1998 Ford Escort problems
NHTSA has received 470 complaints about the 1998 Ford Escort, and 16% of them involve air bags. After that come engine (12%) and suspension (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 470 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 16% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 102 and 17
- Injuries and deaths
- 94 and 1
- Typical mileage
- 76,000 miles 65 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 | 5 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 8 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 9 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 11 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 16 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 4 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 4 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 4 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 1 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 3 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 65 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 76,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 102 complaints mention a crash; 17 complaints mention a fire; 94 injuries reported; 1 death reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 95% 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 1998 ranks 3rd most-complained-about out of 13 model years of the Ford Escort with enough data (308 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.
This vehicle was in a rear end accident were the driver's seat became totally disconnected from vehicle. Driver of the vehicle died. Vehicle was traveling at 70 MPH and was struck from the rear. Manufacturer has not been contacted.
My son was involved in an accident in which another vehicle hit his vehicle on the passenger side while he was making a left turn. My son's car spun 90 degrees and landed on the side of an embankment. The car did not flip and landed right side up. Both airbags deployed. My son noticed smoke coming from the right side of the vehicle. Luckily, he was not knocked unconsious and was able to get out of the car quickly. Within less than 5 minutes, he noticed flames coming from the floorboard on the passenger side.
While driving driver's side air bag deployed, but not high enough. Driver sustained severe head injuries by going through the windshield. However,air bag on passenger side deployed fully, and passenger sustained less severe injuries.
Tl*the contact owns a 1998 ford escort. The contact stated that the steering locked up while driving. She pulled to the side of the road and attempted to restart the vehicle, however, it failed to restart immediately. She stated that the power steering fluid was dark colored and leaking. The dealer stated that the power steering needed to be drained and more tests were needed to determine the cause of failure. The current and failure mileages were 176,432. Updated 12/12/2007 updated 12/12/07.
I was sold a 1998 ford escort zx2 for 800 dollars, from but behind a local dealership. The dealership did the notary, and they were the ones who signed off on the car and gave me a hand written receipt with someone else's name on it. They also did the inspection later on after we replaced one of the ball joints. We had the car looked at by another official inspection station and they said the car was a death trap. We contacted a state trooper. He did an inspection, failed the car, and took the sticker.