What 2,068 owners told NHTSA about the 2014 Ford Escape Gas

Rapidly losing coolant without being able to find any leaks with the assumption it’s going into my engine. This also explains why my engine has been acting a bit funny.

NHTSA ODI 11634191

Coolant In Cylinders, White Exhaust Smoke

NHTSA ODI 11633658

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Escape. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked and running, there was a cloud of gray smoke coming from the vehicle and the engine was overheating. The vehicle was taken to two independent mechanics and was diagnosed a cracked cylinder. The vehicle was not repaired; however, the thermostat and water pump were replaced. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but offered no assistance. The failure mileage was 150,000.

NHTSA ODI 11628857

The smokes very excessively at startup. If the vehicle sits it will do it again,

NHTSA ODI 11628441

Constant Coolant Leaks affecting the engine The vehicle is available for inspection Vehicle breaks down very easily now so safety is a concern This problem has been repaired several times. Yes the vehicle has been inspected Yes there were warnings. The vehicle now has a constant engine light that will not go away

NHTSA ODI 11628116

Slow coolant leak that can’t be located

NHTSA ODI 11624639

My engine is leaking coolant and requiring me to have to constantly add it! Now coolant is leaking while I am driving it causing my car to overheat.

NHTSA ODI 11623573

There is a engine coolant leak into the cylinder 2 due to a faulty casing from the manufacturer (Ford). It is a known issue across several models (Escape, Edge) and model years. A mechanic has confirmed the engine block needs to be replaced as the issue will continue to get worse and eventually the engine will die due to the faulty casing which allows coolant to seep into the cylinder. Ford is at fault for this and countless claims have been filed online and there should be a recall to cover the repairs.

NHTSA ODI 11623622

The Ecoboost engine in this year/model has a known defect with coolant intrusion into the #3 cylinder. At 83,000 miles the car reported cylinder 3 misfires and the mechanic said coolant was leaking from the head gasket....a known issue with these engines. He warned of catastrophic failure and the potential of an engine fire. He said Ford knows of this issue and recalled several models. My car has the engine issue that Ford knows about and needs to correct before an accident happens. In addition, the coolant does not seem to circulate correctly and when it does, it burns in the cylinder. The has overheated 3 times in the past month.

NHTSA ODI 11622919

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Escape. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked on the driveway during nighttime, the contact's wife noticed a light underneath the front end of the vehicle. The contact discovered that the vehicle had caught on fire. The contact extinguished the fire using a water hose avoiding opening the hood to not expose the fire to oxygen. The contact's wife then also assisted in extinguishing the fire by using a fire extinguisher as the husband opened the hood and then used the water hose as well. The contact stated that the vehicle had been driven and then parked before the fire was experienced. The origin of the fire was unknown however the contact discovered that the valve cover was charred and melted. No fire report or police report was filed. No injuries were sustained. The vehicle was towed to the dealer; however, the vehicle had not been diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and a case was filed. The contact was informed of an unknown recall however, the VIN was not associated with the recall. The contact was advised to contact the NHTSA Hotline to report the failure. The failure mileage was 151,000.

NHTSA ODI 11621697

Coolant leak occurred out of no where. Roughly 90,000 miles on my car, it's been well taken care of. With no warning, the engine overheated in a drive through. Checked the coolant, it was low and bubbling. Check engine light went on. Difficult to find where the leak is coming from, not sure if it is the water pump, hoses, coolant reservoir or radiator. I refilled the coolant and lost it all in a matter of 2 days. Looked it up and this is very common in Ford Escapes, they need to offer assistance on the matter.

NHTSA ODI 11621711

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, the coolant warning light illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer where the vehicle was diagnosed. The contact was informed that the cylinder head was cracked, and the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 163,000.

NHTSA ODI 11618786

Coolant fluid is leaking into engine cylinder #3. Yes, the vehicle would be available for inspection upon request. The coolant leak can cause the car can overheat, leading to a loss of power, poor performance, and potential engine damage An engine coolant system pressurized diagnostic test was performed by Stuckey Ford in Bellefonte, PA. I will have the report from this test when I pick up the car from the shop. Previous owner stated that one of the spark plugs needed to be changed, but did not disclose engine coolant leak. After purchasing, an indicator light came on stating that the coolant level was low. We have been adding coolant as needed.

