Ford Escape Complaints (2017)

2,704 consumer complaints on file.

#11710753January 13, 2026
ENGINE
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Engine, Yes. There is a known coolant intrusion engine fault with ford escapes. ford has issued TSBs over this How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? Engine abruptly died. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? Yes Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? Yes Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? No
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11710595January 13, 2026
ENGINE
Coolant intrusion due to head gasket wear from Ecoboost, a known defect on the Ford Escape from 2013-2019. Yes, safety was put at risk, as the entire vehicle started shaking violently without warning on the expressway due to misfire caused from coolant intrusion. Vehicle is currently at Roy O'Brien Ford, SCS MI, where it was diagnosed having coolant intrusion. No warning lights appeared until the incident on [XXX], with a flashing check engine light while driving, with the vehicle shaking violently. Prior to, I could feel and see the RPM's bouncing. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11710333January 12, 2026
ENGINE
I am the single owner of this 2017 Ford Escape with an Eco-boost 2.0L engine. This vehicle has only been serviced by Ford dealerships. at approximately 60K miles I noticed a lag in acceleration between 1200-2200 RPM. At 88K this lag became more violent, and I took the car to a Ford dealership for diagnosis. No warning lights had illuminated. The ford dealership advised me that there was coolant intrusion in the cylinders, and an entire new long block engine was required. After researching I learned that the 2017 had a design flaw that allows coolant to leak into the combustion chambers. in 2020 Ford redesigned the engine from an open deck to a closed deck. Due to Fords design flaw, I required a completely new long block engine and was able to confirm it was the new closed deck design at a cost of $14K. This problem boils down to the engine's open deck cooling design, which causes premature gasket failure and sometimes cracks between the cylinders. These problems don't affect the earlier versions of these engines due to their closed deck system, which was used prior to the introduction of the 2017 Escape. Ford has acknowledged this problem, but the fix isn't a simple one - it requires a long block replacement, which is obviously a labor intensive and expensive job. How to we get Ford to be responsible for the costs associated with changing the engine out from their flawed design? This could have been an on highway incident since there were no warning lights or other visible issues.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11710449January 12, 2026
ENGINE, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Coolant Intrusion: A design flaw in the open-deck engine block allows coolant to leak into the combustion chambers, leading to misfires, white smoke, and severe engine damage. Affected Vehicles: Primarily 2017-2019 Escapes and 2014-2019 Fusions with the 1.5L EcoBoost engine, built before specific dates. Symptoms: Low coolant, white exhaust smoke, rough idling, check engine light, and DTCs like P0300, P0301-P0304.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11710150January 10, 2026
EXTERIOR LIGHTING
It is only the low beams, but every couple months, the passenger side goes out. Then within 3 weeks to 2 months later the driver's side goes out. This has been happening since a month after I bought the car in 2021. This does not matter if they are changed individually when one of them goes out or if they are both changed at the same time. Occasionally, they will both just go out at the same time. This is extremely unsafe when driving down the road. I have had the car looked at by different mechanics different times when this issue was happens. It can happen when I turn the car on and it's just been running a few minutes or while i'm doing city, highway and interstate driving. Today is the most recent time it happened my passenger side just went out again. The passenger and drivers side light bulbs (low beans) were last changed just after Thanksgiving. I have never had any issues with the high beams. Those have worked just fine. It is only the low beams.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11708750January 5, 2026
ENGINE
I bought my 2017 Ford Escape from Cocoa Ford in Cocoa, FL on 8/23/2025. Less than a month after purchase, I noticed the coolant was low, and that the engine was making a weird noise. I also had the check engine light come on two different times and after using an OBD reader, I got code P0303. After the first instance, around Mid-November, 2025, I cleared the code myself, but then immediately scheduled an appointment with my mechanic. Seaside Auto Repair in Satellite Beach, FL on November 24, 2025. They came back stating that the problem is a known issue with Ford Escape cars, citing [XXX] & [XXX] . No repairs were made at this time, as I was assessing my options. Shortly after taking the car to the mechanic was when the check engine light came on again. Around December 5, 2025. Due to the holidays, and the car seemingly getting me to point A to Point B without too much trouble when I wasn't driving far, and constantly monitoring the coolant levels, which continued to drop, even after topping off, I have been waiting until after the new years to seek further mechanical fixes, however on Jan 1, 2026, while driving on the highway, my car began to shake, and I had a flashing check engine light on. I immediately returned home, about an additional 25 minutes of driving, and have not driven the car since. Since this is a known issue, Ford should be responsible for the fixes and/or replacement of my car. It is asinine that this issue does not yet have a recall. I will be reaching out to Ford directly to see if they will assist with this matter, but for now, I wanted to voice my concern about this issue. I'm lucky I was close to home when the issue became more serious. I have attached the invoice from my mechanic, which also includes a descriptions of their findings. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11708694January 4, 2026
ENGINE
This is related to the class action lawsuit 2:20-cv-01796-DAD-CKD Miller v. Ford Motor Co. Concerning alleged engine defects in Ford vehicles, specifically focusing on issues like excessive oil consumption and premature failure in certain EcoBoost engines. My engine has developed symptoms regarding the known coolant leak into the engine. The engine looses power when accellerating, and produces white exhaust after starting cold. Replacing spark plugs and coils did not resolve the issue. I checked the coolant level and it was below the minimum, and I had to add more coolant. The ECU has logged misfires at cylinder 2 and 4. The MIL turns on intermittently.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11708001December 31, 2025
