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.
I drive a 2009 Ford Escape automatic with a V6 engine. On Sunday, May 26, 2013 at approximately 1:00 am, I was driving at 70 mph on interstate 10 West. Suddenly, I heard a single click sound. The wrench was illuminated on my dash board and the accelerator pedal stopped working. No matter what I did, nothing happened. I was terrified that I would be rear ended by the cars behind me for slowing down suddenly, so I put on my hazard lights and moved to the interstate median. I turned my truck off for a few minutes and then restarted it. I was able to proceed home with no further issue. This whole incident came with absolutely no warning. If a light indicating that service was needed, I could have avoided this nightmare. I am now learning that there is a defect with this vehicle.
I feel like I should document the same issue that happened to many other of these vehicles. I pulled out of the driveway, put it in drive. The engine reved up and down from about 1300 to 2000. There was no power at all. This is so dangerous, everything feels fine, you go to give your car power, and it stutters and doesn't respond. There are no warning signs until it happens. I'm glad it happened to me on my residential street. If this happened when I was trying to make a left turn across lanes, god help me. I'd rather the vehicle not start or stall when I put it in drive than what it did. I plan on taking the car in tomorrow and for them to tell me it needs a new throttle body.
Truck failed to accelerate from a red light, with pedal completely engaged. Had continued loss power/thrust when I push the gas. This happens so often now, I am not comfortable driving in heavy traffic as I never know if I'll be able to accelerate. Sunday after finally getting home, I was unable to get it to stay cranked when I depress the gas pedal to reverse. This loss of power was exuberated by having the A/C running. First the timing cover leaks at 22, 761, then a pulley falls off the engine at 40,149 spraying oil all over my interior via the A/C. after the pulley was replaced the car would idle high and then started jerking as if it wanted to stall, took to Ford dealership and was told there were no codes, finally had the tech drive with me and he felt the jerking. After three visits for this, in November 2012 at 50,000 I was am told the coil pack needs to be replaced, now at 55, 063 miles I am told it is the throttle body that needs to be replaced" I think I was sold a lemon and in the state of Florida that's illegal. What if I am rear ended due to the horrible craftsmanship of your product"
I was driving down the road when the car suddenly stopped accelerating despite the fact my foot was on the accelerator. The wrench light lit up indicating a problem with the throttle/powertrain. I coasted to a stoplight, shut the engine off and restarted the car. The car restarted and resumed normal acceleration.
While driving the car started to sputter and would not accelerate and then would suddenly accelerate without touching the accelerator. Eventually the engine just shut off all together. Has happened several times since then. Found out it was because of the throttle body, which seems to be a recurrence on Ford Escapes.
- Sebring, FL, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
Driving on freeway at approximately 65 mph. Car suddenly seemed to lose power, but retained power steering function. Would not accelerate but might have had minimal power. Coasted across three lanes of traffic and used brakes to stop. Wrench shaped light on dash lighted. Turned off engine and restarted after about 15 seconds. Vehicle ran fine for next 90 miles and the next day. Dealer evaluated the problem and says the throttle body needs replacement. There are other reports of similar problems on your website. Also reports of possible recall for this problem by nhtsb and automotive press. It is a serious failure at speed on a busy highway and needs your attention. Will the dealer cover the cost of the repair if there is a subsequent recall for this defect?
I was driving on a 2 lane road at 35 mph with my young daughter and friend in the car when the car rapidly decelerated unexpectedly to around 5 mph. It sputtered and the "throttle control/power train" light lit on the dash. Fortunately, the traffic was moving slow enough that I did not cause an accident. I turned on my hazard lights and crawled to the intersection where I turned onto a service road and parked. I waited 5 minutes and restarted the car and made it home safely 3 miles away. I will see what Ford dealer has to say about this on the next business day. I have this car now for less than four years and have one incident after another. I have purposely purchased american made cars over the last 7 years, but don't seem to have luck. I may have to go back to foreign brands.
