2003 Ford Escape problems
NHTSA has received 736 complaints about the 2003 Ford Escape, and 17% of them involve body & structure. Next are suspension (12%) and cruise control (12%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 736 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Body & structure 17% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 55 and 35
- Injuries and deaths
- 41 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 94,000 miles 589 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 63 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 50 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 54 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 70 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 74 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 79 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 64 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 56 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 39 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 16 |
| 200k+ miles | 24 |
What the data shows
Of the 589 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 94,000 miles. For body & structure specifically, the median reported mileage is about 108,000 miles (96 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 55 complaints mention a crash; 35 complaints mention a fire; 41 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2003 ranks 19th most-complained-about out of 25 model years of the Ford Escape with enough data (248 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 7 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Right rear passenger tire failed on 2003 ford escape. Tires in question are firestone destination le, (DOT vn08, 0107) just days and one year after purchase new. After tire failure vehicle one veered violently into left lane of the two lane interstate highway and vehicle two collided with vehicle one sending vehicle one skidding on its drivers side before coming to a rest on the right breakdown lane. Total time when vehicle one noticed a noise to end of incident was less than 1 minute.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford escape. The contact stated that while driving at 67 MPH, the cruise control failed to disengage. As a result, the contact crashed into an embankment and the vehicle rolled over multiple times. The air bags failed to deploy. The contact sustained minor scrapes and bruises and the two passengers in the rear of the vehicle sustained bumps, bruises and scrapes that required medical attention. A police report was filed. The vehicle was destroyed.
Ford escape xlt 2003 rake pads worn to less than 4 MPH and rotors worn to .910 at 15,153 miles. I consider this excessive wear.
Went to get car inspected and the exhaust y pipe and engine cradle subframe has corrison. Called the ford recall and for some reason my vehicle did not have a recall, but there were other 2003 recalls for the control arms and corrison of the frame and members. This seems to be a problem with a lot of ford vehicles but not on the recall list and should be. Vehicle has 100,078 miles. There is also noise come from an area around the tires not sure which one.