NHTSA Complaint #11621029 — 2017 FORD ESCAPE

On this car it has a manufacturer design deflect on the engine block that allows coolant into the #3 cylinder. This is referred to as coolant intrusion. Ford has a service bulletin 20-2100 (attached) on this but are claiming we are not covered by it based on the build date of our car. Our car is clearly in the criteria of the service bulletin. Taking to the Ford Dealer they have an enormous number of these cars coming in with the same problem. Many people are being told Ford will not cover the cost of their bad design, causing this issue since they don't meet the criteria. As a retired helicopter mechanic from the Army National Guard, main components like an engine block and cylinder heads should not wear out unless there are many more miles than our car has. We regularly service the car for oil and other items as called for in the owner's manual. I've called Ford Customer Service three times and can't get a commitment from Ford to pay for it. Or Ford claim number is CXH-02801631-B0D5W8, and while the vehicle is affected by the attached service bulletin, Ford will not pay for it. Dealer can appeal for financial assistance to cover the cost. Nobody will tell me what the criteria is to get this covered by Ford. The service bulleting appears to apply to our vehicle so I would think Ford would take care of their customers. The check engine light is flashing making this car is not able to be driven based on my mechanic's direction. Otherwise, we are risking further damage to it based on Ford's error they are dumping onto the people who bought their product. We are the original owners of this vehicle.  If NHTSA has not started the process of a recall on this item, we strongly recommend you do so.  This is a repair that has $2,848.19 for parts plus 28.2 hours of labor per the dealer at almost $200 / hr. is $5,600 +/- and a grand total of over $8,500.  Even if you drop the labor to $100 / hr it's over $5,800. Ford is expecting us to absorb the bad design cost