2003 Ford Escape: adaptive cruise control problems

Filed Sep 14, 2015 · Acceleration · 131,496 miles · CA

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford escape. While driving at 65 MPH, the cruise control failed to engage without warning. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the vehicle speed control cable needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the vehicle was previously repaired under the federal safety agency campaign number: 12v353000 (engine and engine cooling, vehicle speed control). The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 131,496. Updated 11/23/15*lj

Filed Mar 26, 2015 · Acceleration, Airbags · 160,000 miles · ID · crash · 3 injuries

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford escape. The contact stated that while driving at 67 MPH, the cruise control failed to disengage. As a result, the contact crashed into an embankment and the vehicle rolled over multiple times. The air bags failed to deploy. The contact sustained minor scrapes and bruises and the two passengers in the rear of the vehicle sustained bumps, bruises and scrapes that required medical attention. A police report was filed. The vehicle was destroyed. The VIN was included in the federal safety agency campaign number: 12v353000 (engine and engine cooling , vehicle speed control). The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 160,000.

Filed Jan 21, 2015 · Acceleration · 147,000 miles · TX

On 1/19/1993, I experienced uncontrolled acceleration in my 2003 ford escape. I turned off the engine and coasted to a stop. Fortunately, I was on a low traffic road. After towing the escape to my mechanic, he identified that the acceleration cable was binding against the engine cover. After further identifying a recall related to this (the federal safety agency campaign number:12v‑353), the car was taken to my ford service center, who performed the modification. Upon picking up the car after repair and leaving the lot of the ford service center, I immediately experienced uncontrolled acceleration a second time. Quickly hitting the breaks and performing a u-turn back into the ford lot, I again turned off the engine and coasted to the garage area. This time I was on a multi-lane road in a high traffic area during 5:00 traffic and suffered near collision with multiple other cars. Upon investigating the cause with the service personnel, we observed that the cruise control cable had come loose and bound with the acceleration cable, resulting in the unintended acceleration. On multiple attempts to reconnect the cruise control cable, it became apparent that it would easily come loose and bind again with the acceleration cable. The cruise control cable was disconnected and fixed into location away from the acceleration cable. The dealer did not know or recommend any other method to fix the problem. My observation is that there was significant wear on the cruise control cable connection, possibly as a result of the interference condition with the throttle cover. The current ford recall does not appear to adequately correct the problem or look for this additional problem.

Filed Jan 7, 2014 · Acceleration · 145,000 miles · OH

I took my vehicle in for the recall due to involuntary acceleration and had the recall completed about 1-1.5 years ago. Today, when I was leaving work for lunch, the vehicle automatically began accelerating when it was taken out of park. When I would try to stop, the vehicle would stop for a second, then begin to try to accelerate again. I was able to make it home safely only because I thought to put the vehicle into neutral at any stop signs or stop lights, then back into drive when the lights turned green again. I only knew to do this because I had had the same type of issues prior to the recall. In this incident, I never once used the cruise control though. It accelerated all on its own. I had one other situation similar to this about a year ago, but that was when I was using my cruise control and it wouldn't disengage. My local ford dealership will not look at it unless I pay the $80 diagnostic fee, which is ridiculous because this issue was supposed to have been fixed.

Filed Jan 6, 2014 · Acceleration · 107,000 miles · MI

Tl* the contact owns a ford escape. The contact stated that while driving 55 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle began to accelerate independently. The contact shifted into neutral and the engine revved. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for inspection where they stated that the they could not diagnose the cause of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 107,000. . ..updated 03-12-14 *bf the consumer stated over the course of 2 years, the vehicle has accelerated on its own. The consumer took the vehicle to 2 garages and 3 ford dealerships, and no one could find anything wrong. Updated 04/01/14

Filed Apr 22, 2013 · Engine · 115,000 miles · MI · crash

The incident occurred during rust hour traffic. My vehicle was on the highway at 70 MPH, I had the cruise control on. I tried to slowdown by pressing on the brake but the vehicle started to accelerate. I had to move to the slow lane (2 lanes to the right) to get to the shoulder.I had to literally stand on the brake pedal with my whole weight on the peddle to stop the vehicle. I was able to slow down the vehicle and stop by forcing the gear lever in to park position. When the vehicle stopped, the engine was still accelerating. I had to turn off the ignition to stop the engine acceleration.

