lawsuit dismissed regarding this issue and there has been no recall notice. Even if Ford takes no responsibility for this matter, it would appear that Ford and its dealerships do not wish to extend the courtesy of advising its customers of this potential problem. I fail to understand why the dealership which did my regular tire rotations did not advise me of the issue until the lug nuts became swollen and would now charge me $100+ to replace. I purchased a special socket wrench for $13 and new lug nuts for $21 to resolve the problem, but I am not sure if I will ever go back to that dealership for service.

Brought car in for regular "the works" service. I was advised I needed 4 new tires and since I was changing them, they didn't bother to rotate them, which was part of what I was paying for. Purchased tires elsewhere and was advised about swollen lugnuts and told not to buy new ones from Ford or I would continue to have the same problem. Had I not needed new tires, Ford would probably have taken them off and replaced without following torque guidelines.

If I ever had a flat on the road, I'm pretty sure they would never have been able to remove flat tire to put on spare due to the swollen lugnuts. I had to purchase new/better ones... NOT from Ford, to avoid recurring problem. On top of the new tires for $800+, I needed to spend an additional $137.00 for lugnuts! And a week later my saga continues with other Ford at fault problems!

Got a flat tire in a bowling alley parking lot. No big deal, just need to change the tire and get it fixed later right? Wrong, the lug nuts had swelled on a few to the point that the wrench provided would not fit the nut. Called AAA and they were able to come but also struggled mightily to get the tire off. Eventually, he was able to find a socket that could break it loose and get them off but had to repeat this a few times. Got the tire changed and took it to Pep Boys who also had issues with the lug nuts.

They had to order new lug nuts and that was around 70~80 dollars on top of fixing the flat. They did say that they have seen this issue before. How hard is it to make a lug nut? Can't be too hard since every manufacture makes them. Ford decided to screw this up with the two piece design to make it all pretty - but it's not worth it if your stranded on the side of the road unable to change a flat.

So I am in need of a changing the front brakes for my Escape now. Simple to do and I've done it on three different cars, including a Fusion. However, ran into the same issue again that I did two years ago with a flat time. How to get the swollen lug nuts off!!! So Ford made these lug nuts two pieces, and the chrome caps have a bad tendency to swell causing the lug wrench that came with the not to fit. I had all five replaced a while ago by Pep boys on one of the front tires and they must of replaced them with the ford OEM POS parts. In two years, two have swelled again. Haven't checked the other side out either but I'm sure several of them have have swelled as well as the ones on the back. I'll admit that I haven't done much of the maintenance on this car as I would have and I think I'm glad that I haven't. I'd equate this to a lot of the newer Apple products making it a nightmare to service it.

It's ridiculous honestly. Ford should have recalled this years ago and put different lug nuts without the chrome caps on.

I own Ford Escape 2014 SE. I was at my Ford/Lincoln dealership for 6-month maintenance and was informed that all lug nuts of my vehicle are swollen are to be replaced at a cost of $240 + Taxes. They told me that I do not have a choice as they won't be able to put tires back. I have never heard of anything like that and trusted the dealership. Frankly, I could not visualize the problem. Upon return, I have researched it and have discovered that high-quality replacement lug nuts on Amazon are $20- $40 (a pack of 20).

Apparently, Instead of solid steel nuts, Ford sells its vehicles with lug nuts that have a steel core with chrome, aluminum, or stainless steel caps attached to improve the appearance of the visible part of the lug nuts. The caps swell, crack, and delaminate to the point where the lug nuts cannot be removed with the lug wrench provided by Ford. This leaves owners and lessees who get flat tires often stranded on the roads without the ability for even tow truck drivers to remove the swollen lug nuts. This means a tow to the shop just to have the lug nuts removed and the tire replaced.

I have filed a complaint with Ford, with no luck succeeding, but will be following up with the dealer and filing a complaint with my credit card provider if not successful. There was a class-action lawsuit that was dismissed because there were not significant "enough" and the issue was dismissed.

A few recommendations to the owners:

When you encounter swollen lug nuts issue in any shape and form:

1. File an official complaint with a) Ford Company, b) your Ford dealership, so this issue is on the record and can get re-attended by them

2. Upvote this post or share otherwise, and if there is enough traction, a new class-action can be initiated for the benefit of existing and future Ford owners, there and public safety and customer experience, both financial and emotional

3. Buy a set of high-quality one-piece lug nuts of your choice from Amazon $20- $40 (pack of 20) and replace them every year or two, depending on how much you drive and in what weather conditions

Never in my driving years have I ever heard of lug nuts going bad, until now. Then my mechanic had to purchase a "special tool" to get these SWOLLEN lug nuts off. Dear god, what would have happened if I got a flat on the interstate and now I can't get the lug nuts off. Now I have a tow truck bill, no vehicle and the wait time to get the so called special tool and the labor charge. Come on Ford, what is up with putting cheap parts on the wheels that get you from point A to point B. You're not thinking of your customers' safety I guess, shame on you FORD. So I paid $65 for the lug nuts, $85 for labor, just because you're cutting corners and no warranty and you replace them with the same crap lug nuts.