NHTSA Complaint #11591811 — 2017 FORD ESCAPE

I was driving to work, and I reversed out of my driveway. I stopped, put the transmission in Drive, and proceeded forward. I let my foot off of the accelerator, and the transmission slipped and the car lurched and made a "thunk" noise. I stopped, and then accelerated again. After about 10 minutes of driving (while stopping and going at several stoplights), I was driving at 45 mph. The engine suddenly started revving past 4000 RPM, and the car would not accelerate forward anymore. I let my foot off the accelerator, then pressed on it again. The engine again revved with no forward movement, and several clunking and grinding noises. I was fortunately able to pull over on the shoulder of the road. I put the vehicle in park, then drive again. It would not move. After turning the car off and on again, and putting the transmission in drive, it clunked loudly and lurched forward. I was able to drive another 1/4 mile slowly, and pull into a parking lot. After that, the car would not move in forward or reverse gear. It was towed to the dealership on May 15, and has been there evere since. I am submitting this due to the Ford Motor Corporation's awareness of the issues with the transmissions on these vehicles, and the safety risk that they pose. I was lucky that there was a place to safely pull off of the road and move the vehicle to a parking spot.