KnownCarProblems2010 Ford Escape Problems and Recalls
Owners filed 2,070 complaints with NHTSA about the 2010 Ford Escape, most often about the speed control (27% of complaints, typically around 52,000 miles). It is 4th of 27 Escape model years by number of complaints and has 3 recalls.
Most common 2010 Ford Escape problems
Speed control
558 complaints · 27%Half of these problems showed up before 52,000 miles. Parts named most often: accelerator pedal.
I was driving on the interstate at about 80 MPH and suddenly my car jerked, and lost all control of acceleration. My car went from 80-15 in just a matter of seconds. No matter how hard I pressed the gas, I could not accelerate. Thankfully I was in the fast lane and was able to coast to the shoulder. The check engine…
I was going approximately 60 to 65 MPH on the freeway and I stepped on the gas to accelerate past another vehicle when I very suddenly lost all acceleration. I had to glide across 3 lanes of heavy traffic to try to get off the road. The car idled a little rough, I turned it off and when I started it again it ran fine…
Engine
528 complaints · 26%Half of these problems showed up before 51,500 miles. Parts named most often: cooling system, engine, exhaust system.
At stop or idle, engine surges, hesitates, stalls, smell gas, check engine light comes on. Took Escape to dealer. Dealer says its the purge valve and evap canister. Purge valve failed and raw gas filled evap canister. Dealer says its out of warranty, there's nothing they can do. This has been a know problem since…
While driving down the road the Escape just shut off without warning. I put it in park and it started again. I took it to the dealership and they couldn't find a reason. It happened again on the 8th of april when driving to work I just got off the highway to an exit ramp and it shut off again. I put it in park and it…
Transmission
508 complaints · 25%Half of these problems showed up before 51,500 miles. Parts named most often: automatic transmission, axle assembly.
While driving at approx 45mph, my 2010 Ford Escape suddenly stopped accelerating and the car slowed to a crawl in the middle of traffic. The wrench light on the dashboard came on. I was able to make it through the intersection and get the car into a parking lot. I had the car towed to the dealership who told me my…
Driving on freeway, between 4pm and 5pm, 40mph. Wrench light came on and pressing gas pedal resulted in no forward momentum or response from the RPM gauge. Pulled over coasting, no further response from the gas pedal in park or neutral. Restarted car, proceeded normally. Happened again a month later, same speed, same…
Fuel system
507 complaints · 25%Half of these problems showed up before 56,500 miles. Parts named most often: storage, delivery.
Even though that had happened some months before but stopped, it did it again in january of 2013. The vehicle stalled unable to be accelerated, the wrench sign appeared and all I could do was coast it to the side of the road. The engine was still running. Since this happened before, I took it immediately to Ford to…
The contact owns a 2010 Ford Escape. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled and also experienced sudden acceleration. The vehicle was taken to a mechanic who diagnosed the failure and stated that the evaporative emission canister needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The dealer was notified. The…
Steering
423 complaints · 20%Half of these problems showed up before 114,000 miles. Parts named most often: column, electric power assist system, rack and pinion.
The contact owns a 2010 Ford Escape. The contact stated that when the vehicle was started, the power steering seized and the steering wheel was difficult to maneuver. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was repaired under NHTSA campaign number: 14v284000 (steering) however, the failure recurred on several…
When came out of store and started the truck the power steering was not working. Called my husband and he had me look for the fill reservoir for the power steering and check the belt. He determined that it is a closed system. This has happened many times since then. It always happens when I start it not while I am…
Electrical
216 complaints · 10%Half of these problems showed up before 58,000 miles. Parts named most often: instrument cluster/panel, ignition, 12v/24v/48v battery, horn.
While driving at highway speeds the engine revs up and losses power to the transmission as if it was out of gear. It also has happened and standing, I need to shut off the motor and reset it as to speak. The Ford dealer has said that it is a throttle body issue, but I am scared to drive it down the highway for fear…
I was driving the vehicle at approximately 40mph when with no warning, the car started to stutter like it was going to stall out and I lost all ability to accelerate. The monkey wrench warning light came on and I was able to pull off to the side of the before someone hit me from behind and turned off the vehicle. I…
Other or unspecified
93 complaints · 5%Half of these problems showed up before 75,000 miles.
We unloaded the vehicle and when my daughter then shut the hatch (not just the glass) and it exploded everywhere. Nobody was injured but it could have been very bad with all three of my girls standing there. The only information I received from the Ford dealership as well as the Ford corporation is that there were no…
Driving 40 miles a hr and my car lost power. I could not step on the gas. The wrench light and engine light came on. I pulled over shut car off and back on and it was fine. A few days later it happened again on the highway going 60 miles a hr and this time it kept cutting off around 10 times eventually I was able to…
Visibility and wipers
90 complaints · 4%Half of these problems showed up before 39,000 miles. Parts named most often: glass, side/rear, sun/moon roof assembly, windshield, defroster/defogger/hvac system.
On sunday, november 3, 2013, at approximately 8:40am, I returned to my car with several bags of groceries. I opened the rear door and placed the bags inside. When I shut the door, the rear hatch window exploded into a thousand pieces. There was glass everywhere inside the car and in the lot. It was a cool morning…
Subject: rear window "exploded". I closed the tailgate, not the window, and by the time I was 2-3 steps away, the window "exploded". The car was parked for about an hour before opened and I closed the tailgate door, then the window chattered into pieces that flew in all directions. I only opened and closed the door, I…
Complaints are owner reports to NHTSA, not verified defects. One complaint can name several components, so shares add up to more than 100%.
