I was on a road trip with a passenger in my vehicle. We stopped in barstow, ca for lunch. While pulling into a parking space, my vehicle suddenly accelerated jumping the parking block and the curb. I was able to stop the vehicle from going into the building but not before hitting some newspaper vending machines. The front bumper sustained minor damage. I have been driving for many years and have never experienced anything like this. Both my passenger and myself were pretty shook up afterwards. The person sitting in the car next to us who witnessed this event said that there was an older man standing right where we jumped the curb a few moments earlier. Fortunately, he had left or this incident would have been much worse.
2008 Ford Escape Hybrid brakes complaints
Page 6 of 6: complaints 131 to 154 of 154, newest first, as owners wrote them.
This is my second submission. This morning while driving to work the ABS light came on along with a "check brake system" message and "regen brakes disabled". In the past when this happened I still had brakes but had to mash them down to get the vehicle to stop. This morning I was unable to stop the vehicle. My vehicle then went off the road and into a drainage ditch. The vehicle needed to by lynched out and towed to the dealership. I am thankful that I was only going about 30mph and ended up in a ditch rather than a busy intersection. This is a serious issue and I don't ever want to drive that vehicle again. I have 2 small children who I am thankful were not with me.
The ABS system has been getting disabled intermittently and the check break light has been coming on. Breaks have not been working properly resulting in my vehicle going to far into an intersection when trying to stop at stoplights. Thankfully no accidents have occur yet. Took it to a dealership and they told me I needed a new master cylinder. Another place did a diagnostic on it and told me that the master cylinder is fine and the alarms are being set off because the battery ports were corroded. They cleaned them, cleared the codes. A few days later the alarms were coming back on again.
Started vehicle and both the ABS and the brake light were on - the message said regen brake had been disabled and there was a brake issue. Took the car in to the dealership the next day and was told the hydraulic brake system needed to be replaced and would cost 4 grand to fix. It seems this is occurring quite a bit with ford escape hybrids but there is no recall as of yet. *js consumer traded in the vehicle four years ago after they got concerned about the brakes. Consumer does not have the VIN number updated 6/8/18
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).
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 ford escape hybrid. The contact stated that when starting the vehicle, the ABS and emergency brake lights were illuminated. While driving approximately 10 MPH and depressing the brakes, she noticed a jerking sensation. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where they advised the contact that the hydraulic control unit needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and they offered no assistance. The failure and the current mileages were approximately 48,000.
The hydraulic control unit of the ABS experienced a failure resulting in internal loss of pressure. The only repair solution is for the dealer to replace then entire hydraulic control unit at a cost of over $3000. It seems awfully odd that 1) only the dealer can diagnose and repair element, 2) only the dealer can order the parts, 3) there is no way to repair just the failing component but the whole hcu must be replaced, and 4) the cost is so extreme. I've read online about other ford escape owners whose hcu had failed and it seems this may be defective in either design or in function. Certainly making it a dealer-only repair seems shady.
While driving my 2008 ford escape hybrid, the warning chime sounded, "service brakes" flashed on the display, and I lost almost all of my braking power as I was coming up on a stop sign. I was barely able to stop. Later, after the car was turned off, the brakes were restored. This has occured several times in the last week. Each time I start the car, all is ok, as I accellerate, there is a clunk as if the engine wants to stall but keeps going due to momentum. A scan of system faults shows brakes all ok. I drive the car a few mile and the ABS light comes on and the check brakes light comes on and stays on. Car still seems to run fine with ABS light and check brakes indicator. But soft brakes are very woorysome.
