NHTSA Complaint #11558602 — 2020 FORD ESCAPE

For at least a year or better, I noticed a creaking noise in the driver side door. Then on November 14th while doing my first time doing meals on wheels delivery, the door sounded as if it was going to fall off. We drove to Horn Ford Dealership in Brillion where the car was purchased and had them look at it. There was mention that they had repaired a couple of other Ford Escapes with the same issue. We scheduled an appt. for repair. We used the SUV very limited after that visit and only opened the door far enough to enter inside. The loud creak stopped before the appt. on 12/4, but the power window also would not fully open. During this time, I also contacted Ford Motor Company to file a claim, since the SUV was just out of warranty. They worked with our dealership Horn Ford and agreed to pay 40% of the cost. Today, 12/5/2023 we received our vehicle back and all is working well including the window. I also discovered that a resident in our village had the same problem. I felt this was worth reporting. I have owned many Fords and it would appear this was a defect from the Factory due to a bad weld on the door. Unfortunately, the vehicle was just out of warranty and I regret not saying something sooner, although, I don't think the dealership would have done anything about a creak in the door, especially since it was occurring when the door was fully open, until the day of November 14th.