2021 Ford Escape
This year drew an ordinary 664 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 fuel, against 7.1% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 4 of the Ford Escape, which began in 2020. 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 | 664 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 1,198 |
| Involving a crash | 18 |
| Involving a fire | 18 |
| Recalls | 19 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 30 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- fuel — 17.8% of this year's complaints, against 7.1% across the other years of this generation (2.5×).
- window — 12.7% of this year's complaints, against 3.4% across the other years of this generation (3.7×). Owners wrote it as: window, roll.
- visibility — 6.3% of this year's complaints, against 1.8% across the other years of this generation (3.6×). Owners wrote it as: visibility, panoramic.
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 shade for the panoramic sunroof malfunctioned. The shade will not roll up properly causing the shade to sag and block rear visibility.
The panoramic sunroof shade disconnected from the clips that holds it in place to allow it to be opened and closed. It is now rolled up in the car so the sunroof is always exposed and cannot be reconnected without a full replacement according to the dealership…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 21V869000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 21V625000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 21V922000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 22V149000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 22V191000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 22V484000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 22V859000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 23V380000 ENGINE Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 19. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
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 2021 Ford Escape? What happened to yours?
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