Our Escape Hybrid will shut down without warning, usually when we are on the interstate. Once we stop safely, we pu thte vehicle in park, and re-start the engine and go on our way. Sometimes it only does it once, sometimes it continues to do it. Our local Ford dealer (Burd Ford in Indianapolis) ran diagnostics and could not locate the problem as it was working at the time. They recommended we take it somewhere else!! The vehilce broke down while on a trip so we took it to a dealership in Morgantown, West Virginia (Superior Ford) and their mechanic was able to determine that the electric coolant pump is freezing up. The part was on back-order, so he hit it with a hammer and it started working. The diagnostics cost us $170, but the hammer hit was free!!

We got home and contacted Burd Ford and they would not help us unless we paid them the diagnostics fee!! I reminded them that they already ran diagnostics and could not locate the problem, but that didn't matter. I contacted Ford and they referred me to another dealership who would help us out (Ray Skillman Ford, Indianapolis). We contacted Ray Skillman and when they attempted to order the part they found out there are 891 on back order and due to a quality control issue they do not know when the part will be available!!! Ford's customer service department could really care less about our problem. The manager, Chris, thought I was stupid for not wanting to pay a diagnostics fee when I "thought there might be something wrong with my vehicle!!" Ford stated that just because there are 891 vehicles waiting to have this part exchanged, it is not indicative that there might be a problem!!