Vehicle Speed Control Problems of Ford Escape Hybrid - part 1

The vehicle won't stop. The regen brake disabled light, brake light and check engine light comes on. No brakes at all.

See all problems of the 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid 🔎.

Ford electronic throttle body (etb) issue my 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid has been intermittently experiencing issues related to an ill-designed etb since 2010 (when we purchased the vehicle). In the past 5 years, the frequency of issue occurrence has progressively increased. Current rate of occurrence is 3 - 6 times per week. Randomly the vehicle goes into "limp mode" while driving, where the engine shuts down to nearly zero power. Dashboard displays "pull over safely". If this occurs in heavy traffic (which is many times the case on our los angeles freeways), there is no way to pull over safely with nearly zero engine power. The vehicle is literally stranded in freeway traffic until the etb is reset. The vehicle's ignition must be turned off and back on to reset the etb. This faulty etb part across many Ford models for 10+ years is putting vehicle owners' safety at high risk. Ford should issue a recall of all vehicles with these ill-designed, faulty etbs. Vehicle owners should not be financially responsible for replacement of a part which is clearly faulty in its design.

This has happened multiple times randomly without warning. I have been on a freeway, bridge, regular street, traffic. A red warning light will come on with "stop safely now" and the car will quickly slow down. It will go really slow regardless of stepping on the gas. Once I pull over I have t stop the car and put it in park then turn it back on. This is extremely dangerous especially when I am on the freeway or on the bridge (I work in san francisco).

When I start my car I mainly come from a resident area or a parking lot where the speed limit is 10-15mph once I hit the main street where the speed limit is 35 mph my car wont accelerate to the proper speed even though my gauges are showing the speed im supposed to be at after 8 seconds the car shoots off to 35mph and when I brake to slow down it rolls again at 5-10mph. This is very scary especially in congested areas and trying to pull over in an emergency is very difficult when my car gets stuck in a slow speed. It is now so constant its every day the only way to bypass it I have to pull over turn off the car lock and unlock 2-3 times and it will start up normally.

See all problems of the 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid 🔎.

The contact owns a 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid. While driving various speeds, the throttle body malfunctioned. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled intermittently on more than one occasion. Landmark Ford in tigard, oregon was made aware of the failure and stated that the throttle body needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The VIN was invalid. The failure mileage was 124,000.

See all problems of the 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid 🔎.

I was driving in the fast lane on the highway at 70 mph when my car basically shut down and told me to "pull over safely". A red triangle (with the exclamation point in the center) appeared on the message board along with the "pull over safely" message and a chiming/alert sound. This was on labor day, so the highway was incredibly busy and it was very difficult to cross over lanes and "pull over safely". Additionally, when this message appears, it pretty much shuts down your car, not allowing you to accelerate at all which also made it more difficult to get over. I managed to pull over, turned off my car and then restarted it. That was all it took. No additional messages or problems. . . Yet. I probably had to drive an additional 30 miles or so home without any additional messages showing up. This seriously frustrated me as I have yet to be able to find much more information on the issue. It seems to be caused for a different reason for each person. I honestly do not know what genius at Ford thought it was a good idea to incorporate that feature into the vehicle. It was an extremely scary situation and put the safety of myself, those in my car, and the cars around me at a serious risk for our safety. In addition, it is very hard to feel safe driving in my car now, as I do not know when this will happen again or what will prompt it.

While driving you lose power/speed no matter how much you push the gas pedal, an alert symbol comes on the dash especially on the freeway. You have to get over and turn the car off and then back on and it will work for a while. They tell me it is the throttle body that needs repair but my VIN is not one of the effected ones. . .

Vehicle lost all power when pressing accelerator at 40 mph. Had to coast to bottom of hill and pull over, wrench light came on. No response when pressing accelerator. Vehicle sat for about 40 min, wrench light cleared and we were able to drive the vehicle to a Ford dealership. Ford dealership said throttle body and gasket needed to be replaced. Model not covered under consumer satisfaction program even though manufactured during time frame and same plant as other vehicles that were within the program.

Throttle control/powertrain warning light come up.

