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Car Safety DB

NHTSA Campaign Number

12V431000

ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING

Reported to NHTSA: September 4, 2012

Key Takeaways

  • Recall 12V431000 currently maps to 1 tracked vehicle-year page across 1 make.
  • This page summarizes the official defect description, safety consequence, and remedy text published by NHTSA for this campaign.
  • This is a campaign-level lookup, not a VIN-level clearance result. Use a VIN lookup before assuming your specific vehicle is still open.

Useful Next Steps

Check a VIN for an open recallRead what to do after a recall noticeBrowse more engine recallsOpen an affected vehicle page

Defect Description

Ford is recalling certain model year 2013 Escape vehicles manufactured from October 5, 2011, through August 31, 2012, equipped with 1.6L engines. The cylinder head cup plug (freeze plug) may become dislodged resulting in significant loss of engine coolant.

Safety Consequence

As leaking engine coolant evaporates on the hot engine, the glycol may ignite causing an engine compartment fire.

Remedy

Ford will notify owners, and dealers will seal the existing plug and add a secondary plug cover, free of charge. The safety recall began on September 11, 2012. Owners may contact Ford at 1-866-436-7332.

What This Recall Page Shows

This page summarizes a single NHTSA recall campaign, including the defect description, safety consequence, and manufacturer's remedy. The affected vehicles listed below are the make/model/year combinations tracked in our database — this is not a VIN-specific result. To check whether your individual vehicle is covered by this recall, enter your 17-digit VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls. Click any vehicle below to view its full safety profile.

VIN recall lookup guideWhat to do after a recallMore engine recalls

Affected Vehicles (1)

YearMakeModel
2013FordEscape

Browse Affected Vehicles

Affected Models

Ford Escape

Affected Make + Year Views

2013 Ford

Affected Years

2013

Related Engine Campaigns

These campaigns share the same broad recall component family, so they are useful if you want to compare how similar issue types appeared across other vehicles and time periods.

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This recall information is from NHTSA campaign 12V431000. This site is not affiliated with NHTSA. Contact your dealer or call NHTSA's Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 for more information.

Data synced from NHTSA on May 4, 2026