general problems of the 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid - part 1

Tl- the contact owns a 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid. The contact stated that while driving the untilock and service brake warning light illuminated and the brake pedal was depressed to the floorboard failing to stop the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the hcu hydraulic control unit failing and needed to be replaced. The contact called ray skillman Ford dealer at (317) 884-7164, located at 1250 us-31, greenwood, in 446143, and it was informed the VIN was not included in a recall. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 120,00. Aw.

The regen breaks disabled light is always on. The breaks do not work properly, if at all. Numerous times I have been unable to stop almost causing an accident. The breaks sometimes lock on and the vehicle won't move at all. Unable to go more than 40 mph. If you attempt, the vehicle shakes and the breaks smoke. I took it to Ford for diagnostic and they informed me it is a common problem due to the the beak system and the hybrid system being integrated. The part by itself is $4200 and the vehicle blue books for about $3000 at the most. The vehicle won't start or even turn over. The battery is good.

Approx. A year ago the brakes started failing. Suddenly you had to pump them extra hard to stop. Warning light appeared that tires need inflating. They did not. Then an abs warning light appeared. Suddenly the brakes started working again, no extra pumping needed. Then at high speeds the warning light turned on and steering wheel shook violently and you couldn't go about 60 mph. Ahhh! when you hit brakes they didn't respond or a terrible grinding noise happened. Looked it up, common in this year's hybrid that abs brakes fail. Only had 150k on it. Took to local Ford dealer, they wanted $7400 to fix. What? "proprietary abs brakes must be replaced. " they wouldn't turn warning message off computer or do anything less. Wouldn't check hoses, circuits, or pads. Just a flat "$7400" with no explanation other than abs system. We found out through complaint sites online that others had the same problems. It's extremely harrowing to be driving at high speeds and have the car suddenly start shaking and the brakes not work!!.

Takata recall power steering stoped working very suddenly. While I was doing deliveries for my work I parked the car turned it off and when I got back after about 10 min. Power steering didn't work and hasn't worked ever since. The only thing that I noticed that day is that every time I turned there was a very slight shake on the steesring wheel. I thought that was unusual but never thought that 2 hours later the power steering would completely fail. Thank god this happened when the vehicle was parked. I checked for recalls and noticed that the Ford escape 08 has a recall on the power steering, I imagine there was enough complaints to make the recall happen. However, there are not as many hybrid models and I'm sure that's the only reason why there's no recall for this specific model yet. But as far as I know both models the escape and the Escape Hybrid are identical in many ways including some parts if not all parts of the power steering system.

Pending failure of the hydraulic brake control unit. Abs, check engine and service brake lights would come on and go off. When lights are on the vehicle is more difficult to stop. Reading other's posts online, this seems to be an issue that happens often. Vehicle is unsafe to drive once failure is present. Only way to fix is with a $4,500 part that you have to get new from Ford. . . .

The computer checks the brakes upon start and the computer is falsely detecting an error with the hydraulic brake pump periodically. It can occur 1 in every 50 starts to sometime 5 attempts in every 1 good start. The computer if it sees an error will disable the regenerative brakes and the vehicle will brake significantly slower and less efficiently when in error mode. The computer glitch requires a total replacement and must be reprogrammed at the dealer at a cost of $4 to $5 thousand. Based on the thousands I see online with the same issue and nature of issue (brakes and safety), I am surprised to see a recall has not been mandated. The cost is beyond reasonable and I am left with driving an unsafe car.

When turning the key to start the car, it will not engage. Have to keep pushing the key in harder and harder to get the key to start. Takes 20-30 tries to get the car to start. Nothing is wrong with the battery and it appears to be an ignition problem. Have read that many people have this same problem. Steering wheel turns and once car does start it's fine.

The abs and brake lights come on and the brake regeneration disabled is displayed on dash. When this happens there is a loss of braking power. This happens when driving. When I researched this I found this is a common problem. It calls for the ecu to be replaced and the repair is $5,000. Ford needs to recall and replace this part as it is a safety concern due to brake failure.

Multiple episodes of "stop safely now" (after new engine ($8000) was put in 6/2014). At time of engine replacement, recall for power steering module was completed. Fast forward to 3/2017. . . . Monday morning (8am) new 'wrench' light goes on in dash. Drop kids at daycare and when I restart car (830am) and went to back out of the driveway - no power steering!!! good thing Ford took care of that recall back in 2014. . . *sarcasm* now they say that the only way it would be covered under recall was if loss of power steering occurred within 12 months of recall being completed. This car has been nothing but a headache and 2 Ford dealerships that do not stand behind the Ford name or their service!.

