NHTSA Complaint #10508185 — 2004 FORD ESCAPE

THE PROBLEM STARTED WHEN THE CAR WAS DRIVING AND ALL OF SUDDEN THE CAR STARTS STRUGGLING AND THEN SHUTS OFF. IT WOULD TAKE A SEVERAL ATTEMPTS FOR THE CAR TO RESTART BUT EVENTUALLY IT WOULD. NOW THE CARS JUST IDLES AND RUNS REALLY ROUGH AND SHUTS OFF WHILE DRIVING. TOOK IT TO FORD AND THEY SAID ALL IT NEEDED WAS A NEW CAT-CONVERTER MANIFOLD, NOT STATING WHY. WE REPLACED IT ($1500) BUT THE PROBLEM STILL REPEATED. TOOK IT TO A REPAIR SHOP AND THEY SAID IT NEEDED TO REPLACE 6 IGNITION COILS AND PLUGS AND POSSIBLY THE PCM. THEY ALSO SAID THE IGNITION COILS CAUSED THE CAT-CONVERTOR MANIFOLD TO MALFUNCTION IN THE FIRST PLACE. SO WE REPLACED ALL COILS AND PLUGS FOR $1600 BUT THEY SAID THE PCM WAS FINE FOR NOW BUT IT WAS A MATTER OF TIME FOR THE PCM TO FAIL. I'M NOT SURE IF FORD DELIBERATELY NEGLECTED THIS IGNITION COIL ISSUE BUT IT IS SUSPICIOUS. MY COMMUTE IS MAINLY INTERSTATE HWY AND I'M AFRAID THIS PROBLEM IS MIGHT CAUSE A MAJOR ACCIDENT WHILE ON A MAJOR INTERSTATE HWY. *TR