NHTSA Complaint #11610283 — 2017 FORD ESCAPE

The engine light came on, we took it to a mechanic who replaced the spark plug and a coil. We were told it was safe to drive long distances. We drove the car about 8 hours with no issues. The car was parked for 2 days. We then turned it back on to drive home and white smoke blew out of the exhaust and the engine over heating light came on. We turned the car off and had it towed to a mechanic in the area who stated coolant had leaked and the entire engine would need to be repaired. The car has less than 60,000 miles on it, but is over 5 years old, so it is out of warranty. We have maintained it carefully. Original mechanic stated the gasket must have blown when the white smoke came out because we could not have driven 8 hours if there had been an issue when we originally brought the car in. Ford dealership quoted us $11,000 to repair/replace engine. Ford customer service stated no goodwill repairs were available. Looking into joining the class action lawsuit for the manufacturing defect in the engine that we are now painfully aware of. We are thankful that the gasket blew in a drive way and not on the highway as it easily could have.