2014 Ford Escape: windshield wiper failure

Filed Mar 20, 2026 · Electrical · MN

Rear back up camera will intermittently lose functionality while in use - blue screen or error message will appear instead of camera feed. Tends to happen more frequently when wipers are in use; can be highly problematic when the weather is causing visibility issues and the need for the camera is greater. Service tech has inspected, verified the issue and made mention of the current recall on different year's models.

Filed Jul 9, 2022 · Electrical, Engine · CA

I have owned this Ford for 3 years now. It uses coolent excessively and I have replaced many parts. The Catalyic Converter went out, all motor mounts, font and rear suspension, engine burp valve, faulty throttle body, fried drivers side bulb socket, wiper arms stripped, weather stipping corroding on windshield near hood, front window cracked and damaged, coolent temperature control sensor and firmwware update not automated and dealer charges $250 to update car software for engine improved performance. Sluggish, bogging and unresponsive car until software update and throttle body repair. All around a lemon for as many parts I've put on in a short amount of time. I've spent over $3300 on parts alone. The dealer in Upland services the cars oil but fails to fill the fluids, spills oil on my spark plugs and ruins the fasteners to the skid plate by over torqueing them. It has been the worst car experience of my life and I've never had to replace so many parts in so short of time. I drove a 1974 Nova around for 20 years and still haven't replaced as many parts. This is ridiculous and predatary of Ford to put out cars with these many short term problems on them. Literally evering is going bad after 100k miles. I read post after post of people needing new engines and transmissions because of Fords incompetience. I just got a recall for the Transmission which means the car is unsafe to drive and Ford does not have the ability to fix it until the end of the year. Without a rental or replacement car I am risking my life driving this vehicle and the integety of the tranmissions. So if the tranmissison breaks before the recall is able to fixed then what happens then. Is it now a complicated legal matter where attorny's mitigate the age of the vehicle vs their incompetience. Ordering parts with Ford is a nightmare. They sometimes send the wrong parts and leave it up to the dealers to do the return or not. So it takes weeks between calling back and forth with Ford.com parts.

Filed Dec 7, 2021 · Electrical, Lights · IL

The wipers became slow and erratic, then stopped when headlights were turned on. The lights also were affected as they became dim or out depending on the selection of Hi, Low or Driving. The wipers could have failed during a storm, or the headlights could have become inoperative with no warning. The problem was reproduced at the dealer and inspected as well. There was no indication that there was a problem until the wipers and lights were operated. There could have been more systems that were failing we did not notice as the problem was all of the grounding wires were on painted surfaces. There are several Service Bulletins on this car and the Ford Focus in the same model year range. I have correspondence from the dealer that indicates the problem. Although our car did not fall under these bulletins, I feel this should be a recall since any electric component could fail with no warning by the design of these cars.

Filed Apr 13, 2021 · Electrical · 59,850 miles · TX · fire

2014 ford escape titanium taken in for every recall, and maintained. While driving on a 3 lane road going 40 MPH the windshield wipers went on full speed (not raining) and would not/could not turn them off. After about 5 minutes they went down to slow speed. Then the car lost power, no steering or brakes. No way to stop or steer the car. It slowed and finally came to a clunky stop. Flames were coming out of the bottom of the car onto the road at that time. Within 1-2 minutes the flames were coming from the top of the engine, up and over the hood onto the top and over the car completely.

Filed Jan 17, 2020 · Body, Engine · 61,000 miles · MO · fire

The vehicle was being driven and had only been started and moving for less than 5 minutes. Noticed that windshield wipers would not shut off or change speeds, then noticed a slight odor in car that increasingly strengthened. Phoned my husband while at a stop light, odor of something burning became much stronger, then noticed smoke coming between the the drivers side hood seam and between the hood and the windshield, this was immediately followed by noticable flame. I put the vehicle in park, turned on hazard lights and exited the vehicle. Local police and fire department responded, began with small fire extinguishers, without success and fire department opened hood and applied water to extinguish. This was on a city street in o'fallon, mo. Uncertain of cause, but am now aware that ford issued a recall on this model (recall 17s09) and believe this could be a possibility.

Filed Oct 15, 2019 · Visibility · 48,800 miles · FL

Windshield wipers turn on by themselves while in off position while driving, stopped and parked. Can not turn them off manually, have to shut the car off to make it stop. They doesn't always work either. Wipers go as short as 5 wipes every 5 seconds to up to 30 seconds-minute operating in the off position. Wipers do not always turn on. When testing to see if they will come on, sometimes they do not turn on. Concern for them not turning on when it rains. Been going on for 6 days straight. Luckily there hasn't been rain, yet.