Purchased 2008 4 wheel drive feh used in nov.2010. On two occasions the brake pedal went to the floor. First occasion ABS brake warning light came on. After start/stop ignition brakes came back. Took to ford dealer for codes. No codes noted. Second occurrence oct. 2011. Brakes failed while pulling into a parking place. Abs and regen brake disabled lights came on. Took to local dealer kept car 8 days. Could not replicate problem. Codes did register. Talk of a master cylinder replacement, but favored recharging elec. Battery and changed dirty filter on it. I was very lucky - if the brakes had failed as they did and I was approaching a stop light with another car ahead of me I would have hit it. Dealer says it probably ok. Bought car for our 16 year old son to drive - too unsafe and unpredictable. Traded in.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 ford escape hybrid. The contact stated that upon starting the vehicle, the check brake system warning light illuminated on the instrument panel. The contact then depressed the brake pedal and the pedal depressed to the floor. The vehicle was shut off and upon restart, the vehicle operated as normal. The failure recurred on an intermittent basis. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer, where it was in the process of having the failure diagnosed and repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 37,500. The VIN was unavailable.
Driving on the highway and ABS and emergency brake lights came on, along with message "system brake failure" and "regen brakes disabled". At this time, the brakes almost feel totally out (1/2 pressed) or very touchy (full press). Took it to a ford dealership and they said they needed to replace ABS module ($2500) which we agreed to. A few days after it was replaced, same thing happened (lights, messages and brakes issues). We took it back, and by the time it was to the dealership the lights, messages and brakes were back to normal. They couldn't find an issues. A few days later, it happened again while in a traffic jam (very scary!!!) took it immediately to a dealership to have them check the codes. Took the codes to the original dealership and they took my escape for 2 days, saying they reset the codes and it was a computer issue. 5 days later it happened again in our downtown (very scary). No one seems to know what is going on. I have contacted ford and they are not familiar with this issue however I have seen other mentions about this online.
We are having problems with our 2008 ford escape hybrid. 4 months ago we had to replace the blend door actuator 300 dollars then car shut down when my wife was driving in the highway at 60 MPH she almost had a bad accident so we had to replace the coolant pump another 600 dollars. Now my wife was driving and car had no brakes with message regen brakes disabled I took it to the dealer and they said that the cost to fix it will be like 3,000 dollars. Because the ABS module is bad. I can not afford to pay this kind of money. I bought this car last november 2010.
2008 ford escape hev needs a hcu (hydraulic control unit) replaced at 61,667 miles. Car was parked (emergency brake off) and when started both ABS and brake warning light came on. Took to dealership this morning and they indicated it was faulty. This appears to be a common problem with 2005 and later ford escape hevs. Might be worth investigating. We were lucky the brakes didn't actually fail while driving!
The ABS light and the brake light came on when I turned on the car. The brakes felt different.
2008 ford escape hybrid: turned on the car, turned into a drive way to turn around noticed parking brake light on. Brake not engaged? Brake failure car rolling into parked vehicle had to put car in park to stop. Backed out of drive way ABS light on, brake failure on dash, get brakes checked, parking brake light on. No brakes. I backed up again and then the lights were out and the car had hyper brakes.... Light brake pedal pressure way sensitive. Over stoppage... Took to dealer they said it was a connection to the battery? Then my son told me about the hydraulic problem????? Ford still has care servicing other issues, 34,485 miles>. *tr consumer stated damaged was repaired, by state farm. Traded the car shortly there after. Updated 6/8/18
2008 ford hybrid escape previously had a master cylinder replaced by the dealership and the tone ring as a result of brake failure. Yesterday the brakes failed again this time the ABS system was found to be faulty. The mechanic at the ford dealership admitted that this was not a wear and tear issue, but a complete part failure that involved the ABS system. The part is supposed to be replaced, but I will have it retained. The vehicle is only 3 years only and has less than 30,000 miles on it. This is the 3rd issue of brake failure in this vehicle and the dealership has continued to attempt to make fixes to no avail. *tr consumer stated he made a complaint probably 7 years ago. Vehicle has long since been repaired so there is nothing to test. Updated 6/8/18
2008 ford hybrid escape, 26,000k miles on it. The ABS, regenerative brakes failed while putting the car into reverse leaving only manual brakes working. The emergency lights came on identifying regenerative brake failure. The car was towed to the dealer and when turned on the issue couldn't be replicated initially and appeared to working fine. The technician did tests and found the master cylinder was failing. I had the car taken back to the dealer I purchased it from to have it repaired and again the warning lights didn't come on and they couldn't find the issue. I left the car with them to look at and they drove it around testing it when the brakes suddenly failed again while a technician was driving it on the road. They ordered a new master cylinder which hopefully will address the issue.
