NHTSA Complaint #11574036 — 2019 FORD ESCAPE

While driving on the highway, the engine suddenly started sputtering, and it could no longer maintain speed (up to about 25-30 mph). This was very unsafe on a highway no safe place to bring the car to a stop. The Ford dealership diagnosed the issue as coolant leaking into the cylinders in the engine because of cracked channels. They shared with me this is a known issue (Customer Satisfaction Program 21N12), however, my car is 3 thousand miles over the maximum limit of this program, so they will not fix the problem for free. The dealership suggested a full engine replacement, for which they estimated about $9,800 for the repair. This issue comes after a previous issue a few months ago where my wife was driving and the engine overheated, went into "safe mode," and she was unable to accelerate beyond about 10-15 mph. She was on a busy road and called me in tears after managing to bring the car to a stop on the side of a road without a large shoulder. At the time, the mechanic said it was only a thermostat that was stuck wide open, and I spent $1,200 on this repair. I continued to notice low coolant levels and would refill the coolant regularly. This issue persisted and led to the above failure. Ford knows this is an issue with their vehicles, and they have created two dangerous safety instances for my family in the past few months. There are 27, now 28 complaints related to this issue on 2019 Ford Escapes alone. I also learned there is a class action lawsuit related to this issue. Those complaints are Complaints # 11568017, 11561318, 11556483, 11551020, 11550783, 11542737, 11537997, 11534353, 11528142, 11520853, 11516926, 11498957, 11492059, 11489799, 11482570, 11482636, 11463646, 11453678, 11440977, 11437303, 11427846, 11385495, 11353322, 11330042, 11323757, 11311097, 11307636. This is a serious safety issue that Ford needs to be held responsible for.