Two problems related to trunk wiring have been reported for the 2001 Ford Escape. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2001 Ford Escape based on all problems reported for the 2001 Escape.
On October 10th, 2013, my wife and I had met for her birthday dinner at a restaurant in our town. My wife drove the 2001 Ford Escape to the restaurant, about 5 miles, from our home and parked the car. We had been at dinner for approximately 25 minutes when the waitress asked us if we drove a red SUV. We were led to the vehicle that was on fire and in the process of being extinguished by the fire department. The fire investigator said that it looked as if the fire had started on the driver's side of the engine compartment and that nothing else looked suspicious. He pointed out that the wire insulation on that side of the engine compartment was all melted away to bare copper and that the passenger side wiring was still more intact. The fire destroyed the entire front end of the car, the engine compartment, the driver's side fender, the driver's side tire and rim and melted the driver's side dashboard. The entire inside of the vehicle is smoke damaged since the car was locked up. The vehicle is a total loss. Just grateful that my daughter or wife weren't driving it at the time of the fire.
The brake master cylinder cap leaks brake fluid and the fluid runs down the wiring and down the firewall of the engine compartment. The brake fluid has corroded the paint off of the firewall, and then the fluid gets hot and smokes. Because the fluid runs down the wiring, the vehicle is also having electrical problems. Ford has a recall 11s24 for vehicles of the same year with the same problem, but they say that our vehicle is not included even though the master cylinder cap clearly leaks. They won't look at the vehicle unless we pay $85 to have it diagnosed. We would like to have this vehicle added to the recall.