2020 Ford Escape UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Owner-reported problems and safety issues filed with NHTSA. Review common failures, severity levels, and complaint trends over time.
Complaint Timeline
Chronological view of owner reports
My driver side door all of a sudden started making popping sounds when opening and closing. Got to the point where I could not close the door. I had to disarm the mechanism that was popping. I did a little research and I was able to see the rivets that hold the arm had pulled through the door panel thus causing the arm not to work properly. I am just over the 36,000 mile warranty so will not fall under the warranty. Because I had to disarm this mechanism to be able to shut my door I have no protection to protect the door from over opening and causing more damage. I also see there have been several other complaints of Escape owners having the same issue.
Spot welds for driver's side door restrainer broke allowing the door to swing open, not close fully and window to not go down.
Door would make popping sound when opening and closing front driver side door. Window will roll down slowly and up slowly. Stopped using for fear of window getting stuck in down position. Rivets on door have popped loose and door arm housing moves inside slot.
Driver side door spot weld broke
Driver side door makes an unusual sound when opened all the way. Until it got to a point that it makes a popping sound when opened/or closed. The door check bracket is loose. Called the dealership and they said they’d have to change the entire door?? That would cost thousands of dollars for something that’s out my control. This has to be investigated and recalled for free. I’m very concerned that this would eventually cause my car door to fall off while driving. God forbid!
Previous my drivers side check arm broke and as of tonight my passenger check arm is broken as well. I do not have pictures as it is dark outside
The door makes a cranky noise that makes it hard to open and close. The windows are also possibly going down now. the dealership is not trying to take responsible.
I was stopped at a red light with my foot on the brake. The vehicle unexpectedly accelerated and crashed into the vehicle in front of me. Collision assistance did not activate, and there was no audible warning. The vehicle accelerated with such force that both cars were damaged. A police report was obtained. no one was injured. Damage to the vehicle includes a broken grill, broken head lamp, bent hood and broken brackets under the hood. The car is currently at Serra Bodyshop Center in Rochester, Michigan. The vehicle was serviced on 6/15/22 at Elder Ford in Romeo. oil change, rotate tires, check alignment and multipoint inspection.
The vehicle has a safety system called hill assist start and auto hold braking. When activated the driver can take their foot off the brake pedal when fully stopped and the car should stay stopped until the accelerator is engaged. The first incident occurred about 5 months ago. I had started the vehicle and put it in drive. A warning then appeared on the dashboard saying hill assist start fault and then immediately switched to auto hold fault and the car started moving on its own. After stopping the car and resetting the transmission the fault message went away and the car held in place. About 2 weeks later this same fault happened but I was unable to stop the car in time before hitting a pole on the left front quarter panel. This caused a large dent. I was able to take a picture of the fault message on the dashboard. I had to take the car in for another issue and told the service advisor about the auto hold faults. The dealer ran a diagnostic and found no issues. The issue did continue after this visit. About 2 months ago the fault occurred when the car was next to a wall and the front left side was heavily damaged when it hit the wall. I was able to take another picture of the fault message. At the same time, we had issues with getting the car into reverse on the transmission dial Returned to the dealership and informed them of the continued issues. I also opened a case with Ford over the issue. The dealer again ran a diagnostic, drove the car but could not reproduce any of the issues or faults. I showed them the pictures of the fault message and they did not take it seriously. A Ford engineer also inspected the car and could find no issue. We reluctantly took the car back. Now the auto hold will turn on and off by itself when the car is stopped. The car will start to roll forward until the brake pedal is engaged. I informed Ford of this, and they said there is nothing else they can do for us. All of these issues happen at random. The car is unsafe.
My wife sliced her finger open using the up/down button to raise/ lower the driver window. The silver metal part of the button is very sharp. The passenger side is the same way. Our local dealer said he has noticed that on some models. I see there is no recall on this item but it should be.
The vehicle started, but the dashboard was black and the wheels were locked. The radio, heat, etc. were working. I could put it into drive and reverse, but the wheels would not move. The salesman I bought the car from drove out and loosened, then tightened the battery cables. He said that it would re-boot the computer. Either that worked OR the 20 minute wait time that I've been reading about worked. Before this problem occurred, there were a few times that I got a message on my middle screen, (Navigation, etc) saying "System Off To Save Battery...Please turn ignition off and start engine" The dealership could not find a problem other than a low voltage issue with the battery. The service advisor told me they had the battery on a testing device for a "really long time" and the low voltage issue never resolved. The service advisor also told me that I need to drive the car more and to watch for error lights in the cluster. About a month later, after running some errands , I turned the car off and a mild thud noise came from the engine area. I knew the vehicle did not shut down properly. When I came out from one of my errands and started my vehicle, a message came up on the middle screen, (n Navigation, etc.) It read " System Off To Save Battery....Please turn ignition off and start engine" There is also a burning smell when I drive the car now, this is new. From what I've read on this site there is no doubt in my mind that this particular make and model of the Ford Escape has some serious and dangerous issues. Please look into this. I DO NOT feel safe driving this vehicle.
