NHTSA Complaint #11486788 — 2020 FORD ESCAPE

On/or about 8/23/22 the vehicle door jammed while trying to close the door and would not close. After several attempts to close the door it closed. Upon closer inspection of the door it was found that metal had fatigued and cracked around multiple welds on the door frame allowing the weld to separate that hold the door check and intrusion beam in place. In addition the door pops open when a rough section of roadway is encountered such as a railroad crossing. Ford is aware of the problem as they have issued a special service message covering the issue. Ford however refuses to repair this serious safety issue as the vehicle in question has more than 60,000 miles on it and is not eligible for standard warranty repair. Per Ford Motor company documents the entire door and check assemblies must be replaced to correct the problem. Ford's documents also indicate that all 2020 and 2021 Ford Escapes are effected by this defect which they are refusing to repair. As this defect could result in someone falling out of an effected vehicle or being injured as a result of the intrusion beam not being properly secured during a side collision the effected vehicles need to be taken off the road until Ford Motor Company replaces all of the doors that are made from steel that is subject to this fatigue failure problem.