I was driving on the highway in traffic when the wrench light came on on the dashboard. I applied pressure to the accelerator but the vehicle was not accelerating. I was moving at about 10 mph when this happened and I was able to get to the middle of the highway where there was someone I could wait for traffic to open up to get to the shoulder, the vehicle moved at about 2 mph from the center to the shoulder, this was while having the accelerator fully pushed down. I turned the vehicle off and then back on and the wrench light turned off and I was able to drive home without the issue occurring again. Prior to this, in September 2015, I had the same experience where the wrench light turned on and the accelerator provided no power to the car, this was repaired by replacing the throttle body. Less than 30,000 miles have been put on the car since this repair was made. I saw there was an issue covered under consumer satisfaction program 13n03, however, the hybrid type of escape was not covered under this.

Engine over accelerates on its own causing engine to race, then automatically shuts the engine down. Also, in idle position, engine rpms excessively increase and decrease for no apparent reason. Both problems happened while vehicle is stationary and also while in motion spiratically at any given time, at at any speed (from idleing up to 80 mph).

See all problems of the 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid 🔎.

The contact owns a 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid. While driving 65 mph, the check engine warning light illuminated and the vehicle stalled. The contact was able to restart the vehicle. The failure recurred intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the throttle body failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 135,000.

The contact owns a 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid. While driving at a low speed and attempting to park with the brake pedal depressed, the vehicle accelerated independently. As a result, the contact crashed into the front of another vehicle. The air bags failed to deploy. There were no injuries and a police report was not filed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 95,000.

The triangle/! symbol comes up and engine loses all power on the freeway. My car has been into the dealership twice for this dangerous issue. The 2008 Escape Hybrids are supposedly not covered for throttle body issues and my coolant fan for the battery is supposedly "updated" and doesnt need to be replaced. . Over 700 dollar fix for safety and flaw in quality of pats?.

I was braking and parking in our driveway. The car accelerated went over the edge of our driveway and struck several trees.

See all problems of the 2010 Ford Escape Hybrid 🔎.

Today my wrench indicator came on and then roughly 8-10 minutes later my vehicle suddenly lost speed while travelling at roughly 55-60 mph in the fast lane, it dropped down to ~40 mhp no matter how much I pressed the gas. I had to cautiously get over into the slow lane and luckily my exit was close. After the exit there was a red light where I stopped and restarted, then it seemed fine. This is not an isolated incident with the accelerator malfunctioning, in the past year or more I have had 5-6 instances where I start my car first thing in the morning and while in park or reverse the engine revs really high like it's stuck, at 2k-2. 5k rpms. It either stops doing that on its own or I restart the car and it stops and seems fine. In the past year I have had 4-5 instances where I was driving at low speed soon after starting my car in the morning and it would not accelerate properly for several seconds, then finally it would. I had one instance perhaps 3 months ago where I was driving on city streets at 25-30 mph when it went into "limp" mode and would only travel at perhaps 15 mph no matter how much I accelerated, I pulled over and restarted the car and it seemed fine after that. This seems to be an obvious product defect similar or the same as the customer satisfaction program 13n03 that I have been reading about. I called Ford and they told me that my car was not part of the csp, as hybrid models were not included, which makes absolutely no sense since I am having precisely the same problems that were the subject of the csp and presumably the exact same throttle body parts were used on my car as non-hybrid models.

My wife was turning around in a parking lot. When she started to shift out of reverse the accelerator surged, she could not stop the car with the brakes, she shifted into park in a desperate attempt to stop, and slid sideways into a cement wall causing considerable damage to the car and shaking up the occupants.

While the car was in motion, the yellow abs and the red brake failure warning lamps lit up, and the alarm sounded. I was unable to control my vehicle as the pedal became stiff. Brakes went into manual mode. This luckily happened in the evening, or else I could have hit another vehicle or a pedestrian. The car jerked as I pulled up the emergency brake, and I hurt my neck. I researched this issue at home and found that it is a known issue that many have had problems with, which have not yet been addressed as a vehicle safety complaint. . Read more...

While driving my newly purchased Ford escort (bought in may 2014) I lost power,the vehicle did not shut off but I was unable to accelerate & it sputtered & shook until I could safely pull off the road. A lighted wrench came on which I had no idea what it was until I looked in the manual (drivetrain). Once I was safely off the road I shut the vehicle off & waited awhile & started it back up & it had power again & I continued on my way. I was out of town at the time with my grandchildren in the vehicle. I really am confused as to why there has not been a recall on this. I feel my family was in danger as I was on a very busy roadway & lost power immediately. This is my first Ford vehicle & so far not impressed. I really hope there is a recall on this issue soon. Why do we have to wait until there is a catastrophe for something to get done?.

