CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2005 Escape has problems where the engine shuts down while driving. Ford finally issued a September 2014 recall. Time will tell if the recall fix really solves the problem.
However the 2005 Escape also has a defect where the PCM (Power Control Module) fries at around 100k miles. Ford extended the PCM warranty to 80,000 miles, but only after most owners were past the mileage limit. Now owners are on the hook for the average repair cost of over $2,000 (!!)
Unlike other posts here, window exploded while parked, rear defrost wasn't on, and vehicle wasn't moving. We were so sure it was vandalism, police were called. Police officer stated he'd had this same call on at least one other Escape.
Thought someone shot a gun or threw a rock. I was stopped at an intersection and as I went through, the back window exploded into the car. Pieces of glass everywhere. Agreed....VERY dangerous. I was all over the road trying to look back and figure out what it was and if someone was following me. Again....agreed...pick it up Ford. Still looking to see what exactly it was but after reading all of these posts...I have a pretty good idea.....another victim to a Ford window....BOOO!!!!
Started up my 2005 Ford Escape to warm it up. I turned on the defrost and heat for approx. 3 minutes. Left my home and approx. less then a half a mile away the began to stop at a stop sign and the rear window just exploded. It propelled glass throughout the the vehicle and on the exterior.
Driving to work one morning. A little damp out and had the rear defrost on for a few minutes. 15 minutes into my commute I heard an explosion and looked in my rear view mirror to watch, in horror, my back window exploding - mostly into the car. It was around 50 degrees out - September in the NE. Never found out what caused it but reading your posts seems like this is a problem with 2005 Ford Escape's. $250 deductible and I am still waiting for the dealer to get parts - riding around with plastic on my window - will be another 10 days before they can even get me in. Some of the parts need to be replaced also. What a scary thing. Ford needs to do a recall before someone gets hurt or killed.
Driving long distance....it started to snow....I turned on the rear defrost and the back window exploded while I was driving. I had my pets in the back. Shattered glass everywhere. Everyone in the vehicle was terrified. We thought someone shot at us or threw a rock. Panic not sure what to do in small northern highway ....stopped at a grocery store where I managed to get some boxes to temporarily block out the cold. Had to drive for another 4 hrs like this with a sick person in the car and shaken pets. Luckily they were not killed. Luckily the unexpectedness of this didn't cause an accident. Had to travel back to Toronto before getting it fixed because the glass was some special tint that they didn't have up north. So another 6hr trip in the winter without a rear window. Is that not a safety issue Ford? Why is this not a recall when so many have this happen . If you have had this happen be warned this is the first in a number of electrical issues you will have which will end in complete computer failure. Look into it .....I'm having this problem right now....after months and months of taking the car in to different mechanics who can't figure out what's wrong....it all started with the computer....the windshield. Never will buy a ford again after this experience.
- rippedoff2,
Toronto, Ontario, canada
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Returned to my Escape after work to find rear window completely gone. It was parked in an underground garage. Assumed a break-in at first but most of the glass was outside the vehicle, spread over three parking spots, and nothing the in the vehicle had been touched. Replacing the window also required a new wiper motor. Called Ford Canada but have only received a survey asking me about my experience with their call center.
Well, first of all I agree with another customers' complaints...SHAME ON YOU FORD for not addressing the problem of exploding back windows on your Ford Escape's. There I was on the evening of New Years Day traveling down the highway at 80 km's/hr when suddenly my rear window exploded into my vehicle. I thought someone had shot at my car. Due to weather conditions (black ice) I was trying to get myself & my passengers home safely. Luckily after my window exploded I managed to keep my vehicle on the road. This is a very serious safety issue & should be addressed immediately by Ford before it causes a fatality. To be truthful...I once owned a Ford Lincoln & I swore that I would never purchase another Ford in my lifetime. Why?? Because that vehicle let me down so many times. Since that vehicle I have only owned Honda's & Volkswagons & have experienced NO major problems. And certainly NO safety issues. But, a few years ago my husband & I gave Ford the benefit of the doubt & purchased a 2005 Ford Escape as a second vehicle. We've done a couple of minor repairs to the vehicle which is acceptable. If Ford continues to disregard this safety issue I have will have no choice but to put Ford back on my "DO NOT BUY" list. I am in the process of emailing every single person I know that owns a Ford Escape to warn them about a possible exploding back window in their vehicle. FORD....pick up your socks!!!
