NHTSA Complaint #11434854 — 2017 FORD ESCAPE

On August 13, while driving in stop-and-go traffic I noticed the car was handling funny. It was hesitating when I pushed the gas causing me to accelerate in an unpredictable way in traffic. That weekend I took the car to my mechanic who told me that he couldn’t replicate the issue but if I had the issue again to bring the car back. There were also no error codes so any issue couldn’t be diagnosed. On August 30 while driving home, I attempted to accelerate at an intersection (across 6 lanes of traffic) and the car would rev but not exceed 25 miles per hour. I literally limped into my mechanics shop but once again there were no error codes. However it was clear that something was completely wrong with the car. The car was towed to a transmission shop who inspected it and told me I needed a full transmission rebuild. They also couldn’t explain why the car wasn’t displaying any error codes. In the end I was without my car for 2 weeks, paid over $4,000 for the job, and had to borrow cars just to get to my teaching job. My car is well maintained. It is only four years old but has 100,000 miles – obviously past the warranty. However, I have never had a transmission fail on me. This is also the first time I’ve ever purchased a Ford.