2005 Ford Escape
This year drew an ordinary 1,584 complaints for a Ford Escape — the model's median is 1,077. What they were about is the unusual part: 26.9% of them mention rusted, against 0.2% across the model's other years.
Generation 1 of the Ford Escape, which began in 2001 and ran to 2007. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 1,584 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 1,077 |
| Involving a crash | 44 |
| Involving a fire | 20 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| EPA combined | 20 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- rusted — 26.9% of this year's complaints, against 0.2% across the model's other years (134.5×). Owners wrote it as: rusted, rusted out, completely rusted, well rusted.
- shock — 30.5% of this year's complaints, against 0.6% across the model's other years (51.6×). Owners wrote it as: shock, mount, shock mount, rear shock.
- wheel well — 29.8% of this year's complaints, against 1% across the model's other years (29.7×). Owners wrote it as: wheel well, rear wheel, side wheel, loud banging.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
THE PASSENGER SIDE WHEEL WELL RUSTED THROUGH AND NOW THE SHOCK MOUNT RUSTED OFF.
WHILE DRIVING OVER A HUMP IN THE ROAD, THE CONTACT HEARD A LOUD BANGING NOISE. THE CONTACT PERFORMED A TEST DRIVE AND DISCOVERED THAT THE REAR PASSENGER WHEEL WELL HAD A RUSTED HOLE UNDERNEATH THE VEHICLE AND THE SHOCK ABSORBER WAS DETACHED FROM THE ORIGINAL M…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 15V606000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 14V526000 HYBRID PROPULSION SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 15E045000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 06V111000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 04V602000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES
How this was worked out
Every year of the Ford Escape was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2005 Ford Escape? What happened to yours?
Loading comments…