CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2013 Ford Escape has been in the news quite a bit and for all the wrong reasons. Within a few months of its release the SUV was recalled three times, twice because of engine fires.
In July 2012, due to a fuel line that could split and leak, Ford told owners to park their cars because even driving to the dealership for repairs was deemed too dangerous. Instead, in a somewhat unprecedented move, Ford sent tow trucks to pick up the affected vehicles and handed out rental cars while the owners waited for repairs.
A few months later the Escape was recalled again because antifreeze could leak out onto the engine due to a freeze plug becoming dislodged. As the coolant hit the hot engine there was, once again, a threat for fire.
The 2013 is the first model year of the Escape's 3rd generation and proves once again that you want to avoid the first model year when at all possible.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
3 / 14
Injuries / Deaths:
6 / 0
Average Mileage:
51,198 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
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.
Started my car and had no steering with no warning. Thank God I wasn-??t driving the car when this happened. Spoke with Ford Dealership and they knew exactly what the issue was. They said it was a malfunction of the rack and pinion steering which they said was common on the 2013 Ford Escape. Cost for Ford Dealership to repair was $2,700.
The transmission will sometimes fail to engage immediately after putting the vehicle in drive or reverse. If the driver steps on the gas pedal, the transmission jerks violently to engage. Also while driving, the transmission will have a slight slipping before allowing acceleration. No OBD codes appear and no dashboard warning messages appear. In addition to the transmission problem, I obtained a P0234 and P0299 OBD code. This code is for the turbocharger overboost solenoid, which I had replaced, but the code has returned.
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving 35 MPH, the vehicle stalled. The contact was able to restart the vehicle and drive to her residence. The contact took the vehicle to an independent mechanic, where the vehicle was diagnosed, and it was determined that the housing unit and the thermostat needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired but continued to experience the failure. The vehicle was not drivable. The contact towed the vehicle to the local dealer, but the dealer was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact towed the vehicle back to the independent mechanic and was informed that the coolant sensor and the regulator needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired but continued to experience the failure. Upon investigation, the contact associated the failure with NHTSA Campaign Number: 12V551000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) and 12V310000 (Electrical System) however, the VIN was not included in the recalls. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.
This car constantly stops in mid traffic. I have taken it everywhere and they can-??t seem to find anything wrong. I-??ve call ford a hundred times and nothing.
My wife and I own a 2013 Ford Escape SE that developed a "Steering Assist Failure" error message on the dashboard. This failure causes the power steering to drop and the steering wheel has to be manually turned. When she drove it, she didn''t know what to do, so she drove it a few blocks to our house and told me about what happened. When I drove it and that happened to me, I put the vehicle back in park and shut the engine off for about 10 seconds. When I turned it back on, the error message went away and I was able to use the power steering without any problems.
- Colfax , LA, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the -??Engine Power Reduced-?? message was displayed and the vehicle started to jerk and run rough. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact pulled over and restarted the vehicle. The contact stated that the vehicle had to be restarted several times before the vehicle regained normal operation. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the contact was informed that the VIN was not included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 14V495000 (Electrical System) The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 62,137.
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Escape. The contact stated while starting the vehicle and exiting the driveway, the vehicle stalled. The contact stated that several unknown warning lights were illuminated, and messages were displayed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. A dealer was not contacted. Upon investigation, the contact associated the failure with NHTSA Campaign Number: 15V813000 (Electrical System) however, the VIN was not included. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 91,000.
Car went down on Friday. Won't start. Brand-new battery and the starter and alternator was tested and they both are good. Looked up VIN and was not notified that there was a recall on a certain part on my vehicle. I'd like to get this issue fixed because now my windows won't even go up or down.
On a few separate occasions beginning in the summer of 2022, my steering wheel has locked up after turning the ignition on. Each time this happened, I had to wait for it to "unlock", which is usually just seconds. However, on January 22, 2023 WHILE DRIVING I received a message on the dashboard that said "steering assist fault" and I had to pull over because the steering wheel was too hard to maneuver, whether it be turning left or right. I felt like it was going to break I had to turn it so hard, and with my entire body. Once I pulled over I turned the car off and let it sit for a couple of minutes and then re-started it. The message went away but the steering was really sloppy, to the point where it felt like I could turn the wheel 180 degrees with the tires barely turning themselves. Once I got home and parked it for the night, I took it to a local mechanic and they were unable to get any messages from it but did discover I'm not the only Ford who has had issues with this message and/or steering. I talked to my Ford dealer and they have heard about the problem with other Fords. I would like someone to check into it because it could become a real liability for Ford if this problem is not resolved. By googling the search terms "ford steering assist failure" I was able to bring up a big forum wherein other Ford owners were complaining of this issue.
