NHTSA Complaint #11459180 — 2018 FORD ESCAPE

The engine of my 2018 Ford Escape failed while driving, indicating it was overheating and to pull over and turn off the vehicle immediately. I could feel a loss of response of the engine while I was driving accompanied by shuddering and an odd noise. This happened within 3 minutes of leaving my house on a cold day, traveling about 1/4 mile. Fortunately, I was on a back road with a low speed limit and could pull over to the shoulder safely. However, had this been on a highway I may have had major safety issues with loss of acceleration and ability to safely move my vehicle to the side of the road. The problem was confirmed by an independent auto shop as well as the dealership by inspection where antifreeze was found to leak into the engine block and cause engine failure. This was noted as a service bulletin by the dealer, but never as a recall nor was it shared with car owners. My vehicle has only ~43000 miles on it. The check engine light to my vehicle turned on a few weeks prior to the engine failure. A diagnostic check by a service provider indicated a cylinder misfire caused by worn out spark plugs or ignition coils and repair was not urgent. This was also 1 week after I had my car inspected by the dealer for a tune up, oil change, and general check where I was told everything looked normal. The check engine light went off for periods of time before coming back on and there was a slightly rougher idle to the vehicle, but no obvious warning signs indicating engine contamination with antifreeze and imminent failure. I was told a compression test of the engine could have helped spot the problem before engine failure, but this was not confirmed by the car dealer.