2013 Ford Escape: brake failure

Filed Jul 16, 2023 · Brakes, Engine · GA · crash · 1 injury

December of 2022 - Took car to shop due to engine overheat light and oil smell inside vehicle as well as other "codes coming up. Vehicle was repaired. May 2023 had to take car back to shop due to cranking and it immediately saying engine overheating, low coolant, and various other codes as well as brakes not properly functioning. Repair shop said it was low on coolant and added fluid, stated no leaks and returned vehicle. But repair shop shows it pulled 15 codes, including loss of communication with ABS control module A as well as 3 other "lost communication with" codes and the engine overheating. The NEXT day we had the same issues and had to put it back in the shop. They flushed system and replaced motor because a bad head gasket caused oil to mix with the water (again). Got the vehicle back July 10th and the traction control and braking felt off as it had before in Dec 2022 but then was fine. Noticed on 7/11 that there appeared to be something in the fluid tank that shouldn't be there (like black chunks) and called the repair shop to see about scheduling another diagnostic. On 7/13 my son was driving from work and the engine suddenly stalled saying overheating when it wasn't showing overheating. Pulled over, started to crank it back up and it was fine. On 7/14 on his was to work, he pulled to the edge of the roadway to miss multiple deer in the road and was unable to steer the vehicle back onto the roadway. The traction control kicked in and he could not steer the car back onto the road, brakes did not work and ended up causing him to crash. I have driven the car a few times when traction control would kick in when it really shouldn't and it would not allow me to steer, accelerate, or really do anything until it shut back off.

Filed Jan 4, 2023 · Brakes, Engine · 161,905 miles · CA

The contact owns a 2013 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while his brother was driving at an undisclosed speed, he depressed the brake pedal however, the brakes failed to engage. No warning lights were illuminated. As a result, the contact’s brother swerved off the road but was able to engage the parking brake. The vehicle was towed to the residence. The vehicle was then taken to the dealer and was diagnosed with engine failure. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 161,905.

Filed Jul 17, 2019 · Fuel system · 3 miles · VA · fire

My 2013 ford escape se 1.6l caught fire in motion due to a fuel leak on a city street. Brakes failed and emergency brake was used to stop and get out as smoke and flames came through the vents.

Filed Mar 23, 2019 · Brakes · 130,000 miles · MO

On a long road trip with family and feel very fortunate this occurred when it did instead of two hours earlier when navigating atlanta traffic as this would have most certainly LED to a serious accident. We were driving to coastal georgia and had about 200 miles left to our journey. Not knowing area we pulled off to get gas to make sure we had enough to reach our destination. At bottom of exit ramp car would not stop. Pressed harder and harder on brakes and eventually stopped. Had this been a busy spot would have been disaster as we coasted through the stop sign and into the road before coming to a stop. It was 11 o'clock at night in in unfamiliar surroundings so I drove rest of the way using ebrake, nerve racking to say the least. No warning just sudden brake failure. When mechanic looked at it said vacuum pump failed. Still waiting to hear if they can fix it, some gear that turned it sheared off into cam. They are going to try to fish it out but, not sure if they'll be able to. Gladi was driving and it didn't happen in different situation where brakes were critical! Bad situation!

Filed Jul 23, 2018 · Brakes · 89,000 miles · MA

My brakes failed on my vehicle while driving home. My mechanic has informed me that it is the vacuum pump which pressurizes the power brake system.