One morning, no prior warning, or issues with brakes or mechanical systems what so ever, I start to drive to work and after turning out of my neighborhood onto a major street my brake lights light up and at the next stop sign my brakes don't work! I pressed all the way down and ended up using the emergency brake not to go through the stop sign. Someone could have died for sure, and it was a heart stopping scare! I pulled over and walked back home. Looked up online and found many complaints about this vehicles brakes suddenly going out and that it is a $5k fix!! I had the escape towed back to my house. The next morning I wanted to try a few things to eliminate certain problems I found online. Now, the keyless entry doesn't work, I manually open the door, stick the key in, no lights, no sound, nothing. I turn the key and again absolutely nothing. We hook up cables and it starts right away and everything works. No brake warning lights so I try a slow drive in the neighborhood, brake lights go on after about 1/2 a mile and the brakes are very soft, have to depress to the floor just to slow down from 15 mph. I called Ford and they said just bring it in for diagnosis, for $200/hr minimum 2 hours just to tell me what's wrong with it!! no thank you, $400 to tell me it's a $5k problem when the car's worth maybe $6k private party! so I now have a worthless hybrid sitting in my driveway. Do not buy a 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid!!! read all the complaints major safety issue - Ford has not recalled!!.

Car wont start, the (stop slowly now) appears on dash screen . It attempts to start then it is killed, then the stop slowly now warning comes up. . It has done that while we are driving to. We have replaces hybrid cooling pump we were told that is the problem. Fixed it now it is worst.

After approx. 10 minutes of stop and go driving at <5mph a tone sounded, a red triangle lit, and the led indicated "stop safely now. " the engine did not stall, shut down, or give any other indication of a fault, therefore I continued driving at <15mph to the nearest parking lot and turned off the engine. After I returned several hours later the engine started normally with no fault indication, and I was able to drive home without any further fault indication. I read on the web that this had occurred with other 2008 Escape Hybrids and was due to a faulty hybrid system electronics cooling pump. One complainant indicated that the 2008 Escape Hybrids had been recalled for this issue, but the recall does not show on your, or on Ford's, database for this vehicle. Has this been reported previously, and was there a recall?.

Issue started intermittently and has increased in frequency of failure. The problem we are having is with starting the car. The key is inserted and turned, the dash indicators turn on but the engine does not start. Multiple attempts are needed to start engine. We brought the vehicle in to the dealership and they could not duplicate issue. The issue is occurring at a rate of 9 out of 10 attempts and is currently an issue with the car.

In 2012, I was driving on freeway at approx 70mph when I heard the warning sound and red light warning me to "stop safely now. " I had to cross four lanes of traffic and barely got to the shoulder before the power shut down completely. I waited and it restarted, but it did it two more times before I reached my destination. I called and took my vehicle for repair, which was determined to be the coolant pump (cost $1010. 96). The next year a recall for this issue occurred and I was refunded the cost for repair. Today, 2015, the same issue occurred. This time I had just pulled off from a traffic light making a u-turn, so traveling maybe 10 mph when I got the same sound and warning red light as I felt the engine losing power. I got through the busy intersection and safely to the shoulder. I immediately drove the vehicle to the dealership. This time I was told the issue was the throttle body. It was cleaned and reprogrammed (cost $369. 15; I was told my vehicle is not in the VIN# group). While the costs have been high financially, we are mostly concerned about the potential costs from having the vehicle suddenly lose power and shut down. Both times I have been very lucky to avoid crashes. Same symptoms, different diagnoses; concerned about what might happen next.

