Stop safely now-lights up and engine kills/quits. Will restart after stopping and restarting vehicle engine kills creating a dangerous situation.

- Belle Chasse, LA, USA

I was driving with my family to see mt. Rushmore at night when my 2008 Ford Escape hybrid suddenly shut down. I was on the freeway going about 70 mph when without warning a red triangular warning light came on and the engine stopped running. I pulled over, shut the engine off, and was able to complete my trip after this. However, when vacationing a year later in Michigan, this exact same thing happened 3 times when making an 8-hour trip. Each time I've been going close to 70 mph and I've had to carefully navigate my way to the side of the freeway... very dangerous! it would seem that a recall would be in order for such a serious safety issue.

- Oak Creek, WI, USA

Does someone have to die before Ford recalls these cars to fix the hybrid cooling system in these vehicles. I have fixed the problem once myself (two years ago) and now it is happening again. These cars shut down on the highway with out warning because of something going on with the hybrid system. This time my wife was in the passing lane when it happened. One day someone is going to die from this problem because it only happens when you are traveling at higher speeds (on a highway) the red triangle light comes on and automatically shuts down the car. Some family will be killed because of this and Ford will be caught knowing about the problem and doing nothing to fix it.

- Owasso, OK, USA

I am the owner of a 2008 Ford Escape hybrid with approx. 50K miles. As with many complaints related to Escape hybrid, I was driving on the interstate in perfect weather conditions at approx. 70mph when without any warning, the engine shut down and the master vehicle electrical hazard warning lamp lit up. Steering and braking were normal but I had to coast to the shoulder across several lanes of busy highway traffic to stop. It was terrifying. I gathered myself and my three terrified children and started the car again with no problem. The same incident occurred three more times before I was able to make it to my destination, but I was anticipating the issue and stayed in the right hand lane. This issue is being reported time and again yet no action is being taken to address this obvious defect. What is Ford and NHTSA waiting for? this is an extremely dangerous issue! please, before someone is injured or dies.

- Washington, DC, USA

This is the second of two incidents where power was lost and the car became unresponsive. First, was one week prior driving from la to san diego at 5pm. We got a flat on the highway in irvine ca. We pulled over and changed the tire but when we started the engine it would not start. The lights came on but with a warning light to "stop safely now". I thought this was from the tire and pressed the reset button but the warning would not clear. We jumped the car once and were unsuccessful, we jumped it again and again nothing, we towed the vehicle to a mechanic and the tow truck tried to jump it again and this time the lights would not come on. We jumped while holding the button for the high voltage battery which we found out about in the manual but the car would not start. We paid the tow and called for a ride home. I missed work and my mother took me back to la to wait for the car. The mechanic replaced the battery. I waited 8 hours for the mechanic to say that the car needed to be taken out of a safety mode and that this can't be done manually in the event it happened again. The next week, after pulling out of the driveway to go home Sunday night the red triangle light came on and warned me to "stop safely now" and then I could not accelerate past 20mph and then 10mph as I slowed to pull over. I killed the engine, waited ten min. And restarted but the car would not accelerate and the light came on again. I waited until midnight to be towed to the dealer, got a ride, and I am now on the bus until something can be done. After researching other complaints I am sad to find that this problem is common, it is unresolved, it is dangerous for a safety mechanism to cause the driver to suddenly lose power, and it is inconvenient to be stranded and unable to troubleshoot the car if there is nothing wrong with the engine and it is a computer malfunction.

- San Diego, CA, USA

We were driving up I-95 from fl to va when the car suddenly gave a loud warning tone and displayed the message stop safely now. The car lost all power as we quickly tried to cross several lanes of traffic to reach the shoulder. Upon examination of the car we started it up again with no consequence and continued on our trip. About 30 minutes later it happened again. After reading the owner's manual I discovered the warning message involved a component of the hybrid system. I decided to try shutting off the econ switch (which activates battery) and all ac/ electrical components. This worked beautifully for 100+ miles until at nightfall the headlights kicked on and our troubles returned. Since it was Sunday night we decided to stay overnight where we were and get it checked by the nearest Ford in the morning. The diagnostics ($95) revealed it was the motor electronic cooling pump at fault which this dealer did not carry. We cautiously continued using the no electrical method and were able to successfully reach our destination 400miles away with no more incidents, where we then took it to our home dealer for repair. A very dangerous condition which upon research I'm learning is happening to many other Escape hybrid owners.