Total surprise, searching for same problem on web shows it's much too common, Also found some instances of side windows exploding. Time to go after Ford to fix it.
We were driving down the interstate, it was snowing, and I had just turned the rear defroster on about 5 minutes prior to this incident. Traffic was moving slowly, when all of sudden we heard what we thought was a gunshot. I turned around to see my rear window in pieces on the inside of the car and all the parts that were not glass, just hanging in mid-air. Scared the crap out of my husband and I. He wanted to pull to the side of the road, and I told him to just keep driving (in case it was a gunshot). We got off at the next exit and checked for bullet casings, and found nothing. I told him I was going on-line when we got home to see if there was a recall for this. Nothing on the Ford web site as far as a recall, but then I found this website. I cannot believe that with all these complaints, Ford is doing nothing. And now I'm reading that could happen to the other windows in the car as well? What can we do to get Ford off it's ass to admit there is a problem?
Well, it scared the heck out of me..... Just shoveling snow and the window exploded. Of course husband walks over and says "What did you do"???? Apparently this is a common problem! I'm SO GLAD that my children were not standing close by and not hit by flying glass. This Escape is one problem after another!!!! I will never buy another Ford, sticking to my Toyotas!
It's incredible to see how many others this has happened to! I was driving my daughter and her friends home from the movies this evening. It was about 5 degrees Celsius out, it had been snowing earlier and it was raining. I was using the rear defogger as well as the rear wiper. Whammo! It sounded like a shotgun went off inside the truck! The rear window exploded and we were all scared out of our wits! I didn't pull over right away because I wasn't sure what had happened or whether there was still a danger. I pulled over a few minutes later to inspect the damage. Large pieces of the window were inside the truck and there was glass on the rear bumper as well. One of the hydraulic lifts was hanging outside, detached from where the glass had been. The other one was still attached to a chunk of glass attached near the frame. My guess is that the hydraulic lift caused the explosion. Will call the insurance company tomorrow and make arrangements for replacement. I think we'll replace the lifts too, just in case.
I was waiting outside the school today for the kids at dismissal time when all of a sudden the back glass in my truck exploded. I first thought someone was shooting it scared me to death. Then some other parents got out and we all took a look around and there was glass everywhere. It had shot out to the sides and back of the vehicle and onto the hood of the car parked behind me. I was just sitting there with the engine idling and the radio on and BOOM the glass exploded. I have been puzzled all day about it until my mom told me to get online and look it up and WOW this is not a rare occurrence huh. Seems like it is happening all over. I have not contacted Ford yet but I hope they will help, but from the posts I have read that does not seem likely.
Really now, Ford has a serious problem with back windows exploding by the look of things. Parked my car, came out after 8 hours and window is in millions of pieces all over ground/bumper/trunk. Temperature around 45 degrees all day and sunny. Car is parked right next to my corner office so no vandalism here either.
I've had this car less than a month and I also bought a 2003 for my daughter a month ago.
I got back from the Dr's office today came in my house went outside half hour later back window was in a million pieces. I looked everywhere for evidence of someone smashing it but there was none. I thought it was weird how the whole thing smashed so I looked on line and saw a whole bunch of complaints regarding the same issue. I called ford customer service but they said there is nothing that they can do to help.
I ended up getting this replaced by apple auto glass who did a terrific job on replacing it by the way. They told me that the back latch was so rusted out that the screws expanded and put pressure on the window causing it to explode. I was so furious about this situation this is a huge safety issue and ford does not want to take the responsiblity of fixing people's windows that have exploded. I guess there just waiting until someone really gets hurt. I have a 6year old son and I'm so Thank-ful that he was not in the car when this happened.
