2002 Ford Escape from North America - Comments

As many other reviews I've seen I too just had my transmission give up the ghost. There was literally no warning except that the overdrive off light came on and could be cleared. Three miles later the transmission (according to the dealer shredded). The next thing is that not only is it costing me $2990.00 to have the factory reconditioned transmission installed from my dealer. They tell that they found my drive shaft needs replacing, when they removed it from the transmission. So now I'm up to nearly $3400.00 in repair cost. I asked what when wrong with the tranmission and I received no answer. When I asked about the drive shaft and the dealer tells me its because of the excessive amount of salt they use on the New England roads. I'm pretty much thinking this is the last Ford I'll ever own. I always own multiple cars and the last four have all run to over 200K miles without a major failure. These being two Chevy's, a Mazda and a Acura. I can't believe a New England dealer would blame the weather for my Escape's failure. I guess he's telling me that if I want to won a ford I should move to a warmer climate (Big Smiles).

Actually up until now I was happy with the car. I do know that I will now trade it in before the "new" transmission reaches its guarantee limit of 3 years or 36,000 miles.

I'm glad I came to this website I was on my way today to purchase an Escape I noticed when I drove it the transmission felt weird, but I was told by the Ford dealership that's just the way they are... I see now that this must be a defective part.

In regard to the cost of your transmission replacement, you shouldn't have taken it to the Ford dealer. I just had mine replaced at 107,000 miles (the trans. pump gave out and took everything else with it). I had a reputable transmission shop in my area do the job for $2100. Ford dealers tend to be a bit of a rip-off for service, so unless you're under warranty, find a good mechanic/transmission shop that isn't the dealer! Up until the trans went out, my 2001 Escape was completely trouble free since the day I bought it new. It's a great car.