general problems of the 2023 Ford Escape - part 1

The contact owns a 2023 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while attempting to start the vehicle, the radio displayed a blank screen. A dealer was contacted. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic to be diagnosed. The contact stated that the failure had occurred on several occasions. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 34,756.

I have had many issues with this vehicle. Most concerning is that the other night while driving down the road at night, my car blacked out and I had no lights inside or headlights outside while driving in the dark. My back hatch button only works when it wants to. My screen freezes every once in awhile and also makes horrible noises very frequently. I’ve had one case of my screen freezing on a longer drive with my seat warmer on and the seats getting too hot and burning me. My safety features shut off all the time. My cruise control wouldn’t work at all on a 4 hour drive last month. When I get my oil changed they tell me under my hood is way louder than it should be for a vehicle this old. The dealership did a factory reset hoping it would help but I’ve already had issues with the hatch door not working appropriately, the sound coming from my screen, and notifications that my safety features have been shut off.

The contact owned a 2023 Ford Escape. The contact stated that the infotainment center would display a black screen, and while doing so, the radio would continue to play. The contact stated that while driving at different speeds, the trunk would suddenly open, causing the contact to have to pull over and close the trunk in order to continue to drive. The failure occurred 3 times while the vehicle was parked at home. There would be a burning odor emitting from the vehicle intermittently; however, there would be no smoke or indication of where the smell was coming from. While parked at home and unoccupied, the rear window suddenly shattered, and the vehicle caught on fire. The fire department was called and extinguished the fire. The fire department and the insurance company had determined the vehicle would be totaled; however, an official determination had not been provided. A police report was filed. The dealer was informed of the failure. There were no injuries or medical attention needed. There was no damage done to the property. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 37,000.

Hi, vehicle is under a second recall for the high voltage battery potential fire hazard. The first recall lasted 7 months before a potential fix. The second recall was issued in November with no fix available yet. Received second recall identical to first recall indicating a fire risk with no apparent fix. I have requested Ford buyback the vehicle, but it fell outside the 18 month nys lemon law. They have refused. They have no fix and will not provide a loaner until it is fixed. The original vehicle electric range was between 38 and 40 with a window sticker range of 37. It is now down to around a range of 20 on full charge with an actual driveable of about 16. I have asked both Ford and delivering dealership to replace the high voltage battery pack as it has seriously deteriorated. Ford refuses to allow dealer to replace the battery pack. The vehicle is basically unusable for it's original intended purpose as a partial electric vehicle. I asked Ford, what am I supposed to do if I am transporting my two grandchildren in the vehicle and it starts on fire. How do I choose which child to get first? no response. These vehicles should be removed from use by Ford and loaner vehicles provided or a full buy back should take place. I only have 11,000 miles on this vehicle and it has been in the shop for more than 30 days for various warranty repairs and multiple recalls. These vehicles are not safe. See pictures attached for factual information from vehicle. I have plenty of detail if you need it. Please help. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Accessory protocol interface module went out screen went dark. No recall on my VIN but should be. Problem appeared 12/26/2025 and has been inspected by peach state Ford.

The contact owns a 2023 Ford Escape. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 25v789000 (electrical system); however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure.

My 2023 Ford Escape plug-in hybrid has experienced repeated high-voltage battery safety issues and prolonged loss of intended function. In February 2025, Ford notified me under recall 24s79 that I must immediately stop charging the vehicle due to the risk of internal battery cell short, potential battery thermal venting, and fire. That “do not charge” instruction lasted approximately six months, eliminating the core plug-in hybrid functionality of the vehicle. Ford originally stated the remedy would be available in q2 2025, but the repair was not completed until late August 2025. The recall documentation stated that an internal battery cell short could cause the “stop safely now” warning and sudden loss of motive power, which presents a serious safety risk while driving, especially when transporting my family. During the “do not charge” period the vehicle’s plug-in hybrid capability was unusable, and Ford acknowledged the risk of fire and loss of power. In November 2025, I received a new high-voltage battery recall 25sc4 (NHTSA 25v789) for the same general hazard category (internal short, potential fire, loss of motive power). The new recall states that no remedy is available at this time. This means the vehicle is again subject to a serious unresolved safety defect involving the same critical system. The repeated battery failures and the absence of a current fix create an ongoing safety concern, and the vehicle cannot be reliably used or sold during this open recall with no remedy. I am requesting NHTSA review the repeated hv battery defects, extended loss of plug-in hybrid functionality, delayed first recall remedy, and the current “no remedy available” condition, and assess whether further investigation or corrective action is needed for these vehicles.

