What 2,743 owners told NHTSA about the 2013 Ford Escape Gas

The contact owns a 2013 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the low-coolant warning light illuminated on the instrument panel, and the temperature gauge began to indicate that the vehicle was overheating. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed a failure with the coolant hose. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure reoccurred. The vehicle was towed back to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed a failure with the cooling and control systems. The vehicle was not repaired. After investigating the failure, the contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 13V583000 (Engine) but the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was 100,000.

NHTSA ODI 11574342

Car shaking when I accelerate. Car jerking at times upon accelerating. Major oil leak to the point that a car place refused to change my oil due to liability.

NHTSA ODI 11571356

Vehicle will completely turn off while driving, battery indicator light comes on, once pulled over the vehicle can be restarted. Had it checked it out and it’s leaking coolant from a possible cracked block into #2 cylinder. Ford told me that they currently have no programs for me to get this replaced for free. These motors are dangerous and ford needs to address this.

NHTSA ODI 11570209

The contact owns a 2013 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the Coolant Low message was displayed, and the vehicle then lost motive power. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact added coolant and was able to restart the vehicle; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and a case was opened. The failure mileage was approximately 110,000.

NHTSA ODI 11568970

I HAVE A 2013 Ford Escape THAT HAS HAD TO HAVE A NEW TRANSMISSION DUE TO ITS SUDDEN AND UNEXPECTED AND WITH NO WARNING FAILURE. 6000 AT FORD DEALERSHIP. THEN THE PROBLEMS WITH COOLANT STARTED. IT WOULD SUDDENLY START OVERHEATING, AND START STALLING . DROPPED DOWN TO TWO MILE AND HOUR TILL YOU LIMP OFF THE ROAD. HAVE TO CONSTANTLY CHECK IT. WILL BE FINE AND THEN SUDDENLY START LEAKING AGAIN. REPLACED COOLANT CAP, COOLANT OVERFLOW TANK, NEW HOSE FOR COOLANT TANK, COOLANT HOSE THAT INSERTS INTO REAR OF ENGINE, STAND PIPE AND BYPASS VALVE.

NHTSA ODI 11568276

The contact owns a 2013 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the temperature gauge indicated that the vehicle was overheating, prompting the contact to pull over to the shoulder of the roadway. After a visual inspection of the engine compartment, the contact observed that the coolant reservoir was empty. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who determined that coolant was leaking into the cylinders, resulting in damage to the engine and requiring the engine to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. After investigating the failure, the contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 13V583000 (Engine) but the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was 84,000.

NHTSA ODI 11567743

Coolant leaks due to hole in cylinder head causing overheated engine.

NHTSA ODI 11567107

Cars is losing antifreeze with no visible leaks in engine compartment or under vehicle. Strong smell emitted around vehicle when driven.

NHTSA ODI 11563806

I have been reaching out to ford for over 9 months my SUV started having issues with shifting at 90,000 and I took it to my local ford dealer 2 (Jefferson Ford Motors) Jefferson Georgia and then once to the Ford office in Winder Georgia both said that until the vehicle broke down they did not see what the problem was however the last time I took it to Jefferson Ford Motor they said they can tell its showing signs of some type of transmission failure at which they could not tell why because they said it was not enough miles to cause that fast forward to November of 2023 I was driving down a busy intersection and the suv stops shifting completely and slammed to a stop in the middle of 6 lanes all coming at my vehicle and nearly causing a horrible accident and unsafe environment to even have it towed ford had recalls on the shifting that caused this very same issue with the same model as my vehicle and they should be liable for this I have wrote letters and called ford spoke to the NHTSA multiple times with absolutely no help from anyone how is this fair to me I can not fix my SUV because I can not afford it I am not asking for ford to cover anything else but do the right thing and fix the issues with the vehicle that caused a near death accident I NEED HELP for someone instead of being ignored!

NHTSA ODI 11563262

The contact owns a 2013 Ford Escape. The contact stated that on two occasions while driving at various speeds, there was an abnormal gasoline odor inside the cabin of the vehicle. Additionally, the contact stated on another occasion while driving at various speeds the vehicle lost power. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 127,000.

NHTSA ODI 11563102

The transmission will sometimes fail to engage immediately after putting the vehicle in drive or reverse. If the driver steps on the gas pedal, the transmission jerks violently to engage. Also while driving, the transmission will have a slight slipping before allowing acceleration. No OBD codes appear and no dashboard warning messages appear. In addition to the transmission problem, I obtained a P0234 and P0299 OBD code. This code is for the turbocharger overboost solenoid, which I had replaced, but the code has returned.

NHTSA ODI 11561976

Vehicle started to overheat. It now will not move. Car has sat for two days and as soon as you start it the overheating warning comes on

NHTSA ODI 11558261

The contact owns a 2013 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle failed to exceed 30 MPH. The engine overheated message was displayed, and the check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact was able to drive to the residence. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who replaced the water pump. After the repair was performed, the contact and his passengers detected an abnormally strong oil odor while driving. The contact and his passengers suffered from headaches; however, medical attention was not received. Additionally, while driving, there was smoke coming from underneath the hood. The vehicle was taken to another independent mechanic, who determined there was an oil leak. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 13V583000 (Engine); however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The failure mileage was approximately 133,000.

