Re: Can you safely tow with the Escape?
 

I towed a 1000 lb trailer and over a ton of metal roofing from Albuquerque to Los Alamos with a 2008 FEH...I was nervous but it went fine. There are some big hills on that route and I definitely crawled up them at high RPMs, but I made it.

Re: Can you safely tow with the Escape?
 

My 2008 2wd came with a class III hitch, which I thought was a bit optimistic at the time. The last year or so I have been using it to tow a 5x10 enclosed trailer that is all steel, about 1,000 pounds by itself. Last trip I hauled a 1,000 lbs lathe, 100 miles each way. It did fine, including a lot of back and forth positioning and getting stuck in mud several times.
I do avoid hills as much as possible to keep from buzzing the motor. and I keep my speed under 65. I keep an eye on engine temp but that hasn't been a problem. I probably need to add eCVT temp to the Scangauge. Otherwise it's pretty uneventful. The limiting factor on the highway is wind resistance from towing a brick. An open trailer of the same weight, or a smaller enclosed would be much easier.