NHTSA Complaint #11174807 — 2013 FORD ESCAPE

I PURCHASED MY ESCAPE WITH 50,000 MILES ON IT, WITHIN A FEW MONTHS I HAD A LOW COOLANT ALERT- I WAS TOLD AT THE DEALERSHIP THEY DID NOT REPLACE THE CAP CORRECTLY AFTER AN OIL CHANGE, THEY FLUSHED THE LINES AND COULDN'T FIND ANY LEAKS SO THE CAP WAS REPLACED. I HAD A LOW COOLANT WARNING AGAIN AND MY COOLANT WAS REPLACED AT HOME, AND THEN ANOTHER WARNING SHORTLY AFTER, AGAIN REPLACED, COOLANT CLEARLY LEAKING FROM UNDER CAR BUT NO LEAKS COULD BE IDENTIFIED. THEN... DRIVING ON THE HIGHWAY AT 70MPH "TRANSMISSION FAULT" WARNING- PULLED OVER. CAR WAS SHIFTING NORMALLY, RESTARTED AND THE WARNING WAS GONE. TOOK TO DEALERSHIP AND WAS TOLD THEY PULLED THE CODE: "FOR TCC JUDDER, WHICH IS BECAUSE THE TORQUE CONVERTER IS SLIPPING UNDER ANY LOAD, AND THERE IS A HARD SHIFT BETWEEN 2ND AND 3RD GEARS." WAS TOLD I NEEDED A TRANSMISSION OVERHAUL (CAR HAS 64,000 AT THIS POINT.) BROUGHT THE CAR HOME AND IN THE DRIVEWAY IT STARTED LEAKING TRANSMISSION FLUID. OPENED A CASE WITH FORD AND WAS TOLD THEY "DECLINE ASSISTANCE" TO HELP WITH REPAIRS. BROUGHT TO 2ND SHOP FOR 2ND OPINION AND WAS TOLD: TRANSMISSION FLUID WAS COMPLETELY BURNT, TRANSMISSION OVERHEATED AT SOME POINT, THIS CAUSED THE COOLING TANK TO CRACK EXPLAINING THE DISAPPEARING COOLANT PROBLEM I HAD BEEN HAVING SINCE BUYING THE CAR, NO EXPLANATION WHY THE TRANSMISSION WOULD OVER HEAT. CAR SERVICED AT FORD REGULARLY AND WAS NOT HEAVILY DRIVEN. I HAVE HAD THE CAR FOR 10 MONTHS AT THIS POINT AND WILL BE PAYING THOUSANDS FOR A NEW TRANSMISSION THAT FAILED WITH LOW MILEAGE.