NHTSA ODI 11555131

At 87,000 miles the transmission went completely out. At 87,000 miles there has been a constant coolant leak. Despite changing hoses, and reservoir

NHTSA ODI 11554753

- Valve cover needs to be replaced - Spark plugs needs to be replaced - Power reduced message pops up probably from spark plugs - Says transmission fault probably from valve cover leaking transmission fluid - Left rear speed sensor - Turbo charger/super charger underboost - invalid data received from steering angle sensor module message popped up

NHTSA ODI 11552384

The Turbocharger Wastegate Regulating Valve Solenoid has been intermittently forcing a OBD2 code P0234. The solenoid location has not been determined and why the code goes away and then comes back later after driving the vehicle after clearing the code is not determined either. Ford charges more for this part than any other parts houses. The dealer labor is also costing just as much as the part ($200). This is a problem that is currently happening to quite a few Escape owners.

NHTSA ODI 11552436

The contact owns a 2013 Ford Escape. The contact stated that after driving the vehicle for an extended period, the vehicle would hesitate without warning upon depression of the accelerator pedal. The contact initially took the vehicle to a dealer where they informed the contact that the turbo booster needed to be replaced. Despite the turbo booster replacement, the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer for a second time; however, the dealer was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was given a case number. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was unknown.

NHTSA ODI 11550378

coolant leaked into the cylinders causing major overheating. Only to be told by ford mechanics, that a new engine is needed.

NHTSA ODI 11549622

I had issues with my turbo in July. It needed to be fully replaced. One week ago, is started leaking coolant. White smoke was coming from the exhaust. Last night while driving on the highway, it would not accelerate and threw an error code saying cylinder three misfire detected. I had to stop on the side of the highway in the middle of the night in pitch black with no streetlights due to no fault of my own. Car is no longer drivable until fixed.

NHTSA ODI 11549451

2013 Ford Escape SE, So according to my local Ford dealership, which is where this vehicle was purchased, this particular year/model has an issue with the engine where coolant will leak into the head and warp the head seizing a spark plug(s), which customers will not find out about until it comes time to actually replace the spark plugs. Our vehicle has less than 100,000 miles on it, and was purchased in full (no loan/lease). This is a pretty BIG manufacturer's defect. It is also (according to my local Ford dealership), a common problem, but not common enough for ford to do anything about it. Someone buys a product and it has a manufacturer's defect, but won't do anything to correct it that's pretty crappy, leaving people like me that is laid off to try to foot a bill of several thousand dollars for something that again, should be fixed by ford. Again according to my local Ford dealership, Ford changed some things in manufacturing after learning about this. After calling my local Ford dealership and then Ford corporate, all they told me is A. there's no extended service program on my vehicle and that it was only offered on select VINs, and B. Call NHTSA. (So basically pushing this off on other's/another agency.). Also note, my local Ford dealership, NOR Ford corporate are willing to give me anything in writing. (I wonder why). (Note to NHTSA, I am [XXX] , filling this out for my father, the vehicle owner.) INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11547783

Fire started in engine from oil leak in cylinder head on Saturday, 9/9/23 at approximately 1:15 pm. Car had been running for around 2 hours with no signs or indication of malfunction. Driver pulled car over after entering Mt. Rainier National Forest at a viewpoint. At this point driver noticed engine was smoking. NO lights or indicators on dashboard lit up notifying of overheating or malfunction. The temperature gauge did not indicate the engine was over heating. The safety of 4 passengers was at risk. Fire started with four passengers including the driver in the car. Vehicle was located in Mt. Rainier National Forest where passengers and driver had no cellphone service. This also occurred in a National Forest during the high risk season for forest fires/wildfires. Fire could have put lives of passengers at risk as well as those in nearby area, if car went ablaze in the forest. With no service, preventing the car fire from turning into a forest fire would be very difficult. This problem occurred AFTER TSB on this vehicle was completed for safety recall 17S09-S1 in April 2014 at Bellingham Ford. The crack in the cylinder caused by the recall was patched by Bellingham Ford by filling it with Copper silicone rather than removing the cylinder and replacing it. Repair shop (Mike's Shop - Buckley Washington) that inspected vehicle after incident on Sept. 9th 2023, found that copper silicone patch had split causing oil to leak into engine and catch fire. This inspection indicates that the initial repair done by Ford Manufacturer did not prevent leak from occurring and causing a fire to start in engine.

NHTSA ODI 11544340

Heater coil hose leaking profusely. Common issue reported in 2013 Escape, yet no recall, why?

NHTSA ODI 11542962

The contact's wife owns a 2013 Ford Escape. The contact stated while starting the vehicle, there was significant amounts of smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the failure mainly recurred after the vehicle had been sitting overnight. The dealer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The contact related the failure to TSB Number: SSM-49210. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 140,000.

NHTSA ODI 11542617

The contact owns a 2013 Ford Escape. The contact stated that the vehicle was leaking engine oil. The contact stated that after leaving the vehicle running for an extended period, there was smoke coming from the vehicle. The check engine warning light and engine overheating message was displayed. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where they diagnosed that the failure was with the cylinder block. The vehicle was then towed to a dealer and the contact was informed that the VIN was not under recall related to the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and confirmed that the vehicle was not included in a recall. The failure mileage was approximately 86,136.

NHTSA ODI 11542040

Flywheel broke, causing the vehicle to lose power.

NHTSA ODI 11537937