Driving down the road the car kicked off an error that said vehicle network communication error. We lost all lights, all controls, and started loosing power to the engine. The car died when we stopped it. It would not allow us to shut the head lights off so we did this manually. The car doesn’t respond in any way for anything
When at a stop light upon acceleration the car is very sluggish. I have noticed if I turn the air off there seems to be slightly more power. I feel the safety in this comes when a vehicle is moving excessively slow that it causes a potential threat to being involved in an accident.
Shaking when driving under 40 mph from when I got the car. They have not been able to fix. Causes a distraction
Titanium or SEL editions have a 10 speaker B&O stereo with a 6x9 ‘subwoofer’ located in the right rear cargo area. The speaker hums/vibrates/shakes loudly through all volume levels - it is a KNOWN issue with Ford that the screws securing the speaker in to its mount are cheap and often come loose, casing loud vibrations. Tightening them back up is time consuming and only a temporary fix
The contact owns a 2020 Ford Escape. The contact stated while reversing there was an abnormal noise detected. The contact stated that the brakes were sticking. The brake warning light was illuminated. The contact called the local dealer and an appointment was scheduled however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The approximate failure mileage was 4,000.
Groaning noise from engine compartment when accelerating
Wrench light came on less than 1 week after purchase. Car was bogging down terribly. Took it to shop they said it was no big deal. Told me to drive it until they could get appointment. Next day it completely shut off on hwy. Air bag malfunction as well.
MY VEHICLE HAS BEEN IN THE SHOP (NORTHGATE FORD) SO MANY TIMES AND THEY SAID THAT THERE'S NOTHING WRONG. THE SERVICE MANAGER WENT OUT WITH US AND SAW IT WASN'T WORKING PROPERLY. MY CAR ISN'T SAFE TO DRIVE AS THE LANE KEEPING SYSTEM TRIED TAKING ME OFF THE ROAD SO MANY TIMES. THE DEALERSHIP WANTS ME TO TRADE MY CAR IN AND I SAID ABSOLUTELY NOT. I DON'T WANT ANYONE KILLED BECAUSE OF THE PROBLEMS WITH THIS VEHICLE.
After driving for 45 min on freeway,exit off and approaching a light to turn , went to accelerated and car wouldn’t go. It took a few seconds then it jumped and spontaneously accelerated.
TL* THE CONTACT OWNED A 2020 FORD ESCAPE. THE CONTACT STATED WHILE DRIVING 1-2MPH WHEN THE CONTACT DEPRESSED THE BRAKE PEDAL, THE VEHICLE DID NOT RESPOND AND CONTINUED TO MOVE FORWARD UNTIL VEHICLE CAME INTO CONTACT WITH STRUCTURE. THE CONTACT STATED ALL AIR BAGS DEPLOYED WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE PASSENGER SIDE CURTAIN AIR BAG. 2 PERSONS WERE INJURED, AND WERE TAKEN TO RECEIVE MEDICAL TREATMENT. THE CONTACT STATED NO WARNING LIGHT WAS ILLUMINATED. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO A TOW YARD WHERE IT WAS DIAGNOSED WITH BEING DESTROYED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOT INFORMED OF FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS APPROXIMATELY 1,000. THE VIN WAS NOT AVAILABLE.
OUR PRE-COLLISION LIGHT KEEPS COMING ON FOR NO REASON. NORTHGATE FORD WON'T DEACTIVATE IT FOR ME. IT GOES OFF RANDOMLY AND IT'S A MAJOR SAFETY ISSUE SINCE I COULD WRECK MY ESCAPE. THE WHOLE DASHBOARD LIGHTS UP IN AN ORANGE COLOR AND IT DINGS REPEATEDLY.
I I WAS DRIVING DOWN ROAD SPEED LIMIT 55. , NO OTHER CARS IN SIGHT, AND MY PANORAMIC SUNROOF JUST SHATTERED .
Despite it being turned on, the Check rear seats for occupants alert stopped working. I no longer get that warning when car is turned off. The problem has not yet been reported to a dealer.
MY PRE-COLLISION LIGHT KEEPS COMING ON RANDOMLY. MY DASHBOARD LIGHTS UP AND CHIMES FOR NO REASON. NORTHGATE FORD SAID MY ESCAPE IS WORKING FINE.
Trend Over Time
Complaints by year
Other Issues
Common problems reported
Quick Summary
The 2020 Ford Escape has 179 UNKNOWN OR OTHER complaints on file. 3 crashes have been reported. Review the timeline above for detailed owner experiences.