Engine died multiple times in a parking lot. Car had been idling and had recently been driven over thirty miles on the highway and the ambient temperature was over 90 deg f. Had the car towed home because the dealer service dept was closed. The next day the dealer was unable to reproduce the problem and no dtc found in ecm. Paid the dealer for diagnostic time and picked up up the car. One week later, the car died again while driving at about 10-20 mph. Dashboard display said to pull over and park safely. After waiting for 30 minutes for the engine to cool, we were able to drive the three miles home. The next day at the dealer, no dtc found in the ecm, but the dealer said that the symptoms pointed to a throttle body problem. They were unable to recalibrate the throttle body, so they asked us to approve paying for a throttle body cleaning, which we did. This seems to indicate that the hybrid system directs the engine to shut off whenever it detects a sensor problem that it can not resolve. Most cars would produce a cel illuminated on the dash and set a limp home mode. The Escape Hybrid seems to just shut off and let you hope for the best. This may seem like an irrational response to a modest problem, but these were the same things that happened before when the problem was diagnosed as a pump problem for the electronics, which is now a safety recall for 2005-2008 Escape Hybrids. To compound the problem, the dealer did not offer to refund our previous payment for the pump replacement. I had to ask for it and am now waiting for them to give me a refund, even though the Ford website clearly states that they should expedite refunds for prior work done once a recall is started. Unhappy on multiple levels.

At approximately 8:00 am on the above date, I was traveling north on interstate 75 from cincinnati toward toledo at around 70 mph. Without any warning whatsoever, the vehicle completely shut down and the computer advised I should pull off immediately to safety. When the escape came to a stop, I turned the key off and then was able to restart the engine. After traveling less than two miles, the same thing happened. This time I was able to limp off an exit ramp to a side street where the vehicle seemed to be able to run a bit longer before cutting off however, the engine dying happened at least another half dozen times before I was able to make it to an enterprise rental car location north of dayton. From there, I stopped by the nearest Ford dealership (beau townsend Ford) and they were able to retrieve the vehicle from the enterprise parking lot. The dealership was not able to look at the vehicle until several days later on 6/19/14 however, at that time they diagnosed the problem as a defective / shorted-out motor electric cooling system pump. The part was ordered and replaced the following day however, including towing and the necessity of renting a vehicles (I was on a business trip), the incident ended up costing me close to $1,000. From what I understand, Ford was aware of this defective part at the time of manufacturing and did nothing to prevent it from being installed on tens of thousands of vehicles. There are hundreds of complaints on file regarding this part as well as a class action law suit which was filed in the state of California. Let's hope that Ford finally steps up to the plate and admits their grave error in judgment before somebody gets killed because of this faulty part. Those of us who have had to incur expenses due to the malfunction should be full reimbursed by Ford.

As we were driving, a "hazard" light come on the dash, the engine shut completely off, and a message, "stop car safely," also appeared on the dash. We did so, and turned off the car and turned it back on. Car drove fine for about 5 minutes and the same thing happened. We did this for about an hour or so to get home. Had we been on a busy interstate. A sudden engine shut off could have been very dangerous. We took the car to the dealership and were informed that the electric battery had overheated because the water pump was not working. I have come across similar complaints while looking into my situation. . Read more...

The electric cooling pump fails causing the motor to shut down. This is a known problem by Ford and there is a service bulletin on this problem. Ford need to recall this item.

For the last month or so, my car has randomly stalled, in the middle of driving. The "pull over safely" light would light up, and the entire car would shut down. I took it to the dealer, and they said that I need to replace my electronic throttle because it is shutting down. After researching, I have discovered this is a common problem and I would like to urge Ford to recall the part and accept responsibility for selling defective cars.

Multiple incidents of the vehicle shutting down occurred on 3/8/2014 beginning while travelling along a 2-lane highway (CA-74 around idyllwild area) at approximately 10:30 p. M. Vehicle displayed red triangle icon with exclamation point inside the triangle and words in red "stop safely now", at which point power to the engine was disabled although power steering appeared to still be active. I then pulled over at a turn-out (luckily one was nearby since I was going uphill and losing speed quickly). I proceeded to turn the ignition to the off position and within minutes re-started without further incident until approximately midnight at which point I was travelling along a major freeway in san diego I-15 southbound at a speed of 65-70 mph. At this point the vehicle became disabled after displaying the red icon and words described above. This happened again 4 separate times. These 4 incidents occurred within a 6 mile stretch of each other and within a 20 minute window. There was no other indication that anything was wrong with the vehicle - no system notice of overheating, faulty electrical, etc.

While traveling at interstate speeds (65 -70 mph) in the middle lane, my 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid had a sudden loss of power with a red triangle exclamation mark indicator light in the driver message center reading 'stop vehicle safely', had to coast to the side of the interstate which was very dangerous, this sudden loss of power incident almost ended in me being rear ended and then in a collision as I tried to cross over to the emergency lane. Could you please investigate this. I will be taking my car into the shop tomorrow to see what they say. I see on the internet that many other Ford escape owners have had this same thing happen to them.

