Bulletins
| Bulletin | Bulletin date | Replacement Bulletin | Item no. | Summary | Added |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| POWER TRAIN | |||||
| AS-21769 | 03/01/2011 | 10039053 | Ready | 07/06/2011 | |
| AS-21769 | 03/01/2011 | 10039053 | Ford: if there is an intermittent lack of power, surge, or hesitation while driving the brakes will override acceleration. *rm | 07/06/2011 | |
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| POWER TRAIN | |||
| 11/16/2011 | 36050 | ||
| Driving vehicle on interstate highway @ highway speeds. while merging into traffic, experienced abrupt loss of power. amber wrench warning light came on. moved to shoulder of road in heavy traffic, stopped vehicle, turned off ignition & after about 30 - 40 seconds restarted vehicle, power restored & vehicle continued to drive normally (wrench light off). took vehicle to dealer, where throttle body was replaced, not under warranty (despite tsb 09-19-12). on feb. 3, 2012, experienced similar loss of power problem, and the amber wrench light and master vehicle electrical hazard warning light came on, and vehicle completely shut down (mileage at this point: 45,500 miles). after shutting off the ignition & restarting, the vehicle would run normally for 45-60 seconds, then would fault & shut down. i was close to my workplace, so i limped it back to work. called dealer, who recommended calling ford's roadside assistance. vehicle was transported to hybrid certified dealer, where the throttle body was replaced (under warranty this time) and the pcm was reprogrammed. when i came to pick the vehicle up, i experienced the same loss of power & warning lights (open wrench light). dealer now claims a sensor in the shift assembly is bad & is causing the problem (claiming this is not covered by warranty). vehicle is still at dealer at the time of this post. | |||
| 11/06/2010 | 21239 | 1 | |
| A problem that surfaced again after experiences many times since the above mentioned incident date: a wrench sign was coming on the dashboard frequently, and sometimes disappeared itself without doing anything.similar sign or indication for oil change was also experienced even after a scheduled oil change was done with the dealer. when the problem was reported in early period, i (the customer) was advised to disregard, because the mechanic forgot to reset after the oil service, when ford customer service was notified today (11/7/12), it was acknowledged as a service issue, which i do not agree. since the problem existed when the vehicle was new in early stages after the purchase, my concern is that this is a manufacturing defect with battery door which malfunctions, and does not allow ventilation on & off. the battery was down, all controls disappeared and the car was locked in position about two years ago (approximate june 2010). that time a major service was performed, which required a month long period to fix it. (safecar reference 365127). unfortunately, i never heard back from your office on this past issue and complaint. since both problems have to do with battery and monitoring devices, i would like to inform for safety of all using this model. please let me know your findings on battery vent door functioning. thanks *tr | |||
| 11/06/2010 | 21239 | ||
| A problem that surfaced again after experiences many times since the above mentioned incident date: a wrench sign was coming on the dashborad frequently, and sometimes disappeared itself without doing anything.similar sign or indication for oil change was also experienced even after a scheduled oil change was done with the dealer. when the problem was reported in early period, i (the customer) was advised to disregard, because the mechanic forgot to reset after the oil service, when ford customer service was notified today (11/7/12), it was acknowledged as a service issue, which i do not agree. since the problem existed when the vehicle was new in early stages after the purchase, my concern is that this is a manufacturing defect with battery door which malfunctions, and does not allow ventillation on & off. the battery was down, all controls disappeared and the car was locked in position about two years ago (approximate june 2010). that time a major service was perofrmed, which required a month long period to fix it. (safecar reference 365127). unfortunately, i never heard back from your office on this past issue and complaint. since both problems have to do with battery and monitoring devices, i would like to inform for safety of all using this model. please let me know your findings on battery vent door functioning. thanks | |||
| 06/16/2012 | 79000 | 2 | |
| While driving on the highway during a long trip (9 hours) a triangular warning light flashed on: stop safely now, and the car decelerated quickly as though the engine had abruptly stopped, barely allowing time to pull off road. fortunately, there was a shoulder at that spot on the highway. there is no way to safely stop a car this suddenly that is traveling on a highway! after reading the manual which directed driver to wait a bit and then restart car, the driver did so and everything seemed fine until it happened again, twice, on the highway again after driving for only 2 hours. please; just because there wasn't a crash, injury, fire, or death does not mean this is safe enough. *tr | |||
