NHTSA Complaint #11162473 — 2018 FORD ESCAPE

ENGINE CYLINDER#2 COOLANT LEAK ON 2018 FORD ESCAPE WITH ONLY 7,865 MILES ON IT AND ALMOST CAUSED A CRASH ON THE FREEWAY. HAD PROBLEMS FOR WEEKS ROUGH IDLING, STALL WARNING CODE P0302 AND THEN IT STARTED TO OVERHEAT FOR 10-15 SECONDS DAILY. ONCE IT OVERHEATED IT WOULD ALWAYS THROTTLE BACK MY ENGINE. CASE IN POINT I WAS GOING 70MPH WHEN IT OVERHEATED AND IT DECELERATED TO 20MPH IN LESS THAN 10 SECONDS AND COULDN'T ACCELERATE TO GET OUT OF THE OTHER CARS WAY GOING 70 PLUS MPH SWERVING AROUND ME TO PULL OVER AND ALMOST GOT INTO A CRASH ON THE 4 LANE FREEWAY NOT GOOD. FINALLY TOOK IT IN WITH IT OVERHEATED TWICE ON THE WAY TO THE DEALERSHIP. AFTER DAYS OF TEARDOWN THE DEALERSHIP SAID I NEEDED A NEW ENGINE DUE TO A COOLANT LEAK INTO THE #2 CYLINDER CAUSED MAJOR DAMAGE BEYOND ECONOMICAL REPAIR PER THEIR CHECKLIST. THE DEALERSHIP TRIED TO GET A SHOT BLOCK ENGINE BUT WENT BACKORDER NONE AVAILABLE IN THE SYSTEM DUE TO THE HIGH DEMAND FOR THIS ENGINE. HAD TO GET FORD TO APPROVE A LONG BLOCK THEY COULD GET LOCALLY. NOW WAITING ON THE REPLACEMENT ENGINE TO ARRIVE AND BE INSTALLED 11 DAYS LATER. I SEE FROM OTHERS THIS IS A KNOWN PROBLEM ON THIS NEW VEHICLE WITH 1 IN 5 ENGINES NEEDING FULL ENGINE REPLACEMENT AT THE 5000-7000 MILES MARK. ASSUMING THEY USE THE SAME OEM ENGINE THIS WILL COME BACK IN ANOTHER 5-7K MILES. I HAVE LOST ALL CONFIDENCE IN THE VEHICLE TO STAY DRIVABLE AND SAFE TO DRIVE FOR MORE THAN A FEW MONTHS..