Transfer Case problems of the 2013 Ford Edge

The contact owns a 2013 Ford Edge. The contact stated that while the vehicle was at an independent mechanic for an oil change, the contact was informed that the power transfer unit (ptu) was leaking and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact to file a complaint with the NHTSA hotline. The failure mileage was approximately 74,000.

My car has been leaking oil for years, but no one could find a leak in our oil system. We were just told we have a cracked transfer case by the Ford dealership.

It started with a burnt oil smell that could be smelt inside the vehicle once in a while. Then little by little grinding noises started to be heard from underneath the vehicle after slowing down from a higher speed. The vehicle then started making a noise when steering and a rattling noise underneath the vehicle. Once in a while and then started bagging when I would go to accelerate. The noise is made from underneath the vehicle were intermittent sometimes they would do it and sometimes they would not and many times they got very loud. You could hear the noise while driving and more so while slowing down to a stop. All of a sudden the vehicle would bigger forward when giving a little gas. Was just may able to make it home before it was no longer drive-able. This is only a 6 1/2yr. Old vehicle with 76,000 miles. Appears to be major problem with transfer case, rear differential, and transmission.

The vehicle began emitting a smell intermittently, which was later determined to be gear oil from the transfer case. Eventually, the car began to make a grinding sound while steering and stopping until the transfer case blew up and destroyed the transmission. The transfer case and transmission were replaced, was told that this transfer case was an "issue" in these cars. After repair, the car began to make noises again, gear oil smells in the passenger cabin, and subsequently, the transfer case again blew up, filling the passenger cabin with smoke and disabling the vehicle on a major highway less than 100 miles after previous repair. Transfer case replaced again, was driven by the mechanic for 26 miles, and again blew up leaving the vehicle disabled. The true failure appears that the car is failing to switch from awd to fwd when it gets up to high speeds causing repeated failures to the entire system and disabling the car putting me and my family at risk each time. Ford is aware that this is an issue. The parts department has dozens of transfer cases and rear differentials available to continue replacing and they know that they are putting their customers at risk. My transfer cases failures happened on a city street (1st time) turning left, major highway @ 70mph going straight down a hill and coasting (2nd time), city street going straight (3rd time). This is a dangerous situation and needs to be resolved with on multiple awd vehicles that Ford has made with this system.

Power transfer case (ptu) on awd not functioning. Vehicle making excessive road noise, low rumbles as accelerating through 20-25 mph from stop, grinding noises and hesitations when coming to a stop. Mileage around 79000. Age of vehicle will be 5 years old in March 2018. Road noise began about two months ago, but originally attributed to new tire noise. Has increased in volume since. Rumbling noises began last month sporadically. Grinding and hesitations began last week.