2021 Ford Escape: Reliability Data

Source: NHTSA — 349 complaints
349
Total Complaints
30,000mi
Median Mileage
STRUCTURE:BODY
Top Issue
14
Crash Reports

When Do Complaints Happen?

Distribution of NHTSA complaints by vehicle mileage at time of report.

6,250 25th Percentile
30,000 Median Mileage
57,580 75th Percentile

What Fails?

Most reported component issues from NHTSA complaints.

STRUCTURE:BODY
60
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
45
SERVICE BRAKES
38
ENGINE
32
FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE
31
POWER TRAIN
23
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
20
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
14
STRUCTURE:BODY:DOOR
12
STRUCTURE
8

Severity Assessment

14
Crashes
11
Fires
8
Injuries
0
Deaths

Sample Complaint Reports

"The contact’s daughter owned a 2021 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while her daughter was driving at an unknown speed, the coolant warning light illuminated. As the contact's daughter began to pull over, she began to lose control of the vehicle as a black smoke started coming from the engine..."
"The transmission automatically went into park in the middle of an intersection and was inoperable from that time and had to be towed from the intersection."
"Vehicle was being driven down the road. Vehicle stalled. Check engine light came on. Attempted to restart vehicle but vehicle stalled again. Smelled fuel. Heard a boom then fire ignited. Fire came from the underside of vehicle and flames were rising on driver side of vehicle with black smoke. ..."

Source: NHTSA ODI Complaints Database. Names and identifying details omitted.

Data source: View this vehicle on NHTSA.gov | NHTSA ODI Complaints Database. Public domain.

Methodology: Complaint counts and mileage distributions are computed directly from consumer-reported NHTSA complaints. This data represents reported issues, not failure rates — vehicles without complaints are not represented. Full methodology.

Data through: 2026-03-28