My 2023 Ford edge caused burns to the back of my legs. I was unaware until my grandma informed me that something was wrong with my legs. I noticed when I got the car 2 months ago level 3 of the seat warmer was way to hot like I felt it burning. So I only used on setting 1 or 2 and did not feel the burning sensation like when used on 3 but somehow my legs are burned.

The contact owns a 2023 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while her husband was driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle experienced a loss of automotive power, and the steering wheel became difficult to turn in either direction. The contact stated that the messages "electrical power saver active" and "service charging system warning" were displayed on the instrument panel. In addition, the contact's husband stated that the vehicle failed to come to a complete stop as intended, and the brake pedal felt firm while being depressed. The vehicle was towed to a local dealer and remained for further investigation. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 35,338.

The contact owns a 2023 Ford Escape. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 24v954000 (electrical system); however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The dealer was contacted. The dealer confirmed that parts were not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue and informed the contact that a second notice would be mailed whenever parts were available. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

The contact owns a 2023 Ford Escape. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked, the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer where the vehicle was diagnosed, and it was determined that rodents had damaged the coil wiring. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 23,106.

Summary of issues: 1. March 2024 – first incident: •warning lights appeared on the dashboard while driving (including abs and power steering). •vehicle was taken to camelback Ford. •dealership diagnosed a software update failure due to low voltage. •battery was recharged, software updated, and codes cleared. ? 2. April 6, 2024 – battery replacement: •vehicle continued to experience electrical issues. •battery was replaced by dealership under warranty. ? 3. June 11, 2024 – second incident: •dashboard warning lights returned. •dealership again cleared codes, no new repair or replacement performed. •explanation given was “modern cars have more computers” and that these issues were “normal. ” ? 4. July 12, 2024 – third incident: •while stopped at a red light, the entire dashboard shut off and restarted on its own. •engine remained on, but the sudden blackout raised serious safety and reliability concerns. •vehicle was not moved after the incident. •dealership advised to return only if issue happens again. ? ongoing concern: this vehicle has experienced repeated electrical system failures including instrument cluster blackout and communication errors, despite warranty repairs and a new battery. These intermittent issues pose a potential safety risk, especially if they occur while driving. The lack of a consistent fix raises concerns about the vehicle’s electrical integrity and reliability.

The contact owns a 2023 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving 40 mph, the "blind spot detection system fault" message was displayed. The contact stated that several unknown warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure with trailer tow wiring harness (part number: lx6z-15a416-b). The contact was informed that the wiring harness was damaged by the heat shield. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, a case was opened, and the contact was referred to the NHTSA hotline for assistance. The approximate failure mileage was 9,000.

Campaign 23b56 description inspect front door check-arm reinforcement spot welds next steps contact your dealer for next steps. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- recall action soon issue since 03-14-2025 drivers side seat buckle replacement for more information telematics generated issue recall action soon issue since 11-08-2024 inspect front door check-arm reinforcement spot welds for more information.

12v battery system failure to keep 12v battery that boots operating system of car charged. This leads to a vehicle that cannot be started or moved unless jump started. This has happened daily, and sometimes multiple times a day, requiring a jump pack to get the car to turn on. This issue has been reproduced and confirmed via multiple revised manufacturer tsbs. This has likely been inspected by the Ford dealership that sold the used vehicle to me. Multiple safety warnings appear when the vehicle determines the 12v battery is not sufficiently charged.

While driving on an interstate, the instrument cluster / digital gauge cluster screen behind my steering wheel turned off. I was driving with my adaptive cruise control on when all of a sudden I see the screen go black and I was no longer able to see how fast the car was going, the engine temperature, or how much fuel I had, as well as all of the other metrics on that dashboard. The car never lost power, because the entertainment screen in the middle of my dash remained on and responsive during the short period of time that my instrument cluster screen was off, and I never lost power steering. Instinctively, I pressed on the break pedal and pulled off of the road onto the shoulder, so I’m not sure if the cruise control would have stayed on. After a few minutes on the shoulder, the instrument cluster screen turned back on, not quite like it does when you turn on the car, but it flashed a bunch of the warning lights and slowly came back to normal. I was able to drive my car safely and without another incident back home, however I am very concerned about this happening again. There were no warning lights, signals, or sounds before this happened. Driving on any road, weather it’s a highway or an interstate, it is very important to be able to see how fast you are traveling for the safety of yourself, your children, and the other drivers. There is a popular recall among this same vehicle type, however mine was not included in the previous recall even though it just repeated the same problem the other Ford Escapes were having. My local dealership is not taking this problem seriously, and I am very concerned.

