Transmission Fluid Leaking Problems of Ford Escape Hybrid

Incident took place on 12/02/2011. After work I was driving south on the 405 freeway in southern California. I was in left lane going approximately 60 miles per hour when the car lost power and I could no longer accelerate. Smoke started to come up from the hood of the car. I immediately put on my hazard lights and tried to make my way to the right shoulder on the freeway. The only lane to the left of me was the carpool lane. It was during a heavy traffic time and I was nearly rear-ended several times as I tried to get to the shoulder on the left side of the freeway without the ability to accelerate. This entire time the car was getting smoky and it was hard to see and breathe. Cars were honking at me and one car pulled up next to me and yelled at me that there were flames coming from my car and the car was on fire and I needed to get out immediately. I barely made it to the side of the freeway and parked and got out of my car. I could see smoke and flames coming from the bottom of the car near the engine. One truck with two men inside pulled over to help me. I used a fire extinguisher I had in the car to put out fire. The tow truck towed my car to local Ford dealer. The dealer told me that the gears inside the hybrid power unit came apart and broke. Then transmission fluids leaked onto the exhaust and burst into flames. My service adviser brian said that they documented that there were flames as a result of this. He also said he did not know why a car with only 66,000 miles would have this problem. He said they did not have an explanation for why the gears would break apart. Ford replaced the unit but did not clean the car, still has fluid under it and it smells horribly to drive. Ford cannot guarantee it wont happen again because they don't why it happened in the first place. Submitted claim to Ford and they rejected it.

See all problems of the 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid 🔎.

There was a leak of some fluid noted in my driveway, and a request was made for the dealer to investigate during the next routine service. No leak was found. At 110,000 miles, during routine service, a leak was noticed by the mechanic, but no source was found. Some time after that, a noise began to develop in the front end. At 120,000 miles, the noise was severe, and an inspection determined that the ptu was failing. I was told that it was okay to drive until the part arrived. The noise got worse within a few hundred miles, changed to a vibration, and then an occasional clunking noise. I stopped driving the vehicle, awaiting the replacement part. I have since become aware of TSB 09-4-4 Mar 09 drivetrain - fluid leak from ptu vent. I feel that this may have been the source of the reported leak, and that loss of fluid in the ptu led to the failure of the ptu, which only holds 12 ounces of fluid. This leakage should have been detected by the dealer, and the loss of my ptu might have been prevented. These ptus fail prematurely, and are consistently on back order. My dealer had another unit in for the same ptu replacement when I picked mine up after the repair, and acknowledges replacing many. Ford should cover the cost of the replacement ptu, a simple mechanical device that should last longer than the car, certainly as long as other driveline components like the rear end, several hundred thousand miles.

See all problems of the 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid 🔎.