Ford Escape / 2008
2008 Ford Escape problems
Owners have filed 2,405 complaints about the 2008 Ford Escape with NHTSA. Steering accounts for 47.1% of them — far more than any other system, ahead of power train at 13.9%.
Complaints2,405
Crashes80
Fires9
Injuries74
Deaths0
What owners report breaking
Steering 47.1% · 1132
Power train 13.9% · 335
Vehicle speed control 7.4% · 177
Electrical system 5.7% · 137
Service brakes 5.0% · 120
Engine 3.5% · 83
Unknown or other 2.3% · 55
Structure 1.7% · 42
Severity
Of those complaints, 80 describe a crash, 9 describe a fire and 74 report an injury.
Reading the numbers
Across the 24 model years of the Ford Escape in this data, 2008 sits 5th by complaint volume. 2013 draws the most.
Filings have fallen off, 82 in the last three years against 144 in the three before. That is normal as a generation leaves the road.
The median odometer reading at the time of complaint was 98,000 miles.
In owners' own words
I took my Escape to the Ford dealership because it was having power steering problems. I was told there was a recall and they took my car for about 15 minutes. I received it back and was told that it was reprogrammed and fixed. A few days later the power steering went out completely while driving in southern indiana.. I took it back and was told that nothing could do because it had already been reprogrammed. Steering · reported at 120,000 miles
Making a right turn from a side street onto a major connector road. Steering froze when trying to turn. Was able to put vehicle in reverse to get out of major road. Waved following car around and backed up further from intersection so as not to create a hazard. Was able to move steering wheel slightly but was clearly not drivable as it was. Turned off ignition and restarted for no reason. Steering then worked. Steering · reported at 77,750 miles
Electric power steering began to intermittently fail, nearly causing loss of control of vehicle while in motion on a city street. Power steering experienced a complete failure yesterday when turning into a store parking lot and is giving a fault code indicating steering rotation sensor failure. Ford should fix this under a recall. It is a major safety defect which appears to affect hundreds of thousands of models. Steering · reported at 100,000 miles
Verbatim from NHTSA filings. Complaints are unverified owner reports.
Safety recalls
Checking NHTSA for open recalls…