2018 Ford Escape
Problems, recalls and owner-reported issues
Engine is the leading concern among 1,795 owner complaints filed for this model year. This is the 6th highest complaint count among 26 Escape model years with reports.
Of the 2018 reports, 25 involved a crash and 5 involved a fire. 30 people were injured.
What owners report most often
Recalls and investigations
Equipment, electrical, engine block heaterJan 15, 2026
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2013-2018 Focus, 2013-2019 Escape, and 2015-2016 MKC vehicles equipped with a 2.0L engine. The engine block heater may crack and develop a coolant leak, causing it to short circuit when the block heater is plugged in.
An electrical short circuit can increase the risk of a fire.
Owners are advised not to plug in their block heater until the vehicle is remedied. Dealers will replace the block heater, free of charge. Owners will also have a alternative option to replace engine block heater element with a threaded plug, and remove the block heater electrical cord. Interim letters, notifying owners of the safety risk, were mailed March 6, 2026. Additional letters will be sent once the final remedy is available. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 26S01. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall became searchable on NHTSA.gov on January 16, 2026.
Campaign 26V011000 on NHTSA.gov
Power train, automatic transmission, gear position indication (prndl)Jun 10, 2022
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2013-2019 Escape, 2013-2018 C-Max, 2013-2016 Fusion, 2013-2021 Transit Connect, and 2015-2018 Edge vehicles. The bushing that attaches the shifter cable to the transmission may degrade or detach.
A damaged or missing bushing may prevent the vehicle from shifting into the intended gear, and cause the vehicle to move in an unexpected direction. Additionally, the vehicle may roll after the driver selects the 'Park' position. Either scenario increases the risk of a crash or injury.
Dealers will replace the under hood shift bushing and add a protective cap over the shift cable bushing, free of charge. Interim owner notification letters, informing owners of the safety risk, were mailed July 1, 2022. Remedy parts are expected to be available in 4th Quarter 2022. Owner notification letters were mailed October 27, 2022. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 22S43.
Campaign 22V413000 on NHTSA.gov
Service brakes, hydraulic, foundation components, hoses, lines/piping, and fittingsFeb 12, 2018
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2018 Ford Escape and Lincoln MKC vehicles. These vehicles may be equipped with incorrect front brake hoses that may chafe against other components, possibly resulting in a brake fluid leak.
A brake fluid leak may lengthen the distance needed to stop the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash.
Ford will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the brake hoses, replacing any that are incorrect, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin March 2018. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 18S04.
Campaign 18V104000 on NHTSA.gov
Air bags, side/windowDec 18, 2017
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2018 Ford Escape vehicles. The side curtain air bags on these vehicles have a component that may detach during deployment of the inflatable curtain air bag.
If the component detaches during deployment, it may enter the passenger compartment and be a projectile within the vehicle cabin, increasing the risk of injury.
Ford will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver and passenger side curtain air bags, as necessary, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin January 2018. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 17S44.
Campaign 17V803000 on NHTSA.gov
Representative owner complaints: engine
1,426 reports, newest first. Show all
Engine and engine cooling, Oct 28, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed with coolant intrusion in cylinder #2. The vehicle was then taken to the dealer, where the same assessment was made. Additionally, the dealer informed the contact that while in the process of removing the spark plugs to take pictures of the failure for a diagnostic report, the spark plugs fractured due to corrosion. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle was not covered under Ford Campaign Number: 21N12, due to the mileage on the vehicle. The failure mileage was approximately 119,000.
Engine, Oct 24, 2024
Coolant reservoir was completely dry and is leaking into unknown areas. There is no leak under the car but the coolant level is sinking dramatically. Heat was not working in the car due to having no coolant. Engine occasionally sputters when initially started in the morning. Engine light occasionally comes on but there is no error or service message and then the engine light goes off. Coolant reservoir and engine are currently being inspected by mechanic.
Engine, Oct 24, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while starting the vehicle and attempting to reverse, the vehicle started shaking with the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the engine block needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 98,000.
