NHTSA Complaint #11566606 — 2020 FORD ESCAPE HYBRID

I was driving home in my 2020 Escape Hybrid, a 2 1/2 hour trip. All of a sudden, 40 miles from home and as I was driving on a busy expressway just before nightfall, my info screen and the main screen went black. The info screen said there was a connectivity error. I had no idea what was going on, but I was terrified that my headlights would go out. Luckily, there was an exit coming up, and I took it and parked at the gas station right off the exit. I called AAA for a tow. They had to put the car on a flatbed truck, as once I had turned the car off it wouldn’t start again, so I couldn’t put it into neutral. I got towed home, as the dealership was closed; and the next morning I got towed to the dealership. I was told by the service advisor that the battery had a bad cell. Since this was the second battery that died within a year, the dealership replaced it for free. I’m on a Ford Escape Hybrid forum, and there are many people who have had the same problem with the 12 volt battery. It was suggested to replace the battery with a larger AGM battery. I was lucky there was an exit right there. If I had driven the car any longer, I probably would have lost my headlights and the whole car would have died. And I could have been killed. This is a life-threatening issue that Ford should fix by replacing the battery with a larger one that has enough power to run the car and thus won’t fail prematurely. I’m scared to drive my car now.