2007 Ford Escape

My 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid (mileage currently 180,000 but the issue started around 150,000 miles) will occasionally (varies from once a week to once every 3 months) not respond properly when I'm accelerating from a stop. When this happens, I can push the accelerator all the way to the floor, but the car will accelerate very slowly for the first 5 seconds or so, and then start accelerating normally again. When this issue first began, it nearly resulted in multiple crashes when I was pulling out into traffic, but now I leave lots of extra space when pulling into traffic in case this happens. I've taken the car to an independent mechanic to try to diagnose the issue and they were unable to observe it since it doesn't happen frequently or predictably enough. There were not any warning lamps, messages, or other symptoms of the problem prior to the issue starting.

While driving, a red triangle to safely stop came up and the vehicle engine shut down. I could not accelerate since the engine was shut down, I could only coast and brake. After the vehicle has been cooling down for 20 min, I’m able to restart the vehicle and drive again until the same issue occurs again. No light on dashboard. Very dangerous issue as it often happens when driving on the freeway for a while. You have no way to accelerate the vehicle and need to slowly pull over on a busy freeway, endangering others and yourself. The issue has not been reproduced by a dealer or independent service center. No, the vehicle has not been inspected by anyone. Please note that this is a known recall for this vehicle but my VIN is NOT included in the recall. Please see the details of the recall below: NHTSA CAMPAIGN ID: 14V526000 Report Date: SEP 03, 2014 Vehicles Affected: 70,209 Consequence: If the hybrid electronics system overheats, it may shut down the powertrain, resulting in a stall-like condition, increasing the risk of a crash. What You Should Do: Ford will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and replace the original Motor Electronics Coolant (MEC) Pump with an improved brushless pump, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin on October 27, 2014. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 14S19.

Rear frame rails rotting thru from the inside out, causing potential suspension issues

The contact owns a 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle inadvertently lost motive power, after which the message "Service Engine Now” was displayed. The contact was able to pull to the shoulder of the roadway, where the vehicle failed to restart. The check warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed a failure with the hybrid propulsion system. The vehicle was not repaired. After investigating the failure, the contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 14V526000 (Hybrid Propulsion System), but the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was 227,000.

The contact owns a 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid. The contact stated while driving from a complete stop and depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to respond as needed, nearly causing a crash. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact continuously depressed the accelerator pedal until the vehicle responded. The contact stated that the failure had been recurring. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where the contact was informed that the VIN was not included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 14V526000 (Hybrid Propulsion System). The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline to report the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

The contact owns a 2007 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while the vehicle was at an independent mechanic for an inspection, the contact was informed that the subframe was severely corroded and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact to file a complaint with the NHTSA Hotline. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 14V165000 (Structure); however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The failure mileage was approximately 105,000.

When accelerating on the vehicle it would run fine till about a couple minutes driving then it would jerk and the rpm gauge would go to 0 and then back up the the right rpm

The contact owns a 2007 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle experienced a loss of power steering assist. The transmission warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed that the power steering module needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact to file a complaint with the NHTSA Hotline. The failure mileage was approximately 152,000.

The torque converter was failing in my 07 escape. When I switched gears from park to drive or reverse the car would shake and sometimes stall out. Or if I had to stop at a stop sign or traffic signal while in drive the same issues would happen. The old torque converter is not available for inspection unfortunately because I gave it back to autozone to get the core charge money back. But when we installed the new torque converter it completely solved the issues and the transmission is running great again. It put myself and my passengers at risk since my car would completely turn off at traffic lights sometimes. This problem has been reproduced by others and I actually found out the torque converter was the issue by finding a technical service bulletin (TSB 07-5-6) so I know other shops have discovered this issue. There were no warning lights or anything and no parts were inspected by others. I completed the whole replacement.

The contact owns a 2007 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while his wife was driving 10 MPH, the brakes failed with the brake pedal depressed to the floorboard. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that his wife was able to coast the vehicle off the roadway. The contact arrived at the scene and drove the vehicle to an independent mechanic. The mechanic discovered that both front brake lines were severely corroded and that the front passenger’s side brake line was leaking brake fluid due to the failure. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed him that there were no recalls on the vehicle. The vehicle had been repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 170,000.

The contact owns a 2007 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds a clunking noise was present coming from the rear passenger’s side of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the local mechanic who discovered that the rear passenger’s side wheel well was severely rusted causing the rear passenger’s side shock absorber to puncture the wheel well of the vehicle. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but no assistance was offered. The local dealer was not notified. The failure mileage was 109,000.

ABS service system warning came up on my dash along with the brake light and the abs light, immediately after the lights came on the ability to stop and stay stopped vanished.

ABS service light comes on intermittently, when light is on a "service brake system" warning comes across the guage cluster. While this service light is on the escape has little to no braking and requires upwards of 300ft to stop when going 45mph. Once the vehicle is brought to a stop you can hear the brake system attempting to pressurize but only making a repeated grinding noise directly in front of the driver in the engine bay. Once vehicle is parked and shut off the brakes continue to make the same grinding noise. After allowing the vehicle to sit over night you may get lucky and have fully functioning brakes or you may unlock the door and hear the grinding noise letting you know the abs warning will be illuminated once the car is started. I have currently rear-ended another vehicle while stopped at a red light because no matter how hard I pressed on the brakes my vehicle continued to roll forward into another vehicle. My vehicle passed inspection with zero obdII codes the day I bought the escape Friday, May 27, 2022. Exactly a week later on June 2, 2022 I experienced severe brake failure and rear ended a 2021 Toyota 4runner. No major damage was caused to either vehicle. Two days later on June 4, 2022 the brake system failed once again causing me to drive my vehicle off the road into the median to avoid an impact at 65mph on interstate I-85. I am a father to my 3 year old daughter, but I am unable to transport my daughter in fear of endangering her life because of a faulty brake system Ford refuses to recall.

