2016 Ford Escape Problems: 5 Known Issues

On the 2013-2019 Ford Escape, the plastic bushing that attaches the shifter cable to the transmission on the shift lever end degrades and can detach from the transmission. When it does, the transmission can be in a gear state different from what the shift lever and PRNDL display indicate. The dangerous case is the driver moving the lever to Park, seeing P on the cluster, and removing the key — while the transmission is not actually in Park and the vehicle rolls away, with no warning message and no audible chime. Ford recalled roughly 550,000 vehicles under NHTSA 18V471000 / Ford 18S20 covering 2013-2014 Escapes and 2013-2016 Fusions, and in June 2022 issued a further shift-cable-bushing action affecting 2013-2019 Escapes under NHTSA 22V413000 / Ford 22S43 as part of a 2.9 million vehicle campaign. Escape owners on fordescape.org discussed the campaign extending across 2013-2019 cars. This is a shift-linkage defect, not a transmission internal failure, and is unrelated to the 6F35 torque converter and 8F35 bearing issues.

On the 2013-2019 Ford Escape, on 3rd-generation AWD Escapes (primarily 2.0L EcoBoost AWD), the Power Transfer Unit (the right-angle gearbox that sends torque to the rear axle) holds only about one quart of fluid that Ford labels 'lifetime,' yet it runs continuously and runs hot. The fluid degrades and the unit overheats, with the input and intermediate-shaft seals leaking onto the right side of the transmission. Left unserviced, the PTU can whine, grind, and ultimately seize ('grenade'), sometimes damaging the transaxle. Ford TSB 18-2255 documents the right-side fluid leak.

On the 2013-2016 Ford Escape 1.6L EcoBoost I4, on 1.6L EcoBoost Escapes, the air conditioning inlet line breaks where it connects to the compressor. The failure is mechanical rather than a slow seal leak: pressure and contact from the adjacent oil cooler coolant lines loads the A/C line at the compressor fitting until it cracks, and the system dumps its entire refrigerant charge at once. Ford covered this in TSB 18-2314 for 2013-2016 Escapes with the 1.6L engine. The give-away is that the compressor and clutch test good and the system takes and holds a recharge for only a short time, or not at all — owners on fordescape.org report shops recharging the system repeatedly and chasing the compressor before finding the cracked inlet line at the fitting. A second, unrelated cold-air complaint on the same generation is a failed blower motor resistor or a fault in the A/C/heater control module, which produces no cooling with a healthy refrigerant charge — worth ruling out before opening the refrigerant circuit.

On the 2013-2019 Ford Escape, the 2013-2019 Escape power liftgate latch assembly frequently fails, causing the rear hatch to either not open, not close properly, or pop open while driving. The latch mechanism corrodes internally and the micro-switch fails, particularly in humid or salt belt environments. There is no safety recall for the Escape liftgate latch; Ford issued service bulletins instead, including one for 2013-2014 power/hands-free liftgates built on or before June 12, 2013 (liftgate ajar warning, hard to open or close) and TSB 19-2056 for 2017-2019 power liftgates that bounce back or will not cinch fully closed.

On the 2015-2021 Ford Escape, p0011 indicates intake cam timing outside the commanded range. Ford SSM 49821 identifies small debris sticking a VCT solenoid as one possible cause on applicable 2015-2021 vehicles, not a diagnosis from the code alone.