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:
9 / 60
Injuries / Deaths:
14 / 0
Average Mileage:
56,186 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.
For several years, we have been taking the car to the dealer because we continue to have to top off the reservoir with antifreeze. At our most recent service visit, we were informed that there could possibly be a crack in the engine block causing the antifreeze to leak into the engine. This is the same problem as a recall associated with the same year, make and model vehicle. The recall number is 12V431000
I have a 2013 Ford Escape with the 1.6l motor. The cup plug is leaking on my exhaust. This issue has a recall on it on vehicles manufactured from 10/5/2011 to 8/5/2012 in which mine is 7/2012 but my vin was not on the list for the recall. I don't want to drive the car for risk of fire as the recall states but it's my only vehicle.
Vehicle started grumbling upon acceleration. No warning lights came on indicating an issue but I felt the vehicle was unsafe to drive and had it towed to the dealer. The dealer inspected the car and found that the cylinder head of the engine was cracked. The vehicle has had coolant issues repaired on multiple occasions, once over the summer when the hose exploded causing the vehicle to overheat. The crack in the engine and the lack of warning light could have caused me to drive this vehicle and it catch on fire while driving.
Upon driving with my 3 young children on a 45mph road with 0 warning or notification the car quit accelerating. upon pulling over it would not restart. I had it towed to my house. A new battery was purchased and the car seemed fine. not even a few days later the low coolant light came on and even after filling it the next day it was empty again. Then whenever i slowed down, stopped at a light or stop sign the car will not accelerate as if the gears are not engaging.the reverse doesn't work at all anymore. after making a left turn into my neighborhood the car without any warning lights or notice would not go at all and i tried to restart to get it to go and a car (that was wayyy down the rd) honked it's horn and sped by me to where my car rattled. With my 3 children in the car who were terrified. My oldest who is 8 now has anxiety getting into vehicles. I called ford dealership and was told to call Ford. Ford said they had assistance prpgrams and then upon calling back with scheduled appointment said there was no such thing. Im told it's $100 just to diagnose it at ford and refuse to wave it. They said it sounds like the transmission which would be around 8k +... I'm only halfway through this car loan and am now paying on a car that is no longer drivable and costs more to fix than it's even worth. This is totally wrong that this car can still legally be sold with an open investigation as dangerous as this. it shouldn't take a death for action. The car is available for inspection upon request. It is sitting in my driveway.
I have a Ford Escape 2013 1.6 engine. The engine will sputter and stall and completely die. It does this spontaneously and no warning to indicate it will. I have gone to Ford multiple times about this issue yet they say there's nothing they can do about this issue.
- Dahlonega, GA, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
2013 Ford Escape Titanium 2.0L Ecoboost started making weird noises. I took it to the dealer to be looked at and now the Cylinder and turbo have to be replaced along with associated parts, due to coolant leaking into the block. Cost upwards of $6k to have it fixed. The parts alone costs almost the same as a new engine. I am blessed that it didn't seize or catch on fire before now. The backup camera is also giving me issue. I was told by the mechanic that it is also a well known problem and they have to replace a lot of Ford cameras costing about $900 to do so.
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle would overheat without warning. The contact had the spark plugs, engine coils, and valve cover gasket replaced on multiple occasions; however, the failure persisted. The contact had taken the vehicle to a dealer however, a diagnostic test was not performed. The contact was informed that the engine had failed and needed to be replaced. Upon investigation, the contact discovered NHTSA Campaign Number: 13V583000 (Engine) which he linked to the failure. The manufacturer had been notified of the failure and informed him that there was no recall on the vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was unknown.
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving approximately 5 MPH, the vehicle stalled. The contact was able to restart the vehicle. The contact stated that there was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where it was diagnosed with needing the catalytic convertor to be replaced however, the vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure and the contact was awaiting a response. The failure mileage was 111,319.
The water pump is leaking which is causing residual issues with the timing. I don't know enough about engines to know for certain how severe the safety concern is with this, but I felt negligent to not report it. The problem has been reviewed by a garage and an independent mechanic. It has not been inspected by insurance or police. The warning light only came on after the leak almost completely drained the coolant.
Check engine light soon light appeared in the morning. When accelerating up a steep incline, the engine temperature rose to the level of overheating within ~30 seconds and displayed the pull over immediately warning. At this time the engine began to emit a burning smell The check engine light went off but when I took the vehicle to a garage the next day, they were able to pull code P26B7, related to the engine coolant bypass. There is a TSB 13-2-15 related to this issue. The vehicle has less then 38,000 miles on
The contact's cousin owns a 2013 Ford Escape. The contact stated that his cousin informed him that the vehicle was overheating and leaking antifreeze after parking the vehicle. The contact, an independent mechanic, performed a pressure test and noticed there was antifreeze leaking from a hole in the cylinder head. The vehicle was not repaired. The dealer was made aware of the failure but did not diagnose the vehicle. The dealer gave the contact a printout of a possible failure. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 151,058.
