NHTSA Complaint #10457488 — 2008 FORD ESCAPE HYBRID

WHILE DRIVING ON INTERSTATE 75 IN FLORIDA, THE GAS ENGINE SHUTDOWN AND A WARNING LIGHT/MESSAGE APPEARED "STOP SAFELY NOW". OUR VEHICLE IMMEDIATELY BEGAN TO DECELERATE, RUNNING ONLY ON THE ELECTRIC MOTOR, AS WE TRIED TO CROSS TWO LANES OF TRAFFIC "SAFELY". WE PULLED ONTO THE SHOULDER, AND TURNED THE CAR OFF. WE WERE ABLE TO RESTART THE VEHICLE WITHOUT GETTING THE ERROR MESSAGE. WE EXPERIENCED THIS SAME SUDDEN ENGINE SHUTDOWN AND FEH WARNING 5-6 TIMES OVER THE COURSE OF OUR ROAD TRIP FROM WISCONSIN TO FLORIDA AND BACK. UPON RETURN TO WISCONSIN, WE HAD THE CAR CHECKED OUT BY OUR FORD DEALER, AND THEY INFORMED US IT WAS A FAULTY MOTOR ELECTRONICS COOLANT PUMP (PART #5M6Z-8C419-A). FORD HAS ISSUED A TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN ABOUT THIS PROBLEM (TSB 08-24-5), BUT HAS NOT YET ISSUED A RECALL. SINCE THE UNEXPECTED DECELERATION OF A VEHICLE TRAVELING AT HIGH SPEEDS CONSTITUTES A SERIOUS SAFETY ISSUE (AS MANY FORD ESCAPE HYBRID OWNERS ON EDMUNDS.COM CAN ATTEST, HTTP://TOWNHALL-TALK.EDMUNDS.COM/DIRECT/VIEW/.F0FF5B5), I AM STRONGLY URGING YOU TO COMPEL FORD TO ISSUE A RECALL ON THIS PART. *TR