2013 Ford Escape Complaints

Car caught fire in engine, near transmission

The contact owns a 2013 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving approximately 60 MPH on the freeway, the front passenger’s side door suddenly came ajar. The "Passenger Door Ajar" message was displayed on the instrument panel. The contact associated the failure with NHTSA Campaign Number: 20V331000 (Latches/Locks/Linkages). The contact called a local dealer and was advised of the cost for the diagnostic test. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 94,996.

Vehicle: 2013 Ford Escape SEL (1.6L EcoBoost) Approximate current Mileage: 134,646 miles System: Engine / Engine Cooling / Powertrain Incident Description: I am filing this complaint to report a severe and systemic safety defect regarding the 1.6L EcoBoost engine in my 2013 Ford Escape. The vehicle is experiencing catastrophic internal coolant intrusion, a known defect where coolant leaks past the head gasket and directly into the engine's combustion cylinders. Professional mechanical diagnostics have explicitly confirmed that engine coolant is pooling on top of piston #2. I have also experienced unexplained coolant loss with no external leaks and sudden engine overheating warnings. As of today, the vehicle's drivability has severely deteriorated, escalating this from a mechanical failure to a serious safety hazard. I cannot drive the vehicle for more than 5 miles before experiencing a severe loss of acceleration and engine power. While the engine does not completely stall or shut o...

Engine coolant intrusion into engine resulting in excessive visible smoke/steam on startup and coolant consumption. This issue has been inspected by a Ford dealer and private party mechanics, however could not be accurately diagnosed without engine disassembly. No evidence of external coolant leaks were present. The current consumption rate for coolant is approximately 2 qts per month. Vehicle currently has ~95k miles. The vehicle indicates random misfire codes and low coolant level warnings. Mechanics have advised not to drive as low coolant could lead to overheating and engine failure. Coolant intrusion could result in "hydrolocking" the engine, again resulting in engine failure. Ford Motor Company via dealer has declined to include the vehicle in similar recall or correction efforts.

Car has been having problems immediately with the turbocharger which then seemed fine once taken in. Only to turn around and have the transmission go out. Once again, it was taken in and was reported that there is no transmission dipstick. It is going into limp mode due to slippage detected from the B clutch pack. There is a low chance that flushing out the fluid could buy the transmission some more time, but a large amount of clutch material has been worn off the internal transmission clutch packs and is saturating the fluid. Therefore needing an entire replacement of the transmission.