Hmm.. Did I get a lemon? The day after took delivery of my new 2006 Escape Hybrid, the cruise control button failed. By the way, the car is not even a month old yet. This Saturday I went to start the car and a burned circuit board smell let me know there was a problem. The car's power steering failed if you attempted to turn right, but no fault showed on a left hand turn. It is at the dealers this very minute, and they gave me a Chevy for transportation while it is being repaired. Hope to heck I did not make a very expensive mistake buying this
thing! Time will tell....

Please, not the old days of Fix Or Repair Daily again.

 

When I was a kid, it was Found On Road, Dead.

Wow, keep everyone posted! I just got my 2006 FEH Friday, so I'm definitely interested as to what happened....

Fred

 

Tonights Ford garage tap dance was "we think it is a software issue... the Ford factory will call us in the morning". This is in spite of the fact that I told them something smelled like it had burned. As long as I have been an engineer, I can't recall software smoking... just hardware. I am losing confidence in these folks very rapidly'

 

If it is any consolation to you, I have had two problem free Escape Hybrids for the last 6 and 3 months and many others here have had many problem free miles. It sucks having it go right off the lot but give them a chance to fix it and I think you'll be impressed ultimately. We have one regular poster around that got a lemon replaced. I don't think Ford wants to play around with the few bad ones that might make it to the dealers - they have a good thing going, the last thing they need is to get a reputation for these cars being unreliable.

 

You may want to see if there is another dealer around to get your car serviced at.

 

Toyota had problems with steering racks in the 2001-02 Prius. Torque sensor got the blame, and Toyota ended up extending the warranty of the steering rack to 5years/unlimited miles on these cars. Symptom was a shuddering of the wheel on some turns.

This sounds like a different problem. Pls do update when you have more info!

 

Yesterday the service department at Ford decided that I might be right and that software does not smoke. They started diagnostics, (2 days after I brought it in) and decided that a control module had failed. A new one has been ordered with an ETA for Friday from Lansing MI. The car had it's 1 month anniversary yesterday. Twice in the shop the first month, with a one week stay for one of them, is not a great track record thus far.

 

Hey rcrescitelli,

Did any warning lights come on to indicate problem? If you smelled smoke, then that would seem to indicate a short occurred to cause the control module failure. I would strongly advise they perform wiring check.

One FEH owner had multiple error lights that got worse over a few days, starting with "Check Brakes" progressing to "System Alert/Caution". The cause turned out to be an electrical harness screw fell off, where the wires then frayed from movement and shorted-out systems. First they replaced her electrical drive train and voltage converter before finding problem source. Ford showed commendable customer service by replacing her FEH with a new one.

I agree with nitramjr that most FEH owners have been reporting trouble-free operation and the Ford Escape has an excellent reliability track record over the last few years. While you may have reason to be upset, but I don't think it fair to start slamming Ford and promoting Honda over something that could be as simple as a loose screw or bad sensor from supplier.

Please report back on progress.
-Dan

 

I suppose you are right... Why in the world should I be upset about a brand new and expensive vehicle spending one week of its first month on the road in the shop for its second, and a very, major repair? I guess I am being "unfair" in wanting a brand new car to work correctly for at least a year. After all, this thing has almost 450 miles on it already.

Progress Report: Still in the shop, still running diagnostics.

 

I had a strong smoke smell three times within my first 3,000 miles. The last time was overwhelming and it has stopped now completely. There was no lights or problem with driving but I took it to the dealer. They told me if everything still worked right that they wouldn't find anything either without an engine light going on.

Latter I notice that my auto door locks were not working. I tried to reset per the manual and still no responce. I think the two were connected. Everything else is perfect and couldn't be happier. I've been waiting for something else to go wrong before I take it in for that repair. Five months have pasted now so it looks like nothing else is going give me a reason to take it in. I need to just make an appointment and get it over with.

A smell of smoke like you and I had can be very scary and can be serious enough to destroy the car. As a firefighter, I put out many car fires in my day. Sadly, there was not much left of the cars to save most of the time. Trust me, we are the luckly ones.