My car only has 44K miles on it. It has stalled out in traffic 3 times in the past 90 days. There are NO check engine lights. If I put it in neutral it will start back up just fine and continue to run fine. I took it to my local mechanic and he said it appears to be due to a recall on some Ford vehicles with the wiring harness. I contacted a Ford Dealer and the Ford motor company and they tell me that this recall does not affect my car. The recall is (14S17-S1.) I am reporting to you because I believe this recall affects more vehicles than what Ford originally had listed for this recall.
The fuel line caught fire while driving under normal load. There is no active recall on this model any longer, but had one years ago for same issue. This vehicle has 89k miles, serviced regularly, and fire
I am really uncertain due to the fact that when I was experiencing problems with this car, ford and other licensed mechanic shops were not able diagnose what was wrong with my car. I was denied service by ford on 2 occasions and by time the car was past a simple fix I was unable to use my extended warranty.
More times than not, the car is stalling when started. It will stall or near stall when driving. No warning lights come on when this is happening. I have noticed that when the car started doing this, that the controls for the dashboard are now not working properly. For example; when you try to reset the trip milage, it will go through all settings on board and you are not able to reset anything. This has been on going since the odometer has hit 58,000 miles. The stalling of the engine is happening more and more frequently. I have had it to several repair shops, and no one can tell me why, even though they have witnessed it stalling.
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving 25-30 MPH, the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact was able to drive to her residence where she parked the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the engine wiring harness needed to be replaced. The dealer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 61,000.
I picked my car up tonight from Haley-€™s in FarmVille va they fixed my door latches due to recall on latches. I told Them prior to dropping it off that the ABS light and traction control light and engine coolant light keeps coming on. When I pulled out the parking lot I almost got rear ended because the car didn-€™t want to go it was moving so slow I had to slowly make myself across the road into kfc parking lot without getting hit. Haley refuses to fix these problems bc the light automatically goes off on its own and they say it-€™s got to physically be on for them to fix it through recall but it keeps coming on whenever I have the car In my possession and it-€™s very dangerous
As I am driving the car with speed 35mph I heard a very loud pop on the passenger side I was terrified and then the window dropped all the way in. As of right now the window controller is not functioning at a 100 percent and I bought this car less than year ago from a ford dealer ship. I will like to know how I can proceed with this situation and get it fix
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle hesitated while coming to a stop and then stalled. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and a case was opened. The manufacturer informed the contact that there was no recall associated with the VIN. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 15V813000 (Electrical System) however, the VIN was not included. The failure mileage was approximately 54,000.
The controls in the driver side door stopped working. No window or door locks could be activated. The car was taken in to the Ford dealership and it was repaired so the controls worked. A few months later, while driving on the interstate at 70 MPH the engine turned off with no warning. All the warning lights in the electrical panel lit up after the engined turned off. After getting off the road and sitting for a few minutes the car started with no problem. After driving 20 minutes, we stopped and tried to use the controls in the driver side door to put the window down. No controls in the driver door functioned. I took the car in for repair but there were no loaner cars and was told they would have to keep the car at least two weeks. I needed transportation so I waited to take the car in. The engine turned off two additional times while i was driving with no warning. I took the car in to the Ford dealership again. They said the door control problem was a fuse and they would have to try to find what was shorting out the fuse. They did not have any comment about the engine stalling out which I reported. They have had the car 4 weeks. I see that some 2013 escape models have been recalled for the engine stalling. I think my car should be added to the recall. I really need my transportation. I am borrowing my mother's car. There is no other car at my house.
Car will not start when temperature outside is near or below freezing. Message "no key detected" displays on the console. Lights flash with clicking noises while the car tries to start. This happened in 2020. It seemed to be resolved. In the past couple months it has happened multiple times. Each time the dealership returned car "fixed" to no avail. This has left me stranded multiple times.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Freehold, NJ, USA