- Virginia Beach, VA, USA

The first time it occurred I was driving on the highway and the info screen told me to stop safely as the engine shut down. It happened several times that day, and then didn't happen until today, June 17, 2012. This recent time a high engine temperature warning came up on the info screen. I checked all of the fluids and they are full and all have been changed in the last year or so.

- Scottsdale, AZ, USA

Traveling on freeway at approximately 70 mph. Without warning, engine completely shut down. Chime sounded and warning message appeared on dashboard saying "stop safely now." Red triangle with exclamation point in center appeared on dash. I was informed by Ford service department during repairs that this is a known failure problem as related in Ford tsb 09-18-6, affecting similar vehicles up to 2007.

- San Francisco, CA, USA

While driving on the interstate at around 55-65mph the vehicle lost engine power, a warning light came on and a "stop safely now" message. The vehicle lost the ability to accelerate but we were able to coast to a stop at an exit that happened to be nearby. Due to construction and the removal of the shoulder lane, had this happened merely a mile earlier in the route there would have been no place to stop safely. The same warning light and engine power loss occurred about 10 months prior while driving on a two- lane highway. We were able to coast to a stop safely then as well, but we're again lucky to be in little traffic and in an area with sufficient shoulder space. After taking the vehicle to our dealership for service we were told no problem could be identified. Each time this occurs we have been able to restart the car and complete our trip. The inability for the vehicle to accelerate and the instant power loss with this warning is a serious safety concern that should be addressed in a recall particularly if this is the result of a faulty part.

- Chicago, IL, USA

While driving in the left lane of the highway at about 60-65 mph in moderate/heavy traffic, the gasoline engine shut down and gave me a "stop safely now" message on the instrument cluster. I was able to get the car off of the road, but it was a rather frightening and dangerous ordeal to cross two lanes of moderate/heavy traffic after the engine shut down. After having the car towed to the dealer, they informed me that it was "a pretty common" problem amongst escapes (transaxle cooling pump / water pump). Researching this further, it appears that there are a number of others on message boards and the like that have this same problem.

- Pittsburgh, PA, USA

While driving down the interstate at 70 miles per hour, the engine suddenly shut off and I received a warning light, and the message "stop safely now." This particular instance occurred on 1-95 South just South of Washington on a portion under construction with no shoulder, it is extremely lucky that no major accident occurred. However, knowing that this issue is frequent as can be seen by fellow complaints, and from that fact that this has happened before, this vehicle should receive an immediate recall, as did the identically modeled Toyota hybrid versions. The first time it happened the car was less than 2 years old. This is not acceptable, and it will eventually kill someone.

- Richmond, VA, USA

The contact owns a 2008 Ford Escape hybrid. The contact stated that while driving 70 mph, the vehicle stalled and a warning light advising her to pull over illuminated on the instrument panel. The contact restarted the vehicle and the failure recurred. The vehicle was in the process of being taken to an authorized dealer for inspection. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 80,000. The VIN was unavailable.

- Erie, PA, USA

While driving on a bridge at 65 miles per hour, I heard a beep and a triangle light came on. The car immediately jolted as it lost power and it displayed a message to stop safely. This was in late morning traffic and a semi was able to slightly swerve to the right in order to avoid rear ending me as I had sudden reduced power and little median space to coast to on my left side. I was able to restart the car after a few minutes. A Ford dealer has run a diagnostic and confirmed it is a failure of the motor engine cooling pump and the overall cost for parts and labor, including diagnostic is $738. After reading all of the complaints to this Agency and online entries, I cannot believe that no action has been taken about this safety hazard. There are two issues, the first being that the cooling pump is known to fail on these vehicles at different mileage levels, and is supposedly not covered by the hybrid warranty even though it is only found on hybrids. Ford dealers will not even acknowledge that this is a known problem. This part should be recalled as it is known as one cause that leads to the shut off of the car at different speeds. Second, Ford's shutoff design itself is seriously flawed since it allows the car to unexpectedly shutoff at high speeds risking collision and injury. I am forced to pay the high cost of this particular repair because I cannot do it myself, however, I no longer consider this a reliable safe vehicle. I urge NHTSA to investigate these complaints rather than wait for one of these incidents to result in death or serious injury. At the very least Ford should be notifying all owners of these vehicles about the defective cooling pumps and need for replacement.

- Issaquah, WA, USA