Photo: Ford / edited
The Office of Defects Investigation currently… uhm… investigates the 2020 to 2021 model year Ford Escape. No fewer than 118 vehicle owner questionnaires – namely complaints filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – allege failures of the spot welds in the check arm brackets of the front doors.
As per VOQ number 11527674, the owner came to the dealership over grinding noises when opening and shutting the driver's door. All six welds failed, which is extremely unsettling in a relatively new vehicle that racked up 29,000 miles (46,671 kilometers) on the odo. The door in question cost the owner $1,880 to replace.
The gentleman who filed VOQ number 11525172 with the federal watchdog says that substandard check arm bracket welds need to be considered for a recall. If the preliminary evaluation – as the ODI calls the investigation – concludes with the Ford Motor Company being forced to issue a recall, expect a whopping 346,071 examples to be called back at most.
ODI lists only the 2020 to 2021 model year Ford Escape as having potentially bad spot welds, omitting 2022 and newer models. The Office of Defects Investigation further acknowledges that continued use of a door whose check bracket is compromised may result in a dislodged door check. This condition may result in a failure to latch when closed, failure to open, and – most disconcerting – an inadvertent opening while driving.
One report of minor property damage and 25 reports of minor injury have been filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration thus far. Given that said issue has a lot of safety implications, there is a high chance of PE 23-013 turning into a safety recall.
Such a campaign would eat into Ford's profit like crazy, but on the other hand, the bean counters in Dearborn should've known better. You can make a crossover affordable by cutting a few cents here and there, for sure, yet aggressive cost-cutting measures and rubbish quality control are Ford Motor Company trademarks.
Escape deliveries totaled 64,839 units in the first half of 2023, down 12.3 percent from the 73,920 recorded in the first half of 2022. Last year, deliveries totaled 137,370 in the United States of America compared to 145,415 in 2021, representing a 5.5 percent downturn.
Popular despite being kind of bland, the fourth-generation Escape rolled out in 2019 on the C2 platform of the Bronco Sport, Maverick, Lincoln Corsair, and a car the US didn't get: the fourth-gen Focus. For North America, production takes place at the Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky, where FoMoCo also assembles the premium-oriented Corsair from Lincoln.
Available with purely internal combustion muscle, as a hybrid, and as a plug-in hybrid, the Escape retails at $28,000 (sans destination charge). The Hybrid is $33,340, whereas the Plug-In Hybrid starts at $40,500.
The gentleman who filed VOQ number 11525172 with the federal watchdog says that substandard check arm bracket welds need to be considered for a recall. If the preliminary evaluation – as the ODI calls the investigation – concludes with the Ford Motor Company being forced to issue a recall, expect a whopping 346,071 examples to be called back at most.
ODI lists only the 2020 to 2021 model year Ford Escape as having potentially bad spot welds, omitting 2022 and newer models. The Office of Defects Investigation further acknowledges that continued use of a door whose check bracket is compromised may result in a dislodged door check. This condition may result in a failure to latch when closed, failure to open, and – most disconcerting – an inadvertent opening while driving.
One report of minor property damage and 25 reports of minor injury have been filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration thus far. Given that said issue has a lot of safety implications, there is a high chance of PE 23-013 turning into a safety recall.
Such a campaign would eat into Ford's profit like crazy, but on the other hand, the bean counters in Dearborn should've known better. You can make a crossover affordable by cutting a few cents here and there, for sure, yet aggressive cost-cutting measures and rubbish quality control are Ford Motor Company trademarks.
Escape deliveries totaled 64,839 units in the first half of 2023, down 12.3 percent from the 73,920 recorded in the first half of 2022. Last year, deliveries totaled 137,370 in the United States of America compared to 145,415 in 2021, representing a 5.5 percent downturn.
Popular despite being kind of bland, the fourth-generation Escape rolled out in 2019 on the C2 platform of the Bronco Sport, Maverick, Lincoln Corsair, and a car the US didn't get: the fourth-gen Focus. For North America, production takes place at the Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky, where FoMoCo also assembles the premium-oriented Corsair from Lincoln.
Available with purely internal combustion muscle, as a hybrid, and as a plug-in hybrid, the Escape retails at $28,000 (sans destination charge). The Hybrid is $33,340, whereas the Plug-In Hybrid starts at $40,500.
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