This is now the seventh safety recall on the new 2013 Escape; earlier ones were for fires, overheating and unintended acceleration.
The new 2013 Ford Escape, one of its top selling models, is being recalled yet again for two more dangerous safety defects. In the first to two recalls published on the NHTSA web site today, 10,000 of the newly redesigned 2013 Escape models with the 1.6-liter EcoBoost engine that were part of previous safety recall (NHTSA 12V-336) are being recalled once again because of a botched repair by Ford dealers during the first recall. NHTSA forced this recall after complaints grew.
The engine-compartment fuel line may have been installed incorrectly and could chafe and eventually leak fuel leading to more fires. It is not clear to AutoInformed that Ford is on top of the problems, as it is now recalling Escape recalls after it earlier had tried to limit the number of vehicles involved. Worse, the recalls do not start until January.
In the second recall of 140,000 Escape SUVs, with the same trouble-prone EcoBoost engine, and some of them previously recalled (NHTSA 12V-336), the engine cylinder head overheats causing cracks leaks oil. At least 13 fires have resulted. Let the lawsuits begin.
The Louisville-built Escape – production started in June of 2012, is the first of the new line of compact SUVs built off Ford’s global C-car or Focus platform now that Ford and Mazda have gone separate ways. The same Escape will be built and sold in Europe and China, where it is called Kuga, although there will be unique powertrains and other minor tweaks for customers in those markets. In the U.S., it is priced roughly from $23,000 to more than $38,000.
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- Ford Recalls 2013 Escape for Engine Fires, the Third Recall So Far
- Ford Changes Software to Stop New Escape and Fusion Fires
- Ford Recalls 2013 Escapes for Fires; Honda Recalls CRVs
- Ford Recalls 2013 Escape for Engine Fires, the Third Recall So Far
- New 2013 Ford Escape Enters Production in Louisville Plant
