I own a 2008 escape hybrid. On numerous occasions my escape's engine stalls/shuts down at speeds over 40 MPH. The red triangle on the right of the instrument panel lights up and the display reads 'pull over safely now'. I can immediately start the car again and go, but it will only travel 1-2 miles before stalling/shutting down again. Typically, if I wait 3-5 minutes I can go and have no more issues for a week or a month (it went one time 9 months before it happened again). There is no rhyme or reason for this; it has happened in 90 degree weather and 40 degree weather, rain or shine. Last night driving home on the interstate, it shut down every 1.6 to 5.4 miles on my 42 mile commute home. I let it sit for over 10 minutes and it still shut down. I drove it to work this morning, no troubles. I have had it in the shop multiple times and they replaced the battery said the water pump and nothing has worked. I bought the vehicle new and this problem started approximately 23k miles in. Ford is telling me they really don't know what is causing it, but don't have problem taking my money trying to figure it out. I am afraid this is going to lead to an accident as most of the time we are on the interstate traveling over 65 MPH with tractor trailers next to us. I have read numerous blogs with other escape hybrid owners having this same issue.
2008 Ford Escape Hybrid engine complaints
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Wrench light is coming on.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 ford escape hybrid. The contact stated the electric water pump was not functioning and causing the vehicle to stall when driving at high speeds above 70 MPH. The contact was able to restart the vehicle after several moments and the vehicle was taken to the dealer who will replaced the electric water pump. There were no recalls for the failure. The manufacturer was contacted who took a report but provided no further assistance. The failure mileage was 60,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 ford escape hybrid. While driving approximately 55-70 MPH, the engine stalled and there was a beeping chime heard in the vehicle followed by a message displayed on the instrument panel instructing the contact to stop and pull over safely. The vehicle was coasted to the side of the road and the engine was restarted. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where the electronic cooling pump was being replaced. The failure mileage was 63,000. The VIN was unavailable.
Tl*the contact owns a 2008 ford escape hybrid. The contact stated that the auxiliary cooling pump failed which caused the gasoline engine to shut down as it was electric. The electric motor still functioned but the gasoline engine would stall. When the failure occurred, a message on the instrument panel warned the contact to pull over safely. The contact was able to drive home but could only drive 7-8 miles before they would have to pull over again and let it sit. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer who stated that the cooling pump had failed. The vehicle was repaired at the contact's expense. The failure mileage was 52,961 and the current mileage was 53,045.
Driving off road up a steep incline (40-45 degrees), the vehicle came to a halt. There wasn't any power going to the tires even though I had the accelerator pedal to the floor. The engine RPM would only rev up to about 1200 RPM. It felt as if there was a disconnect between the transmission and the engine as there was no power being delivered to the tires. The tires did not loose traction or spin either. What was especially unsafe about this is that it was extremely hazardous backing down the steep hill I had tried to ascend. I was trying to back down slowly by using the brake, but many times the brakes would lock up causing the vehicle to shift and slide sometimes sideways which could have caused the vehicle to roll. I tried to again to no avail. This vehicle is used by the us forest service in which many times the vehicle is required to go of road on forest service roads. There is a section in the owner's manual about off road driving, but it makes no mention that the vehicle should not be driven up steep inclines.
While driving at highway speeds (~75 MPH) my combustion engine shut off and a red warning light was displayed on the dash with a message of "please pull over safely". My vehicle has approx 53000 miles on it and is 3.5 years old. Luckily I was in the right lane and not in any danger of causing an accident. This is truly a major safety issue. Had I been passing another vehicle or had someone tailgating me, it could easily have been a major or even fatal accident. I called ford and they say they have no record of this even though I've seen another oid on this issue that stated they were # 891 in line for a replacement part. Please make ford recall any vehicle that have this part installed and replace it with a more reliable part.
Our 2008 ford escape (hybrid) shuts down without warning. The problem has been diagnosed as a failed coolant pump for the electrical system. When we tried to have it repaired, we learned that there were 891 replacement pumps on back order - these are not orders for new manufacturing, but for replacing failed pumps. These are just the ones on back order and do not include ones already replaced, or those owners that have not taken their escape for diagnostics. Our escape has shut down several dozen times and it has almost always been at highway speeds on an interstate. There is no warning, the vehicle shuts down and gives us a message to please stop safely. The vehicle will re-start once it has been shut off, but that means we have to coast to the shoulder while avoiding other vehicles. We then have to merge back into interstate traffic. Ford is aware of the issue, but have told us they have nothing to do with "recalling the part" as that is up to the federal government!
I have a 2008 ford escape hybrid. On 3 seperate occasions, my combustible engine has shut off. The display on my dash then tells me to "pull over safely." I still do have a small amount of power from the electric engine. After pulling over, I can turn off the car, wait a couple of minutes and restart the engine. It will not last. After milking the gas, trying not to exceed 2,500 rpms, my car might last 1/2 to 4 miles before it does it again. Luckily, during the times that this has happened to me, I have been on an interstate that had 3 or less lanes. However, I might not have been as lucky if I was on the 8 lane connector of I 75/85 in atlanta. I called the dealership about my problem and spoke to the assistant service manager at gene evans ford in union city. After describing my problem, he quickly knew what the problem was and mentioned that he has had quiet a few people with this problem. He said that it is a problem with the vehicle's coolant pump. I did some research saw several postings of people that have had the same problem. It really concerns me that there have been multiple cases of this occurring and I have not heard anything from my dealer or ford that this is going on, especially after the toyota scandal.
Tl*the contact owns a 2008 ford escape. The contact stated that the motor electric pump froze and caused the engine to shut down. There were no warnings prior to the failure. The dealer stated that the part was on back order since this was a common failure on the vehicle. The failure mileage was 81000. The current mileage is 83202. Updated 11/05/10 *bf updated 11/05/10 updated 11/17/10
Stop safely now warning went off and the engine lost power. My wife was forced to pull over to the side of the freeway. After turning the engine off, the car did restart and she was able to drive home safely. Took it to the dealer for trouble shooting, but so far it has been almost 6 hours and they still haven't figured out what is wrong. The owners manual claims this is a warning prior to failure of the hybrid system in her ford escape hybrid.
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