Tl* the contact owns a 2001 ford escape. He stated that the vehicle independently accelerated in reverse. The vehicle was taken to a dealer; however the failure could not be duplicated. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure recurred and the contact shut off the engine to stop the acceleration. The vehicle was taken to a local repair facility yet the manufacturer advised taking the vehicle to an authorized dealer for diagnostic testing. The failure mileage was 25,000 and the current mileage is 30,422. The consumer stated he no longer owns the vehicle. Updated 10/26/10
2001 Ford Escape acceleration complaints
Page 3 of 5: complaints 41 to 70 of 107, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Accelerator cable gets stuck under plastic engine cover.
Have at different times the motor reeves. Sometimes when the cruise is set, and sometimes when it's in park. Never know what makes it happen or when it's going to happen. Do have witnesses at the last time this happened. Happened to be at the scene of an accident, pulled up and stopped, only to have this happen. Which the paramedics happened to hear it and got very concerned. Although it's happened before several times, the emt's strongly urged us to report this.
Tl*the contact owns a 2001 ford escape which was purchased in 2001. While the vehicle was parked in his driveway he was notified that it was on fire. Upon further investigation, he saw black smoke under the dashboard. The fire department was able to extinguish the fire; however, they were unable to determine the cause of the fire. The vehicle was destroyed. The failure and current mileages were 120,000. Updated 06/02/10. *lj according to the police report, the fire originated in the engine compartment. Updated 09/28/10
Tl* the contact owns a 2001 ford escape. The contact's daughter was driving and the vehicle suddenly accelerated to 85 MPH. She put both of her feet on the brake pedal but there was no response. She tried the emergency brake which also did not response. After a long while, she was able to get the vehicle to decelerate to 40 MPH. She then put the vehicle in neutral and was then able to pull over and turn the ignition off. She had the vehicle towed to a repair shop. The vehicle had not been inspected at the time of the complaint. The contact called the manufacturer who told her that they could not assist with repairs. The current and failure mileages were approximately 135,000.
My 2001 ford escape caught fire on the interstate after being on cruise control for approximately 1 hour. As I was driving, the car began to slow down, then I got out to realize the vehicle was on fire. The car was totaled as well as all of the things inside.
Tl*the contact owns a 2001 ford escape. While driving approximately 40 MPH on normal road conditions, the vehicle drastically accelerated when the accelerator pedal was depressed. The brake pedal required greater force to stop the vehicle and the stopping distance increased. There were no warning indicators illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for diagnostic testing and they stated that the throttle was the cause of the failure. The vehicle was unable to be repaired according to the federal safety agency campaign id number 00v210001 (vehicle speed control) due to modifications. The VIN was unknown. The failure mileage was 100,000 and current mileage was 114,000.
On july 4th, my husband and I were driving on the freeway. Suddenly, the accelerator stuck and my husband was unable to slow the car down with the brakes. He turned off the car and pulled to the side of the road. The vehicle was taken to lithia ford for repair. The cause of the problem was "cruise control cable failed". The receipt stated that "cruise control cable failed 1.00 verified, cruise control cable sheath broken and cable end flips over cause throttle to be held open". The ford service advisor stated that he had seen several escape's with the same problem, but his manager says there is no recall and ford will not cover the cost of the repair.
Tl*the contact owns a 2001 ford escape. While the vehicle was in park or idling at a stop light, the engine revved. The contact would have to shut off and restart the vehicle in order to reset the throttle. In addition, the rear hatch door would open intermittently. After several weeks, the rear hatch does not function at all. The dealer stated that her VIN was not included in the federal safety agency campaign id numbers 00v210001 (vehicle speed control) and 04v602000 (latches/locks/linkages:doors:latch). The vehicle is currently at the dealer, but has not been repaired. The failure and current mileages were 120,000.
Tl*the contact owns a 2001 ford escape. While driving 30 MPH and attempting to use the brakes, the vehicle would accelerate instead of slowing down. The only way to stop the vehicle was to shift into neutral and turn off the ignition. The dealer inspected the vehicle and suggested that the housing for the speed control could be the cause of the failure. The contact was informed that her VIN was not included in the federal safety agency campaign id number 00v210001 (vehicle speed control). She filed a complaint with the manufacturer and was informed that nothing else could be done. The contact asked the dealer to unhook the speed control because she thought that may be the cause of the failure. The current and failure mileages were approximately 88,000. Updated 07/29/08 *bf the consumer stated her vehicle should have been included in recall # 04v574000 since the build date of the vehicle was 6-11-2001 which was close to 2002. Updated 07/31/08.