Filed Jan 15, 2018 · Seat belts · 40,902 miles · FL · crash · 2 injuries

'unsafe at any speed': we bought a new 2013 ford escape. It had many problems, including many safety recalls. I request ford buy the car back multiple times (they refused). Our driver's seat belt failed on 12-25-2017 at 09:55 am, when my wife's car was struck from behind by a car going 50 MPH. Both cars were totaled. My wife was in the drivers seawearing her seat belt at the time of the accident & was thrown forward and hit her head on the steering wheel when drivers side seat belt failed to engage. She got a concussion injury and had to go to the er, also a bad whiplash and other injuries, including seatbelt rash on left collarbone. Seat belt failed or her head would not have been injured. We aren't first ford owners to be injured by seat belt problems. I found multiple reports on the federal safety agency site of driver and passenger injuries in 2013 & 2014 ford escapes due to seat belt failures. (note: this issue may be similar to existing the federal safety agency recall 16v875, for the ford fusion, but not the escape.) ford has been notified multiple times drivers & passengers are being injured by the failure of driver & passenger seat belts, yet has taken no action, nor has the federal safety agency. Please review the seat belt injuries in 2013-2018 ford escapes. *** note: I found 12 the federal safety agency reports of seat belt failures in j2013-2014 escapes, including 4 injuries. The escape design changed in 2013. A. The federal safety agency id number: 10562168 (injuries due to sb failure, including broken bones, incorrectly logged as no injuries, customer called fmc) incident date january 28, 2014 b. The federal safety agency id number: 10561343 (two injuries, brakes failed, seat & seat belts failed) incident date january 9, 2014 c. The federal safety agency id number: 10618315, (2 injuries), incident date august 1, 2014 d. Other seat belt failure reports (no injuries): 11053916,11053318,10947832, 10811504, 10555439, 11034362, 10763929, 10618315, 11048052

Filed Jul 10, 2017 · Brakes · 100,000 miles · TN

I was driving on the expressway and went to use my brakes and without any warning I.e. Brake/ABS warning lights my brakes went out. I was able to avoid any collisions with other vehicles by manually down shifting and using my emergency brake. I was able to finally come to a complete stop by utilizing all the above plus use both of my feet to push brakes hard enough to come to a slow stop. I turned the car off waited a few minutes and back on since this vehicle already had serious malfunction at 10,000 miles of randomly stalling without warning due to faulty wire harness which finally got recalled a year later. Turned it back on and still no brakes. Took it to ford dealer and was advised that the braking system had a lot of debris in it and brake booster, master cylinder and other braking components where at fault. Now the dealer has replaced all the parts but still say it is not working properly and they are waiting for guidance from ford engineers. This is the same route I had to go down with my wire harness at 10,000. The vehicle has 100,000 mostly highway miles on it and I would not expect for brakes to just go out without any notice or brake system warning lights. As of now still at dealer waiting for engineers to call in with a "fix". I fear for my safety in this vehicle and the brake system/electrical system need to investigated. Who know how many people may have already or are at risk of losing their brakes without warning and it will not show up because no warning sensor/lights are on.

Filed Jun 5, 2017 · Brakes, Engine · 60,920 miles · NC

Catastrophic loss of braking at 65 MPH on highway without warning. Saturday evening april, 29, 2017 on I-85 southbound while slowing from 65 MPH to exit at south hill, va driver (daughter) applied brakes and had no power assist. This produced a pedal that was stiff and her entire body weight had to be used to cause any slowing. The vehicle was stopped using the grade of the ramp and e brake. The vehicle had no warning lights or indications of failure. After towing it home sunday april 30th it was taken to the dealership. They diagnosed a vacuum pump failure. The vacuum pump being solely responsible for the braking system causes immediate loss of braking on failure. The failure was caused by conditions similar to those present in the belt driven vacuum pump on 2011-2012 ford f-150 ecoboost. Several days later when the dealership attempted to fix the vacuum pump they found that the failure caused the cam core coupler to shear. This allowed metal shards into the oil which then carried them to the engine and turbo damaging both. The dealership came back with an estimate of $6000 for just the repairs with a new engine, however they informed us that the turbo needed to be replaced as well due to the damage. Workers at the dealership reported that the cost to fix the car far outstripped the residual value. Mileage failure was 60,921. Due to the 921 miles ford has thus far refused to consider any reconciliation. After extensive research we have found that this failure is common among ecoboost engines and may be more prevalent than immediately evident. A braking failure of this magnitude could easily cause serious injuries or fatalities. In the case of most wrecks involving privately owned vehicles thorough investigation of cause is uncommon. If the occupants were unable to recall or communicate the cause of the wreck due to injury or death it would go unreported.

Filed Jan 24, 2014 · Brakes, Seat belts · 11,000 miles · OK · crash · 2 injuries

Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford escape. The contact stated that while driving 50 MPH and applying the brakes, the brakes failed. The contact crashed into a concrete lane divider and went airborne. The vehicle crossed over four lanes of traffic before coasting to a stop. The contact sustained a fractured lumbar spine and injuries to the left elbow. The front passenger suffered a head injury, fractures to the lumbar and thoracic spine areas. The contact stated that the front passenger's side seat also failed upon impact. Both of the injured occupants were transported to the hospital from the crash site. A police report was not filed. The vehicle was neither diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 11,000.