See all problems of the 2011 Ford Escape Hybrid 🔎.

I was driving at a speed of approximately 45 mph and the throttle went out. I could not accelerate above 40 and was very slow to get to that speed. The engine was iddeling at a higher rpm than normal at stop lights. When driving up hill the speed was about 20 mph and there was no throttle to increase the speed at all. The yellow wrench ligh came on. Once I made it home and turned off the vehicle, my husband took it to get the codes pulled and the wrench light had gone off and it ran like normal. We could not get the codes pulled.

Currently Ford has a recall (14s19). The coolant pump may malfunction, which can cause the hybrid electronics systems to overheat and possibly lead to more serious problems. "when the hybrid electronics system gets too hot it will shut down the powertrain, resulting in a stall-like condition, increasing the risk of a crash," according to Ford's filing with NHTSA. My vehicle has this problem. It has happened several times, and I have already notified this agency. Once again, on September 5, 2014, I was driving in maryland, near DC, in rush hour traffic, and I lost all power. It is really horrible losing all power when you are in the left most lane (no left shoulder), and lose all power. Several cars almost hit us. . . Again. I don't care if my hybrid system is overheating. I would rather destroy the batteries than all of a sudden losing all power in DC rush hour.

Traveling home on the interstate at about 70mph and the motor shut off, giving me a 'stop safely now' with the red triangle light on. I stopped, waited a few minutes on the roadside and it started again. Headed home again, when about a mile and it happened again. Waited a few minutes by the road, then took off. This time I turned off the a/c and made a few miles to the house.

A warning appeared "stop safely now. " we pulled over and restarted. We were able to drive the vehicle in for service without the light coming on again. The diagnosis was a bad throttle body and it was replaced under warranty and listed as a recall in the service report.

While traveling home to PA from nc on vacation, my husband was merging onto the highway when he lost all use of the gas pedal (it appeared to happen as the vehicle was shifting gears and the "wrench" light came on). Our vehicle slowly began losing speed and we had to make an emergency stop on the side of the highway with cars traveling 65-70mph around us. Once pulled off, while applying the break, the vehicle stalled. He started the vehicle up again with a rough start. . . We continued on our way. After reading several complaints, we are unsure why Ford would not issue a recall. We called out dealership to bring the vehicle in and were told they are unaware of any issues involving the throttle body. . . I have an appt for Monday 8/4.

Driving 65mph on interstate, yellow wrench light appeared on dash, vehicle lost power during rush hour. Forced to cross three lanes of 65mph traffic going 5-10mph (limited by vehicle's computer no matter how far I pushed the gas pedal. ) after shutting car ignition off and restarting, wrench light still on. Shutoff ignition again, removed key, opened door (into traffic) to completely shutoff electronics, radio, driving lights, etc. Restarted vehicle and wrench light was now off. Proceeded to drive with the vehicle surging faster/slower as I drove. A diagnostic code dtc p2112 was retrieved indicating "throttle actuator control system - stuck closed" which is covered under extended warranty by Ford customer satisfaction program 13n03 in response to NHTSA’s office of defects investigation (odi) action number : dp12006. When I contacted Ford about this they responded that my particular VIN was not covered. The Ford customer satisfaction program 13n03 extends the warranty for the throttle body to 10years 150,000 miles. My Escape Hybrid is 5 years old with 86,xxx miles but they say it is not covered. Why? I have the defective part number throttle body 9le-bc installed in my vehicle since new, which has been superseded by part number Ford oem # ds7z-9e926-d and, which Ford is installing under this program to replace my defective part. Why am I being denied warranty replacement when I meet all of the criteria they have listed? during a call to Ford 1-800-392-3673 on 6_23_2014 I was told that they do not know why my particular VIN vehicle is not covered even though I meet the criteria for the replacement, however they can positively confirm that it is not covered. I was further told that I can bring the vehicle to a dealership for diagnosis, but there will be a diagnostic fee I will be required to pay even if I do not authorize any of the repairs that may be needed.

