NHTSA Complaint #10524911 — 2011 FORD ESCAPE

WHILE DRIVING AT SPEED, THE VEHICLE INSTANTLY LOST POWER. GAS PEDAL WAS NON-RESPONSIVE. I WAS ABLE TO PULL THE VEHICLE TO A SAFE SPOT OFF THE MAIN ROADWAY. WHEN THE VEHICLE WAS PUT INTO PARK, IT IDLED ROUGHLY AND THE ORANGE WRENCH WARNING LIGHT CAME ON. TURNED THE VEHICLE OFF AND WAITED A FEW SECONDS. TURNED THE VEHICLE BACK ON AND WAS ABLE TO RETURN HOME WITHOUT FURTHER INCIDENT. TOOK VEHICLE TO LOCAL DEALER SERVICE THE NEXT DAY AND WAS INFORMED THAT THIS IS A KNOWN PROBLEM AND THAT THE REPAIR PART NEEDED IS CURRENTLY ON EXTENSIVE BACKORDER, MAYBE UP TO SEVERAL WEEKS. THE PRIMARY CONCERN OVER THIS TYPE OF ISSUE IS THAT IT COULD OCCUR TO SOMEONE WHO IS AT HIGHWAY SPEED AND WOULD BE UNABLE TO REACH A STOPPING POINT SAFELY. THE FACT THAT THE PART NEEDED TO FIX THE ISSUE IS ON EXTENSIVE BACKORDER INDICATES THAT THIS IS HARDLY AN ISOLATED INCIDENT. *TR