| 05/02/2012 | 1 | 07/07/2007 | |
| 2008 ford escape hybrid. consumer writes in regards to transmission and engine problems *tgw the consumer stated when decided to slow down by applying the brake and shifting the cvt transmission into low range, to his surprise the transmission did not shift down and allow the engine compression to slow the vehicle down. he took the vehicle to the dealer, but they were unable to find anything wrong. the consumer was advised by ford customer service to take the vehicle to another dealer. the service manager stated the vehicle could not be shifted into low at 50-60 mph and expect it to slow down. however, the consumers manual stated the transmission may be shifted into low at any speed. | |||
| 04/10/2012 | 76102 | ||
| While travelling at approximately 70mph and after several hours of highway driving, the vehicle suddenly and without any warning lost all forward engine power (combustion engine and hybrid system). the incident occured while in the left lane of a major insterstate highway. the message stop safely now appears on the driver display. my wife was driving and narrowly and miraculously avoided accidents with following traffic including tractor-trailers and was able to move the vehicle to the righ hand shoulder. after several minutes on the side of the freeway, the vehicle was restarted and was able to be driven to the dealer where the diagnosis indicates a hybrid mec pump failure. after researching this failure mode on the internet and through other sources, it appears that the following situation exists: 1) this component exhibits a very high and premature failure rate at all mileage levels. 2) the failure mode (sudden and unexpected loss of all vehicle power) is highly likely to result in fatalities and major accidents. 3) the above information is well known to ford motor company and various technical service bulletins have been issued to aid in the diagnosis and replacement of this component. 4) nhtsa has previously received 25 similar or identical defect reports, yet still neither nhtsa nor ford motor company has acted to protect ford escape owners from this safety critical defect. i urge nhtsa and ford motor company to open a formal safety investigation on the ford escape hybrid mec pump stop safely now powertrain failures before lives are lost and more accidents occur due to this defect. | |||
| 06/25/2011 | 65000 | ||
| 2008 ford escape hybrid, approx 65k miles. drove approx 10 miles on expressway when suddenly vehicle losses engine power, red triangle with exclaimation point, and message stop safety now. coasted without power to pull over onto shoulder. another message read electric motor temp high. i turned off vehicle waited 2 minutes, turned on vehicle and drove approx 1/4 mile and again vehicle losses power with same stop safely now message. this occurred 9 times while on the way home, and once on the jr express which is 2 lane so i stopped all traffic. very dangerous. this has happened multiple times before and hassett ford service, ny tells me they can not do anything. called ford motor company and they will not do anything. are they waiting until there is a death as a result of engine power loss on a 65 mph expressway to offer a repair? no one from ford will offer a repair. a proper investigation is necessary and a recall to repair this problem immediately before a serious crash fire or death occurs. | |||
| 01/31/2011 | 28700 | ||
| Driving off road up a steep incline (40-45 degrees), the vehicle came to a halt. there wasn't any power going to the tires even though i had the accelerator pedal to the floor. the engine rpm would only rev up to about 1200 rpm. it felt as if there was a disconnect between the transmission and the engine as there was no power being delivered to the tires. the tires did not loose traction or spin either. what was especially unsafe about this is that it was extremely hazardous backing down the steep hill i had tried to ascend. i was trying to back down slowly by using the brake, but many times the brakes would lock up causing the vehicle to shift and slide sometimes sideways which could have caused the vehicle to roll. i tried to again to no avail. this vehicle is used by the us forest service in which many times the vehicle is required to go of road on forest service roads. there is a section in the owner's manual about off road driving, but it makes no mention that the vehicle should not be driven up steep inclines. | |||
| 11/23/2010 | 63084 | ||
| My 2008 ford escape hybrid has experienced at least two unexpected and un-commanded accelerations in the past week. the dealer has looked at it once and replaced the left front abs tone ring. the problem persists today 23nov2010. | |||