Instrument cluster screen intermittently going black after related recall was performed.

The contact owns a 2023 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the lane assist, forward collision avoidance, and other safety features intermittently failed to operate as needed with various messages displayed. The dealer was notified of the failure, and a diagnostic test was performed; the contact was informed that the hybrid battery had failed to operate at full capacity which caused to the failures. The contact was informed that there was no remedy for the failure. The manufacturer was also notified of the failure but offered no assistance. The contact was referred to the NHTSA hotline to report the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 8,000.

12volt battery is too small Ford replace the battery with another small battery that one failed vehicle went into sleep mode twice I payed for a agm battery about a month ago I haven’t had trouble since I want Ford to pay for the larger battery $308. 32.

This vehicle is on the shop having it's 3rd 12 volt battery (4th overall if you count the factory battery) installed since I bought it in July 2023. There have been multiple instances of the car refusing to start and actually had to be towed to the dealer on one occasion. The only warning that you get when it is becoming an issue is that the vehicle shows going into deep sleep mode in the Ford pass app. The batteries seem to last about 6 months on average. I do not have copies of all the service records with me at this time but can provide if needed.

The contact owns a 2023 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving approximately 55 mph, the low battery warning was illuminated. The contact stated many of the safety features such as the blind spot warning, electronic stability control, and other unknown warnings were illuminated and indicated that the features were disabled. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that there was no failure of the 12v battery. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact had researched online and read that the 12v battery was not able to power all of the safety features for the same year, make, and model. The contact stated that the failure was recurring. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 16,000.

The contact owns a 2023 Ford Escape. The contact stated that upon starting the vehicle, the center console display remained off. The contact was able to continue driving the vehicle however, the center console and the display was independently turning on and off. No warning lights were illuminated. The local dealer was contacted; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 8,000.

My Ford Escape has an ongoing safety issue where the instrument cluster shuts off while driving and the dealership has not been able to fix it.

Quite often, the display screen for the back up camera does not turn on at all. It will also go blank during use at times.

The contact owns a 2023 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at various speeds and depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to respond as needed. The contact stated that the rpm was not increasing on the gauge on the instrument cluster. There was no warning illuminated. The contact stated that the failure was intermittent but became a recurring failure. Additionally, the contact reported several electrical failures. The contact stated that the instrument cluster was blank, and the windows failed to respond while attempting to raise or lower the windows. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the transmission software needed to be re-flashed, and the 12-volt battery needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The contact stated that the failure reoccurred, and the vehicle was taken back to the same dealer. The dealer replaced the 12-volt battery; however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 15,500.

On 1/29/24, I drove around town to run errands and on my second stop, I tried starting the car and it would not start, but it went into "accessory mode". I received several warnings: pedestrian sounder, memory recall failure, front collision sensors, tractions control, check engine light, etc. It also stated it would sound an alarm if we tried turning it on again. I sat there for 10 mins and tried turning it on after getting in and out of the car, looking underneath to see if oil or gas was leaking, which nothing was leaking. I kept trying to start the vehicle with no success, still getting the warnings. My spouse arrived after 15 mins and when she opened the hood and wiggled some cables around, we were able to start the car up and it was like it went through a factory reset as the memory for the driver seat went really close to the steering wheel. We called roadside assistance thinking we need to get this towed to a dealership but cancelled it after seeing it would start and my spouse driving it around the grocery parking lot carefully. When we got it to the dealership, it wasn't having those issues and they couldn't do much for it. On 2/10/24, the check engine light came on. We took it to the dealership on 2/12/24 and they told us the pcm malfunctioned. They did a software update on the pcm, which the dealership said has fixed the problem for now. Just worried this is going to happen again and will happen when I'm in a place where maybe my spouse can't come or we are traveling long distance. Prior to this incident, the dash (mph, gas level, oil level, engine temp) of the vehicle, which is entirely digital, flickers like there is a short in the wiring somewhere. It doesn't happen every time we drive it, just sometimes (maybe 35% of the time). This was happening shortly after purchasing the vehicle in July 2023. I have a feeling that something relating to the electrical components, battery, chip/software/firmware in the Ford Escape needs to be replaced entirely.