The affected part is the throttle body. This issue had happened about 10 times since March 12th 2013. I was driving in rush hour traffic and going about 65 when it happened and it just stalled. There was a wrench light that came on. I had to somehow merge over two lanes while not being able to accelerate (very scary)! again this has happened about 10 times finally today while on a busy highway, where there was barely any room to pull over, it happened again. I was able to start it back up merge back into traffic, somehow, and about a mile down the freeway it happened again. I was able to find somewhere to pull over and this time the engine light came on. I took it somewhere and was able to get a fault code (P2111). There needs to be a recall on this! it was not only scary but very dangerous. I hope that if there is anyone else out there with this problem they make a complaint.
On October 24, 2009, the RPM needle would stick at the 2000 level. Hesitation occurred when accelerating March 2, 2010, the throttle binded on acceleration. On july19, 2011, powertrain control module had to be reprogrammed due to recall.on February 12, 2011, engine died while driving, restarted engine, and would drive, and problem would repeat. Throttle body assembly replaced.on December 3,2012, engine light would appear and dtc codes were cleared, wiggle test and wiring diagnosis performed. On March 16th,2013, car powered down to slow crawl and engine light appeared. Transmission axle leak repaired. On April 5th, throttle /powertrain light appeared and car slowed down to a slow crawl. Restarted and drove home. I am concerned for my safety and have no confidence in driving this car.
The contact owns a 2009 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving approximately 35 mph, the vehicle was hesitant to accelerate. Additionally, while parked and shifting into park or reverse the vehicle jerked. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 200.
Was driving at a consistent speed down a fairly busy road. Vehicle suddenly lunged forward and accelerated without any pressure on gas pedal and I almost hit car in front of me and braking had no effect. After a few seconds of acceleration the car seemed to lose power to the drivetrain and was unresponsive to me pressing the gas pedal, and the wrench warning light game on. I could only coast over to the side of the road, but the shoulder was not wide enough so part of my car was still in the lane and the car behind me had to swerve out of my way. The car was stuttering and did nothing when I pressed the gas pedal, clutch, or changed gears. Turned off and restarted and the car was working fine as it had been before the incident. The wrench light had disappeared so my mechanic could not pull any codes, but believes it is a defective sensor in the throttle body. For the car to suddenly lunge forward uncontrollably without any warning is extremely dangerous, no matter how short of time. I won't drive until the new part arrives, which could be a week as I live in Hawaii. Also, Ford is refusing to pay for it as the warranty has expired. Upon investigating this weekend I have found that this is a common problem with the Escapes, but as an owner I was never once warned of it. Had I been I would have it checked out much earlier and replaced if necessary.
I started having problems with my car shutting down in Feb 2012. After 2 throttle body's and still problems the dealer put a flight recorder on my car. This recorded 5 episodes of engine failure. They found that a sensor to the main computer was bad and replaced it. They left the recorder on and today 3/12/13 the car stopped twice and I pressed the recorder button. The car seizes, the engine revs when standing still and hesitates upon pick up. This has gone on long enough. Ford doesn't know what to do about this problem and it is hazardous to my health. One day my luck may not be good as to who is behind me when it stalls. Recall! recall! recall! someone needs to do something about this!
The contact owns a 2009 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving approximately 15 mph, the vehicle failed to accelerate and the rpms increased excessively. The vehicle also jerked forward without warning. The contact stated that the failure recurred intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the failure could not be replicated. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 4,000 and the current mileage was 65,000.
While driving approximately 55 on an interstate in middle of heavy traffic, my 2009 Ford Escape XLT 3.0L suddenly decelerated and went into limp mode. I carefully made it to the shoulder as speed dropped to about 5 miles an hour. While parked on the shoulder I noticed the warning light for the electronic throttle was lit. I shut off the engine and waited about 5 minutes. I restarted without incident. This is the 2nd time this has happened and it has been running rough as well.
