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 2003 Ford Escape. The contact stated that the vehicle abnormally accelerated. The contact stated that he had to shift the vehicle into neutral and coast to the side of the road in order to stop the failure. The contact restarted the vehicle after allowing the engine to cool and took the vehicle to the dealer for inspection. The dealer cleaned out the throttle body and stated that ice was building up around the carburetor. The vehicle was repaired but the failure recurred. The failure mileage was 95,000.
The contact owns a 2003 Ford Escape. The contact stated that the vehicle unexpectedly accelerated several times without warning. On one occasion, the contact was turning right at 20 mph and the vehicle accelerated before pressure was applied to the accelerator pedal. The contact stated that the vehicle continued to accelerate until it stalled. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer on several occasions, but they were unable to diagnose the failure. The failure mileage was unknown and the current mileage was 70,000. The VIN was not available.
I parked my car in my garage (as I always do, my car is garage kept)after returning home from a sporting event at a local arena. I was in my home for approximately 10-15 minutes, my dog started acting funny, then the smoke alarm went off in the house. I went to check it, saw smoke coming in my kitchen from the top of the door to the garage. My husband opened the door to find fire coming out from underneath the driver's side fender of my 2003 Ford Escape XLT. He grabbed the fire extinguisher located just outside the kitchen in the garage and proceeded to attempt to put out the fire. The fire extinguisher did nothing to help put out the fire and it just started to get bigger. I called 911 and was advised to exit the home. We went outside grabbed garden hoses to continue to put out or contain the fire but it kept growing. The fire department arrived and attempted to put out the fire. My entire garage went up in flames and was completely destroyed, my kitchen is completely burned as well. My entire house is completely destroyed from heat and smoke damage. The house and all it's contents are considered unusable and we have lost everything. The fire investigator confirmed the origin of the fire was the drivers side of the vehicle, but gave no indication as to what exact part.
The contact owns a 2003 Ford Escape. The contact stated the throttle body would become stuck in the open throttle position whenever the outside temperature was below zero. The contacts personal mechanic advised that the failure occurred because the throttle was freezing in the open position and seemed to be a manufacturing defect. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 70,000 and the current mileage was 90,000.
I own a 2003 Ford Escape, recently purchased pre-owned. After having the vehicle approximately 3 weeks, while putting it into reverse to back up, suddenly it was as if the accelerator got stuck, the motor was revving up to 4 grand....I put the vehicle drive thinking maybe my floor mat was stuck under it, as I pulled to a redlight, I almost ran through the redlight with oncoming traffic because acceleration increased and it took all I had to stop the car by pushing the brakes with both feet as hard as I could. The floormats were not the problem.... I pulled off the side of the road, with my one year old baby in the back seat. I then turned the Escape off, and restarted it, the engine sounded as if it were going to blow, it was revving up to 4 and 5 grand. I then called a mechanic I knew, he came to get my vehicle to drive it back to his shop. During his very very short drive, he never had to put his foot on the gas at all, and the vehicle drove 40 miles per hour by itself... so far, all we know is that the iac valve had went bad...(idle air control)....I have had it back a few days and not had any more problems at this time, although I am very careful and scared this will happen again.... during research, I found their were almost 500,000 2003 model Ford Escapes recalled for similar problems with the acceleration. I contacted 2 different people with Ford Motor Company, on 2 separate occasions, explaining what had happened. They both assured me that "my vehicle" was not one of the half million involved in the recall. I find something very wrong with this because this was not just a freak thing that happened. This is dangerous and could have cost me and my baby our lives. There are to many other complaints by people with the same exact thin that has happened to them, and they are being told the same stories. Something isn't right, and Ford Motor Company needs to investigate further into this potentially deadly problem.
- Haleyville, AL, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
The contact owns a 2003 Ford Escape. The contact stated when the vehicle is put into drive it would abnormally accelerate without depressing the accelerator pedal. The contact was able to stop the unintended acceleration by applying the brakes. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing or repairs. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 145,000 and the current mileage was 150,000.
2003 Ford Escape vehicle was driving down interstate highway when the vehicle began to accelerate uncontrollably. The driver accelerator pedal would not respond to being pushed/pulled while the engine revved. Brake was fully depressed and vehicle continued to accelerate through braking. Vehicle transmission was disengaged to neutral, engine revved to 5500 RPM. Vehicle was coasted to a shoulder and shut down. Vehicle continues to rev to 5500 RPM as soon as it is started without response from accelerator. Accelerator was not caught/stuck to anything just non-responsive. Vehicle behavior caused a near accident situation - failure to disengage transmission by another 10 seconds would have caused a serious collision. Vehicle has been towed & remains in a repair shop. Vehicle continues to exhibit behavior and mechanic has determined this is due to a stuck throttle cable. Ford dealer was contacted & service mechanic noted he has seen this issue before but a recall has not been issued. Dealer has refused to honor any type of warranty/coverage of repairs. Research of Ford website & NHTSA indicates no open/previous recalls regarding issue. Third-party site cites recall of throttle issue as recall id 57885 w/ Ford contact #, however.
