Car fails to start and dashboard electrical system goes out while driving. I have had my car in the shop numerous times for this problem. Once or twice a week, the car just will not start. The alarm light blinks fast and the key will not turn the engine over for 5 to 10 minutes. On other occasions, while driving, the entire dashboard alarm lights will illuminate and the odometer will reset to all dashes, a warning reads that there is a brake system failure, but I can continue to drive throughout the electrical failure. The Ford technicians cannot verify the problem because they can't get it to happen in the shop. In the meantime, I am stuck with a car that starts half the time and cannot be repaired.

- Temecula, CA, USA

This incident occurred 10/8/10 in a 2008 Ford Escape hybrid with approximately 53,000 miles on it. Departed cordova, tn on a weekend trip to talladega, al and chattanooga, tn. Drove steadily for 3 - 4 hours at 65 - 70 mph and stopped for dinner in birmingham, al for approximately 1 hour. Resumed trip and in about 15 minutes, at around 8:30 pm on an unlit stretch of I-20 at approximately mile marker 135 West of birmingham while traveling at 70 mph the master vehicle electrical hazard warning light (red triangle) came on, the informational display showed "stop safely now", and the accelerator became unresponsive. All the lights remained on, steering appeared normal, and brakes functioned normally. We were basically coasting in 70 mph traffic trying to cross 3 lanes to get off the road. Maneuvered to the right shoulder, turned the vehicle off with flashers going. After about a minute composing myself, decided to try to restart the vehicle. It restarted with no warning lights or messages and all systems appeared to function normally. Drove the vehicle approximately 500 miles without further incident until I could take the vehicle to my dealership. They retrieved codes P1A0D and P0A3E and said they heard a loud high pitched noise from the electronics cooling pump motor which they replaced. We feel extremely fortunate that we were able to somehow get safely off the roadway without causing or being involved in an accident. We were also lucky that the fault did not occur after mile marker 147 because, due to construction that went to mile marker 155, there was no way to pull out of the traffic flow at all.

- Cordova, TN, USA

I have a 2008 Ford hybrid escape. While driving on a recent trip - 70mph in 92 degree heat, I experienced a sudden loss of power, and a message on the dash that said "stop safely now." This happened repeatedly, as I was trying to get home to nc from Florida. I wondered if I had purchased some bad gas, so refilled the tank. I drove the last 4 hours without problems, but the temperature fell to the 70S. However, yesterday, as I googled the problem, I found numerous mentions of the same problem with various "fixes" all over the internet. Some drivers reported the scary situation of driving on a 2 lane highway without a shoulder to pull over on, and the same loss of power. It is very sudden with no warning whatsoever. In most cases, after the power failure, the car starts right up and you can drive on, but the same thing will happen again in from 10 to 90 minutes. It was very scary. I have not taken the car in yet, but think the problem should definitely be investigated. Ford knows about it and has not come up with any one "fix."

- Statesville, NC, USA