Engine, Oct 23, 2024
Vehicle had rough starts with rough idling upon starting for two days. Then vehicle hesitated to start and upon start, would idle rough. Check engine light came on and codes were for misfire in cylinder 2 and cylinder 3. There was also a heavy smell of coolant and some white smoke from the exhaust pipes. Vehicle rough idle at stop signs/red lights and almost shut off. On next start, it took vehicle 5 attempts to start. Upon start there was a rough idle and heavy white smoke from exhaust. Still a smell of coolant and a warning light on the dash that read "Engine Fault Service Now." Car was left at my home and I used another vehicle to get to work. Had I driven the vehicle it could have broken down while driving and caused a traffic incident. It may have also leaked fluid onto the roadway causing unsafe conditions. Vehicle will be towed to garage to be inspected for possible coolant intrusion based on symptoms and discussion with local mechanic, ford dealership and ford customer service. Ford service did open a claim to look into the incident.
Engine and engine cooling, Oct 22, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle hesitated upon depressing the accelerator pedal. In addition, the contact stated that the vehicle failed to start after several attempts, with the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was initially taken to an independent mechanic where the ignition coils and spark plugs were replaced. Despite the repair, the failure persisted, and the contact was referred to the dealer. The dealer diagnosed the vehicle with coolant intrusion into cylinder #3. The contact was provided an estimate for the repair; however, the vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle remained with the dealer. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline to report the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 58,000.
Engine and engine cooling, Oct 22, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. Additionally, the contact stated that the vehicle was experiencing excessive coolant consumption. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed with coolant intrusion in the cylinders. The vehicle was then taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed with coolant intrusion in cylinder #2. The vehicle was not repaired. The dealer related the failure to Ford Campaign Number: 21N12; however, the vehicle was not covered. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 74,850.
Engine and engine cooling, Oct 21, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving 45 MPH, the check engine warning light illuminated. The local dealer was contacted, and the vehicle was diagnosed, and the spark plugs, and ignition coils were replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The vehicle was recently diagnosed with coolant intrusion into the engine. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 120,000.
Engine and engine cooling, Oct 21, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the engine overheated and stalled, rendering the vehicle inoperable. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer who diagnosed that the engine block had cracked due to coolant intrusion into the cylinders. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The failure mileage was 106,000.
Engine, Oct 21, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving approximately 65 MPH, the vehicle jerked approximately four times and then stalled. The vehicle was restarted after several minutes. The contact’s son continued to drive to the residence; however, while driving at approximately 45 MPH, the vehicle stalled twice. The vehicle as steered to the side of the road. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 142,699.
Engine and engine cooling, Oct 21, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated that the vehicle difficult to start; but was able to start after several attempts. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where the spark plugs were replaced; however, the failure persisted. The mechanic determined that the failure was related to Ford Campaign Number: 21N12. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where the same assessment was made; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle could not be covered under the campaign due to the mileage. The manufacturer referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 141,000.
Engine, Oct 20, 2024
Leak in the coolant which causes the engine light to go on and off. Engine is misfiring when driving anywhere
Engine and engine cooling, Oct 18, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle stalled and failed to return to normal operation. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was jumpstarted and returned to normal operation. The vehicle was taken to a dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the spark plugs, and ignition coils needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure reoccurred. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer for a second diagnostic test and the dealer made the contact aware of coolant intrusion into the cylinder and informed the contact that the engine needed to be replaced. The dealer informed the contact of an unknown Customer Satisfaction Program associated with the failure. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 148,000.
Engine, Oct 18, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while her sister was driving at approximately 30-40 MPH, the vehicle lost motive power. An unknown warning light was illuminated. The driver was able to pull over safely and continued to drive to her residence. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, where it was determined that the engine had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The local dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 104,107.
Engine, Oct 16, 2024
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while attempting to start the vehicle, the engine was misfiring. The contact started the vehicle and it was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that coolant had leaked into cylinder head three. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 163,000.
Engine and engine cooling, Oct 16, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the engine overheated and the vehicle lost motive power. The coolant temperature warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, where it was diagnosed with a coolant leak into the short block; however, the contact was not informed of what needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and a case was opened. The failure mileage was approximately 120,000.
Engine and engine cooling, Oct 16, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving the vehicle, there was an abnormal white smoke coming from the exhaust pipes. Additionally, the contact stated that the vehicle failed to accelerate as needed while depressing the accelerator pedal. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed that the engine turbo was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was then towed to the local dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 54,000.
