Ford Escape / 2013
2013 Ford Escape problems
Owners have filed 3,681 complaints about the 2013 Ford Escape with NHTSA. Engine accounts for 34.3% of them — far more than any other system, ahead of power train at 10.9%.
Complaints3,681
Crashes66
Fires130
Injuries84
Deaths0
What owners report breaking
Engine 34.3% · 1264
Power train 10.9% · 401
Electrical system 9.2% · 340
Steering 8.3% · 304
Unknown or other 8.1% · 299
Fuel/propulsion system 6.7% · 246
Engine and engine cooling 4.8% · 175
Vehicle speed control 2.5% · 92
Severity
Of those complaints, 66 describe a crash, 130 describe a fire and 84 report an injury.
Reading the numbers
Across the 24 model years of the Ford Escape in this data, 2013 draws the most complaints of any of them.
Filings have fallen off, 387 in the last three years against 839 in the three before. That is normal as a generation leaves the road.
The median odometer reading at the time of complaint was 73,000 miles.
In owners' own words
2013 Ford Escape experiences apparent transmission failures at highway speeds. Often during passing acceleration. Repeated instances. From 50k miles to 70k miles. One instance involving all wheels locking up at 80mph (felt like a shift into park) and the others involving drivetrain power loss and jerking. After car restart, codes "apparently" disappear and dealers are unable to identify any issues without codes. Engine · reported at 66,000 miles
Coolant leaked into the engine and cracked the engine blocks back in july of 2017. The engine was replaced. March 5th 2018 the check engine light came on again. This time, the code is for a coolant bypass valve that they're not covering under warranty. We missed the recall by 10 days production date. This part was recalled for a reason and our car should be incorporated into that recall despite the production date. Engine · reported at 57,000 miles
While driving the vehicle it started to overheat and before I could safely pull off the highway and stop it started smoking so I stopped it immediately and when I opened the hood the engine was on fire. Fire department was called a report was filed. I called ford after being informed by the fire department of a possible recall for this issue and ford denied any issues and hung up the phone on me on numerous calls. Engine
Verbatim from NHTSA filings. Complaints are unverified owner reports.
Safety recalls
Checking NHTSA for open recalls…