The local repair shop agreed to change out my swollen lug nuts and put solid steel ones on. They had hard time on the one lug for the passenger front lug. The stud snapped off after several attempts of removing it, due to how swollen the nut was.

It cost me $500 to replace the stud assembly because the geniuses at Ford chose not to sell the studs individually like a normal car company would have. Of course, Ford also chose to sell the bearing separately and not with the assembly. So basically, an almost free job just to change out the lugs cost me $500 because greedy ford decided to cut corners. This will be the last ford product I purchase - guaranteed.

The local repair shop agreed to change out my old, sleeved lugnuts with solid lugnuts. The problem was that they could not remove half of them due to swollen lug nuts and had to remove the outer sleeve and use a barbed socket to remove them from the studs. The lug nuts were so bad that that they had to heat them up to remove and in doing so the stud broke in half. A free job now cost me $500 because FORD in their ultimate ingeniousness decided that you can't just buy a stud alone but now you have to buy the entire assembly which doesn't even come with a bearing. Even more money!!! Yeah!!!! How would my 19 year old daughter even have a chance of changing a flat tire or any one else at that matter? I have owned 2 Taurus's, 2 Escapes and 1 Fusion. This is the last Ford product I can buy because of this greedy and corrupt negligence by FORD Motors.

On August 7, 2019, I had a flat tire. I tried to use the lug wrench that came with the car and it did not fit the lugs. It started to round them off so I called AAA. The AAA guy managed to get them off and back on using a 4 way lug wrench but he was also having trouble. I took it directly to the dealer as I was having other service work done and told them the problem. The service writer said the lugs were swollen and he believed that there was a lawsuit going on about this problem. He indicated that most of the time they just put new ones on and DON'T charge the customer. He said this was appx $120 + tax and labor normally. He had all of the lug nuts replaced at no charge for my Escape. I do not know if the replacement lugs were of the same style as the original or were solid steel lugs(what they should have been from the factory). I hope that they are the solid type.

My wife's Escape had a flat tire in the driveway the other morning so she took my car to work and I began to put on the spare... But then I couldn't seem to get the lug wrench the came with the car to fit. I tried and tried then finally gave in and called AAA and called my job to let them know I was going to be late. AAA arrived and the driver told me he couldn't take the lugs off without damaging the car and that he's seen this on plenty of Fords. He towed the car to the dealer that was able to get them off but wanted a ridiculous amount of money to change them all out.

I declined and had them put the old chewed up swollen ones back on with the tire fixed. I found a set of lugs on amazon for about $25 and took them to my local mechanic who changed them out for free while I was having the oil changed. For anyone else who has this problem with their Escape the specs of the lug nuts are ( M12x1.50 thread - Closed End Bulge Acorn Style Lug Nuts - Conical 60 Degree Seat - 19mm hex - 35.56mm long - 22.1mm wide. ) if you for those specs on Amazon you can find much cheaper alternatives to the stock Ford ones and the look the same.

Rear tire went flat in the driveway. Got the lug wrench, jack and donut spare to change it. Lug wrench didn't fit. Got my old T tire wrench out didn't fit. Went to my wife's 2015 Ford Fusion..no lug wrench in the jack kit. Realized I had roadside assistance with my insurance called them. Came out to change tire. None of his lug sockets would fit either. Said the lug nuts swelled up. Said he could get them off but may wreck the nuts. Had to pound a socket on and gingerly loosen them. Finally go them all off, replaced the tire with the spare.

I had a flat on 10/2/18. AAA came out to change it, but couldn't. Even tried different sockets, thinking Ford has developed a new size of lug nut. Of course it didn't work. Had to air the tire up enough to get it to the Discount tire but of course this further ruined the tire. And they couldn't get it off. So a new set of lug nuts on all the tires and a new tire. Prior to this I had only taken this car to the dealership for oil changes and tire rotations. So the Ford Dealership KNEW there was a problem with the lug nuts and didn't do anything about it.

This is the part that makes me mad. What if I had been out in the middle of nowhere and had to change what should be a pretty simple thing, changing a flat tire, and couldn't get the lug nuts off! So, what seemed like a good idea to the "creator" of these lug nuts, failed to test them out properly and are causing a lot of people a lot of grief and could quite possibly put people in dangerous situations.

Ford took something simple and created a pile of trouble for themselves.

All I wanted was to replace my tires. I bought the tires and the guy installing them tells me that due to the swelling he cannot risk taking the lug nuts off due to their terrible condition and tells me I have to come back with new lug nuts just to get the tires I already paid for. At least he will install them for free, I just have to go buy new ones (thanks for good people out there) It's just such an inconvenience and so frustrating when there's snow on the ground and my tires are crap right now!!

Had a flat a few months ago. AAA had major trouble getting the lug nuts off as I now recall. Took car to dealer for routine service today. Dealer said lug nuts were swollen and needed replacing. That sounded like the punch line to a bad joke. Bad joke on the consumer. Googling found dozens of reports, mostly to Ford vehicles because they put a cheap cap on the lug nuts that allows water to seep under and rust/corrosion causing the cap to swell. Only way to remove sometimes is to destroy the nut. People complained as well that standard tire iron won't work with the swollen nut, creating a roadside safety hazard.

I realized that my 2010 Ford Fusion had the same problem. Will report that separately.

Took the Escape to dealer for oil change and tire rotation, 41234 miles. Every service since new has been a Ford dealer. They found the lug nuts (all20) to be "swollen. Service rep said it is due to the two dissimilar metals the lug nuts are made of. He and the service manage both indicated it has happened many times in their experience. They charged $8 each, so $160 plus tax to replace all. Even though we have the "extended warranty" there is no coverage from Ford. Th vehicle has never been in snow or ice, no salted roads. Contacted Ford customer care and they opened a case and referred me back to dealer.

Update from Sep 16, 2016: The new lug nuts are exactly the same as the old ones. Guess they'll do the same thing in 40,000 miles. Dealer recognizes the problem but Ford stonewalls.