We have constant issues with the coolant system and finally a mechanic said that what was wrong was actually a recalled item. There was localized overheating of the engine cylinder head which caused a crack in the head/ gasket and is allowing oil/ coolant to leak internally. We then took it to out local Ford dealership, they confirmed the problem and that it would have been covered under USANHTSA recall # 13V583000, EXCEPT that there was an "inspection" done and "no leaks were found at this time". We are questioning the inspection/ remedy since the EXACT problem stated in the recall happened.
[XXX] October 3, 2021 at 10:09 PM I also have a 2013 Ford Escape SEL 1.6 ECO BOOST. I purchased the car is March 2018. I was permanently disabled from military service so they made me purchase a very expensive warranty and because I couldn-€™t work my credit had suffered while waiting on my VA and SS. That cost me 18% interest, but we had no vehicle as we had to give it back while recovering from 8 surgeries. Never missed a payment but I think I know why the bank made me pay $1800 for the warranty in cash. Less than a month both drive shafts had to be replaced. $400 out of pocket. Then Ford said I had a leak and replaced a gasket, which triggered a Ford mandated replacement of the flanged fuel line not covered by warranty. $800 out of pocket. Back up camera is a joke. They have no answer. NOW MOST DANGEROUS ISSUSE. When ever we would slow down our car lost power and stalled. The car had to be turned off and restarted. Extremely dangerous for anyone, but with my three Grandchildren we had to get to the bottom of it. Another Ford dealership said it was a bad battery. Charged me $140 and didn-€™t change the battery. We bought a $200 battery but this has not stop the problem. Seems when you let off gas is mainly when. Making Red lights and stops dangerous, your at a stop light or sign you must be aware that the car could stall 50/50. We can-€™t put our Grandchildren in the car. It-€™s not safe We paid $400 to replace the fuel something or other, that controls the amount of fuel going into the combustion chamber as I was told, BUT nope hasn-€™t worked. NOW when the car does take off the RPM shots up before the gears shift. We took it to get the code read and it-€™s telling us to replace the TURBO. If they said something should be fixed we fixed it. I ask them about recalls on 2013 Ford Escapes and was told straight to my face there were non though I had gotten letters regarding the doors. Also by the way I know that a coolant system is a closed system and we are losing. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORM
Engine has begun to leak oil and smells like burning oil while driving. Have taken to mechanic to find the source of the leak and was told that it is coming from the engine or cylinder head, not the drain plug or oil filter as suspected since it just had an oil change. Mechanic then looked up the vehicle model on- line and informed me that his problem shouldbe covered under several recalls for this make and model. However, calling the dealer to have it serviced was informed that this particular vehicle doesn't qualify for the recall even though it is the same year/model and problem as the other ones that are covered. Am afraid to drive vehicle for fear of engine fire.
2nd day I had it temp out side was -15° in Feb. I started my car and warning lamp said low coolant service immediately not even 2 minutes it said pull over safely engine will shut down. dealership came got it said it was a coolant hose.... they lied. it was the coolant bypass valve that was malfunctioning. I got the car back and it was okay for a couple weeks then said low coolant. I've been dealing with pretty significant coolant bypass valve problem since. so I got to researching and found that there was infact a recall on my year, make and model car but yet my vin wasn't included. this is seriously going to cause me or my family serious injury if not fixed and I do not believe I should have to pay for repairs on something that's known to be faulty.
Anytime I am driving for an extended amount of time, inevitably, the vehicle will come up with a P1299 fault code and the vehicle will reduce power by 50%, causing me to have to pull over on the side of the road. Check the coolant levels and they are fine, there is no smell of anything burning, and the coolant temp - recorded by the vehicle, is just shy of a normal 199 degrees F. This issue seems like it falls under the well-known Safety Recall kit 17S09, but when I check my VIN #, there are no 'unanswered recalls'
Massive leak at Turbo hose, would of blown my engine if I didn-€™t catch the massive oil leak. Was informed Ford changed the hose from rubber to steel. Won-€™t do a recall on it.
The coolant runs low and puffs smoke from the exhaust each morning upon startup. This is consistant with recall # 12V551, but my VIN is not included in that recall. It has the same exact issues, so I would like this to be covered before our engine blows up.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Chicago , IL, USA