NHTSA Complaint #11701542 — 2017 FORD ESCAPE

I began receiving a notification labeled "Engine fault, service now" a few weeks prior to the incident. I took my car to a mechanic and everything checked out fine, so the code was cleared and did not return. A few weeks later, I was changing my oil and noticed my engine coolant appeared extremely low. I also noticed a wet spot under my car under the coolant chamber side. I refilled the coolant, drove 5 minutes home, and then noticed it was once again empty. I then had my engine light come on. I took my car to Ford that night. The next day they called and informed me I had an internal coolant leak that had seized my spark plugs and destroyed my engine. This is a known issue, extremely common, and yet they refuse to do a recall on it and could provide me no help. I was quoted $16,000 for the repair (far more than the car is worth) and essentially just ended up having to buy a new car. The Ford will have to be scrapped for a few hundred dollars despite only being 8 years old with only 98,000 miles on it. I have records of my ownership and a written diagnostic report from Ford. From Ford: "Observed coolant intrusion into cylinder #2. Recommend replacement of the long block at this time. Coolant intrusion into long block at this time. Found the engine assembly has an internal coolant leak." Additionally, Ford has posted a service bulletin with recommended repair instructions for this known issue. The bulletin number is 9-2139 from 2019. There is also an active class action lawsuit against Ford being run by Kershaw Talley Barlow for this issue.