The vehicle has had at least two issues prior with the ABS system failing. Currently the ABS and the regenerative braking systems both failed making the vehicle impossible to stop with the brakes "cutting out" in the last 5 MPH. The dealer was closed so the vehicle was brought to an independent shop who found that the ABS control assembly and the travel sensor in the master cylinder had failed!
2008 ford escape. Consumer states brake failure and problems with other vehicles that are similar.
In sept 2009 I experienced complete & unexpected brake failure in my 08 ford escape. I was able to nurse the car to the dealership. The dealer told me that the brake pedal travel sensor circuit failed which they said was part of the master cylinder. I was told no operator error, just a defective part. The dealer also told me they couldn't just replace the travel sensor circuit, they had to replace the entire master cylinder which ended up costing me $1530.63. My safety was totally jeopardized-I was just lucky I didn't get into an accident and wasn't on freeway when brakes failed. This was equipment that shouldn't have failed for years, if ever, especially not in a car with only 40569 miles on it. I was without my car for 5 days and had to cancel client meetings and rent a car. I tried to contact ford to have them reimburse me for parts/labor ($1530.63)but was told they wouldn't/couldn't do that even though this was not operator error, but a ford defect.
On several occasions since purchasing my 2008 ford escape hybrid (new) the brakes have either been spongy or seemingly, temporally, non-existent. When this problem happened/happens it seems to be immediately following the vehicle transitioning from gas to electric drive mode.
A few months after I bought my ford escape hybrid I heard a squeaky noise when making a left turn. This noise has increased over time. I have taken my SUV about three times to the dealer where I bought it and have explained my concerns about it. The mechanic specialized in hybrid cars has said it is fine and did not notice anything and suggested to use the parking brake. However, I stopped one afternoon when I was having the problem and the mechanic drove with me and heard it. They checked it and said that unfortunately that there was a brake default problem with ford escape hybrid. I learned that nothing was going to be made for now. Honestly, I did not feel happy about the services at ford capital in raleigh,nc and decided to call ford capital in wilmington, nc. I explained I wanted to make an appointment and told them about my concerns and they said they were aware of the braking default issue and ford was working on how to solve the problem. This was last year and I am still waiting for a solution.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 ford escape hybrid. The contact stated that while reversing the vehicle the brakes failed. He was able to prevent a vehicle crash by using the parking break to stop. The vehicle was towed to a dealer, in which a technician concluded that the master cylinder needed to be replaced at and expense of 1,200.00 . He contacted the manufacturer and was offered an $800.00 discount. He had the component repaired at an expense of $400.00 the failure mileage was 41,000. The current mileage is 42,000. Updated 09/23/09 *bf updated 09/29/09.*jb consumer stated he got rid of the car couple of days after brakes failed. Updated 6/8/18
Ford escape hybrid 2008 check brake system message with ABS lights on then got regen brakes disabled when pressing brake pedal prior to taking out of park. 41438 miles (just out of warranty of course) and just experience no brakes when I backed out. I called the service desk and they claimed they never heard of any issues with regen brakes on my car or recalls. I look online and I find posts such as http://www.epinions.com/review/2006_ford_escape_hybrid/content_442261278340 and I'm about ready to just sick a lawyer on ford instead of even attempting to put my family at risk of harms way. Not sure how this will resolve as it's friday and they seemed to have vacated the building since I called just before 6 and was disconnected, called back and no answer. Not even a manager available to speak to me. I am scared for myself and my wife to drive this car...
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