Dashboard Failed Problems of Ford Escape Hybrid

At highway speed, the engine suddenly shut itself off. At the same time, a dashboard readout displayed the message "stop safely now. " in order to get to the shoulder of the road I was forced to cut across a lane of traffic without warning and without power. No other warning lights or signals displayed. Had there been no shoulder, I could easily have been a high-speed crash. The engine started again as soon I turned the key after stopping the vehicle, but still no warning lights or explanations displayed. This happened three times during a 3-hour trip across maryland, and it happened again once on the return trip two days later. An internet search reveals that this is not an uncommon problem with Ford hybrids, yet no recall has been issued to remedy this extremely dangerous defect.

See all problems of the 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid 🔎.

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).

See all problems of the 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid 🔎.