Throttle sticks at intermittent times upon acceleration. Intermittently, when foot is removed from gas pedal speed does not result in deceleration. When problem does occur there is no known way of stopping it. I just wait it out until throttle corrects itself. I am unable to tell if gas pedal remains depressed when problem occurs. Have tried pressing throttle to floor quickly and releasing with limited success. Have tried placing transmission into neutral, but that only causes engine to race. Seems to be occurring more over the last few days.
Tl*the contact owns a 2001 ford escape. While driving approximately 35 MPH, the accelerator pedal became difficult to depress. The engine would still accelerate once the contact released the pedal. He stated that the failure was a result of the accelerator cable. The vehicle has not been diagnosed or repaired by a mechanic. The failure mileage was 98,000 and current mileage was 101,000.
Dt*: the contact stated that the vehicle experiences sudden acceleration from 0-45 MPH after releasing the brake pedal while in the stopped position. The vehicle experiences increased braking and jolts forward when braking is applied. When the vehicle is placed in park, the engine revs on its own. The vehicle must be turned off for the engine to quit revving. This problem was initially sporadic, but is now getting progressively worse and occurs more often. The dealership replaced the accelerator cable but the problem still occurred. An independent repair shop determined that the problem might be the speed control servo. There is an the federal safety agency recall, #00v210001, regarding the: vehicle speed control. The VIN was not included in the recall.
Dt*: the contact stated the vehicle was parked in the garage for two days when it suddenly erupted in flames during the middle of the night. The fire department was contacted and concluded the fire originated in the engine compartment. The dealer was alerted, but did not inspect the vehicle. There was extensive smoke damage to the home and no one sustained injuries. The only problem present with the vehicle prior to the incident was the cruise control button was broken and the cruise control would not engage. The cruise stopped working two years ago.
My VIN# for my 2001 ford escape is not listed under the vehicle speed control recall. However, I am and have been experiencing this problem with my vehicle for some time now.
Cruise control does not work at all, there are so many problems in this vehicle.
Approaching hiway construction with flagman and about 10 cars stopped, when I hit the brake, cruise control failed to disengage, throttle stuck wide-open. I tried to turn it off with on/off button on steering wheel but no result,approaching stopped line of cars at full throttle, towing camping trailer. Finally, I shifted into neutral and was able to stop the car/trailer, engine racing max revs and making strange noise, faltering as it might when the fuel mixture was too rich. I then turned the engine off, and upon inspection under the hood and locating what we thought was the cruise control, we jiggled a cable going into it and heard a clunk within. I then started the car and it ran normally. Continued trip, just didn't use cruise control !! Upon returning from trip, I called my ford dealer in durango, co and was told to call customer relations. I did so twice, and was told there was no recall on my car. I then searched the federal safety agency website, and found there was a recall on 2001 escape for this very problem (safety recall 00s18, the federal safety agency campaign id# 00v210001), but my car's VIN was not included! I submit that this incident illustrates that this VIN (and maybe many others) should have been included. The problem has not been fixed (I just don't use the cruise), so I still have the old part, pending resolution of this issue. Thank you.
In may 2005 the accelerator cable stuck wide open on my 2001 ford escape (v-6 engine automatic transmission) this happened in my driveway when I punched down on the pedal very hard. There is a plastic cover on top of the engine that must be removed in order to see where the cables hook up to the throttle body. I removed this to determine if it was the throttle body or the cable that was stuck. As I was taking it off the cable became unstuck on it's own so I was unable to determine the problem. At that point I took it to the dealer and they said they were unable to duplicate the problem so they did nothing. On 8/10/05 my wife pushed down hard on the gas pedal while merging into freeway traffic. The accelerator stuck wide open again and she found herself going about 100 MPH down the highway. Finally she put the car in neutral, shut off the engine, coasted to the berm and called a tow truck. Since the dealer couldn't fix the problem the first time I decided to look at it again myself. Again I took the plastic cover off the top of the engine and once again the cable became unstuck. This made me suspect that the plastic cover may have something to do with the problem. Upon further inspection I found that the cruise control cable housing had broken right before the part that connects to the throttle body. This creates a situation that can cause the cruise cable to pivot up and wedge against the plastic engine cover during hard acceleration instead of it moving in its housing like it should thus causing the throttle to stick wide open. I was able to make this happen a few times so I am confident this was actually the problem. I explained the problem to the dealer but they wouldn't be able to work on the car for over a week so I went to the parts dept. Ordered the part (under $30) went home and put it on myself (takes less than 5 minutes). The car is fixed now.
