Took the car in to the dealer to get an estimate for getting it fixed.

They said this is an issue with the Escapes in the north because of salt so Ford won't recall it because it's not the whole country.

They valued my car at $3500-$3800; trade in of $2000-$2500 and said it would cost....$9476.50 to repair it.

I obviously cannot put that money in to the car, but they said the rust will definitely cause a problem with the suspension and I should have it checked every 3 months.

I am so disappointed in the response from Ford. My family usually aims for 200,000 miles on our cars (buy them new and really take care of them.) This will probably be our last Ford as a family if they don't step up and help with this known issue.

About 2 1/2 years after I had purchased the vehicle I noticed the paint bubbling above the rear tires on both sides for the vehicle. I notified the dealer and he indicated the car warrant would not cover the rust because FORD defines rust as having a rust hole thru both pieces of sheet metal, obvious Ford doesn't have a Webster dictionary. Six months later I talked to the service manager and again he denied it but agreed to take photos and send it to Ford CO which he did.The reply back stated was FORD denied that it was rust. I went thru this process with the same dealership and another dealership before the 6 year rust warrant had expired and was again denied. Now the paint above the wheels is falling off and the metal lip above one rear tires is rusted off. I understand this is a well known manufacturing issue a certain Escape plant. I've owned many cars over the 10 years and never had a rust issue like this so soon.

I was pretty shocked when I waxed my car last month to notice that the fender is bubbling up along the edge and the paint is cracked and chipping, allowing rust to grow. My car is only 4 years old and has 44k miles. It's a Limited so it doesn't have the cheap plastic fender flares that the trims that don't cost over 30k do.

Really Ford!? I will admit that I live on the East Coast, so my car has to deal with the roads being salted in the winter, but I always take care to wash it right after a snowstorm to lessen this issue and it's been either garaged or in a carport its entire measly 4 year life!