Complaint volume
304 consumer-submitted complaints are matched to this model year. Treat the count as a research signal, then read the actual summaries for repeated symptoms.
Complaint records
2021 Ford Escape Complaints
304 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2021 Ford Escape, grouped by component category.
304 Total complaints
9 Crash reports
8 Fire reports
5 Injury reports
Complaint data reflects consumer-submitted reports. A complaint is not proof
of a defect, recall, or manufacturer fault. Enriched severity fields come
from official bulk records when the complaint can be matched by ODI number.
Buyer interpretation
How to use these complaints before buying
Complaint records are most useful when they turn into inspection points, seller questions, and comparison checks against nearby model years.
Pattern to inspect
The most common categories are structure, unknown or other, fuel system, gasoline. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 9 crash reports, 8 fire reports, 5 injury reports, and 0 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 69 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 38,675 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to structure, unknown or other, fuel system, gasoline?
- Can I see recent maintenance and repair records?
- Has the vehicle ever been towed, involved in a crash, or repaired for the same issue twice?
- Can we also check the recall record for this 2021 Ford Escape?
Used-car checklist
Use these complaints before the test drive.
Build a buyer checklist to turn these issues into questions and inspection points.
2021 Ford Escape
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2021 Ford Escape complaints?
9 Crash
8 Fire
5 Injury
0 Fatality
12 Towed
2 Medical attention
What are the most common 2021 Ford Escape complaint categories?
STRUCTURE 73
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 34
FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE 25
SERVICE BRAKES 23
POWER TRAIN 17
ENGINE 13
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 9
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 9
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC 7
ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 6
304 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC | The contact owns a 2021 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving in reverse, a loud grinding sound was present while depressing the brake pedal without warning. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer to have the brake rotors, brake pads, and brake calipers replaced; however, the parts for the repair remained unavailable. The contact also stated that while driving approximately 25 MPH, an abnormal rattling sound was coming from the engine. There was no warning light illuminated. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but offered no assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 4,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 4,000 |
| Jun 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES | Rear brakes consistently make groaning sound while reversing when the car sits for any more than an hour. Even on hot sunny days with low humidity. Many owners have same issues: https://www.fordescape.org/threads/break-noise-in-reverse.119862/ | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC | The contact owns a 2021 Ford Escape. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V922000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulic) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted and it was confirmed that the part was not available. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | When I back up my car makes a squealing/groaning noise. I was told my ford it has nothing to do with the brakes and it’s safe to drive. Every time I back up it makes this noise whether when my foot is on or off the brake. It’s very frustrating that there isn’t apparently a fix for it. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES | The contact owns a 2021 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving approximately 40 MPH, the vehicle was vibrating and the brakes were getting extremely hot. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer but no failure was found. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 30,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 30,000 |
| May 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES | In September 2021 the car had 2 incidents of not being able to stop with the brakes while backing down my drive. The auto stop shut down was on. In the first instant I almost hit a senior with a walker. He fell but only scraped his hand and was not hit by the car. The second time, May 2022, the car crashed into the neighbor's front porch and took down a fence, I got out of the car and then fell in the street and broke my pelvis. The third time I was going down the steep drive and was able to steer the car until it stopped. The 4th time< May 6, 2022, I was backing out of a parking space, May and did not turn off the engine stop button and the car went into reverse don the lot. I managed to avoid hitting a row of cars and 1 man before I got the car to stop. | Crash: Yes Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The contact owns a 2021 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while reversing and pressing the brake pedal, there was a loud screeching sound coming from the rear brakes. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who serviced the rear brake calipers and rotors but the failure continued to occur. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 1,500. | Crash: No Fire: No | 1,500 |
| Apr 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact owns a 2021 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving approximately 15 MPH to enter the freeway, the Auto Start/Stop feature inadvertently stopped the vehicle. There were no warning lights on the instrument panel. The vehicle had to be manually disabled. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 7,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 7,000 |
| Mar 2022 | BACK OVER PREVENTION | The contact owns a 2021 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while attempting to reverse, he became aware that the Back Over Protection camera was inoperable. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer however, the mechanic was unable to replicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 5,618. The contact has stated that when a pedestrian or a vehicle is in view of the back up camera, there is no warning signal to alert them. | Crash: No Fire: No | 5,618 |
| Feb 2022 | STEERING | We bought a new 2021 Ford Escape and within 2 weeks I noticed the steering would occasionally lock up for a few seconds when making a turn. It got worse over the week and at one turn I had to force the wheel back by using both hands on one side of the wheel causing a grinding sound. I would have driven up onto the sidewalk if I couldn't get it to come back. Brought it to the dealer's service center and was told by the service manager "this is a known issue (something in the steering column disintegrating) and they had fixed this same issue plenty of times before. The have changed the design of the steering column, but did not know if this car had one of the old steering columns or the new ones." There was no warning what-so-ever. I question if this was a known issue, why was there no recall and why wasn't this checked before the car was sold. Someone could have been seriously injured or killed. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES | Brakes failed and vehicle was totaled | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 1 Towed | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | It was a four month old car. I was driving and the engine coolant light came on. I traveled an additional 1/4 of a mile and another driver pulled up next to me and said that my car was on fire. I pulled off to the side of the road, and within about a minute, the entire car was engulfed in flames. I was fortunate to get out of the vehicle uninjured, and I promptly notified the deal of what had happened. | Crash: No Fire: Yes | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES | 1) Flapping noise from left front brake. New car with less than 3,300 miles on it. Taken to dealer. Found to have BOTH front brake rotors warped. 