The 2013 Ford Escape just doesn’t seem to be having much luck staying on the road. It is being recalled for the third time now and it’s barely had time to rack up many miles at all. This new recall only effects 7,600 2013 Ford Escape models that are equipped with a 1.6 liter EcoBoost inline four cylinder engine, 6,150 of these are in the United States. Apparently there is a situation with a faulty cup plug in the engine cylinder head. This situation creates a problem where if this cup dislodges, coolant will start leaking and create a combustible glycol concentration that has a pretty high risk of catching fire since it is so close to the hot engine components. The specific Escape models at risk were built between October 5, 2011 and August 31, 2012.
While there have been no fires reported by drivers, there has been one 2013 Ford Escape that reported flames at a dealership in Tennessee. Apparently that is not what the dealership meant when they were marketing “Hot Deals”. While Ford Motor Company has stated that it is in the process of issuing the third recall, they have not released an official statement as of today’s posting. Neither has the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration which is probably neck deep in paperwork from the past two recalls.
This past July, the 2013 Ford Escape was recalled because of a faulty engine compartment fuel line in vehicles that were sporting the ill fated 1.6 liter engine and drivers were advised to stop driving their vehicles immediately. Dealers were sent to pick the vehicles up to make sure driver’s had no further risk. Then in July the 2013 Ford Escape was recalled again due to a brake pedal interference problem. Let’s hope this third time is the last for what Ford was hoping to have a best in class vehicle out of. We don’t think all these recalls are going to help them out toward that particular goal.
Source The Detroit News