Ford Escape Hybrid jerking problems

Filed Jun 15, 2026 · Acceleration, Driver assistance · UT

While vehicle is set on cruise control , set at 70 MPH , ( or set to any other speed) , anytime the speed limit changes to 80 MPH (or other change) Car accelerates and cruise control is set to 100 MPH . It also accelerates and resets to 90 -100 MPH at random . It is frightening and dangerous to have my car randomly accelerate. I have attempted to pass a vehicle, when my car randomly accelerates to 100 MPH . This is very dangerous and can happen at any random time . The lane assist is also dangerous when car can not see lines separating lanes . I have had my car jerk the wheel when I was detoured through construction. I am very concerned with my car accelerating. Not only does it leave me vulnerable to receiving a speeding ticket , it also increases the likelihood of hitting an object or having an accident.

Filed Jan 26, 2024 · Brakes · VA

brakes grip and pause, jerking the car while braking.

Filed Dec 2, 2022 · Brakes · MI

Since purchase, the car has made a loud squealing noise when applying brakes in reverse. Seems to take longer to come to a stop at times when applying brakes but other times jerks to a stop.

Filed Jul 26, 2021 · OR

Yesterday, July 25, 2021, I had a really unnerving experience driving my 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid. As I was about a half mile into my drive, a “Stop Safely Now” warning popped up, and the car slowed to about 15 MPH. I pulled over on the side of the road and the vehicle simply stopped. I couldn’t start it, and the engine and battery lights were red. The start button was flashing green. I sat there, with traffic passing by, unable to start the car or turn it off, as it appeared it was in accessory mode. I called Astoria Ford and talked to Greg, but it was Sunday, so no service available. I was fixing to have it towed and was prepared to wait an hour for the tow truck. After 20 minutes, a message popped up that said the car was going into a “System off to save battery mode…”. I was finally able to shut it off. A couple minutes later, I was able to restart the car, and drove immediately to the Astoria Ford dealership. The potential danger to this vehicle getting rear-ended seems great, and is a known issue with Ford now. Since I’ve owned the vehicle (a few months now), the car, when driving slowly down a hill and coming to a stop, will lurch and shudder, which leads me to believe that there could be some electrical and/or power train problems. It seems that there definitely should be a recall before something serious happens to those of us who own this vehicle.

Filed Dec 11, 2018 · Steering · 144,000 miles · CA · crash

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 ford escape hybrid. While driving, the steering wheel shook, jerked, and lost power. As a result, the vehicle crashed into a median and a tire blew out. There were no warning indicators illuminated. There were no injuries. A police report was not filed. The vehicle was towed to big valley ford lincoln (3282 auto center cir, stockton, ca 95212, (800) 867-1516) where it was diagnosed that the power steering assist failed and the rack and pinion needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and did not assist. The failure mileage was 144,000.

Filed Sep 14, 2018 · Acceleration, Engine · 114,980 miles · MN

I bought my vehicle, used, a couple of years ago. I asked for the carfax and if there were any issues with the vehicle. The salesman let me glance at his screen and scrolled through to humor me and promised there were no issues. A few days ago while driving on the highway using cruise control, the cc kicked off and my car jerked. Since then, I have had trouble accelerating and controlling the speed of my car. A littel orange wrench came on. This morning as I was driving to work, the check engine light came on. I felt like I almost got into 3 accidents for lack of control of my car. I took it to the shop and they told me I shouldn't even be driving it because of the lack of speed control. Now I'm stuck paying hundreds of dollars, maybe thousands, for lack of proper disclosure and faulty manufacturing. Ford issues a lifetime warranty rather than a recall, which is a disgrace as they're waiting for customers to deal with problems and get hurt before they fix anything. This should not be possible!

Filed Oct 29, 2017 · Steering · 180,000 miles · MO

Problem first arose while driving ~60 MPH on highway, there was a slight jerk of the steering wheel, as well as a dinging-alarm heard. Did not notice a warning on the dash at the time, car drove fine the rest of the day besides this quick incident. A few days later, the power steering went out upon turning right at a stop light, steering was very hard but manageable. Upon starting the car again later the same day, I noticed a message of "power steering assist fault" on my dash along with dinging heard, and no power steering at all. Drove home without power steering, forced and difficult turning. Found that there were recalls for this problem of my car, just not for my VIN specifically.

Filed Aug 17, 2017 · Driver assistance, Engine · 115 miles · AL

I was about 115 miles into a 130 mile trip, doing 70 MPH on the interstate, when out of no where my vehicle jerked very hard and then started making loud sounds like parts falling out. All of the cars behide me had to slam on breaks and avoid hitting me. No lights or warnings had come on until after this happened. I steered the car off of the interstate and down the ramp into a store parking lot. The car was not running hot. Looked under car and oil was coming out all over the ground. A man looked and said it looked like the coolant system messed up and it through a rod in the motor block. I got the car one month ago and it was doing great. By looking up on type car there is others having problems like this and recalls on the coolant system. But no one on my VIN. Recall 14v526000

Filed May 11, 2017 · Steering · 164,000 miles · OR

Received a safety recall notice 14s05. Took to local dealership who performed sensor reset. Two thousand miles later the power steering failed while driving and the vehicle lurched to the right nearly hitting a cyclist in bike lane and startling me as I was barely unable to manhandle to now manual steering vehicle to avoid the collision. I am quite strong and it is likely anyone w/less body strength would not have been able to command the vehicle. That is when I reviewed the voluminous complaints filed and determined ford is completely unwilling to accept responsibility for what was a faulty part subjecting to owners to great risk of injury. It appears based on my research that the recall service done was a farce and waste of time for consumers w/no real reduction of safety risk. Furthermore, it seems the federal safety agency is weak in response to the safety risk and not requiring ford to replace the part and reduce the chances of a serious vehicle crash.

Filed Nov 15, 2016 · Brakes · 217,032 miles · KS

I have experienced an unusual problem with the braking system in my 2008 ford escape hybrid. I have experienced several episodes while braking of the yellow ABS and the red brake warning lamp lighting up and the display saying "regen brakes disabled" over the past year. When this happens the brakes are slow to stop the car with a jerking action. All of my failures have happened while driving in town. Once I ended up in the middle of an intersection before the car came to a complete stop. The only way I could correct the issue would be to stop the car, depress the brake pedal hard to the floor,then shut off the vehicle. I would then restart my car and the brakes would then return to normal operation. I have researched this issue on line and have found hundreds of people posting complaints about the same issue. All complaints are from owners of feh's 2005 to 2008. Why hasn't this life safety issue been addressed? From what I have read, the repair could be from $3000 to $7000 dollars. I don't understand why there hasn't been a recall. Or has there been. Please advise. Dl