2008 FORD ESCAPE Complaints

CAR WAS BRAKING ERRONEOUSLY AS I WAS DRIVING. MISDIAGNOSED TWICE, IT WAS ULTIMATELY DIAGNOSED AS ABS MODULE FAILURE. THIS PUT A STRAIN ON MY ENGINE AND TRANSMISSION AND OF COURSE, THE BRAKES. THIS IS A VERY EXPENSIVE REPAIR IF YOU GET A NEW MODULE AND EVEN WITH A REBUILT ONE. THE INITIAL REBUILT ONE AS ALSO FAULTY. REPAIR PLACE STRUGGLED TO GET A UNIT BECAUSE THEY ARE SO IN DEMAND, I REBUILT MY TRANSMISSION LESS THAN THREE YEARS AGO M(WHICH ALSO SHOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED) AND NOW IT IS DAMAGED. EVEN WITH A USED UNIT, THE TOTAL REPAIR WAS $1200, NOT COUNTING THE RENTAL CAR AFTER THE FIRST REPLACEMENT MODULE FAILED. AS THIS IS A BRAKE ISSUE, IT WAS RECOMMENDED THAT I REPORT IT.

MY VEHICLE WILL BE IN MOTION WHILE DRIVING AND SUDDENLY HAVE A SHIFTING PROBLEM. THE VEHICLE WILL SHAKE AND STUTTER AND LOOSES POWER NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU PRESS YOUR FOOT ON THE GAS PEDDLE. MY ENGINE LIGHT FLASHED ON AND OFF A COUPLE TIMES AND THEN ONCE MY VEHICLE SHIFTED, IT WOULD IDLE ROUGH AND ACT LIKE IT WAS GOING TO DIE WHEN I WOULD STOP AT A LIGHT. THIS HAS BEEN HAPPENING FOR SEVERAL DAYS NOW AT DIFFERENT SPEEDS ON RESIDENTIAL STREETS AND THE HIGHWAY. THE ENGINE LIGHT HAS NOT COME ON SINCE. I TOOK IT TO HAVE THE ERROR CODE READ FROM THE ENGINE LIGHT COMING ON BUT IT WAS ONLY A GENERIC CODE. ONE OF THE CODES WAS FOR AN AIRBAG SENSOR. I DO NOT KNOW WHAT IS WRONG WITH IT.

ALL ASSOCIATED BRAKE FAILURE WARNING MESSAGES APPEAR ON DASH. TOOK IT TO THE LOCAL DEALERSHIP WHERE THEY DIAGNOSED IT AS A HYDRAULIC CONTROL UNIT FAILURE. REPAIRS QUOTED AT $5000.

FORD ESCAPE - BRAKES STARTED TO GET VERY VERY MUSHY. ONCE I PUSHED ON THE BRAKES, THE PEDAL WOULD KEEP DROPPING AND NOT BE RESPONSIVE. LUCKILY I HAD ENOUGH CAR LENGTHS IN FRONT OF ME AND WAS GOING SLOWLY ENOUGH ON NEIGHBORHOOD STREETS TO STOP WITHOUT INJURING ANYTHING. LUCKILY I WAS NOT ON THE HIGHWAY! THIS IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS WHILE DRIVING, SO I TOOK MY CAR TO A LOCAL SHOP AND THEY REPLACED THE MASTER CYLINDER. THAT STILL DID NOT RESOLVE THE ISSUE SO THEY SAID THE HYDRAULIC CONTROL UNIT IS FAULTY AND I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DRIVE MY CAR (AS THE BRAKES COULD COMPLETELY FAIL AT ANY TIME). TOOK THE CAR TO FORD AND THEY SAID IT WAS THE MASTER CYLINDER (JUST REPLACED) AND SAD IF IT WASN'T THAT - IT WAS THE HYDRAULIC CONTROL UNIT. THEY DID NOTHING TO RESOLVE THE ISSUE. THIS IS EXTREMELY UNSAFE AND I CANNOT DRIVE MY CAR SINCE THE BRAKES ARE FAILING!

THE VEHICLE WON'T STOP. THE REGEN BRAKE DISABLED LIGHT, BRAKE LIGHT AND CHECK ENGINE LIGHT COMES ON. NO BRAKES AT ALL

THE ABS MODULE IS BAD READ TONS OF FORUMS SAME PROBLEM I ALMOST DIED DUE TO THIS. SECOND QUARTER PANELS STARTING TO RUST. THIS SHOULDN'T HAPPEN LAW WAS PASSED IN 70S TO PREVENT THIS. REQD TONS OF FORUMS PEOPLE SAME PROBLEM BOTH NEED RECALL ASAP

