1996 Ford Escort problems
NHTSA has received 257 complaints about the 1996 Ford Escort, and 31% of them involve seat belts. After that come engine (13%) and air bags (8%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 257 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Seat belts 31% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 30 and 11
- Injuries and deaths
- 33 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 88,000 miles 24 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 | 0 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 2 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 3 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 2 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 6 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 5 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 2 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 4 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 24 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 88,000 miles. For seat belts specifically, the median reported mileage is about 90,000 miles (13 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 30 complaints mention a crash; 11 complaints mention a fire; 33 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 85% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1996 ranks 8th most-complained-about out of 13 model years of the Ford Escort with enough data (176 complaints in that window).
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.
Sealt belt on the driver's side snapped off in track and caused a concusion as well as a large contusion to my head. It required 14 stitches and 10 staples. The air bags depolyed late causeing my husband to hit his head on the windsheild. And rupturing my spleen.
Driver's side airbag did not come out of middle of steering wheel as intended, instead came out more to right, occupant received injuries.
Consumer was involved in a collision traveling about 60-65 MPH, impact 12:00, and the driver's and passenger's side air bags did not deploy. Consumer state the front end is a total loss.
The vehicle was involved in an accident, the air bags failed to deploy and the seat belt did not restrain the consumer as designed, the consumer was injured. *scc
On 7/17/2003 the driver side rear seat belt was pulled out for use and would not retract. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who repaired the retractor. Currently, passenger side rear seat belt has done the same thing. *nlm