NHTSA Complaint #11664611 — 2017 FORD ESCAPE

The engine suddenly failed mid-driving, began sputtering and became very weak. It would stutter at intersections or when trying to accelerate and became quite scary to drive. I was on a major freeway heading home when this happened. Upon taking it to a dealership for analysis, they reported a well known TSB-22-2229 had been out for this issue for a few years, but that since none of the "warning signs" were reported at earlier service appointments, they were instructed by Ford to not report it to us consumers unless we first mentioned those issues occurring. When speaking to the technician at the dealership, he acknowledged that due to a design flaw in the original engines, they have been replacing these specific engines in both Ford Escapes and Fusions with wholly new redesigned engines quite frequently. Its should be noted that Ford has extended the TSB at least once since releasing to accommodate more vehicles for coverage, further acknowledging the error on their part. As for warnings - the only warning I had to this catastrophic engine failure was an engine light code P0303 the day before for cylinder 3 misfire, and 1 "warning" the day after it occurred when I started the car and some white smoke came out of the tailpipe. The P0303 code could have been confused with a simple spark plug change, not total engine failure. According to the TSB, these were things that supposedly happened long in advance of failure. The problem has been confirmed by both the dealership I took it to, as well as many people across internet forums and other body shops. The vehicle has been inspected by a dealership and the diagnosis provided below.