Engine Shut Off Without Warning problems of the 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid

As I was driving to work, I accelerated and at about 40mph a red triangle with an exclamation point in the middle showed up on my dashboard and my engine shut off. Very scary! I have looked online and it seems to be an issue with the cooling system. I had to deal with the triangle of death a couple years ago and now this. I will be taking it to the dealer today! it looks like there are quite a few people that have had the same issue! Ford needs to recall this item! it is very dangerous!.

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.

I was stopped at a signal. When the light turned, I pressed down on the accelerator and the car started to move as normal. Just past the intersection, the gas engine shut down, a red light came on and the car lost all power. The car behind me struck us. Upon going to the dealership, they knew that the electronic cooling pump had failed. There was not many questions, as they described what the symptoms were. Upon looking at the internet, it would seem that this is a known issue with Ford, and that the new ecp was redesigned to prevent the issue. There are literally hundreds of complaints about vehicles losing power to this same problem. In some cases, as was mine, electrical power is lost as well, causing loss of power steering and brakes.

Refer to TSB-08-24-5 and recall 14s19. Escape hybrid experienced the exact failure described in the recall notice while passing another vehicle at 70 mph. The engine shut off and a red triangle appeared. Vehicle was repaired the next day at the owners expense by an authorized Ford dealer who noted the TSB number on the repair invoice. This VIN number was excluded from Ford's list as a covered vehicle. Ford representatives denied any interest in refunding the repairs costs even though the vehicle was in the group and failure was exactly as described in the recall notice. Ntsb needs to expand this recall to all vehicles with this failure even if they are not on Ford's list.

Pulling away from complete stop at stop sign the entire car shut down suddenly leaving driver without any power to pull to curb or to safely leave roadway. Message on dash read "stop safely now". Car totally disabled. Restarted after several minutes. Star Ford of glendale had car for a complete day to determine nature of problem - at end of day had no reason for complete and sudden loss of power. Driver afraid to take car on freeway for fear car will lose power on freeway at high speed.

Driving on highway with no apparent problem, then suddenly, three things happen simultaneously: 1) the gas engine shuts off completely, leaving no power to maintain speed, deceleration happens. 2) safety alert light illuminates in the instrument cluster. It's a red triangle with "!" inside of it. 3) message center displays "pull over safely" or words to that effect. This leaves you with absolutely no recourse, other than to somehow get to the side of the road, out of the way of any traffic conditions that are around you at that instant. The electric hybrid motor still operates, but that's only good to creep along like a golf cart, down the shoulder of the highway, if the safety of the shoulder looks better up ahead, to get out of the way of the traffic that's zooming by. Corrective action, once the owners manual is studied, is to put it in park, and turn off the ignition. Then, re-start and go. It operates as if nothing had just happened! then, in a while, it happens again, and again, and again, (varying miles between episodes, anything roughly from 1 mile to 70 miles) until either you finally give up and have it towed, or you finally get it to some final destination.

Was driving on a hwy on a summer night, going 60 mph, when a light came on my 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid's dashboard that said "stop safely now" and the engine lost power/turned off. I coasted to a shoulder and shut the vehicle off and restarted, and the warning light was gone, so I drove on. Noticed engine was running louder than normal and transition between gas and electric modes seemed clunky. Googled the problem when I got home and found dozens of consumer complaints - saying it was a faulty cooling pump (part number 5m6z-8c419-a) causing this problem. Took vehicle to the Ford dealer and they confirmed this was what was wrong with my vehicle. Repair cost $632. 00. Not covered under the hybrid warranty. (we were told it's necessary for the hybrid engine to function, but it's not considered a hybrid part. ) dug further, saw that Ford had issued a technical service bulletin (Nov. 20, 2008) to dealerships: "TSB 08-24-5 states that some 2005-2008 Escape Hybrid and 2006-2008 mariner hybrid vehicles may exhibit a red triangle light and codes indicating a transaxle overtemp. This condition may result in reduced power as the system activates fail safe operation. " Ford knows about this problem. This is clearly happening to a lot of people. Ford needs to be made accountable and do the right thing and issue a recall. If this problem happens when someone is in the middle of a busy expressway, or if someone is being tailgated, etc. When the engine shuts off, people will get killed, if some haven't been already. We called the Ford owner relations number and were told that the best way to get a recall issued is to submit these complaints. How many people have to be injured or die before this is taken care of? Ford motor company - if you're worried about profits and the bottom line - how much repeat business will you get once you kill off your customer base?.