2010 Ford Escape recalls
Fuel system: fuel pump
Risk: A fuel leak in the presence of an ignition source increases the risk of a fire.
Fix: Ford will notify owners, and dealers will replace the fdm flange with one that has a redesigned fuel supply port, free of charge. Remedy parts are currently unavailable. Interim notices were mailed to owners on december 13, 2016. Owners will receive a second notice when remedy parts become available. Owners may contact ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 16s41.
Full defect summary
Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain model year 2010-2012 ford escape vehicles manufactured february 26, 2009, to april 29, 2012, and 2010-2011 mercury mariner vehicles manufactured february 25, 2009, to december 12, 2010. On vehicles with a 3.0l engine, the fuel delivery module (fdm) may crack, causing a fuel leak.
Steering: electric power assist system
Risk: If power steering assist is lost, greater driver effort would be required to steer the vehicle at low speeds, increasing the risk of a crash.
Fix: Ford will notify owners, and dealers will update the software for the power steering control module (pscm) and the instrument cluster module, free of charge. If a vehicle shows a history of a loss of the torque sensor signal or fault codes relating to the pscm when the vehicle is brought in for the recall remedy, the affected components will be replaced, free of charge. The recall began on july 18, 2014. Owners may contact ford customer service at 1-800-392-3673. Ford's number for this recall is 14s05.
Full defect summary
Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain model year 2008-2011 ford escape and mercury mariner vehicles manufactured august 18, 2006, through september 11, 2010. The affected vehicles have a steering torque sensor that may not be able to properly detect driver steering input. As a result, the system could remove the electric power steering (eps) assist.
Transmission: automatic transmission
Risk: A vehicle parked without an engaged park pawl and without an applied parking brake may have unintended movement which may cause a crash.
Fix: Ford will notify owners and dealers will repair the vehicles free of charge. The safety recall began on may 28, 2010. Owners may contact ford motor company customer relationship center at 1-866-436-7332 and for the hearing impaired call 1-800-232-5952 (tdd). Representatives are available monday through friday: 8:00am - 5:00pm.
Full defect summary
Ford is recalling certain model year 2010 fusion, milan, and escape vehicles manufactured from february 27, through march 26, 2010. The park rod guide retention pin may not have been properly installed which fails to conform to the requirement of federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 114, "theft protection and rollaway prevention".
Recall repairs are free at any franchised dealer. Enter your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see which recalls are still open on your car.
NHTSA defect investigations
Loss of power steering while driving
Summary
On may 27, 2014, amended june 2, 2014, ford motor company (ford) submitted a defect information report (dir) to NHTSA describing a safety defect that may result in a sudden loss of power steering assist while driving in approximately 746,067 model year (my) 2008 through 2011 ford escape vehicles equipped with electric power assisted steering (NHTSA 14v-284, ford 14s05). Ford's dir described the defect condition as a poor signal to noise ratio [snr] in the torque sensor within the electric power assisted steering (epas) system [which] does not allow the pscm to determine the driver's steering input. When the system detects this fault condition, it transitions the epas system to the fail-safe/
Electronic throttle body malfunction
Summary
On february 21, 2013, the office of defects investigations (odi) opened preliminary evaluation pe13-003 to investigate allegations of electronic throttle body (etb) failures resulting in sudden reduction of engine power in model year (my) 2009-2013 ford escape, fusion, mariner and milan vehicles. During this investigation, ford identified a condition in subject vehicles equipped with 2.5l and 3.0l engines that may result in a sudden reduction of engine power.according to ford, the etb internal motor contacts may develop a high resistance material buildup condition on the commutator, resulting in intermittent electrical connectivity and reduced engine power. When this condition occurs, the ma
Electronic throttle body malfunction
Summary
In a letter dated august 30, 2012, the north carolina consumers council (nccc) petitioned the national highway traffic safety administration (NHTSA) to initiate a defect investigation of alleged electronic throttle body failures resulting in engine stall or surge while driving in model year (my) 2005 through 2012 ford escape vehicles. On october 2, 2012 the office of defects investigation (odi) opened a defect petition dp12-006 to evaluate whether to grant or deny the petition. The petition is hereby granted on certain model years. The nccc letter cites two complaints of stall while driving in my 2009 ford escape vehicles that were diagnosed as failed throttle bodies with diagnostic trouble
Rear liftgate window glass breakage
Summary
In its response to the agency, ford acknowledged a higher than normal level of glass breakage incidents in the model year (my) 2010 to early-build my 2011 subject vehicles.the incidentsoccurred when the liftgate glass was being opened, or more typically while being closed, but in both cases while the vehicle was stationery, I.e., not moving on the roadway.additionally failures often occurred during early morning hours when ambient and/or liftgate glass temperatures may have been lower.ford advised that it investigated the failures but failed to identify an anomaly in the glass manufacturing process (which is often a factor in glass breakage trends odi investigates) that could explain the rep
Questions about the 2010 Ford Escape
- What are the most common problems with the 2010 Ford Escape?
- By NHTSA owner complaints: speed control (558 complaints, typically around 52,000 miles); engine (528 complaints, typically around 51,500 miles); transmission (508 complaints, typically around 51,500 miles).
- How many recalls does the 2010 Ford Escape have?
- 3 recalls listed by NHTSA, the latest from October 26, 2016 (fuel system). Check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see which ones are still open on your car.
- Is the 2010 a bad year for the Ford Escape?
- It is 4th of 27 Escape model years by number of complaints, with 2,070 complaints. Complaint counts are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, so popular years collect more of them, and the newest years have had less time to.