While driving on the highway the vehicle lost power and the wrench light came on. It wouldn't accelerate I was able to coast to the shoulder unharmed, but it was a morning commute and the highway was very busy I could have easily been hit. I turned the car off and it did start up again. This happened 2 more times in the same morning. I called the Ford service department and immediately brought my car in per their instruction. After holding my car for 2 days and charging me $130 for service they told me there was nothing they could do because the wrench light doesn't hold codes. They knew when I dropped it off the only light that came on was no longer on when I brought the car in and they didn't warn me in advance that they weren't going be able to do anything without it happening while they had it. My vehicle at this time was under maintenance and power train warranty. So I took it home and this happened about 20 more times both on the highway and driving through town over about a 7 month period. This happened again 2 days ago 4 times on my way home from work on a very narrow road so it was very dangerous. This time the check engine light stayed on and I made another appointment with Ford. I was told it had the codes for (throttle body stuck open/closed) they were able to replace the throttle body which I hope will fix this extremely dangerous problem. My car is still under powertrain warranty, but I was told that this part is not covered. So I paid full price for the part because my safety is more important, but this should really be recall. There were numerous times I could have been in a very serious accident.
My wife and I were driving home from supper at a restaurant. We were on a busy city street doing about 30 mph, when the car suddenly lost power and slowed to around 1 to 2 mph. We managed to ease the car home(around 2blocks) amid horns blowing and lights flashing from other drivers.the engine light had come on and showed a picture of a wrench. When I explained to the lady at the Ford dealership the next day, she seemed to know right away that it would be a wrench showing, which made me assume that they had this problem before.....bill for repairs was $545.
My 2009 Ford Escape has acceleration problems. I try not to make left turns due to vehicle slowing down when I am accelerating, the wrench comes on in the cab when I start experiencing the problem. Also when on highway wrench light comes on and car slows down lie the brakes are on.
While driving, the vehicle lost power. When pressing on gas it just coasted. The wrench warning light came on. Was able to get to side of the road, but almost got hit from behind. Turned vehicle off, restarted and was back on the road. On other occasions there has been some surging. I see that there has been many complaints on this problem and it is getting some press that there is a defective part (throttle body). I contacted Ford service and was told that they could look at it, but it is not under warranty. However, the wrench warning light indicate a power train issue, I was told it is not covered under the power train warranty. This does not make sense and it truly looks like a defective part. This is very unsafe and could result in a very bad accident in traffic. This needs to be a recall since they are aware of the issue.
The contact owns a 2009 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving approximately 60 mph, the vehicle failed to accelerate and the RPM increased. The contact mentioned that the wrench symbol warning light illuminated. Also, the contact stated that the failure occurred intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the failure was not diagnosed. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 20,000 and the current mileage was 60,000.
My first incident with my 2009 Ford Escape happened shortly after I bought it. After just starting my truck and driving a short distance, the truck would not accelerate but the RPM's were roaring to over 6000 and my truck finally shot out into traffic. Luckily on a very busy street, no one was coming at the time. After that the truck had multiple incidents of not accelerating in traffic and a roaring and rapid rise in RPM's. I learned to immediately turn my car off (in the middle of the road) and then restart and it would usually work properly. It can be very scary. It would often slam into gear when this happened which I know was not good for my transmission. This happened intermittently so I knew it might be hard for a technician to replicate. When I took it to the dealer for 3 years they said everything was fine. When my warranty was up I went in and insisted that they fix my truck. They replaced a tie rod, fixed the sway bar linkage and said it was fine. It started making really loud noises a month later and I took it to my mechanic who again fixed the linkage. I called Ford and they kept the truck for a couple weeks and did extensive transmission work. It has had 2 problem since but not as bad. I still worry about front end issues after 3 years of slamming into gear with the engine revving. I bought this vehicle(usually I leased my truck) because I was retiring and now I feel I must get rid of it because of anticipated mechanical trouble.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Baton Rouge, LA, USA