My 17 year old daughter was driving home approx 5:30 pm on a busy four lane road from an errand and the "stop safely now" light came on. At that point she could not get over due to traffic and the engine shut off in the middle of the road. She was able to coast down a hill into a turn lane nearly hitting an oncoming car and stop the car. We arrived on the scene and was able to restart the car and bring it home. We took it to the dealer where they wanted to replace the coolant motor to the battery which was defective and causing the hybrid battery to overheat thereby shutting down the engine completely. This is to prevent the hybrid battery from overheating. I do understand the need for this to eliminate the possibility of a fire, but these should be replaced every 50,000 miles to stop the engine from shutting off . We were gettign ready to drive on a 600 mile trip in this car and would have been stranded on the highway. The way the warranty is written, it is not covered. After researching the problem, this happens more frequently especially after 50,000 miles. Please investigate and provide a recall and/or fix to this problem on these cars.

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.

Ford Escape Hybrid (feh) "stop vehicle safely" red triangle warning and immediate engine shutdown due to the well-known defect in the bosch oem motor electronics cooling system (mecs) pump in the 2005-2008 model years. See Ford TSB 08-24-5. If the NHTSA did even a cursory search on the internet they would see many, many hundreds of postings and related accidents or near-misses. This is a very serious safety problem because failure is only triggered by driving at highway speeds or driving up steep hills and the shutdown is immediate (no prior warning), causing sudden and significant drop in speed and frantic actions by the driver to abruptly steer the unpowered car to the shoulder. There are no external indicators to warn other vehicles of the sudden slowdown and lane change and the driver dare not use the brakes to signal others because to hit the brakes with the engine shut down and the vehicle already quickly slowing to a stop would cause the feh to abruptly stop in the middle of highway. Although this part is unique to the hybrid versions of escapes, Ford refuses to classify it as a unique hybrid component (which would be covered by the 8 yr 100,000 mi warranty) and routinely charges $800 to replace it. In my case failures happened four times in the last year, always on interstate highways. Two of the failures nearly caused multiple car pileups because the interstate was full of cars and semis when the engine cut out. I am frankly shocked that the NHTSA didn't require a recall years ago for a well-known and common defect that without warning causes feh's to abruptly and significantly slow down specifically at high speeds or steep hill climbs, forcing the driver to abruptly change lanes to get to the shoulder. Several class action lawsuits are being prepared. Isn't it time the NHTSA addressed this very serious defect?.

While driving at a normal speed, the electrical panel has started displaying "stop safely now" and the engine shuts down. This was happening sporadically but has since started happening more consistently. It happened while traveling on the highway on 3/22/2013, which is a very serious safety concern when a vehicle shuts down in the middle of a busy highway. Once I pull over and restart the car, everything appears normal until the next time it happens. On 3/23/2013 it happened twice in less than 5 miles.

The first time it occurred I was driving on the highway and the info screen told me to stop safely as the engine shut down. It happened several times that day, and then didn't happen until today, June 17, 2012. This recent time a high engine temperature warning came up on the info screen. I checked all of the fluids and they are full and all have been changed in the last year or so.

While driving on interstate 75 in florida, the gas engine shutdown and a warning light/message appeared "stop safely now". Our vehicle immediately began to decelerate, running only on the electric motor, as we tried to cross two lanes of traffic "safely". We pulled onto the shoulder, and turned the car off. We were able to restart the vehicle without getting the error message. We experienced this same sudden engine shutdown and feh warning 5-6 times over the course of our road trip from wisconsin to florida and back. Upon return to wisconsin, we had the car checked out by our Ford dealer, and they informed us it was a faulty motor electronics coolant pump (part #5m6z-8c419-a). Ford has issued a technical service bulletin about this problem (TSB 08-24-5), but has not yet issued a recall. Since the unexpected deceleration of a vehicle traveling at high speeds constitutes a serious safety issue (as many Ford Escape Hybrid owners on edmunds. . Read more...

While driving 65 mph the gas engine shuts off, the stop safely now light appears and the master vehicle warning lamp comes on. Happened only a couple times the first 3 weeks. In the last 2 days it has happened 15-16 times. This is very dangerous to happen while in traffic on the interstate. To shouldn't this be a recall. Taking into Ford dealer tomorrow.

I was traveling on the expressway in the left hand lane doing about 70 mph when the engine shutdown and a stop now safely message appeared on dashboard. I was able to pull over turned off the vehicle was able to restart and continue to my destination. This again happened on the way home the same day there was no problem found at the times I pulled over and both times was able to continue. I had no ability to accelerate and fortunetly was able to pull over, this was a scary.

While driving at highway speeds (~75 mph) my combustion engine shut off and a red warning light was displayed on the dash with a message of "please pull over safely". My vehicle has approx 53000 miles on it and is 3. 5 years old. Luckily I was in the right lane and not in any danger of causing an accident. This is truly a major safety issue. Had I been passing another vehicle or had someone tailgating me, it could easily have been a major or even fatal accident. I called Ford and they say they have no record of this even though I've seen another oid on this issue that stated they were # 891 in line for a replacement part. Please make Ford recall any vehicle that have this part installed and replace it with a more reliable part.