Engine, Oct 15, 2024
Coolant is leaking into the engine block. This puts the vehicle at constant risk of overheating due to lack of coolant. This has been inspected by Ford, it is a known issue that has caused them to completely redo how the engine is built in later models. There is also a TSB out on this issue, along with safety recalls on the 1.5 and 1.6L engine models of the same vehicle with this same issue, yet not on the 2L engine, despite being the same problem and cause. A warning light that the engine is overheating was the first indicator that something was wrong with the vehicle.
Engine, Oct 15, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an unknown speed, white smoke was coming from the exhaust pipe. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer to get a diagnosis; the dealer informed the contact that the failure cause was unidentifiable. The vehicle was not repaired. The dealer made the contact aware of Customer Satisfaction Program Number: 19B37 however, the CSP expired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline to report the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 128,000.
Engine, Oct 14, 2024
- Per the dealer - "the main crankshaft bolt had come loose allowing the car to "jump" time and damage the cylinder head valves." The vehicle has not yet been repaired. - When we were driving, the engine started to make very loud noises and then lost all power. The breaks felt they became not responsive and I had to put a lot of force into them to work. We were going downhill so this was very dangerous. - Unknown - The vehicle has been inspected by the Ford Dealer - There were no warning lights or symptoms. Our car was inspected by the Ford Dealer a few months before.
Engine, Oct 14, 2024
As I heard there is a common issue of coolant leak on this models and this problem caused because of manufacturing problem. Ford updated the engine but replacing the engine costs almost same as price of the car. The car became trash if I don't change the engine. Now I can't use the car. It became a decor to my house thanks to FORD.
Other or unspecified, Engine, Oct 14, 2024
The head gasket on cylinder 4 broke. Releasing coolant into the engine block, causing stuttering and stalling within the engine. As well as causing the car to loose coolant quickly that lead to the engine overheating. All of this information about my car I was given by the head mechanic at Olympic Auto, Longwood FL. He said that many Ford escapes have experienced this issue. The only warning light I was given was the engine, and it would tell me that cylinder 4 had faulted.
Engine, Oct 11, 2024
On [XXX], I got my first “check engine” light. I immediately went to get my car scanned and it came up as a Cylinder 4 misfire. I bought the replacement parts and had them replaced the same day. About a week later, the light came on again. I went to get it scanned and got the same error, Cylinder 4 misfire. At this point, I replaced all of the spark plugs and coils. This seemed to work for about 2 weeks when the check engine light came on again. Soon after, I got an “Engine Fault – Service Now” warning. I looked under the hood and saw that my coolant was nearly gone. After filling the tank with coolant, the lights went away. This past week, on [XXX], I got the “High Engine Temperature – Stop Safely” warning. This is when I took my car into Imlay City Ford Dealership. Now I am being told that I have coolant leaking into the cylinders and that I need to replace the engine. After further investigation, there was a recall for this exact issue back in June of 2022, but I never received any type of notice. I contacted the dealership that I purchased the car from, and they were able to tell me that this was under the Customer Satisfaction Program 21N12, which provides a free one-time repair if your vehicle exhibits coolant leakage into the cylinder bores causing engine damage. The problem is, I was not contact about this and I had no idea there was a recall notice until it was too late. The Customer Satisfaction Program only covers up to 7 years, or 84,000 miles in which I am now past. Regards, [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Engine and engine cooling, Engine, Oct 11, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated that upon starting the vehicle, the check engine warning light was illuminated. Due to the failure, the vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where the cylinder head temperature sensor was replaced. The contact stated that several weeks later, the contact discovered that the coolant level was low. The contact checked the vehicle for leaks and added more coolant to the coolant reservoir. The contact stated that upon starting the vehicle there was heavy white smoke coming from the exhaust pipe. The vehicle was driven to a dealer where the contact was informed that coolant had leaked into cylinder #1, resulting in engine failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 140,000.
Engine, Oct 9, 2024
Coolant leak into engine. My ford escape stopped working while I was driving could have easily gotten into a serious life altering accident. Yes had a dealership confirm that coolant leak into engine. Only been inspected by the dealership. Coolant low light popped on put coolant in message went away then few days later my truck takes a royal dump while I’m driving.
Engine, Oct 9, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving approximately 40 MPH, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 87,300.