2006 Ford Escape
This year drew an ordinary 720 complaints for a Ford Escape — the model's median is 1,198. What they were about is the unusual part: 17.8% of them mention brakes, against 2.6% 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 | 720 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 1,198 |
| Involving a crash | 23 |
| Involving a fire | 10 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| EPA combined | 20.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- brakes — 17.8% of this year's complaints, against 2.6% across the model's other years (6.9×).
- abs — 26.5% of this year's complaints, against 10.3% across the model's other years (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: abs, brake pedal, abs light, brake system.
- shock — 15% of this year's complaints, against 1.8% across the model's other years (8.3×). Owners wrote it as: shock, rusted, wheel well, rust.
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
DRIVING CAR AND BRAKES FAILED COMPLETELY. HAD TO JUMP ON THE BRAKES TO GET ANY TRACTION WHATSOEVER. WAS FORTUNATELY ABLE TO USE THE EMERGENCY BRAKE BEFORE I GOT INTO AN ACCIDENT. YELLOW ABS AND RED BRAKE LIGHTS ARE ON, ALONG WITH MESSAGES OF CHECK BRAKE SYSTEM…
THE BRAKE SYSTEM FAILED WITH THE ILLUMINATION OF THE ABS WARNING LAMP. THE CONTACT ALSO MENTIONED THAT HE WAS ABLE TO STOP THE VEHICLE BY USING THE EMERGENCY BRAKE. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT TAKEN TO THE DEALER. THE [VIN] WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE WHO DID NOT OF…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 14V526000 HYBRID PROPULSION SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 15E045000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 15V606000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 10E043000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 05V520000 VISIBILITY
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 2006 Ford Escape? What happened to yours?
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