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Comments: 1-15, 16-28
At 10 months the brakes failed, at 12 months the brakes failed, at 15 months the brakes failed, at 16 months the brakes failed, at 20 months the Automatic Transmission "SLIPPED & GRINDED" so badly we thought the it actually fell out, Dealership could find NOTHING wrong, transmission STILL slips and CLANKS! Brakes STILL NOT fixed!!!Each time we take it in Alan Vigil Ford in Morrow, GA. REFUSES to let us have a "loaner", they FORCE us to RENT a car for a MINIMUM of $50. per 100 miles!
I got a settlement, I'm 100% disabled, enough to pay off our old cars and to purchase relatively inexpensive NEW cars. We had $32,000. and my wife let the salesman at Alan Vigil ford know this. He talked her into buying a Ford Escape LIMITED 4x4 for$31,800. INSTEAD of the EXPLORER her and I agreed to buy. They sold us a LEMON!!I wanted my money back, but was assured that we were buying the BEST small SUV on the planet!
Ford knew and KNOWS about the BRAKE and Transmission problems with SO MANY of these Escapes and Tributes and the Chinese-Versions, but REFUSES to acknowledge it or do ANYTHING to fix the problem!We filed a Dispute with FORD because the Escape IS a LEMON according to the LAW!AVOID Alan Vigil Ford in Morrow GA.! They WILL say ANYTHING to get your money!
Answer to brakes is get off them, and your transmission is one of the best ones Ford has.
You are the only one with such a negative opinion about a truly terrific little SUV. I've been driving mine for over four years. I am sorry that you got one that had problems, but these are not "problem" cars.
I had brake problems with my 2003 Ford Escape and it cost me over $750 to fix them about 3 months ago. As of today I may have to pay on the upwards of $2400-$3100 to have a new transmission put in. They can't tell me exactly what is wrong except there is a code saying there is an internal problem and a code saying the the trans control switch is off even though the car is in gear. I drove it to Houston and back the day before with no problems. I also had to have the heater coil fixed a year ago (which Ford didn't even have any in stock). I am not so happy with my Ford and don't plan on buying another.
I have a 2003 Escape Limited, and for the first 3 years it has been great. About a month ago (20 days after the warranty expired) I had to replace the fuel pump. The brake light came on two days ago and with just barely 30,000 miles my rotors need to be replaced. I am not an expert on the subject, but I expect the rotors to last through at least the 2nd break job. I was told by the service manager that this is a common problem with Escapes.
The FORD ESCAPE is a very nice S.U.V. and put together terrifically. No questions asked. It is one of the best selling S.U.V.S.'s in the world. The FORD ESCAPE was one of or the very first S.U.V.'s to be hybrid compatible. There are possibilities for factory defaults in the ESCAPE, but no way they are possibly considered a lemon.
The Escape is tinny, flimsy, and cheap, cheap, cheap.
Look underneath at the flimsy suspension components, then compare it to a real SUV.
Did I mention that it is cheap?
One the the "best selling" doesn't mean good quality. Escorts, and Cavaliers were "best selling" too, they were also cheap junk.
Whoever said that escorts and cavaliers are cheap... um there called economy cars (aka ecno- boxes).
<<Whoever said that escorts and cavaliers are cheap... um there called economy cars (aka ecno- boxes).>.
I've owned a ton of "econoboxes" for decades and none of them were cheap because they were all foreign in origin. The Escort and Cavalier were cheaply built to the lowest quality standards.
Escorts aren't bad as long as you get one made in 1991 or later and it has a manual tranny. I have yet to see a Ford FWD automatic tranny that could be considered bulletproof. Aside from this, the Escorts have some minor issues that are cheap to fix (tie rods, thermostat housings, rear springs and brakes aren't quite up to Japanese standards... all things that can be permanently fixed with higher quality, non-Ford parts when it comes time to replace them - get parts from brands such as Brembo, Moog or Denso).
I'm on my second Escort.
If you are the type of owner that must have everything be "perfect" or doesn't want to do any homework to avoid having the same problem from happening over and over, then a Ford isn't for you. If you're the type of owner that would rather save some money, are capable of doing a little research and don't care if the odd cosmetic thing goes or if there is the odd squeak, then you would be perfectly happy with a Ford Escort (assuming you're looking for a small, daily driver with low operating costs).
I own a repair shop, the escape is quickly becoming one of the most popular vehicles in my shop, while I am thankful that these vehicles are poorly engineered I feel sorry for some of their owners.
My Ford Escape 2003,was in great condition until 5 weeks ago and the rust appeared above the windshield and now I have a patch of paint peeling off-approx-10 x 12 inches, the dealer says it is from a stone chip, other body shops say it is a bad paint job.. ford will do nothing about the problem, and paint has started peeling on the hood and rear door. I am continuing to fight Ford and will go to no end to get results.
I own a 2003 Ford Escape with gold paint. My paint is peeling also, and I have not had any luck with Ford on getting it fixed. My Escape is kept under a car cover, and not in the weather when I am at home.
Other than that, I love it and it has held up in a wreck that I was hit twice at high speeds with only 3000.00 dollars damage. What do we have to do to get Ford to take care of this problem?
I, too, own a 2003 Ford Escape with gold paint and the paint is peeling off just above the windshield. Several other spots have developed on other areas above the windshield... I haven't taken it to the body shop yet, but it sounds like I will have no luck getting Ford to step up and fix it. Fun times for me!
Which part of the brakes failed? Do you live in a very hilly or mountainous area? It sounds more to me like driver error.
Lay off the brakes, or repair them. I've driven mine since 0 miles and this SUV has excellent brakes.
You could have just bought a "bad egg" or maybe its driver error, but I can assure anyone reading this that these SUVs don't have these problems regularly.
I also own a 2003 GOLD ford escape and guess what the paint is peeling in two spots: above the windshield and above the back hatch. I was told it was a very bad paint job. does anyone know what we can do to get this fixed by ford???