NHTSA Complaint #755440 — 2001 FORD ESCAPE

I BOUGHT MY VEHICLE NEW OOON 08/18/01 AS A DEMO W/ 5600 MILES. ON 10/22/01 MY VEHICLE STALLED FOR NO REASON ON MY WAY TO WORK. I WAS GOING SLIGHTLY DOWNHILL (NOT THAT STEEP OF A HILL) AT APPROX 35MPH. I LOST POWER & MY CHECK ENGINE, OIL & BATTERY LIGHTS CAME ON. LUCKILY I COULD PULL OVER QUICKLY. I TURNED THE VEHICLE OFF & WAITED ABOUT 30 SEC. IT STARTED NO PROBLEM. I CALLED THE DEALERSHIP THAT MORNING & WAS TOLD THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH IT BUT TO CALL BACK SHOULD IT HAPPEN AGAIN. ON 10/24/01 THE SAME THING HAPPENED AGAIN AT THE SAME POINT IN MY COMMUTE UNDER THE SAME CIRCUMSTANCES. ONCE AGAIN I WAS ABLE TO START THE VEHICLE WITH NO PROBLEMS AFTER PULLING TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD. I CALLED THE DEALERSHIP AGAIN & TOOK IT IN. OF COURSE THEY COULDN'T FIND ANYTHING WRONG W/ IT & THE CALLED THE FORD HOTLINE FOR ANY RECOMMENDATIONS. I BROUGHT IT BACK THE FOLLOWING WEEK SO THEY COULD REPLACE THE IDLE MOTOR & A FEW OTHER THINGS. THE DEALERSHIP STATES THERE IS NO RECALL & IT SOUNDS LIKE THEY DON'T EVEN REALLY KNOW WHAT IT IS OR HOW TO FIX IT, THE HOTLINE JUST RECOMMENDED SOME THINGS TO DO HOPING IT WOULD FIX IT. SHORTLY AFTER THAT I NOTICED MY VEHICLE WAS LEAKING FLUID (11/15/01) ABOUT A WEEK AFTER AN OIL CHANGE. I TOOK IT BACK TO THE OIL CHANGE PLACE & THEY SAID IT WASN'T OIL BUT I HAD A PRETTY BIG LEAK OF WHAT LOOKED LIKE TRANSMISSION FLUID. I IMMEDIATELY TOOK IT TO THE DEALER. IT ENDED UP BEING DIFFERENTIAL FLUID & THEY REPLACED THE POWER TRANSFER CASE. SO FAR MY VEHICLE HASN'T STALLED OR LEAKED ANY OTHER FLUIDS. MY BIGGEST CONCERN HOWEVER, IS THE STALLING PROBLEM WHICH COULD POTENTIALLY BE VERY DANGEROUS. I WAS LUCKY IN THAT I WASN'T ON THE HIGHWAY & IT WAS VERY EARLY & I HAD A PLACE TO PULL OVER SO I DIDN'T GET HIT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. *AK