The contact owns a 2003 Ford Escape. The contact stated upon staring the vehicle, there was an abnormally increase in engine rpms. He proceeded to drive the vehicle, merging onto the highway. The vehicle accelerated without driver intent to speeds of up to 45 mph. The contact stated he had to use extreme force on the brake pedal in order to stop the vehicle. The dealer advised that he no longer drive the vehicle until it could be inspected. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where they replaced the iac valve in an attempt to remedy the failure. The contact had not experienced the failure since the date of repairs. The failure mileage was approximately 96,000 and the current mileage was approximately 97,000.
I have a 2003 Ford Escape, the gas pedal sticks. I have taken numerous times to have it fixed at the Ford dealership. They say I need to use different gas which I did. They told me to change my fuel filter, which I have done numerous times. And it still sticks. My wife will not drive the vehicle, she is afraid to drive it. When I say it sticks, when you put your foot on the gas pedal you have to push it down hard then let up or you go to fast. I am getting no where. I will never buy another Ford product ever. I really need help in this matter. I see all this on Toyota, and I can't get any were with Ford. Help!
I was traveling at approx 40 mph in my 2003 Ford Escape, when my vehicle began to increase in speed. I took my foot off the gas & it went faster. I pressed hard on the brakes, but the acceleration continued. I panicked & put the vehicle into park, where we slammed to a stop but the engine continued to rev and the car was hopping forward. I was 9 months pregnant and I had 4 yr old & 9 yr old child with me. I turned the car off & removed the keys & called a tow truck. At the Ford dealership, the service manager was able to duplicate the trouble originally, but then it stopped. They charged me nearly $100 for 2 days of testing, but couldn't figure out what was causing it. At that time I hadn't heard about the Toyota acceleration problem, so I thought it was a fluke.
I have a 2003 Ford Escape which had accelerator cable replaced under a recall from Ford in approximately 2005. I am having the same problems that caused the recall, which is not coming back to idle speed and actually sticking wide open on one occasion. Ford Motor Company refuses to replace this at their cost, so am doing this at my own expense, obviously sooner than later.
The contact owns a 2003 Ford Escape. While driving 45 mph, the vehicle suddenly accelerated on its own to 65 mph. The contact depressed the brake pedal, but the brakes failed and became locked. She placed the gear into neutral and drove in the emergency lane. She shut off the vehicle and restarted it after some time. Once it was restarted, the brakes softened up and the rpms decreased to the original start position. The dealer stated that there were no recalls on the vehicle. She then took the vehicle to a repair shop and was informed that there were a few recalls on the vehicle; however, NHTSA campaign id number 04V574000 (vehicle speed control:cables) was related to the failures with her vehicle. Once she found the recall, the contact notified the dealer and they refused to acknowledge the recall information. She later called the manufacturer and they stated that the recall was repaired four years ago on her vehicle. The vehicle has not yet been repaired, but the failure has not recurred since the original incident. She is worried that the issue could cause future failures and that the vehicle should be repaired again since it was not done properly the first time. The current and failure mileages were 115,000.
The contact owns a 2003 Ford Escape. When the vehicle was started, it idled at 3,000 RPM's and would not decrease. As a result, when placed into drive, the vehicle will speed off. The dealer stated that the VIN was not included in NHTSA campaign id number 04V574000 (vehicle speed control:cables). The failure mileage was 67,000.
Several times in the past while turning the corner the car killed. Hit brakes hard to avoid rear-end collision. The car accelerated, causing me to once again hit the brakes.
: the contact stated while driving 40mph, the engine revved at an elevated rate and the vehicle lurched forward without warning. The vehicle was inspected by the dealer. A NHTSA recall, #04V574000 was performed on the vehicle concerning, the vehicle speed control however, the recall did not remedy the problem. The dealership performed a second repair with charge under the recall, additionally the throttle and throttle body assembly was replaced. Afterwards, the engine revving and lurching persisted.
The contact stated at 55 mph vehicle stalled. The vehicle would turn on immediately after at first. Then, the accelerator would have to be pressed for the vehicle to start. The vehicle was taken to a mechanic and multiple components were replaced, but the problem was not fixed until the throttle was replaced. There have been no more problems since then.
On my way to work yesterday, I was exiting the highway onto an off-ramp. I did not have the gas pedal pressed, yet the truck was accelerating to speeds over 70 mph. I tried pressing on the brakes, but that did not stop the truck. I finally put the truck in neutral in order to avoid an accident. While sitting at the intersection waiting for the light to change, still in neutral, the truck's engine was revving higher & higher. The truck was literally rocking back & forth. When the light turned green, I put the truck in drive & it raced on. I was very careful to allow ample space in-between my truck & other drivers. I had 2 other intersections to go through before arriving at my work location. I would continue to put the truck in neutral while sitting at an intersection. This was a very scary experience. If I hadn't of reacted so quickly, I would have crashed into other vehicles and would have caused an accident. I was lucky that this did not occur while I was in the stop & go traffic closer to my home. This experience shook me up for quite some time. I contacted the nearest Ford dealer & was told to contact Ford's roadside assistance to have the truck towed to the dearlership. Within minutes the tow truck arrived & took my truck to the dealership. The dealership replaced the throttle cable under warranty & within a few hours, I was driving my truck again. After the replacement, there seemed to be no resistance while pushing the gas pedal. Therefore, I did not notice this problem that was about to explode. After my experience, I now see there have been other cases such as mine. I was lucky. How many others won't be?
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Dearborn, MI, USA