NHTSA Complaint #11495988 — 2017 FORD ESCAPE

While driving at highway speed, the engine revved and it felt the car was no longer in gear and rapidly lost speed with traffic closing from behind. Shifting into neutral and back to drive caused the vehicle to jerk forward unexpectedly. Managed to steer to the side of the road and drive to a safer area on the highway. Forward movement was difficult and it appeared that the car would not stay in gear. No warning light or console messages. We had been notified in July 2020 of recall 22V413 from Ford, but parts were not available. We had just a few days (In November) before received the second recall notice that said parts were now available. I feel as if the recall was not competed timely (5 Months). I believe that the car was not going into gear because of the recall part potential failure affecting the transmission as the recall notice stated that the vehicle could "move in an unexpected direction". We had the vehicle towed home and to the dealer (Gosch Ford, Temecula, CA). We informed them of the issue and asked that the recall repair be done. The service writer told us they would do the recall service, but there was no way any transmission damage could have been caused by the recall. I disagreed and stated that the notice states that the vehicle may move unexpectedly, what if the part failed while driving? How would the vehicle behave? The were evasive and did not answer me directly. They told me that they had been instructed by Ford to not forward any claims for transmission damage related to the recall. We called after 2 days of service and they said the service was complete, the recall part had indeed broken and that the car was shifting normally. Upon picking up the car, my wife drove off the lot and immediately upon leaving the driveway, the drive gear again failed. She had to pull to the right to a bike lane to avoid traffic closing from behind. Service writer stated that car was not road tested before being returned. Car still at dealer waiting diagnosis.