Two problems related to water pump have been reported for the 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid based on all problems reported for the 2006 Escape Hybrid.
On cold morning, car started drove down the road about 5 miles and the car just died, saying "brake safely now. " seems to happen only on cold days when heater is on. It will not start again for 30 minutes. It will start, but will continuously die. We had called Ford in middlesboro, ky and spoken with frank who said our vehicle did not have any recalls. I then found out it had a recall. I took it in over the weekend and he then claimed on Monday that the recall item had been fixed. However, when I checked the website, it confirmed the problem had not been fixed. This has been going on for about a month now. We have had the oil changed, battery replaced and it checked by Ford of morristown, TN. They claim they can¿t find out what¿s wrong with it. We have read other people's similar complaints who said it was either the "electric motor water pump" or coolant pump.
As fleet manager , I have experienced engine failure on all 3 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid vehicles. During each failure, the main engine shuts down and the vehicle goes to straight electrical power which could cause a wreck in situations where a rapid drop in speed could cause an accident. The failure has happened on all three hybrids at about 15,000 miles and now again at 36,000 miles. The dealership replaces the water pump that supplies coolant to the electric motor after each failure. I feel that this situation should be reported due to the fact that I researched edmunds. Com and this problem is well documented in their carspace automotive forms. Ford needs to re-engineer this system.