We were driving east on I-26 in south carolina at 65 mph in 3 lanes of traffic when the triangle hazard warning light on the dash sounded and lit up saying "pull over safely now". At the same time , with the gas peddle floored, the speed of the car was slowing by the second! the gas peddle did not work. We were able to pull over and turn the car off without getting hit by oncoming traffic. Per the manual, we waited awhile and restarted the car, and were able to get it home. I called the Ford customer care line to ask if it was safe to drive the car and would this happen again. They were not helpful at all. They basically told me to take it to a dealership. Our local dealership said they knew nothing about the issue I described, but diagnosed the problem as being an mecs pump failure for $135. The replacement cost would be $800. Due to the high cost quote and knowing that it only takes 45 minutes or less to change this pump, we took it elsewhere. The part is $277. Our concern is that how could Ford dealers not know about this dangerous defect, when in 3 seconds you can pull up hundreds of websites covering this failure, and the dangerous and potentially fatal accident it could cause. Now I have found this us dot website which has hundreds of complaints on this issue also,I am hoping more people will come forward to get these cars off the road.

My 06' hybrid escape completely shut down, it just gave me a " please pull over now". I almost caused a major accident on i44 at 75mph because of all power loss. When I was on the side of the highway I let it sit for like a minute and then restarted the engine and it drove a good 5 minutes at about 60 mph but as soon as I accelerated above 60 it gave me the sign again, and I had to repeat the process. I drove it home on the access road staying between 30-40 and thank god, it made it home.

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.

2006 Ford Escape Hybrid. Consumer writes in regards to vehicle "can shut off without warning" incident. The consumer stated a warning light in the shape of a wrench appeared on the dashboard. The vehicle was flat-bedded to the dealer. It was determined, the throttle body needed to be replaced.

I was driving on the highwary going about 70 mph when the acceleration went out and the ok to stop safely light came on. I pulled over and stopped and restarted the car and it operated ok. This is probably the 6th time this has happened in the last month. I will be taking it in for repairs. I called Ford regarding this issue because there is a limited customer satisfaction program but was told because my car was not built at a particular factory my car was not covered by this limited program, even though it is the exact same problem as I have seen on other websites. This is should be part of a recall.

Car goes limp. Ford has TSB 08-24-05. Mecp fails. Poor design. Has gone limp on me ~8 times. Each time car drifts to a stop regardless of location, speed, etc. . . (eg, can be going 75mph on highway) and it goes limp. Cannot move afterwards for minutes. Many cases of this happening have been reported. 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. Codes p1a0e, p1a0f, p0a3c, p0a3e, p0a7a, p0a7c and p1a0d may also be set.

While traveling at interstate speeds (65 -70 mph) in the middle lane, my 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid had a sudden loss of power with a red triangle exclamation mark indicator light in the driver message center reading 'stop vehicle safely', had to coast to the side of the interstate which was very dangerous, this sudden loss of power incident almost ended in me being rear ended and then in a collision as I tried to cross over to the emergency lane. Could you please investigate this. I will be taking my car into the shop tomorrow to see what they say. I see on the internet that many other Ford escape owners have had this same thing happen to them.

While traveling on an interstate highway, the vehicle displayed "stop safely now" message along with an audible chime and a red triangle with exclamation point symbol. The gas engine shut down and the vehicle lost power coasting from highway speed to around 35 mph. The vehicle remained under hybrid electric power allowing me to move to the side of the road. My vehicle is around 7. 5 years old and has 89,000 miles. I researched this issue and it appears to have occurred with several of these type vehicles. The dealership reported that they retrieved error codes p1aod, p0a3e, b139. The dealership says that it requires replacement of the hybrid drive train motor electronics cooling system (mecs) water pump (part# 5m6z8c419a) and (part# al8z19e66f). There is a technical service bulletin (TSB) 08-24-5 that seems to relate to similar problems. The problem is not covered by the manufacturer 8 year /100,000 mile hybrid warranty according to Ford customer relations despite both parts being part of the hybrid drive system.

See all problems of the 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid 🔎.

The service wrench would go on and hold and but always seem to go off when I arrived at the dealership so they could never check the problem. This went on for a month until in addition to the light the vehicle would not accelerate above 40 mph. I took the vehicle in and the throttle body was replaced at a charge of $476. 99 since my vehicle was no longer under warranty. This upsets me because I find out tonight that this was a known issue and because no official recall was issue, I was forced to pay for the repair. . Read more...

While driving on the highway, my check engine light came on and the car immediately switched from gas to electric. From that point on, the car would not transition back to gas. Took the car to Ford and had to have the throttle body and motor assembly replaced.