Consumer states that while driving at any speed and with no warning the vehicle will shut off, causing consumer to pull over, and it will be hard to get the vehicle back started.dealer notified.
2002 Ford Escape engine complaints
Page 7 of 12: complaints 161 to 190 of 330, newest first, as owners wrote them.
My 2002 ford escape xlt stalled while I was driving it at 35 miles an hour. All power stopped. The engine light, oil light, and battery light all came on. I had my escape towed to the local ford dealer and they examined it today. They said that they did not find anything wrong with it and that they would not be able to fix it unless it stalled while they were driving it.
While driving down a slight hill at approximately 30 MPH, the steering suddenly became sluggish, then the engine quit. The dash instrument lights (check engine, airbag, and battery) came on and the brakes did not work at all. Fortunately I was near the bottom of the hill and could roll over to the side and stop up against a tree stump. The car would not restart immediately, but did after a few minutes.
The engine will stall while driving at speed. No warning occurs prior to the stall. The vehicle will restart immediately after it is placed in park.
Problems with 2002 ford escape xls would not start. *mr the consumer stated it would take three tries before the vehicle would start. The consumer was told by the dealer they could not find any technical signals.
While I was driving on the ortega hwy (very curvy road), I started decelerating for an upcoming curve, and without warning, the power steering and brakes stopped working, the car died and slowly rolled to a stop. Indicator lights came on. I was able to restart the car. I was extremely fortunate that this did not cause a serious accident. Since then I feel very unsafe whenever driving the car, wondering if it will happen again. A car stalling without any indication and for no reason is extremely dangerous and can potentially cause fatal accidents. I believe this car needs to be recalled for the safety all drivers and passengers on the road, since it can happen at anytime, without warning. I recently found out that the manufacturer is aware of this defect, and I am absolutely appalled and outraged that they are continuing to sell vehicles that compromise the safety their consumers.
2002 ford escape xlt - our vehicle has experienced numerous stalls on the expressway. It takes out power steering and the brakes. Each time it starts back up after I can get the vehicle stopped.
Ford escape 2002 stalled coming down a hill with foot off gas pedal.
While driving about 35 - 40 MPH the vehicle would simply stall or shut down for no reason. This caused the brake pedal and accelerator pedal to become very difficult to press. There was a lot of resistance to the brake pedal. All warning lights on the dashboard came on. The steering wheel also became very difficult to turn when the stall occurred.
While driving on i294 northbound between 127th street and approximately 103rd street, the engine on our 2002 ford escape blew up. There was no warning in terms of warning lights or other indicators that there was any problem. Shortly after entering the interstate, the car began to make a motor boating type of sound. It sounded as if the sun roof was not completely closed. Thereafter the engine blew and pieces began to fly out. A huge fireball, hot enough to melt the license plat holder in the middle of the tailgate was discharged from the tailpipe. The car began smoking and smoke was discharged into the cab of the vehicle. We were able to make an emergency stop on the shoulder of the road. The car continue to smoke and there was oil leaking from the engine. A piece of the crankshaft was found on the shoulder of the road 100-150 feet behind the vehicle. The fireball had been of sufficient size to cause multiple calls to local fire department as well as the state police.
While driving at 40 MPH and going around a curve, my 2002 ford escape stalled on me for the 3rd time. I have no warning and I lose my steering and brakes. My first stall happened during the first month that I owned it. I was 4 months pregnant. The 2nd stall happened while my husband was driving it. I now feel like my car that only has 8,000 miles on it is not safe to drive. When I took my car to the dealership for the first stall, they told me that it had the wrong sensor on it and replaced it. The second stall the dealership could not find anything wrong with it and acted like they had never heard of this. What is ford going to do to fix the problem?
Engine stalled on my 2002 ford escape while driving on the interstate at 55 MPH. Was able to coast to the shoulder in bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic. Re-started right away. Dealer (two rivers ford in nashville) advises they've never heard of this problem, despite many complaints to the federal safety agency and technical bulletins #15434, 15589, 0286.
2002 ford escape stalled while in motion for the second time. It stalled in feb. 2002 and a ford tsb to update the PCM was performed to fix the problem in june of the same year. Everything was fine until the other day when it stalled while coasting after a brief period of acceleration to enter a highway on-ramp. I could control the vehicle with a little extra effort and it did re-start right away.
Engine block cracked while I was driving causing the oil pan to explode and the oil caught on fire.
Our 2002 ford escape has stalled twice while driving at about 40 MPH. The incidents were about 3 weeks apart. We had to put our hazards on to put the car in park to be able to restart the vehicle. The service department at our dealership said they had never heard of this problem.
