2021 Ford Escape Power Train

Vehicle is shuddering at low speeds, ford already has a tsb out for this transmission 8F35, needs to be escalated to a recall, myself and others are being quoted more money to repair than what the vehicle is worth, thus making a problem they are aware of causing cars to total themselves. needs to be on all models with this transmission.

The contact owns a 2021 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at 50 MPH and depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle hesitated to respond as needed. No warning light was illuminated. The contact was able to drive to the residence. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The manufacturer transferred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline to file a safety complaint. The approximate failure mileage was 73,925.

On 8/18/2025, the transmission on my vehicle failed. I was only going about 35 mph when the entire vehicle went into chaos. Prior to this, no lights were on that indicated that I had a major problem. My car shut down in the middle of a busy road and I was able to get it to roll to a nearby parking lot. I have seen hundreds of people complain online and on forums about 2020-2021 Ford Eacapes having transmission issues. I had my vehicle towed to the dealership and they were able to confirm that it was the transmission. The powertrain warranty is covering the repair, but I have to pay about $1000 out of pocket. Ford needs to be made aware of their faulty transmissions. I have never, in my life, purchased a vehicle brand new (0 miles) and had to make such a repair before my vehicle even has 100K miles on it. I am highly disappointed and I regret buying it. Luckily, I was the only one in the car when it shut down because it could have been really bad. Cars were swerving around me and I was extremely afraid.

On [XXX] while driving north on [XXX] from Corpus Christi, TX to San Antonio, TX our 2021 Ford Escape started to become difficult to accelerate and as we pressed on the pedal to accelerate the vehicle didn't not go any faster it began to reach a slow speed of about 35-30mph on a highway with vehicles going over 70mph, with no other choice but to pull over to the side of the road to avoid crashing into on coming traffic we proceeded to steer the vehicle towards Exit 36 into the city of Mathis, TX at which point the vehicle entered a forced neutral condition and then automatically shifted into “Park”, at which point a warning light that looks like a wrench came on, along with multiple warning messages in the instrument panel cluster we heard an audible chime. After shifting back into Drive the vehicle went limp and had limited torque slowing down to speeds lower than 30mph it then came to an abrupt stop and refused to go into gear, as we noticed the vehicle's engine seems to shut off it seemed to suddenly enter into a neutral state and began to move slower than 30mph and we steered the vehicle into a nearby gas station, thankfully barely making it into the rest stop before the vehicle locked into an emergency brake position and wouldn't allow us to return it to drive or out of any gear other than neutral. In neutral it would move a few feet then return to an emergency braking position with all four tires locked and the emergency brake light coming on and refusing to go off even when we diseganged the emergency brake, rendering the vehicle immobile. We were lucky to be able to make it off the freeway without having anyone crash into us with vehicles passing us at speeds greater than 70mph and our vehicle dropping to lower than 30mph and locking into a neutral position, thankfully we were able to make it to the nearest exit and call for help. After numerous failed attempts to return the vehicle back into drive, not being able to do anything w INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

The contact owns a 2021 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle hesitated and jerked while depressing the accelerator pedal. The contact stated that the vehicle had stalled with several undisclosed messages displayed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and was diagnosed with transmission failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but was offered no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 87,000.

The contact owns a 2021 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving from a complete stop, the vehicle started shuddering. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the failure occurred while driving at various speeds. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that there was an internal transmission failure caused by the torque converter shudder. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The manufacturer referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 90,000.

The contact owns a 2021 Ford Escape. The contact stated that there was an abnormal grinding sound while driving at slow speeds. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed that the power transfer unit needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, and informed the contact there was no coverage for the repair on the VIN and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 90,147.

dragging/grinding/ skipping noise when doing turns at slow speed, took to ford and they say it needs RDU(rear differential) replaced only has 66k miles of course just as soon as it is out of warranty

The contact owns a 2021 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving 20 MPH, there was smoke coming from the vehicle, with the check engine and power train warning lights illuminated. The vehicle lost motive power however, the contact was able to pull over on the side of the road and had the vehicle towed. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and the contact was informed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 55,137. The VIN was not available.

The contact owns a 2021 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, she heard squeaking and grinding sound coming from the brake pedal. The contact also stated that she smelled a burning odor throughout the vehicle and the vehicle hesitated and was pulling to the right. Additionally, the contact stated that the vehicle was taken to the dealer where she received a manufacturer recall regarding the transmission fluid overflow. The vehicle was diagnosed and the contact was informed the transmission was two and a half quarts over the specifications. The contact stated that the dealer drained the two and a half quarts of oil however, the contact stated that she was advised not to drive the vehicle. The contact was concerned that due to the burning odor, the vehicle could possibly explode. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer where the failure could not be determined. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was provided a case number and a loaner vehicle. The failure mileage was approximately 10,000.

The contact owns a 2021 Ford Escape. The contact stated while reversing down her driveway, that as soon as she had placed the vehicle in reverse, it independently accelerated to approximately 20 MPH. The contact attempted to depress the brake pedal and did not have any brake function. The contact stated she did not notice any warning light being illuminated. The contact stated she began to drive backward with the vehicle turning in circles, and crashed into a fire hydrant. The vehicle crashed into the hydrant on the passenger rear bumper side which was crushed. The contact stated that the engine was still running but that the vehicle had been stopped by the hydrant. The police arrived on the scene and filed a report. The contact had injured her back on impact with the hydrant, however, she did not seek medical attention until later. She went to a chiropractor and not a doctor. The vehicle was taken to a body repair shop and the damage was repaired, however the vehicle had not been taken to a dealer to be diagnosed. The reverse and brake failure had not been diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 250.

The transmission automatically went into park in the middle of an intersection and was inoperable from that time and had to be towed from the intersection.