Several times since buying my car in Nov 2013 my steering wheel has locked up on me so that it is extremely difficult to turn the wheel, typically when turning a corner, almost causing accidents. I have been very lucky that there were no other vehicles around since I was unable to pull completely over in one case and I was unable to complete the turn in my own lane in another. I am very worried that this will happen in traffic and myself and others could be injured or even killed. And neither Ford or warranty company is willing to repair/replace.

Electrical system in my Ford Escape Hybrid 2008 shut down while driving at high speed (indicator with a triangle shape and an admiration sign inside). The "stop safely now" sign was displayed at the same time. I could not accelerate anymore, thus losing full control of the car. I pulled over to the shoulder, turned the engine off and turned engine back on. The problem repeated five times. I was finally able to make it home. This is a very dangerous situation. While doing research on the internet I found that this is a known issue related to the coolant pump system. Ford, please recall the models impacted and fix this issue as soon as possible before people get killed.

It was Thursday, October 17, 2013. The ambient air temperature was about 62 degrees. It was sunny. The streets were dry. I was driving south from austin to new braunfels, texas on I-35 at approximately 7:15 a. M. I had the speed control set for 55 m. P. H. As I was leaving san marcos, an alarm tone sounded, and the dash board display showed "stop safely now" and the engine shut off. I was able to move to the shoulder using battery power only at less than 20 miles an hour, causing issues with other traffic on the interstate, with many of the other drivers anxious to get to work. I stopped the car, and when it was safe to do so, exited the vehicle and did a perimeter scan for issues. None were detected. I opened the hood and checked for untoward issues. There was no smoke. The engine wasn't overly hot. Oil was full to the appropriate mark. The vehicle had been serviced by the dealership who sold the vehicle to me about 1790 miles prior to this incident, and a full diagnostic was performed without any issues detected. After completing this check, I restarted the car and drove for another 20 or so miles when the alarm and display repeated as above. Again there were no issues. I restarted the vehicle after about three minutes and was able to complete the 75 mile commute. The return trip had no issues. Since the vehicle shut down completely without warning in fast-moving traffic, this is a catastrophic failure. Information from the internet indicates that Ford has had this issue since the first Escape Hybrids were on the road, and there appears to be no definitive problem or correction. I request that the NHTSA examine this to determine if a recall should be performed before someone is killed because of a faulty alarm that shuts the vehicle down completely without warning.

Same thing that has been happening. I have photos for each incident. Abs lights, check brakes light. And e-brake lights light up. Regen brakes disengaged. I have spoken with bruce at future Ford he asked me to bring it in the next time it does it, during business hours since there are no options for after hours. I get off work at 5pm and pick up my kids and by the time that is done there is not time to make it back to dealer. I am making arrangements to have someone else pick up kids so when it happens again tomorrow I can go straight to dealership after work or on my lunch. I also plan on having them check the tone rings. Ford motor company says they are unable to help, but have still not addressed my concerns about the number of complaints others have had regarding similar issues.

I left work. Picked up daughter. Check brake system, abs, and emergency brake lights came on @ 530pm. Drove to pick up boys from summer program. Get in car. Lights off. 553pm. Put car in reverse. Same lights reappear. 555pm. Regen brakes disabled. Takes pedal to floor to stop and feel pressure of brakes. Car feels like it is in neutral and rolling back on incline unless brakes are all the way applied. Talked to bruce at dealership earlier. Said to bring in when lights were on, during business hours. Said that Ford was unable to help due to no warranty. Said it sounded like hcu unit. I asked why this wasn't mentioned at my inspection a week ago. He said it appears to be working fine when they look at it.

Failure of the electronic water pump for the hybrid system causes the immediate shutdown of the vehicle leaving driver no power to move to a safe area. There is no warning but just an immediate electrical shutoff until driver can move to the shoulder and restart the vehicle. This occurred twice and left us in very dangerous situations before I had the car repaired. Ford would not replace the part claiming it is not covered under their hybrid warranty although the part is integral to the hybrid system. Part should be recalled before fatalities occur.