Filed Jan 25, 2019 · 60,000 miles · TX

While driving at times we can smell fumes from the engine. It is very strong. It will start and then stop after a while. The smell is strong with carbon. It makes us sick and nauseous. We have had to roll the windows down and pull over at times. So far this has happened only while driving. We can be on a residential street or driving down a highway with the cruse control on and it will happen. We have treated this car well and only had an authorized dealer perform maintenance, with the exception of changing the wipers. This is not the first time we have has issues with this car (we bought this new). We have had the dealership replace a defective break drum (less than 2k miles), a defective track that moves the electric seat and a faulty exterior door latch. Could not change the back wiper blade had to take it in (was told by the service center they had issues in the beginning figuring it out also). Now the smell issue had made this a bad experience. If it just was a bad smell that would be one issue, however this is toxic and makes both of us nauseous. This should really needs to be dealt with soon before someone gets light headed from the smell and has an accident.

Filed Jan 14, 2019 · Engine, Visibility · 197,000 miles · VA · fire

January 9, 2019 at 10:39pm my 2014 ford escape caught on fire. Driving down interstate 81, going speed limit 70 MPH, vehicle shut off and said "service engine now". Steering and brakes did not lock up but the vehicle lost rpms and was not running as I pulled over to the right hand shoulder, I was in the left hand lane when my vehicle shut off. As I stopped, I put vehicle in park and turned key off, all while it said "service engine now". I turned my hazards on and got out my phone to call someone for help. As I looked up I seen flames coming from the windshield wiper area and smoke in front of my lights, I grabbed my work bag and jumped out of the vehicle, jumped across the guard rail, and immediately called 911 from a safe distance. In approximately 6-9 minutes the entire front end of my vehicle was engulfed in flames as I was on the phone with 911. Took responders about 15 to 20 minutes to arrive and to put out the fire. As soon as responders finally showed, I could hear both tires explode a few minutes apart from each other. Once fire was safely put out, the entire front end of my vehicle was melted and the inside as well was beyond recognizable. I was told my vehicle is totalled, obviously, and I got a tow to take vehicle to my house where the 2014 ford escape is sitting in my yard. I figured my insurance company might come look at it but they didn't because all I had was liability on it. I did not know until a couple days later there was in fact a recall on my vehicle, due to risk of engine fire.

Filed Aug 29, 2018 · Visibility · IL

2014 ford escape. Consumer writes in regards to inoperable windshield wipers. *ld the consumer stated the malfunction occurred intermittently. The dealership was contacted and advised that the windshield wipers had to be manually reset in order to operate correctly. Also that the wipers were old which caused the drag and when they heated up it caused a malfunction. The consumer felt this was a liability.

Filed Aug 24, 2018 · Visibility · 45,000 miles · AZ

Front wipers go off when in off postition on the steering wheel. Once issue starts happening it degrades quickly. It starts with a random wipe and over a months period degrades into the wipers randomly turning on at different speeds and different time intervals ranging from a few wipes up to 15 minutes of uncontrollable wiping. Sometimes only a single wiper blade will turn on randomly the left or right front ( once restarting car both wipers will go off randomly again). This happens when driving on all driving types street/highway/turning/stationary everything. Again the wipers are in off postition and not engaged but will randomly turn on.

Filed Jun 27, 2018 · 35,000 miles · NJ

The drivers side wiper blade, sticks at top up position and then will snap down. It will also stop occasionally mid position on way down and oscillates before completing down stroke. Makes for extremely dangerous driving conditions when wiper stops in middle of site line and oscillates. Issue has occurred while driving and during stationary parked. Blades are new. Windshield is clean. Windshield was wet with rain water.

Filed Sep 13, 2017 · Electrical, Visibility · 36,000 miles · FL

The vehicle was in motion being driven when heavy rain began. The wipers would not turn on in any level, manual or otherwise. This created an extreamly dangerous situation with little to no visibility. The dealer did not disclose the problems with the 2014 ford escape bcm but indicated was the cause. They however did not replace it, but did charge $450 for diagnosis only. No actual repair was made. This vehicle should be under recall. It is again affecting the wiper control intermittently.