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:
1 / 13
Injuries / Deaths:
3 / 0
Average Mileage:
57,047 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.
My Escape shakes, misses and stalls intermittently. As I am braking in traffic it starts shaking, then stalls. It also stalls when I change gears, I.e. I am in R then go into D. this has been so dangerous! I get stuck in the line of oncoming traffic again and again. Traffic backs up behind me when I stall and it gets scary! my sons(both mechanics) believe it is the vacuum/ evaporator system. I took it to the Ford garage and after driving it for 10 minutes and pulling it in the garage they told me it would be a $1989 repair I will send you their invoice. There is nothing wrong with the car other than this issue...no check engine light has ever come on. I am the 2nd owner, and have not put 40000miles on it since I bought it. It had 42000 on it when I bought it in 2014. I have read many reports of 2013-2014 Escapes having this same issue and owners pleading for an extended VIN recall. I join in that plea!!!! I cannot afford a repair at this cost and I can't afford a new car. Please Ford help with this dangerous default. My sons won't allow my grandchildren to ride in my car with me and I fear for their safety also.🙁
Driving down the freeway, started to accelerate in sport mode, heard something pop. Sounded like the clutch slipped or a belt broke. Lost most acceleration. Got off freeway to take side streets home. Had a lot of trouble accelerating up hill. Would accelerate but very slowly. Not on pace with gears. Was shifting weird. Both in D and S. took me about 4 blocks to get from 0 to 25mph.
- Seattle, WA, USA
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I have a 2013 Ford Escape 1.6L ecoboost that stalls regularly while driving. Yesterday it stalled 5 times while my wife was driving. It also will not start after getting fuel. It takes several minutes of sitting and cranking the engine to start. Doesn't matter if you put in 1 gallon or 12 gallons it doesn't start right away. I entered the VIN# into the recall database and it only showed two recalls outstanding. Both were unrelated to mechanical issues. Very unsafe vehicle and will be difficult to trade in since it stalls all the time.
My 2013 Ford Escape SE 1.6L caught fire in motion due to a fuel leak on a city street. Brakes failed and emergency brake was used to stop and get out as smoke and flames came through the vents.
Vehicle stalls without warning randomly. The vehicle is in motion driving straigh-forward when this occurs. It has happened in parking lots and on city streets. I see this car has been subject to a recall for this and I don't show any currently open recalls so perhaps the fix for the recall was not sufficient. We bought the car used about a few months ago from a Ford dealer.
Fuel: The car was only 4 years old started with a fuel issue. Every time I put gas, then turn on car doesn't want to start. It will eventually start and no other problems occur. But it does take a while for it to start. Kind of like when the battery is dying. Engine: When going up steep hills the engine over heats. It stabilizes once we drive on flat surface and doesn't happen again until we go up steep hills again. Both items have been occurring fr about 3 years. The fuel piece is very expensive to repair because of the way Ford built the compact engine.
When driving vehicle, the distance to "E" gas hands continue to count down while at stop light. Also, from my house to my job which is approximately 17 miles, according to the gas mileage, it shows that I traveled 30+ miles. My gas hand goes from 3/4 tank to less than half of a tank of gas and it constantly losing fuel while driving or sitting mobil. When sitting at a stop light, the distance to E gas hand continues to countdown. I've watched my distance to "E' hand go from 242 miles to 'E' from my home to 188 miles to 'E' today May 15, 2019this has been happening since February 2019 but has since gotten worse. I've had the vehicle place on a machine to be told that it is not giving any codes. A tank of gas usually last me for about a week but now since this has been happening, a full tank of gas only last me 2 maybe 3 days.
While driving down highway 52 yesterday evening my Ford Escape 2013 caught on fire. I was able to pull to the side after it seized (brakes quit in the process) and had to jump out the passenger side door as the whole engine was on fire and engulfing the driver side.
While driving when I stop the car began stalling. I would have to buy the car in park and start it. I would then have to put the car in neutral press on the gas and put the car in drive to be able to move. Now when I start the car and put the car in gear (forward or reverse) the car stalls.
At every fill up the car stalls.now I have to hold the gaz to a certain level to avoid stalling after every fill up.if I ever let the pump to automatically fill the tank and stop itself I get in a lot of troubles for day.the idéale is bad and the car stalls now in stead of filling my tank to 12 or 13 gallons I have to stop the pump at 10 or 11 gallons to avoid the inconvenience of having car idling hard and even stalling
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Escape. While driving 30 mph, the vehicle stalled and restarted on its own without warning. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who referred the contact to the local dealer. The vehicle was taken to grieco Ford of delray beach (3000 S federal hwy, delray beach, fl 33483, (561) 278-0303) where it was diagnosed that the fuel vapor cap needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and did not assist. The failure mileage was 69,970. Consumer sent 2 letters to manufacturer regarding reimbursement. 'parts of this document have been redacted to protect personally identifiable information pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).'
Was actively driving on a city road approaching an intersection and slowing down for a traffic light, in deerfield beach fl when the car stalled. Car would not restart. After pushing the car out of the travel lanes, it restarted. Took the car to local auto repair shop, where they advised of investigation and did not fix the problem. Took car to Ford dealer, where they related the problem to a faulty fuel vapor cap, and repaired it. At the dealer, the service rep advised that this is something that happens to a lot of Ford cars.
Car stalled while driving in a city street approaching intersection. Stopped and was unable to restart. After pushing car out of the way, car restarted. Drove slowly to car repair shop--unable to repair, advised of NHTSA investigation. Took car to dealer, Ford repair shop said problem was with fuel vapor cap. Contacted Ford corporate, but am unable to get reimbursement.
Car stalled in the middle of the roadway, on a city street, approaching intersection, while in motion. No warning. Was unable to restart car. After pushing car out of traffic, car restarted. Drove carefully to repair shop, which was unable to repair. Drove car to Ford dealer where diagnosis was faulty fuel vapor cap. Dealer advised that this happened to many of these cars.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Jackson, OH, USA