NHTSA Complaint #11478905 — 2011 FORD ESCAPE

I am the second owner of my 2011 Ford Escape Limited. I live in Michigan. The previous owner also lived in Michigan. I purchased this car January of 2021 from Sundance in St John’s. Recently we have had a noise coming from the rear passenger shock and I took my car to a Firestone to get it repaired. They made me aware of my shock rusting through the body and into my trunk panels. The car was deemed unsafe to drive at just less than 230,XXX miles. This car is just over 10 years old and has been beautifully maintained. I have all documents pertaining to maintenance and I recently spent $9000 dollars on this car from the dealership. Surely this isn’t an issue that started in just this last year as the entire frame where the shock was attached had rusted through. I frequently drive myself and my family around and this not only has been disruptive but could have easily caused harm if gone unnoticed. There was no warning light, there was no indication that it would fail, I am glad I caught it right away. Even July of 2021 I spent about 1.5K on repairs and it was not mentioned to me then that this could be an issue. This is not the kind of issue that happens over night. I am glad no harm was done to me or my family, but I feel cheated.