NHTSA Complaint #11519708 — 2015 FORD ESCAPE

While driving on rural roads (30-45mph) the vehicle had a sudden loss in power, as though the transmission was slipping. The problem went away as suddenly as its onset, but approximately a week later, a warning 'Transmission Failure, Service Now.' appeared and the vehicle immediately went into limp mode, and would not shift into higher gears. AAA was called to tow the vehicle to the dealer for service. The Ford dealer received the vehicle and reported that the clutch plates had failed. This vehicle had the original transmission fail at 65,000 miles. Ford refused to pay for any parts or labor, as the car was out-of-warranty (by 5000 miles). Customer payed out-of-pocket for diagnosis, parts, and labor to install a new transmission ($5820.86). The second failure noted above occurred at 81,000 miles (only 15,000 miles / 18 months on the new transmission) and was covered under the warranty of the prior transmission.