On march 25, 2003, at 5:15 pm my 2002 ford escape with 13800 miles stalled going down a steady grade. I lost all power to the steering and brakes. In rush hour traffic, with several other motorists in front of and behind me, I had to fight the steering wheel and brakes to regain control of the vehicle, all while attempting to restart the car--an absolutely frightening situation. This is the second time in 7 months this has happened. The first time this happened, I was going down a sharp grade around a tight bend to the right. I lost all power to the brakes and steering, causing me to nearly fall over a steep cliff onto traffic below. Had this happened, I'm sure I would have been killed along with several other motorists as well. Each time I took the car directly to the dealership where I was told the problem was "fixed." this car is extremely unsafe to drive as it shuts down without warning! I have informed the dealer of my concerns about this vehicle's extremely unsafe condition, and their response is that I should trade it in and buy yet another new car from them. I have also heard of several other people in my area who are experiencing the same problem with the same type of vehicle. Ford needs to correct this very serious issue immediately before there are deaths associated with this apparently common factory defect!
I have a 2002 ford escape with 20000 miles on it. On sunday march 23, 2003 my wife was driving down the highway around 45 miles an hour. She came up to a slower car sow she released the gas. The engine completely shut off. She had to forcefully get off the road trying to avoid an accident. She pulled over and it restarted. She continued cautiously to her mothers house. It didn't happen on the way home. I drove it when she got home and found the idle to be low. It would seem to be running around 4-500 rpms and seemed to be affected while tapping brakes or slowing down some. I have not yet taken it to the dealer.
While driving my 2002 ford escape over the mathews bridge in rush hour traffic, the engine cut off with no warning. I was able to coast off the bridge and coast to a stop. It restarted right away. This was the second time it happened. The first time was approx 1 month ago. Engine cut off without warning.
2002 ford escape - engine stalls while driving.
My 2002 ford escape stalled while driving on the highway at approximately 15 MPH. I managed to pull off onto the side of the highway. I had to have the car towed to the dealership. They said the problem was a bad sensor.
My 2002 ford escape stalled out for the second time. I was going about 10 miles per hour or so and the check engine/check emission/check battery lights came on. The car did not come to a dead stop but almost felt like it was locking up and was barely moving. Fortunately, I was able to pull into a parking lot and turned the car off and restarted it. I had the stalling issue happen last april or may 2002. They did some "fixes" and reset the computer. I had read recently read, they felt that resetting the computer would resolve the issue but it is evident that it has not. I have two small children and now, like many other escape drivers, am afraid to drive the car.
The vehicle intermittently stalled without warning.
The engine stopped while car was under way on a busy road (oil light came on, power just died to everything). Car had under 1200 miles. Dealer fixed per a technical bulletin. 3/8/03 it happened again on a very busy highway, accident narrowly avoided. Car has about 4600 miles. Car is back at dealer. Why has this recurred?.
2002 ford escape, 12642 miles on vehicle. The vehicle stalled while driving in rush hour traffic. Vehicle was hard to steer and braking was difficult. Was able to coast to a stop. Restarted vehicle. Took vehicle to local dealership on 2/28/03 for service.
The engine failed, which caused the brakes and steering to lock up.*dt
Vehicle quit running while entering a freeway bridge, resulting in a partial loss of vehicle control. Vehicle stopped in the middle of the freeway, resulting in a very unsafe and potentially life threatening situation. Vehicle restarted after placing it in park and cycling the key. I contacted ford (800‑392‑3673), inquired if this is known problem and what should be done. Ford indicated there was not a known problem, (in other words they lied), but I should take it to the dealer to have it checked out. I took vehicle to the dealer the following morning, so they could check for trouble codes. They claimed to have found no codes, and that no technical service bulletins exist for this issue, and that everything else checked out okay. I believe a safety defect exists, as ford has issued at least three tsb''s (#15434 '' 11/1/2001; #15589 '' 1/1/2002; #0286 - 4/1/2002), on this issue and many consumers have registered complaints with the federal safety agency.
Engine cut out twice today while driving. Loss of power steering and brakes. This is the 5th failure since purchase.
On two separate occassions vehicle stalled while driving on a clear road, at a minimal speed. Difficult to pull off road, steering and driving were difficult, all warning light on dashboard illuminated.
Started the vehicle, the radiator light turned on. Immediately turned the vehicle off and refilled the resevoir. Not low, but added a little fluid.
On numerous occasions, our 2002 ford escape 4x4 has stalled while the car is in motion. This has happened while decreasing speed to stop, while accelarating from a stopped position and while driving on the highway. Each time, the vehicle had to be removed from traffic and placed in park or nuetral to restart. On one occasion the oil light came on and the others had no instrumentation lights go on.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2002 Ford Escape?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history