One problem related to front air bag sensor control has been reported for the 2008 Ford Escape. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2008 Ford Escape based on all problems reported for the 2008 Escape.
My daughter weighs about 90 lbs. When she sits in the front passenger seat, the airbag intermittently turns on and off, some times depending on minor posture changes, sometimes at random. The dealer has seen this and says there is nothing they can do as the settings are federally mandated. It seems that it is a safety hazard to never know if a piece of safety equipment will function or not. If the air bag should be on, then it is unsafe for it to be on; if the sensor says it should be off then having it on would be unsafe.