NHTSA Complaint #11579920 — 2017 FORD ESCAPE

The vehicle has been well maintained. It has a sealed transmission, and the recall item was scheduled to be serviced because a transmission fault. Light triggered after lurching forward into route 114 while oncoming traffic was traveling at 55 mph and nearly Hit the vehicle. Occurred, Then the transmission light came on advising faulty transmission service immediately. I shifted and a few times it would not go into gear, When I did go into gear, made a loud grinding sound. This is due to the recall However, there should be additional information to note for the recall. Rowe Ford would not cover the faulty transmission because they said it was due to debris inside of the system. This is a transmission and debris should not occur unless gears are grinding. I immediately parked the vehicle at my home and called Rowe Ford service center to schedule service. Transmission failure should not have occurred and would not have occurred if the bearing and shifting cable allowed for proper shifting. There are hundreds if not thousands of complaints about 2017 Ford escapes transmissions completely destroyed before it reaches 80,000 miles. This warrants an investigation. This cannot be a coincidence or driver error. This is due to inferior metal and slight grinding from the shifter bushing being faulty - creating the debris that clogs solenoids and plugs the filter. Remember, this is a closed system and there is no way to replace a dirty filter. I believe Ford purposely used inferior grade metal inside of the transmission to create issues that would increase revenue for sales and service. This absolutely warrants an investigation. I am asking for samples of the debris because it is my belief that Ford intentionally used low-grade metal inside the transmission because it would wear away quicker which would cause an uptick in sales and service.