Transmission Not Engage problems of the 2002 Ford Escape

Tl- the contact owns a 2002 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while shifting the gear stick from drive to park, the vehicle rolled backed without warning. The contact was able to stop the vehicle by engaging the hand brakes. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the shift gear stick disengaged from the transmission and needed the shift lever assembly to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The VIN was not included in the NHTSA campaign number: 15v606000 (powertrain). The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 230,000. Jo.

A couple of friends and I where on our way to la when we stopped for gas. Filled up the tank and then started the car, which started perfectly fine, I then put the car into drive and when I pushed the accelerator the car simply revved the engine and did not move. The drive gear was not engaging but second worked fine. First gear did engage also but it felt it was slammed into place not smoothly engaging. Had a near by mechanic look at it and he said that the transmission was giving out and that it would need to be replaced. I had the car towed to a dealership where I was told the clutch had blown out and taken the rest of the transmission with it and it all had to be replaced. It was a $3500 repair that I now wish I had done more research on because this seems to be a common issue. The car only had 54000 miles but it was 10 years old and there were no signs that the transmission was going out. The new transmission does come with a 3 year, unlimited mile warranty which is why I went with that instead of a rebuild which would have been a bit cheaper. After learning about all the problems this transmission has, I will be looking for a new car in the coming years. I like Fords but this really making think about getting a new car from some one else.

Just after the warranty period on my 2002 Ford Escape expired, I started having trouble with the transmission, specifically, the transmission would not engage in reverse without revving the engine and having the gears jump into place, causing the vehicle to lurch backwards. When I contacted my local Ford dealership where I had purchased the SUV, I expressed to them my displeasure in having transmission trouble at only 35,000+ miles and was informed that it was not unusual to need a new transmission at that odometer reading, and, indeed, they had replaced transmissions as early as 12,000 miles. I contacted my regional Ford corporate headquarters about the problem without any success. On Thursday, may 12, while traveling 55 miles per hour on the highway, the transmission failed, with the car sounding like I was revving the engine in neutral, and I was losing power quickly. I had to get off the road quickly and was unable to engage the transmission in any gear. After having the car towed to a transmission facility in indianapolis, I was told that the problem did not originate in the transmission, but was the result of a ground circuit problem. Ford constructed the car with the ground running through the transmission, which means that every time the car is started the high voltage running through the transmission melts the gears together. Additionally, the transmission was leaking onto the front suspension, which meant the ball joints needed to be replaced as well. The transmission company rebuilt the transmission, replaced the ball joints, and added an additional ground so that the problem would not happen again, which resulted in a total cost of $3655.