Engine Shut Off Without Warning problems of the 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid

While traveling down the interstate highway the triangle with an exclamation point in the middle lit up and the display read "stop safely now". I was in the left lane of the interstate and the engine shut down - there was no shoulder and traffic was too heavy to coast across lanes. I found a service station that was open on Sunday evening. They said my coolant was fine, the oil level was fine, and they could not see anything obviously wrong with the vehicle. I elected to continue my trip another 50 miles and the problem occurred 2 more times. I kept the speed under 70, ran by heater on full blast in case the problem was temperature related, and coasted as often as possible. Each time the engine shut down, I slowed to the shoulder, turned the engine off, waited 5 minutes, then started again. The service results are still inconclusive, but it seems there are a lot of owners experiencing this exact problem. The automatic shut off of the engine put me in an extremely dangerous situation.

After driving approx 20 min on the freeway, my 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid shut off. Warning light came on displaying: motor temp high. Then, stop safely. Considering I was in the middle of the freeway in phoenix az, the 2nd warning statement was quite un-nerving. When I finally made it to the shoulder of the freeway, I opened the hood, nothing was overheating, no steam, coolant levels normal. The vehicle started again without issue. I proceeded approx 5 minutes down the freeway and exited. When attempting to cross the street at the end of the exit ramp, the vehicle shut down again, displaying the same messages. This incident left me in the middle of a busy road. When I finally arrived home, I contacted a friend who is more knowledgeable than I regarding mechanical issues. He said he had heard of this and suggested I look on the internet. I am appalled at the # of occurrences of the same issue that have been reported. Yet no one, not the manufacturer or the dealerships have notified the consumer of this very dangerous situation. My father has purchased Fords for years. This irresponsible action, of failure to notify the consumer of potentially dangerous malfunctions, does not fit the responsible company that he has always described.

Within 3 minutes of starting vehicle, "stop vehicle safely" message was displayed along with a red warning triangle. Vehicle shut down within a few seconds. Truck was put on a trailer and brought to a Ford dealership. Three codes were present, one being p0a27. Ford's "fix" is to install a service harness and flash the bcm. ( see Ford's csp 07b48 and later TSB 09-18-6) although there was never a recall, "some 2007-2007 Escape Hybrid vehicles built from 10-13-2003 to 12-19-2006" may experience this problem. According to Ford, this vehicle was not one of the affected ones, yet it has the same problem with the same resolution according to the Ford dealership. A vehicle that has a hardware/ programming glitch that can cause it to shut down completely at any speed is a defect and should be recalled and repaired by the manufacturer.

I was driving on the freeway when the engine shut off and 'master vehicle electrical hazrard warning lamp' came on. Fortunately I only had to cross one lane in modest traffic. The owner's manual instructions state 'stop the vehicle, shift to park, turn the key to off position and attempt to restart the vehicle. If the fault remains, the vehicle may require resetting the shut-off switches. ' following the instructions, I was able to restart the vehicle and continue driving without resetting any switches. The warning light remained off and has not come back on again. I have sheduled an appointment to take the vehicle to a dealer. In the mean time I have searched the web for drivers with similiar experiences and have come across quite a few. I personally do not feel safe driving a vehicle that can shut off without warning, especially on a busy highway. The fact that Ford has instructions in the owners manual for 'resetting the fuel pump/high voltage shut off switches' is alarming in itself essentially I can be traveling in urban rush hour traffic and a computer can decide to shut off the engine. I urge you to require Ford to address this defect.

My Ford hybrid escape (gas) engine shut down as I was accelerating onto the highway. The drive power was completely lost. The car continued coasting and I got the message stop safely now. I pulled off to the shoulder, stopped and shut off the car. I then restarted the car and it functioned normally. The failure has not happened (after about 100 miles) since the one incident. I have driven the car to a Ford dealer for diagnosis. The un-commanded engine shut down without any preliminary warning seems like a hazardous condition that could be life threatening in certain circumstances.