Owners/service Manual problems of the 2011 Ford Escape

While driving at 71 mph with the cruise control on, I noticed a slowing down feeling, the cruise control light went off, the wrench light illuminated. I pulled to the berm. I turned off the engine. According to the manual it was the throttle. It took 2 tries to restart car, the wrench light went off. A Ford dealership was 5 min. From incident. According to invoice, they performed throttle body update. I was told if the light came on again, it might need a throttle body. I asked if they could perform the work, they stated without the light being on, they couldn't do the work under the warranty. Meanwhile I was over 200 miles from home, and needed to get home. It felt so unsafe for 5hours of driving. The car has surges of power, downshifts with jolts, and clunking sounds when it does shift. This is how it drove from the beginning, I began to think it was normal so never reported it. Also, since the work was done I noticed the rpms at idling are high, I can pull into the garage without putting my foot on the gas the rpms are at 2 at 30 miles an hour, same as at 70 miles an hour. I'm contacting Ford about the rules of the warranty and how unsafe it feels to drive the vehicle. How many accidents, deaths will it take to get the real work done, not a patch up job.

I was driving in the far left hand lane on a highway at about 65 mph when all of a sudden my vehicle lost power and would not accelerate when I pushed the accelerator pedal. I immediately put on my flashers and began moving over one lane at a time until finally reaching the shoulder of the road. While doing so, when the vehicle speed was down to about 20 mph, it started shaking (like a jerking back and forth motion). After letting the car rest for about 10 minutes I tried to start it up. The vehicle started, but the check engine indicator light was illuminated. I followed the directions in the vehicles manual and drove slowly to my mechanic, not accelerating or decelerating abruptly. The initial diagnostic test indicated that the mass air flow sensor needed to be cleaned and this was performed. The vehicle seemed to be running normally for about one week, both on highway and local city roads. One week later, driving about 20 mph on a local street, the same thing happened. I brought the vehicle back to my mechanic who after doing the diagnostics told me that the throttle body needed to be replaced. Apparently the mechanic followed the bulletins which were issued by the vehicle manufacturer, which by virtue of issuing these bulletins knew of the potential problem. I believe that this issue is a major safety concern. I was lucky, I was able to move my vehicle to the shoulder of the highway because at the time there was not much traffic. Definitely, if I was driving at 65mph, and there was a car behind me travelling at the same speed, there would be know way for them to stop, when my car decelerated so rapidly.

I was traveling 55 mph down the highway and suddenly, the vehicle lost power. I pushed on the gas and nothing. I coasted to the side of the road and noticed a yellow wrench. I looked it up in the manual and it stated something about a power train error or defect and to contact a Ford dealership immediately. Well, considering I was over 60 miles from home, I turned if off, sat for a few minues, and started it. No wrench so I began to drive. I drove another 15 miles or so and then the same thing happened. I was able to start it up and get it going again but once I parked it, I had it towed and it's been sitting ever since. I called Ford and the mechanic gave me the impression it was covered under the manufacturers warranty as long as I'm under 50,000 miles but I'm started to read otherwise which has me concerned. To reiterate what others were saying, if I were in a busy highway, this "error" may have been fatal. No problems or anything prior to these occurences so the malfunction comes suddenly and without warning.