NHTSA Complaint #11522909 — 2015 FORD ESCAPE

Ford case number - [XXX] I was driving down the highway to attend my daughter's college graduation when I noticed that the vehicle wasn't moving when accelerating; it got worse as I again tried to accelerate and the engine was revving and RPM dial was increasing but car would not move. Then the car jumped and sputtered. As I was exiting the highway the Transmission Failure light came on. There was no warning to this event. Once I got the car off the highway and assessing the situation, we decided to try and start the car to see if it would drive and while the car did start, it would not move in drive or reverse. The car was towed to Columbia MO so I could attend the graduation and is being serviced by a transmission expert there. He confirmed that it needs to be rebuilt. This same repair shop has said they have serviced close to 60 Ford Escapes for transmission in the last 18 months. Another Ford dealer said its a known issue for these transmissions to fail. My car doesn't even have 100k miles on it. The danger and risk of this happening on an interstate is pretty obvious; the cars behind me had no idea my transmission was failing (heck, I didn't know it either) and that I was struggling to accelerate. We could have easily been hit by any car or semi that was travelling down that same highway - it was extremely scary. It is crazy to think of the number of Ford Escapes in the nation that are failing when a small town in Missouri has serviced 60 in less that two years! I hope that people are reporting this and that you have a way to investigate to determine the manufacturer liable for these very dangerous and expensive failures! INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).