NHTSA ODI 11617619

Hello, I'm writing to see if the Ecoboost lawsuits also include 2014 Ford Escapes? Mine cut off on me while on the highway Saturday (XXX). The Engine failed while driving, no light or warning. This is even after me dishing out a little over $8k in 2021 when I purchased it used from Bommarito Ford in St. Louis. I had transmission/engine issues from the start. When the car stopped on me a few folks that work on cars pulled over to see if they could assist. They all said the same thing... that the engine was done... oil was everywhere. They kept asking if it overheated but my gage always stayed between C and H. No lights or warnings ever. It was horrifying to be going about 60 mph to hear something break and lose power without warning. I'm grateful no accident was caused while I merged over to the exit ramp shoulder. I had the car towed back to my apartment while I try to figure out how to get the engine repaired. I'm currently re-starting after a very messy divorce so I do not have extra funds laying around to have a new engine installed. Currently in Chapter 13 due to issues with the divorce. Now I'm catching the bus and I'm still dealing with his stalking/harassment. I've been told my additional warranty ended in June of 2023. I contacted Ford and they told me I would need to have their dealer look at the car which will be towing plus the $250 fee. But that my car type is not included in the class action. The dealer said the same, but I do have an ecoboost engine and have been having issues with the engine/transmission since I purchased it in 2021. Do you know how I could add my name to the Class Action? Thanks, [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11615994

My 2014 Ford Escape had run into coolant fluid issues such as leaking fluid and a cylinder misfire. Took it to a Ford dealership where they stated the only option for a fix was a replacement of the long block assembly. My car has just about 72,000 miles on it and it already needs an engine replacement due to coolant intrusion and the Ford dealership cited codes P0303, P0316, and P1299. These are codes that are referenced to Ford's recall of engines on Ford Escapes in the years 2017-2019, and it states it applies to Ford Escapes built from late 2015 to 2019. The 2014 Ford Escape experienced an unfixable engine failure that requires the customer to pay for replacement when Ford should be the one paying for damages. It is clear that their coolant intrusion failure affected more years of production that NHTSA has previously found. There is no reason a care with regular service should have its engine fail at 72,000 miles, and the driver shouldn't be shouldering the cost when this specific issue and PCM codes is commonplace among Ford Escape engines outside of the recalled production years of 2015-2019, or even limiting the recall to 2017-2019. Whoever decided to limit which production years applied to the engine coolant recall made a mistake and it needs to be revisited because Ford customers are being forced to pay for Ford's poor design failures.

NHTSA ODI 11616041

The transmission on my 2014 Ford Escape went totally bad at 91,000 miles. I had to replace the transmission at a cost of $6,780. I have read that this has happened to many 2014 Ford Escapes with low mileage. There should be a recall on this vehicle.

NHTSA ODI 11613958

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the engine misfired, with the check engine warning light illuminated. Additionally, the contact stated that the engine overheated. The contact stated that the vehicle was parked and allowed for the engine to cool down. The vehicle was later started and taken to the dealer. The vehicle was diagnosed with coolant intrusion into the engine. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but provided no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 71,669.

NHTSA ODI 11610319

104,340 miles and diagnosed with coolant consumption and coolant intrusion into cylinder #2 causing engine misfire. known defect of the 1.6L EcoBoost engine. Needs engine replacement.

NHTSA ODI 11609888

While driving at highway speeds, the engine began to miss resulting in a sudden loss of power that forced me to pull over. I had the vehicle towed to a garage where they found the code for a misfire in cylinder 4. When they looked in cylinder 4, they found coolant intrusion and a crack in the cylinder. I discovered this is a common experience with this engine in Escapes and other vehicles. The vehicle only had around 89,000 miles at the time of the incident.

NHTSA ODI 11607756

Engine failure due to coolant intrusion

NHTSA ODI 11607640

We had our vehicle engine light come on, vehicle would shake and misfire, we had the spark plugs replaced. No sooner the vehicle light came on again, vehicle still shake and misfire and had it looked at with Ford service Ford service replaced the power packs. No sooner once again, the engine light came on, this time the vehicle over heated. The vehicle would shake and misfire. Took it in again to Ford service, they concluded that it was the throttle body they replaced and fixed. No sooner once again, the vehicle still shooked, but this time the vehicle started to lose power and would not go while driving on the highway, it over heated, misfired. Returned once again to Ford service whom finally revealed the truth and said these vehicles are notorious for a new engine. We were told that the design of the engine revealed that coolant was leaking into the block/heads. It was unsure if the blocked cracked and that we needed a new engine. If we just replace the head gaskets that later down the road we would need to replace the engine. We were left with replacing the vehicle with Ford service in replacing the engine at the mileage of 96,812

NHTSA ODI 11606100

Car overheated due to intrusion of coolant into head gasket. Repair shop identified issue and warned it's a safety risk for fire when overheating. Only symptom before overheating was white smoke from exhaust on startup. Shop said maintenance looked fine, wasn't low on oil and coolant had just been checked less than 6 months earlier at a regular oil change. Mentioned that they have seen a ton of these from the 2.0L EcoBoost engines and it's a known risk in the industry.

NHTSA ODI 11605912

The car had a coolant leak which caused the car to overheat. The car is now leaking oil which has lead to oil leaking into the fuel.

NHTSA ODI 11605445

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving 30-35 MPH, the vehicle stalled. The contact was unable to pull over to the side of the roadway. The contact was able to restart the vehicle and continued driving. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the canister purge valve had failed and needed to be replaced. The dealer related the failure to an unknown recall and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

NHTSA ODI 11604523

The contact’s mother owns a 2014 Ford Escape. While the contact's mother was driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with coolant leak and engine failure. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but provided no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 117,000.

NHTSA ODI 11604123