The contact owns a 2007 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while the vehicle was receiving routine maintenance by an independent mechanic, the contact was informed that underneath the rear of the vehicle was rusted. The dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 121,000.

The contact's mother owns a 2007 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while his brother was driving at 60 MPH, the vehicle inadvertently downshifted and decelerated to 40-45 MPH. The check engine warning light illuminated. The contact's brother depressed the accelerator pedal however, the pedal felt soft and remained on the floorboard. The contact's brother veered to the side of the road. The contact stated that upon turning off and restarting the vehicle, he was able to continue to drive; however, the failure reoccurred while exiting the highway. The contact stated that the vehicle would fail to go into gear while attempting to shift into drive and depressing the accelerator pedal. The contact stated that the vehicle would start but would not move. The dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 195,000.

This Escape is an AWD Hybrid. When driving in slippery snow, sand, ice, etc., the front wheels spin, but there is no power transmitted to the rear wheels, causing serious control and traction problems. An "all-wheel-drive-locked" signal appears on the info display, followed instantly by "AWD disabled". After a while (a couple minutes), the system then comes back and says "Automatic AWD restored". Which is simply not true—AWD never engages, but a driver going into a snowstorm or other difficult situation has no way of knowing this until it's too late. Problem was diagnosed by a good mechanic as a faulty transfer case—a very common problem in 2002—2011 AWD Ford Escapes. There is a serious design problem—the transfer case is too close to the exhaust, which cooks the internal lubricant, causes it to leak out completely, and kills the bearings inside the case. There are many cases on forums of this problem causing locked wheels at speed, sudden lack of drive on highways, etc. Not to mention the problem (as in my case) of drivers entering dangerous driving situations where they are counting on AWD for safe driving, but having just front wheel drive, with absolutely no warning from the car. I have no idea why this has not resulted in a. recall so far, but it is an serious, obvious (and worsening) safety issue. Parts and labor cost will be over $1000. Dissection of fragged transfer cases destroyed by this problem is easily available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yLkr609bfI

On 12/10/21 the accelerator stuck. I had to pull off the road, because I was losing power. But what if it got stuck at a high rate of speed? How would I stop, other than the hand brake and pray that it works. It had happened another time that week, but I thought it was a fluke as the car only has 85000 miles on it. I bought it in Sept 2021. It happened again on the 11th. Had my family member look at it and they lubricated the accelerator and a cable in the engine compartment. It has not done it since. Here is the VIN # [XXX]. 12/18/21 Drove to church. No problem with anything. No lights on.... the dash. Family member left to go home for the afternoon and stated that they almost hit a herd of deer, because the brakes went straight to the floor. They drove back for the evening program, with the same problem. I drove home about 35 miles an hour, and the brake pedal goes straight to the floor. No noise of any kind, no warning, no puddles where the car was parked at church or at home. The brake light is on now. What in the world. This could be fatal... both of these issues. FORD just told me there are no recalls, and then sent me to a survey. They need to look into these issues....Poor customer service in my opinion and could be a fatal situation. Last week was unable to get in for an appointment within a 50 mile radius to get that problem looked at. NOT able to be seen till after the new year.... INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

Vehicle lost power unexpectedly in traffic several times. Once stopped it started after a pause and ran fine for a considerable time until if failed again. When researching online noticed that this year and model had a recall but that is not reflected when I ran the VIN of my 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid. My concern is the diagnosis at the dealer will not detect this and could result in needless expense which I am not prepared for. The NHTSA has this issue documented and I feel should qualify me to have the coolant pump replaced on a recall before a serious accident.

The contact owns a 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid. The contact stated that an abnormal grinding noise would emit from vehicle upon depression of the brake pedal. The contact had taken the vehicle to an independent mechanic for repair. The contact was informed that the ABS module needed to be replaced. The dealer was contacted, and parts were ordered for the repair. The dealer sent the parts to the independent mechanic who repaired the vehicle. Recently, the contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the ABS warning light illuminated as the grinding noise returned. The contact also stated that the brake pedal had begun to depress to the floorboard. The manufacturer had yet to be notified of the failure. The vehicle has been repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 43,000.

PURCHASED THIS PRE-OWNED WITH ONLY 40K MILES. IT'S NOW ONLY AT 45K MILES AND RANDOMLY THE ABS LIGHT AND SERVICE BRAKES NOTIFICATION CAME ON THE DASHBOARD. TOOK IT TO A GARAGE AND HAD THEM SCAN AND IT SEEMS TO BE ABS RELATED. STILL HAVE NO REPAIRED BUT FROM READING ALL OVER FORUMS, REDDIT, GOOGLE SEARCHES, AND MORE THIS SEEMS TO BE AN EXTREMELY COMMON PROBLEM THAT COSTS A TON TO REPAIR. FORD SHOULD HANDLE THIS AS A RECALL IF IT IS A REGULAR ISSUE WITH THIS MAKE AND MODEL. HOW IS THERE NO CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT YET? IT SEEMS COUNTLESS PEOPLE ARE MENTIONING THAT THE BRAKES OUTRIGHT FAILED WHILE DRIVING ON THE ROAD OR EVEN HIGHWAYS. WHAT IF SOMEONE DIES? THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.