ENGINE, STRUCTURE:BODY
Two different things are happening with my car. 1) the paint is chipping and has caused corrosion on the body. Apparently this is a known issue but the peeling/chipping has gotten worse and will keep doing so until it is fixed. 2) car keep running hot and losing coolant but no leak to be found even after several rounds of tests.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11708079December 31, 2025
EXTERIOR LIGHTING
While driving vehicle at night on [XXX] to Richmond, VA my headlights both stopped working completely. The only way I could see was by turning on my high beam headlights. The high beam headlights worked fine. There was no warning lights, no sounds, the interior lights and everything interior was working normal. It was just the low beam headlights both at the exact same time. The running day lights work. The bulbs were fine the fuses were in perfect condition it just stopped working. This was a SERIOUS and dangerous incident that occurred on a major highway while driving at night suddenly and without warning. Had my high beams not worked I could have been in serious accident trying to drive or get off the highway to get a tow. In addition, all turn signals and break lights work perfectly. I have appt w/Ford dealership in Culpeper, VA on Friday Jan 2, 2026 to figure out why they are not working. I shouldn't have to pay thousands of dollars for a problem that Ford knows is happening with our vehicles. The amount of complaints of similar issues with the Ford Escape on Ford's help thread is in the thousands. This is a serious failure which can increase the risk of a crash and potential injury. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11708094December 31, 2025
ENGINE
Vehicle is slowly losing collant, and when I park I get a strong smell of collant. I took vehicle to have collant flushed and was took system was ok. From what I have researched is that there is a history of coolant entering engine cylinder because of defective engine and causeing engines to event ually seize.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11708104December 31, 2025
ENGINE
Engine failure due to multiple coolant failures, due to poor design of the long engine block. Ford removed and replaced the long block in full, but it was out of warranty. There are multiple class action lawsuits against Ford for the defecting engine block design. There was only 49,187 miles on the car, well under mileage warranty, but above the 7 year old car age warranty. I paid $8379.39 for the new long block engine.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11707745December 30, 2025
ENGINE
Ford Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) number is 21-2269. The engine block is leaking coolant into the cylinders which causes the engine to report over heating.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11707890December 30, 2025
ENGINE
Coolant intrusion on the 2.0 ecoboost engine diagnosed by a ford dealer service center and a well documented issue. The coolant intrusion causes the engine to misfire rendering the car unusable and a potential road hazard.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11707606December 29, 2025
ENGINE
Known coolant leak into the cylinders that ford won’t cover
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11707376December 28, 2025
ENGINE
Coolant in cylinder 2 due to crack in cylinder wall at head gasket due to thin sealing surface
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11707206December 26, 2025
POWER TRAIN, ENGINE, FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
While driving at a constant speed on the highway, the transmission shifted down a gear and revved into very high RPMs. I was dramatically slowing down despite pressing on the gas pedal. The car didn't provide any power and just revved while I had cars next to me going at highway speeds. Managed to get off the highway, a transmission fault indicator popped up on the dash. The car no longer was able to move. I had the car towed to the Ford Dealership. This car has a bad transmission at ~97,000 miles. Prior to this, I felt like the car's transmission maybe wasn't shifting on time but didn't make much of it. This could have easily resulted in a crash. Turns out this is a very well known problem with the Ford Escape. My friend has a 2016 Ford Escape who recently paid 8000$ for a new transmission. This is clearly unsafe and the failure is definitely premature.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11706862December 23, 2025
ENGINE
Coolant intrusion on 2.0L Ecoboost Engine Car started running rough, oil light came on. Palmetto Ford Charleston SC indicated engine needed replacement due to coolant intrusion. This same dealer replaced the Turbo Wastegate 10/17/2025. 12/17/2025 the car ran rough.Service Bulletin 19-2346 seems to be the problem. Called Ford Customer Service who offered no assistance. Car has 75,000 miles, 1 owner, well maintained.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11706613December 22, 2025
POWER TRAIN
Coolant leakage, intrusion into the engine block. This is a KNOWN issue by Ford. They have issued technical service bulletins to address it (attached), but those programs were only offered for a limited time and are expired, even though they know the issue exists. Also, owners were not notified of this because it wasn't an official recall.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11706485December 22, 2025
ENGINE
Stalled at Traffic lights when stopped and finally told engine coolant leak at 89K miles.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11706501December 22, 2025
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving 10 MPH and attempting a right turn, the “High Temperature - Fire Risk” message was displayed, and the vehicle independently shut off while depressing the accelerator pedal. The contact started to merge the vehicle into a shopping center. An independent mechanic was contacted. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed, and determined that the engine needed to be replaced. The thermostat was replaced, and the remaining coolant was drained and refilled, and the coolant temperature sensor was replaced, and the vehicle was repaired. The contact stated that the failure had occurred twice. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that there was no recall or warranty on the vehicle for the repair. The contact was informed that if the vehicle was repaired out of pocket and then there became a recall for the failure, there was a possibility of being reimbursed. The approximate failure mileage was 88,344.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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