general problems of the 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid - part 2

The hcu unit which is specific to hybrid escapes went out on me causing abs to not function properly (brakes turned to sponge). I was inside of warranty 8years/ 100000 miles unique hybrid component. I had less than 48,000 and was inside of four years of having bought the hybrid SUV brand new. Contacted Ford dealership which then directed me to Ford corporate office. They said the warranty did not cover the unique hybrid component!! I had room to stop so I was lucky that no one was hurt when the hcu unit went out.

The night of January 27, 2012, as I was driving through traffic near my home, the brakes on my 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid failed, my dashboard readout indicating my regenerative brakes have disengaged. I carefully returned the quarter mile or so home, and took my vehicle to the nearby fairfield (California) Ford dealership early Saturday morning, both in order to avoid other drivers, and have my brakes repaired. To their credit, they took my vehicle without an appointment. Over the next few days, the service department contacted me to inform me that two of the computer systems on my vehicle had failed: one controlling the regenerative brakes, the second controlling the fans used to cool the hybrid vehicle's batteries. In a moment of candor, Ford service representative[xxx] informed me the unusual failure was the brake-related failure, as the Ford of fairfield service department was replacing the fan-related computer part, "all the time. " my concerns are similarly two-fold: first, the thought that my regenerative breaks simply disengaged is disturbing enough, as it put me and my children in immediate harm. Almost more than that, though, is the fact that the computer part controlling the cooling of my hybrid's batteries appears to fail "all the time. " since there was no indication on the part of my vehicle's performance informing me that the hybrid battery cooling fan was not operating properly, there is simply no knowing when my vehicle could have caught fire in a manner similar to that affecting some volts manufactured by Chevrolet. I am interested in making sure similar failures to not impact other owners of Ford Escape Hybrids. Should you need any additional information, my daytime phone number is [xxx]. Thank you for your attention to this matter, and I look forward to hearing from you. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

The contact owns a 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid. The contact stated that upon starting the vehicle, the check brake system warning light illuminated on the instrument panel. The contact then depressed the brake pedal and the pedal depressed to the floor. The vehicle was shut off and upon restart, the vehicle operated as normal. The failure recurred on an intermittent basis. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer, where it was in the process of having the failure diagnosed and repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 37,500. The VIN was unavailable.

We are having problems with our 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid. 4 months ago we had to replace the blend door actuator 300 dollars then car shut down when my wife was driving in the highway @ 60 mph she almost had a bad accident so we had to replace the coolant pump another 600 dollars. Now my wife was driving and car had no brakes with message regen brakes disabled I took it to the dealer and they said that the cost to fix it will be like 3,000 dollars. Because the abs module is bad. I can not afford to pay this kind of money. I bouhgt this car last November 2010.

I was on a road trip with a passenger in my vehicle. We stopped in barstow, CA for lunch. While pulling into a parking space, my vehicle suddenly accelerated jumping the parking block and the curb. I was able to stop the vehicle from going into the building but not before hitting some newspaper vending machines. The front bumper sustained minor damage. I have been driving for many years and have never experienced anything like this. Both my passenger and myself were pretty shook up afterwards. The person sitting in the car next to us who witnessed this event said that there was an older man standing right where we jumped the curb a few moments earlier. Fortunately, he had left or this incident would have been much worse.

On several occasions since purchasing my 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid (new) the brakes have either been spongy or seemingly, temporally, non-existent. When this problem happened/happens it seems to be immediately following the vehicle transitioning from gas to electric drive mode.