Water Pump problems of the 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid

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...

I was driving my 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid at about 65mph in the leftmost lane shortly after merging from i83 south onto i395 (baltimore beltway) when, with no advance warning whatsoever, the gas pedal stopped responding at the same time as the triangle with an exclamation point and the "stop safely now" (as if I had any choice) message appeared. By the grace of god I was able to coast across 5 lanes of traffic to the breakdown lane. I was anxious to get home to feed the dogs, and my husband was out of town, so rather than call a tow truck I restarted the car and kept going in the right-hand lane for another 3 or 4 miles until the same thing happened again. It took another 2 hours (with an 15-20 additional stalling episodes) until before I was able to make it home to annapolis. Through the internet (and my husband crawling under the car) we have confirmed that the source of the problem is a well-documented faulty oem hybrid drive train mecs coolant water pump. Seems to me that this is a catastrophic failure that is every bit as serious as the gm ignition switch problem, and a fatal accident waiting to happen. It is unconscionable that Ford has not issued a recall on this issue, and unconscionable that NHTSA has not forced Ford to do so.

Driving at 55 mph, engine stopped, kicked out of gear, loud beep sounded, and dashboard warning light came on. Triangle with bolt inside. Message said "slow down and pull over. " this had happened 3 times before while in cruise control, but I was not in cruise control this time. First time it happened, I consulted the manual. It said to turn off the engine and restart. I did, and warning light went off. Same next 2 instances. I attempted this fix four times on this last occasion. Car would restart, then engine would shut down in a few hundred feet. Finally called tow truck. Ford dealer found bad auxiliary water pump connected to hybrid system. In researching this, I found this is a common problem with Ford Escape Hybrids. Called Ford customer service, but they refused to do anything about the repair, which cost $700. Felt very unsafe with the way the engine just shut down. Luckily, I was on a road with a shoulder. If I had been on a bridge, tunnel, or in traffic, I could have been killed, the engine shut down so quickly. Ford needs to issue a recall on these water pumps, as their failure causes a dangerous engine failure.

"stop safely now" appears in dashboard while going 70 mph and you lose the accelerator - you cannot maintain / increase speed. The car basically dies and shuts off. This is incredibly dangerous, especially while driving on a highway or in traffic of any kind. This happened numerous times as we were driving to florida for spring break. Once we stopped, we were able to restart the car and continue on until the next "stop safely now" appeared, sometimes in less than 3 minutes, sometimes after 3 hours. Given that it was a Sunday, we were unable to find a Ford dealer with a hybrid technician on staff. The first Ford dealer we took it to had it for 3 days and "could find nothing wrong". The second dealer we went to replaced the throttle body and water pump. This breakdown is unacceptable and dangerous. No car should simply stop like that. This design / flaw should be recalled and fixed before someone is killed on the expressway.

The contact owns a 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid. The contact stated the electric water pump was not functioning and causing the vehicle to stall when driving at high speeds above 70 mph. The contact was able to restart the vehicle after several moments and the vehicle was taken to the dealer who will replaced the electric water pump. There were no recalls for the failure. The manufacturer was contacted who took a report but provided no further assistance. The failure mileage was 60,000.