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2008 FORD ESCAPE. WHILE DRIVING 50 MPH, THE ACCELERATOR PEDAL SEIZED. ON ANOTHER OCCASION, THE ACCELERATOR PEDAL SEIZED AGAIN AND THE CONTACT HAD TO COAST THE VEHICLE OFF THE HIGHWAY TO THE SHOULDER. THE CONTACT WAS ALMOST STRUCK FROM THE REAR BY A SEMI TRUCK. THE CONTACT CALLED SHIMMERS FORD (10401 WOODCREST DR NW, COON RAPIDS, MN 55433, (612) 424-7648) AND DIXON FORD (489 E 2ND ST, DIXON, IL 61021, (815) 288-3366) AND WAS INFORMED THAT THE VIN WAS NOT INCLUDED IN A RECALL. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT DIAGNOSED OR REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE AND TRANSFERRED THE CONTACT TO THE NHTSA HOTLINE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 196,370.

REGEN BRAKES DISABLED MALFUNCTION, LEADS TO LOSS OF BRAKING WITHOUT WARNING. MANY MANY OTHER ESCAPE HYBRID OWNERS HAVE FILED SIMILAR COMPLAINTS . PLEASE DO A GOOGLE SEARCH TO VERIFY THE EXTENT OF THIS PROBLEM. THIS NEEDS TO BE INVESTIGATED AND ADDRESSED PROMPTLY BEFORE MORE PEOPLE ARE HURT OR KILLED.

DRIVING AT 35MPH ABS LIGHT CAME ON THEN CHECK BRAKES FOLLOWED BY BRAKE REGEN DISENGAGED. THIS CREATED NO STOPPING OF VEHICLE AND RUNNING THROUGH STOP LIGHT. FORTUNATELY, THERE WERE NO VEHICLES COMING FROM OTHER DIRECTIONS. STILL NO BRAKES AND APPEARS TO BE A KNOWN ISSUE BY PUBLIC AND FORD.

-VEHICLE ABS (ANTI-LOCK BRAKE SYSTEM) LIGHT CAME ON AND DASH SAID 'CHECK BRAKE SYSTEM' AND 'REGEN BRAKES DISABLED'. THANK GOODNESS I WAS PARKED WHEN THE ISSUE OCCURRED AND WHEN I TRIED TO DRIVE AWAY, I WAS ABLE TO TEST THE BRAKING ABILITY AND QUICKLY TURNED THE CAR BACK OFF. -GRINDING NOISE WHEN DEPRESSING THE BRAKE PEDAL. SOUND CAME FROM FRONT OF CAR AFTER CAR WAS TURNED OFF -WAS ABLE TO START CAR PROPERLY AFTER 4+ ATTEMPTS AND WAITING 15-20 MINUTES -THIS WAS AN INTERMITTENT PROBLEM THAT COULD HAVE REOCCURRED AT ANY TIME (EXTREMELY DANGEROUS) -CONTACTED THE MANUFACTURER (FORD) TO EXPLAIN THE ISSUE AND HOW (AT THE TIME) THERE WERE 80+ SIMILAR ISSUES REPORTED TO NHTSA. -COST QUOTES RANGED FROM $4,800-$7,000 TO REPLACE HCU (HYDRAULIC CONTROL UNIT), MASTER CYLINDER, ABS MODULE REPLACEMENT -THIS IS A MANUFACTURER'S DEFECT IN THE BRAKING SYSTEM (DTC C1478) AND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. VEHICLE SHOULD BE RECALLED -WHEN CONTACTED, FORD DID NOT OFFER ANY ASSISTANCE AND SEEMED TO NOT CARE ABOUT THE ISSUE -- I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER FORD AGAIN -FORD WAS AWARE OF ISSUE (SSM 45870) AND CHOSE TO DO NOTHING ("SOME 2005-2008 ESCAPE/MARINER HYBRID VEHICLES MAY EXPERIENCE THE ABS WARNING INDICATOR ILLUMINATED WITH THE FOLLOWING DIAGNOSTIC TROUBLE CODES (DTCS) C1478, C1479, C1480 OR C1481. REFER TO WORKSHOP MANUAL (WSM), SECTION 206-09 INSPECTION AND VERIFICATION PROCEDURE UNDER DIAGNOSIS AND TESTING. IF NO FAULTS ARE IDENTIFIED WHILE PERFORMING THE INSPECTION AND VERIFICATION PROCEDURE AND BEFORE REPLACING THE ABS HYDRAULIC CONTROL UNIT (HCU) VERIFY THE CALIPER FLEX HOSES ARE THOROUGHLY INSPECTED FOR DAMAGE, INTERNAL RESTRICTIONS OR SWELLING. DAMAGED CALIPER FLEX HOSES CAN GENERATE THESE PRESSURE CONTROL PLAUSIBILITY DTCS.")