Filed Apr 16, 2013 · Acceleration · 112 miles · GA

Back in oct 2012 took the car to malcolm cunningham ford dealership in camblee ga b/c of the recall of the cruise control cable which causes the throttle to get stuck-gas peddle. They claimed they fixed it. Sunday morning @11:30 am on april 14th while on my way to church on I-285 my gas peddle got stuck & I could not stop the car. For 6 miles I tried everything to stop the car emergency brake was all the way up, pump the brake. Shift the gear to one but car kept on going fast. The car speed was between 60 & 80mph. Finally called 911 & they advise me to put the car in neutral . The car finally stopped and back tire blew. I had my friend and her daughter in the car. If the car did not stop I was going to crash it into the guard rail. I had the car towed back to malcolm cunnigham ford and yesterday the provide me with a rental and also called me today to advise that in fact what they claimed they fixed in october was never fixed all they did was disconnect cruise control cable. Which I already knew when I looked under the hood sunday with the police officer. I want others to be warn about this recall in there car because there has already been one death because of this recall issue. Sunday for me could have turned out bad because of the negligence of this dealership.

Filed Jan 24, 2013 · Engine · 90,000 miles · MI

I preface my comments by stating that I am a powertrain engineer for an american auto manufacturer. I owned a 2003 ford escape which I sold to my mother-in-law in 2011. We have experienced throttle sticking with the vehicle both before and after the cruise control recall. After receiving a frantic call from her this evening that the throttle had stuck while traveling 70 MPH on the highway, I have grown sick of remaining silent. There is another large problem that the cruise control recall does not address. In cold temperatures, the throttle can freeze due to introduction of humid air from the pcv (positive crankcase ventilation) system. The humid air combines with the sub-freezing fresh air to freeze on the throttle valve and render the gas pedal useless. While I owned the escape from 2007-2011, I experienced the frozen throttle several times. After the dealership was unable to resolve the problem, I grew frustrated knowing that the vehicle was unsafe but was morally withheld from selling the vehicle to an unsuspecting customer. I began to investigate the issue and the circumstances which caused it. This was when I discovered the pcv issue. I created a fix for the system and saw all throttle sticking/freezing issues go away. After driving the vehicle for two years with no issues, I felt comfortable selling the vehicle to my mother-in-law. However, when she took the vehicle to the dealership this summer for the cruise control recall, the dealership removed the pcv fix I had in place. I was unaware of this until tonight when I received her frantic call that the throttle was stuck (it is 15 deg f here). Upon inspecting the vehicle, I saw that the pcv system had been restored to the original faulty configuration by the dealership which created the freezing conditions again. Disaster was avoided tonight, but I don't want it to happen again.

Filed Dec 12, 2012 · Acceleration · 110,000 miles · VA

I took off on a 4 lane highway one morning and depressed the gas pedal mostly as I was merging in traffic. When I attempted to let off the pedal, the car continued to accelerate. This was the second time this has happened to this car. Currently there have been two recalls regarding a random acceleration problem. The first was repaired when it happened due to an accelerator cable problem. This time, I quickly shifted to neutral and pulled over...coincidentally next to a state police officer. He assisted me in releasing the throttle body on this car as it was clearly stuck. The date I provided is not an exact date, however, I called ford the day it happened and they said they couldn't do anything about it because the original recall was said to be fixed. I left the engine cover off up until today, which is because it's being fixed due to the current recall. This brings me to my current issue. I have called ford once more since the incident asking them if they found the solution and if they would repair my cruise control cable, as it was damaged (which also is the description of the recall). They say it's a pre-existing condition which is very untrue because I have called twice about this issue, long before the recall. I verified that they do show record that I called. I want them to pay for this $35 cruise cable because it's their fault it broke, due from a safety issue, and I called about it long before this recall which should prove I have a legitimate complaint. Fortunately for ford and myself, I was intelligent enough to know how to stop the vehicle prior to an accident.

Filed Nov 16, 2012 · Acceleration · 79,132 miles · NY · crash

Sudden and rapid uncontrollable acceleration after removing my foot from accelerator. Despite my best efforts to brake and arrest my movement the vehicle still was moving forward. I impacted the rear end of a truck that thankfully was heavy enough to completely stop my forward movement. I had this vehicle in my local ford dealer to address the cruise control recall. I was assured by the technicians that it was indeed modified (that the plastic engine cover was fitted with new longer fittings/bolts). This uncontrollable acceleration incident happened after alleged recall/repair.

Filed Oct 23, 2012 · Acceleration · 166,310 miles · MI

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford escape. The contact stated the vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for recall repairs associated with the federal safety agency campaign id number 12v353000 (vehicle speed control: cables). The remedy part was unavailable at the time and as an interim remedy the speed control cable was disconnected and reconnected when the recall part became available. However, the cruise control failed to operate after the remedy repair was performed. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer who informed they were not liable and the repair would be at the owner's expense. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 166,310.

Filed Aug 7, 2012 · Engine · IL

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford escape. The contact stated there was a recall associated with the federal safety agency campaign id number 12v353000 (engine and engine cooling). The authorized dealer and manufacturer were notified and they both informed the contact that the part was unavailable. The dealer stated until the part became available a temporary repair would be performed which consisted of disconnecting the cruise control cable. The contact had concern of the safety issue regarding the recall temporary repair. The contact had not experienced a failure.