30 owner complaints to NHTSA about the 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid cite power train, 10% of all 290 complaints for this model year. NHTSA also lists 1 recall on this component.
“When the outside temperature gets over 95F, the rotary gear shifter locks up in Park and will not let you shift into Drive. Multiple restarts over 30 minutes with the A/C center console pointed down to cool off the rotary shifter dial. This really is annoying. Twice I was late for appointments. I am handicapped disabled veteran and need this car to work, 100 percent of the time. The ford escape online forums, nor Ford have a fix. It's a KNOWN problem on the forums. Ford said they fixed it when I sent it in for an unrelated maintenance stop. DID NOT FIX IT.”
“Our 2020 Ford Escape Titanium began making a flutter noise at lower speeds. An independent mechanic checked for codes and none were present. He advised to drive until the check engine light comes on. Two days later the car had a knocking noise in the engine compartment. Driving home, accelerating onto a hiway the engine made a loud metallic noise as the engine started to overspeed. The car shut itself off and we pulled over to the shoulder. We were stuck on a 65 mph 4 lane hiway for 3 hours trying to work with roadside assistance for a tow. We towed it to McGraw Ford in Aransas Pass, TX and it sat in their back lot for 8 weeks with no diagnosis. We then had it towed to a Ford certified mechanic near our home and he wanted many hours of labor as the transmission needed to be removed to provide an estimate. He was throwing numbers approaching $10k as a guess. We elected to sell the car to a private party for far less than its value.”
“The vehicle is just under 37K miles. I was operating the vehicle normally, and the wrench icon came on, indicating a powertrain issue. There are recalls for this for some vehicles but not all, and it seems to occur just after warranties expiring. I am concerned my vehicle falls under this service bulletin but has not been properly added: SSM 49157 - 2020 Escape - Illuminated MIL With DTCs U0100, U0401, P166B, P1753, P0929, And/Or P0919 Some 2020 Escape vehicles may exhibit an illuminated malfunction indicator lamp (MIL) and diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) U0100, U0401, P166B, P1753, P0929, and/or P0919. The vehicle may also exhibit an illuminated powertrain malfunction (wrench) indicator lamp. This may be due to the software in the gear shift module (GSM). To correct the condition, reprogram the GSM using the latest software level of the appropriate Ford diagnostic scan tool. For claiming, use causal part number 7P155 and applicable labor operations in Section 10 of the Service Labor Time Standards (SLTS) Manual. APPLICABLE VEHICLES 2020 CAR: TC CX482N ESCAPE 2020 CAR: TC CX482N ESCAPE 2020 CAR: TC CX482N ESCAPE”
“Upon purchasing and receiving the car from a dealership, I attempted to drive it around my neighborhood and after about 1 minute received a warning saying "safely stop now!" and the steering wheel locked and the power shut off in the middle of the street. The car would not turn back on and had to be towed to the dealership. The dealership (not Ford) already replaced the battery and that did not fix the issue. They are having to take it to Ford service to get it looked at. This poses a very significant safety risk because it could have happened on the highway, as some Ford Escape users have reported on forums. Before purchasing the car, all available recalls were addressed and "resolved", but clearly not all issues have been fixed.”
“We were traveling to Springfield MO and just before Strafford our 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid SE flashed a wrench warning on our screen and immediately went into limp mode in rush hour traffic on I-44. We were in the passing lane going up a hill at the time passing a commercial truck and our speed dropped significantly. Luckily the vehicles behind us to were able slow down in time.”
“When temperature is over 100F, (when it's parked for a while). 1. Foot on brake 2. Turn engine button on 3 Shift into Drive . The shifter button wheel will not turn into any gear. It's locked into Park . You have to open all the windows, and direct as much A/C air downward to the shifter wheel to get it to cool off (10 minutes usually). Then, it will shift into Drive and everyone is happy. However, if this was an emergency (like someone has heat stroke), depending on this Ford Escape would be a life threatening decision.”
Showing 6 of 30 reports. Read every report on NHTSA.gov.
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2022-2024 Maverick Hybrid and 2020 Escape Hybrid vehicles. The Hybrid Powertrain Control Module (HPCM) software may cause the vehicle to shift into neutral unexpectedly, causing a loss of drive power.
Complaints are unverified owner reports to NHTSA and are not normalized for sales volume. One complaint can cite several components.