This is my second ford car and both times nothing but problems. I would not recommend ford to a friend no more. I'm very not impressed with this company. In the future I will be taking my buisness else where's. I can't afford to fix all of fords mistakes all the time, they need to take responsibility for there actions when it comes to defects.
I was driving a friend of my daughter's home and at a stop sign the window exploded......scared the crap out of me and my 13 yr old daughter ....enough to have me drive to the police to have them look at it...we thought we were hit with something and the glass shattered everywhere!!! I am especially horrified that there are so MANY complaints about this on the site ...it is crazy that this isn't covered by FORD....I am certainly not impressed and more so MAD that my daughter was in the back seat and scared out of her wits when it exploded and she cut her finger on the glass....I am not impressed that there isn't a more public warning that this is a common defect in the window......the scare ruined our night and my 13 yr old is very upset .....SHAME ON FORD.....my 1 yr old could have been in the back seat .....not very responsiblre of the FORD company !!!
rear window simply exploded during the night. No, I did not hit the window...No, nobody else hit the window...No, I didn't "slam" the window closed, (I seldom even use the window opening, I just open the whole tailgate.
Yes, I called the police, thinking it was vandalism...Yes, they stated that they see this "all the time" that these windows are KNOWN to explode for no reason...they pointed out how the glass was spread for 14 feet from side to side behind the vehicle, as if it was hit from INSIDE the vehicle, not outside (or more glass would have been inside). Yes, other people have believed this to be vandalism...my "phantom" fuzz buster and GPS were both still on the dashboard, Nice....when I called the police, don't think they missed this little detail. BTW the Phantom is worth its weight in gold.
No, Ford would not take any responsibility for this problem. Yes, my insurance covered it, but I had to pay a deductable, and drive around with no window, and there are these lift cylinders that just hang from inside when this happens.
See my other complaint about the cracking windshield that Ford also would not admit was a very common problem with these vehicles.
What a Merry Christmas it was. Christmas night I returned home, parked my Ford Escape and took 10 steps toward my home and heard an explosion behind me. I walked back to my Escape and discovered the rear window had exploded into thousands of pieces. Glass was scattered inside and outside of the vehicle (no vandalism.)
The tempeture was in the 50's and I had used the de-froster to clear up the steamed up rear window on the way home. It was the first time in over a year I used the de-froster. Baffeled at what had just happened would be an understatement. I was more than a little interested to learn here my exploding Escape rear window wasn't a unique incident.
Monday I'm taking my Escape to the dealership to see what they have to say. My Escape is still covered under an extended warranty.
Driving down the road on the way to the in-laws Christmas first snow of the year about 4 inches, 25 degrees F rear defroster was on and boom! Sounded like someone shot out the back window totally shattered. Unfortunately can't do anything about it until Monday, so sits in the garage until I can figure out how much this is going to cost or if the insurance will cover it. Thank God our dogs were not in the back. At the last minute we decided to leave them at home.
What the Hell.... I started my truck in the morning on December 17th for about 10 minutes with the back window defroster on to warm the vehicle up. After the 10 minutes I headed into town. I was going xmas shopping when I was going over a bridge and KABOOM..... I heard this LOUD bang and scared the BEJESUS out of me. I looked in my review mirror and it was gone... The glass shattered. There was no one behind me or close to me. I could not believe what just happened. This is not suppose to happen is it???? It was in the 20's out not that cold and this should not of happened. I called my boyfriend who works for a dealership and took it in and he searched and searched for a replacement and found one for $100.00 THANK GOD at least something good came out of the crap..... My father works for a Ford Dealership where I live and he never heard of that happening before in the winter months. What the hell I thought that Escapes are suppose to be a safe vehicle to drive... Not when your back window EXPLODES without a reason... Once again that is CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Unlike other posts here, window exploded while parked, rear defrost wasn't on, and vehicle wasn't moving. We were so sure it was vandalism, police were called. Police officer stated he'd had this same call on at least one other Escape.
- ethorne, Brantford, Ontario, Canada