2) Dealer STILL has not contacted us about parts availability for recall on brakes (Nov 2021) Please note that this is the 3rd complaint filed on the same vehicle. Other complaint numbers are 11452046 and 11452039. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Passenger wiper arm comes loose and does not maintain position, causing wiper to either not work at all or misalign and cross the driver side wiper. Result is impaired visibility. Both episodes occurred in winter weather. Have had two episodes so far (1/12/22, 2/11/22) both requiring dealer service to re-align wipers to factory spec and tighten. On 2/11/22 both wipers became entangled during freeway driving, destroying both wiper blades and causing dangerous driving conditions due to poor visibility in rainy conditions. On 1/12/12 the dealer's service adviser showed owner location of the screw that holds wiper, and advised that when it comes loose, here's how to tighten it then come to dealer for it to be returned to factory spec. On 2/11/22 the dealer's service tech blamed driver for using windshield wipers "with powerful motors" when it is rainy/icy outside. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | SUSPENSION,WHEELS | Felt sudden, hard bang under left foot while driving approx. 40 MPH. Car then lost control. Driver steered to right to get off road, hitting a curb in the process. Found broken left front axle when finally able to stop the car. There were NO obstacles or potholes to cause this accident (photos). | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES | I was coming to a stop at a red light when my brakes began to get hard to the point to where I couldn’t press them down. I then rear ended another vehicle. It seems to me that the power brakes might have failed. After crashing my brakes seem to go back to normal but still felt abnormally stiff. There was no injuries in the accident. The car is under an open recall stating this exact problem. I contacted our local dealer the day I found out about the recall and they told me that the car was to drive and parts would not be available until the 2nd Quarter of 2022. The recall also states that it only happened under certain circumstances. I will not be driving the vehicle until after recall is fixed because it is an unsafe vehicle to drive due to not knowing when the brakes might fail again. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SEAT BELTS | I rented this Ford Escape from Avis this month and ran into what could have been an incredibly dangerous safety issue due to a massive oversight in the car's design. I installed a small booster seat in the passenger side back seat for my 10 year-old son. He got in the seat and attached his seat belt, which he has done hundreds of times before in our own car. About 1 hour into a 2-hour freeway trip, a notification went off on the dashboard, telling me that a seat belt in the back had come undone. My son tried frantically to reattach the buckle but was unable. I had to exit the freeway and park on the side of the road. When I tried to reattach the buckle, I saw why there was a problem: He had inserted the buckle into the CENTER receptacle, not the passenger-side one. The receptacle didn't click, as it was probably designed not to do, but because the metal of the buckle has a slight angle to it, there was enough tension for it to temporarily hold. However even a minor accident could have been fatal because my son wasn't property strapped in. There are several issues here. First, the dash indicator should have been designed to tell me that there was weight on the right rear seat but no buckle was attached to that receptacle. Second, the center receptacle did not immediately reject the right-most buckle; instead, the bent angle of the buckle's metal temporarily held it in place and made my 10 year-old believe he was strapped in. Finally, the receptacles themselves have no play from side-to-side. This, plus the angle of the buckle's metal, means that when a booster seat is installed, there is not enough room to fully attach the buckle into the receptacle without exerting a LOT of force to push the receptacle to the left. I can't imagine the buckle can be attached at all with a larger child seat. The image I attached shows why this is; attaching a car seat requires exerting enough force to bend the metal holding the receptacle in order to attach the buckle. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC | The contact owns a 2021 Ford Escape. The contact received a recall notification for NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V922000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulic) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was notified of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | My daughter was coasting and the person in front of her slammed on their brakes causing her to slam on hers. Her collision warning did not go off until after she hit the car in front of her so she had didn't have enough time to stop. We pulled off into a parking lot and called the police to inspect the cars. Two weeks later there was a recall on the back brake pads. She ended up getting a ticket for impeding traffic which ended up costing $150.00 plus $5.50 for fees. I also have damage to the grille and bumper on my car that needs to get fixed. | Crash: Yes Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | While driving on the interstate a fire started under the hood and shortly after smoke entered the driver cabin. Luckily I was able to pull over and get out of the vehicle before the fire reached the driver cabin. It is going to be investigated by a company hired by AAA, the appraiser from the insurance company was not able to find a cause due to the fire damage being too bad. The first warning message was engine coolant overtemperature and a couple of others followed. | Crash: No Fire: Yes | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC | The contact owns a 2021 Ford Escape. The contact received a recall notification for NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V922000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulic) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was notified of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | SERVICE BRAKES | The contact owns a 2021 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving in reverse, a loud grinding sound was present while depressing the brake pedal. The contact indicated that the failure mainly occurred after the vehicle was not used for an overnight period. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who replaced the brake rotors, but the sound continued to occur. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 1,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 1,000 |
| Dec 2021 | SERVICE BRAKES | Wife was driving vehicle. Came to intersection at end of our street. Applied brakes. Brakes did not work. Went through intersection crashed into tree. Injured, taken to hospital, vehicle towed, police report made. Vehicle is available for inspection. Would like to have vehicle inspected! Not yet inspected by anyone. No warning of problem. Vehicle has about 250 miles on it. Just leased on Dec 2, 2021. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 1 Towed Medical attention | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | SERVICE BRAKES | The contact owns a 2021 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while the vehicle was in reverse, an abnormally loud humming noise would emit from the vehicle upon depression of the brake pedal without warning. The contact had taken the vehicle to the dealer on numerous occasions and on the latest visit, she had the brake pads replaced; however, the failure persisted. The manufacturer had been notified of the failure and a case was filed. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 2,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 2,000 |
| Nov 2021 | ENGINE | The contact owns a 2021 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH, the vehicle began vibrating and the contact heard an abnormal noise. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact was able to drive to his destination. The contact took the vehicle to local dealer and was informed that there was no remedy for the failure. The vehicle was not repaired but was pending repairs. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 700. | Crash: No Fire: No | 700 |