Engine does not start or crank. It is available for inspection upon request. Pregnant wife and child were left stranded in the cold until I could pick them up. Problem has occurred on three separate occasions: 6/29/23 - no dtcs generated, Ford dealership did not do any work 9/22/23 - no dtcs again, but Ford dealership replaced a module and cleared other codes 1/29/24 - no dtcs. Dealership cleared other codes and informed of Ford ssm 52179 2023 Escape/corsair - intermittent no crank/no start condition with various lost communication dtcs stored in various modules and multiple illuminated warning indicators displayed in the ipc - built on or before 07-Sep-2023. Dealership explained other customers have had complaints and Ford has no solution and is telling dealerships to return the vehicles to customers. Vehicle has not been inspected by any other party, including manufacturer, other than the dealership. There are messages for "service advancetrac" and "park brake limited function, service required" in the instrument panel each of the three occurrences.

Low battery voltage on a brand new 2023 Escape caused the engine to not start, leaving me stranded in 10 degree weather. Had to call Ford towing to get me and my my car home. Indicators of low battery voltage include dome lights not turning on, battery saver mode in the Fordpass app, and messages on the infotainment screen. Been a week and the dealer has not been able to fix this problem. According to many forum posts, this seems to be a problem in 2020-2023 Ford hybrid Escape's. . Read more...

Several symptoms occur: first off its cold where we live & the car goes into deep sleep mode every night. I get a Fordpass message that states battery saver feature is activated. The car fails to start using the remote start or key fob. Dome lights don't turn on and remote features not allowed.  this is a serious safety concern as it's getting colder, and engines not starting on a brand new vehicle is unacceptable. Please investigate this issue, as Ford dealers claim there is nothing wrong a TSB/recall is needed to resolve this problem for all customers.

New 2023 Ford Escape purchased Dec 15, 2023. While accelerating onto expressway- get an error flashing "engine coolant over temperature - service vehicle soon".

Several symptoms occur: car goes into deep sleep mode after an hour sitting idle. Car fails to start, with all warning lights active on dashboard. Dome lights don't turn on and remote features not allowed due to low battery. This is related to non-agm 12v batteries being installed in the 2020, 2022, and 2023 hybrid Escape. 2021's have the agm battery and there are no problems reported on the forums regarding this issue for that model year. This is a serious safety concern as the winters get colder, and engines not starting on a brand new vehicle is a matter of like and death. Please investigate this issue, as Ford dealers claim there is noting wrong, and they refuse to install the agm batteries. A TSB is needed to resolve this problem for all customers. . Read more...

Reporting long term safety defect and manufacturer behavior. There was no single incident. This is an ongoing safety defect related to multiple battery recalls that now limit my vehicle to 80% charging (in the past, no plug in charging), now going on nearly three years. My Ford Escape phev has been subject to limited charging due to these multiple recalls, and I am concerned Ford may close the recall with a software?only fix that cannot truly validate battery safety, especially if modeled on limited and not real world charging. I have complied with all of Ford's requests which came at my expense and caused increased fuel usage and a diminished efficiency of my car. Now I need assurance that when a "fix" is determined that it will indeed be a permanent fix that is safe at 100% charge. This is a potentially crucial safety issue and thermal consequences with my grand daughters sitting above the battery is of the greatest concern.

Unknown.

3 times, either merging on the highway or full throttle, vehicle screams overheat warning with wrench light for a couple of seconds and disappears. No limp mode or smoke at all. And coolant level is at max. No clue is this some sort of glitch or engine failure? vehicles drives amazing and power is great. Maybe it’s a software glitch?.

It seems to be the hybrid battery, it does not hold a charge, our safety or others are not affected it is the hassle of having to jump start your vehicle when it happens. This is a 2023 Escape hybrid. The dealer had it towed and tried to figure it out but could not. They said that Ford is aware of the problem but have no fix. So we have been charged for the use of remote features but can not use them, on the window sticker. I have heard others that have put in the bigger battery and it solved the problem but Ford will not reimburse you because it is not a recall. We were told we have to drive the car for at least an hour every day to keep the battery charged, we also get this message every day, remote features disabled to preserve battery, we have got that message since 1 week after the purchase. I don't know if anyone else has reported this problem, but on the complaint sites when it is googled it pops up with everyone's frustration with the problem and Ford. They do not seem to care about the problem.