Tl- the contact owns a 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled with the illumination of a red triangle on the instrument panel warning the contact to pull over. The contact later took the vehicle to the dealer where it was determined that the motor electronic coolant system failed and caused the failure. The dealer stated that this was known issue that the manufacturer had not corrected. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and the current mileage was 62,000. Kmj.

During a 300 mile trip, the feh "stop safely now" warning came on and car shut down. We were on a busy la highway at the time. We were able to get it off the highway, read up on that warning symbol and restarted car without another incident then. 25 days later, driving the car on 45 minute trip, 'stop safely now' light came on repeatedly. Had to pull over several times, wait a few minutes and restart car. Again this was highway driving in heavy traffic. This was very dangerous situation and no car should just shut down while you're driving.

The contact owns a 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle in very hot weather, the battery would overheat and a message to proceed with caution would display before the vehicle would completely shut off. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnosed that they battery pump was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired because the code identifying the failure was not available from the computer. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 80,000.

I was driving down the highway and the vehicle abruptly lost power, a triangle with an exclamation point came on in the dashboard and the data system said "stop safely now". This happened multiple times during the same drive. The dealership replaced the mec pump. About one year later the same issue began occurring multiples times per day until I was able to get it to a dealership. They replaced the throttle body, the issue occurred again. They replaced the transmission, the issue occurred again. It is now at the Ford dealership getting diagnosed yet again. This is a very serious safety issue and must be resolved.

The auto had just had the pump that cools the hydrid engine relaced at a cost of $590 when we moticed that there was a jerking in the steering wheel when stopped. The wheel would jerk to the right and left and make a "clucking" noise. Once the car was moving the jerking seemed to stop. But then we found that when we started the car there might be no power steering or power forward. The car would have to be forceably steered to the side and the engine turned off. Starting the engine again, the car had power steering and engine power. This began to happen nearly every time the car was started, and the jerking of the wheel every time the car was stopped at a traffic signal or stop. While the problem has yet to cause a dangerous situation the potential is certainly there should the same circumstances occur while driving. Having reviewed the web sites for problems with the 2008 escape there are literally dozens of similar complaints. One site lists nearly one hundred complaints exactly like mine and in some there have been accidents and potential injury. Ford is stonewalling everyone on this even when the mileage is less than 50, 000 miles. Often they say they know nothing of the problem and refuse to offer asssistance in meeting charges that range upward to $1700. Given the information that I now have I consider this to be very dangerous and am hesitant to drive the car. The lack of concern by Ford seems to me to be a serious matter and one that should concern NHTSA.

I was driving from la to pasadena and all of sudden my SUV slows down and there's a triangle warning sign. We were fortunate that the freeway was not crowded and easily pulled over. My friend is hearing and was able to call a tow for me. We had to tow the SUV back to the Ford dealership in santa monica. They did a great job and said it was the coolant or water pump that was defective. They replaced it. It seems to occur only on road trips. I had an engine light come on when I was driving from bay area to la. I was fortunate that I made it to the same sm dealership/repair shop and they were able to diagnose it. They said they had to make some adjustment and the light went off. I know it affected the gas because I had to refuel three or four time when I normally have to do one and half time! as a deaf person, it is scary to be having these issues especially on the freeways.

Does someone have to die before Ford recalls these cars to fix the hybrid cooling system in these vehicles. I have fixed the problem once myself (two years ago) and now it is happening again. These cars shut down on the highway with out warning because of something going on with the hybrid system. This time my wife was in the passing lane when it happened. One day someone is going to die from this problem because it only happens when you are traveling at higher speeds (on a highway) the red triangle light comes on and automatically shuts down the car. Some family will be killed because of this and Ford will be caught knowing about the problem and doing nothing to fix it.

I am the owner of a 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid with approx. 50k miles. As with many complaints related to Escape Hybrid, I was driving on the interstate in perfect weather conditions at approx. 70mph when without any warning, the engine shut down and the master vehicle electrical hazard warning lamp lit up. Steering and braking were normal but I had to coast to the shoulder across several lanes of busy highway traffic to stop. It was terrifying. I gathered myself and my three terrified children and started the car again with no problem. The same incident occurred three more times before I was able to make it to my destination, but I was anticipating the issue and stayed in the right hand lane. This issue is being reported time and again yet no action is being taken to address this obvious defect. What is Ford and NHTSA waiting for? this is an extremely dangerous issue! please, before someone is injured or dies.