2004 Ford Escape problems
NHTSA has received 715 complaints about the 2004 Ford Escape, and 22% of them involve suspension. Next are body & structure (19%) and cruise control (14%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 715 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Suspension 22% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 49 and 21
- Injuries and deaths
- 27 and 1
- Typical mileage
- 111,000 miles 610 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 | 40 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 23 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 48 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 56 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 86 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 89 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 89 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 71 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 42 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 38 |
| 200k+ miles | 28 |
What the data shows
Of the 610 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 111,000 miles. For suspension specifically, the median reported mileage is about 123,000 miles (139 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 49 complaints mention a crash; 21 complaints mention a fire; 27 injuries reported; 1 death reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2004 ranks 22nd most-complained-about out of 25 model years of the Ford Escape with enough data (151 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 6 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.
My daughter was about a mile from home after taking a friend home. It was august 27, 2012 around 9:30pm. Her car went off the road crashed into a tree and caught fire. She was killed in the accident. What is puzzling is there were no skid marks, no signs of braking. It has been brought to our attention just yesterday that there was a recall on her automobile that we were never aware of. We were told that if there was a throttle problem then that would maybe explain the absent skid marks and no signs of braking.
I was the owner of a 2004 ford escape that was recalled because the engine would suddenly accelerate uncontrollable. I had to call my insurance co. Geico because of this they sent out a tow truck to check the situation. The tow operator got the engine to run normally. I put in a claim against ford and was told that they did not think they were liable. My escape accelerated again and was involved in a accident that totaled the vehicle. I need help to present my case to ford motor co.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 ford escape. The contact believed that he may have passed out while driving. He did not remember crossing the intersection and crashing into a four foot pipe filled with concrete, and then flipping the vehicle. The air bags failed to deploy, and the contact sustained a ruptured left lung. The vehicle was destroyed. The current and failure mileages were 87,000.
Rusted out right wheel well with structural collapse. We bought this car used from a local ford dealer in april of 2013. This car was being driven on a freeway on june 15, 2014 when a loud thumping started in the right rear wheel on . On inspection the right rear wheel well is rusted out. The support that the shock absorber is attached to was completely eroded and a part of it punched through the wall into the interior of the trunk area. We felt it was not safe to drive.
Catastrophic failure of the front sub-frame engine cradle assembly. It completely rusted apart on the passenger side causing the lower control arm to come loose. My daughter was driving when it came loose causing the escape to run off the road. Thankfully there was plenty of shoulder on the rural road and no one was hurt. Had this been in traffic, an accident would have been inevitable. Called ford customer service - no help, there is nothing they can do.