My wife was driving our 8 year old twins to a piano recital in my 2001 ford escape, and, while going up a steep hill on a four-lane road, the engine downshifted and the car accelerated out of control. When she realized that she the car was speeding forward when she was not pressing on the accelerator, she applied the brakes hard, but nothing happened. In an attempt to avoid the cars, she took an off-ramp but quickly realized that traffic was stopped there as well. In desperation, my wife pulled the emergency brake. The car then stopped, but then lost she lost everything. My escape started rolling backwards down the hill, even with the emergency brake on. Again, the foot brake didn't respond. She was headed backwards down the 1/2 mile, steeply graded hill into the cars coming up the hill. She turned the wheel to back up the steep embankment on the side of the road. After bouncing backwards through the steep ditch and traveling about 14 feet up the embankment, the car paused for a moment and then slammed forward back into the ditch. Our children were not hurt. My wife has suffered whiplash which is requiring medication, physical therapy, and gives her constant pain. My local ford dealer has been honest that a cruise control wire was frayed, and even though she was not using the cruise control, it was moving in parallel to the accelerator cable. The frayed cruise control cable stuck and caused the accelerator to compress and stick. They have no explanation for the loss of brakes and the failure of the emergency brake. However, after the honest assessment, poor treatment ensued. The dealership is fixing the cable, transmission, and brakes under our extended warranty and not taking ownership for the accident. They have had my car for 1 month today, and I still do not have it back. I will have to pay the $1000 deductible for the auto body work.
When placing foot onto the gas pedal vehicle will not move. Then, once it moves it jumps.
The throttle on the consumer's 2001 ford escape failed. *nm *sc
Accelerator pedal sticking. Had inspected, determined throttle cable needed to be replaced. This is the 2nd time in 2 years this has been replaced. Current recall by ford for this problem does not include 2001 models.
Recall campaign 00v210001 concerning vehicle speed control cable. While drivingthrottle cable becomes inoperable. Upon depressing the pedal it will stick. Consumer has taken the vehicle to the dealer five times for the very same problem as the recall stated.
When driving any speed, the accelerator pedal would stick intermittently. The consumer would have to depress the brake pedal hard to get the pedal unstuck. The dealership was notified, but did not resolve the problem. The cause was not determined. Please provide more information.
When I press on my accelerator at a stop sign it sticks. Then when it breaks through I accelerate quickly. I am afraid that I am going to get into an accident and injure myself or others. It happens all the time.
There is currently a recall on the 2002-2004 ford escape SUV's due to accelerator cable problems. We have a 2001 ford escape 4x4 SUV and the accelerator cable is also sticking. Why not recall all the model years? Why wait till there is an accident or major failure?
Vehicle experienced sudden acceleration while being driven. Owner had to apply brakes several times in order to slow down. Taken to dealer for cleaning of the throttle body.
There were numerous problems. The egr sensor (dpfe) was replaced along with the sop driver side outer belt molding, fuel pump, sway bar links and iac. *bf there was a loud noise coming from the driver's side window, water leaked around the tailgate window, the vehicle was hard to start, the iac was sticking, the driver's side window squeaked and rattled, the vehicle hesitated upon starting, there was play in the front sway bar links, the coolant light stayed on, there was a crack around the oil pan and the oil drain plug was problematic, and the accelerator pedal was sticking. *sc
While stopped at a traffic light the vehicle surged forward violently without warning. The consumer stated two weeks later while parked the same thing occurred and the vehicle collided into a store window. *jb the vehicle collided into a store window.
Intermittently while driving at 35 MPH, the vehicle accelerated on its own. While the consumer shifted from drive to park, the vehicles rpms went up. The vehicle was taken to independent shop and the mechanic cleaned the air idle control. *ak when placing the vehicle in park, the RPM's accelerated between 4000 and 5000. *sc
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