NHTSA Complaint #11484597 — 2017 FORD ESCAPE

On July 1, 2022 we were turning left onto another street and the car started hesitating and the dash indicator said "stop vehicle, severe/extreme engine heat, do not drive". The Police came right away and we were blocking traffic, they told us we had to move it out of the driving lane and they couldn't push us with their cruiser. Other cars trying to pass were honking and had to move in the other travel lane to get around us. We are lucky we were not hit by another motorist, it was rush hour. We had no prior incidents or warnings. We had to keep trying to complete the turn and it would jerk forward a little, it took at least 20 times of putting it in park, starting engine and put it in drive to jerk along the road to a safe lot that was about 20 yards away. We had to get a AAA Tow Truck to take us to our place nearby since the Ford Dealership was closed for the 4th of July Holiday weekend. On July 5th we got another Tow Truck to take us to the Dealership. The Estimate we received by phone on July 6 said the small block engine had to be replaced because the coolant had entered the engine and it ruined the motor. We only had about 45,000 miles on the odometer. The Estimate was $5,100 and we were several months past the warranty so we had to use up about half our savings. I called Ford Motor Co. and asked if there was any help available for the repairs, but they said there was none and there is no recall for this problem. I checked the Internet for this specific issue and there have been many people complaining of this happening and there are a few pending Law Suits trying to force Ford to recognize they have a Manufacturing failure with these vehicles that have the Eco-Boost feature. The final bill was $5,400 because they also discovered the Water Pump had damage too and had to be replaced. It took 49 days until the vehicle was completed. We had to rent a car for 2 weeks, then got a loaner from Ford shop. The repair only has a 3 Yr Warranty.