Vehicle Data Hub

2003 Ford Escape body & structure problems

123 complaints about body & structure have been filed for the 2003 Ford Escape, which is 17% of all its NHTSA complaints. It is the most reported problem area for this model year.

At a glance

Complaints
123 17% of this year's complaints
Typical mileage
108,000 miles 96 complaints with mileage
Crashes and fires
1 and 1
Injuries and deaths
0 and 0

Source: NHTSA owner complaints

When body & structure problems show up

Body & structure complaints by mileage, 2003 Ford Escape Complaints by odometer reading in 20,000-mile steps. The median is about 108,000 miles. 0k to 20k miles: 6 complaints 20k to 40k miles: 2 complaints 40k to 60k miles: 8 complaints 60k to 80k miles: 13 complaints 80k to 100k miles: 14 complaints 100k to 120k miles: 17 complaints 120k to 140k miles: 16 complaints 140k to 160k miles: 9 complaints 160k to 180k miles: 6 complaints 180k to 200k miles: 2 complaints 200k+ miles: 3 complaints 040k80k120k160k200k miles Typical: 108,000 miles
Based on 96 complaints that include mileage. 17% were reported before 60,000 miles. The amber marker shows the median: half of these complaints happened before that mileage.
View the numbers
MileageComplaints
0k to 20k miles6
20k to 40k miles2
40k to 60k miles8
60k to 80k miles13
80k to 100k miles14
100k to 120k miles17
120k to 140k miles16
140k to 160k miles9
160k to 180k miles6
180k to 200k miles2
200k+ miles3

What the data shows

Of the 96 body & structure complaints that report mileage, the median is about 108,000 miles, and 17% were reported before 60,000 miles.

These complaints mention 1 crash, 1 fire.

What owners wrote

My vehicle was setting in my driveway on 4/14/2017 and the neighbor came pounding on my door stating my vehicle was on fire. He tried putting the fire out to avoid the fire from reaching the gas tank and also spraying the side of my house to try to keep it from catching the siding on fire. The front drivers side tire blew up so he dropped the hose and ran.when the fire dept got here it had already burned my vehicle all the way up and melted the siding on the house.

Reported at 238,000 miles, April 2017 Fire

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.

Reported at 100,078 miles, September 2015

Other problems reported for the 2003 Ford Escape

Body & structure problems in other years

Body & structure problems across all Ford models