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Owner-Reported Problems · NHTSA

2017 Ford Escape — Problems & Complaints

NHTSA has 2,694 owner complaints on file for this vehicle. Every report below was filed by a real owner with the US government's road-safety agency.

2,694
Complaints
filed with NHTSA
39
Involved a Crash
owner-reported
15
Involved Fire
owner-reported
56
Injuries
across all reports
Years to Avoid

Ford Escape — Complaints by Model Year

Years flagged AVOID have at least twice this model's average complaint count — the strongest public-data signal of a bad year.

2,129 complaints

1,317 complaints

603 complaints

2,754 complaints

2,089 complaints

1,115 complaints

1,152 complaints

2,694 complaints

1,812 complaints

595 complaints

1,539 complaints

349 complaints

235 complaints

100 complaints

76 complaints

Problem Areas

What Owners Complain About Most

Engine 1,578 reports
Engine And Engine Cooling 508 reports
Power Train 391 reports
Electrical System 155 reports
Unknown Or Other 153 reports
Wheels 76 reports
Fuel/propulsion System 72 reports
Structure 62 reports
In Their Own Words

Recent Owner Reports

Structure ODI 11708001 12/31/2025

Two different things are happening with my car. 1) the paint is chipping and has caused corrosion on the body. Apparently this is a known issue but the peeling/chipping has gotten worse and will keep doing so until it is fixed. 2) car keep running hot and losing coolant but no leak to be found even after several rounds of tests.

Exterior Lighting ODI 11708079 12/31/2025

While driving vehicle at night on [XXX] to Richmond, VA my headlights both stopped working completely. The only way I could see was by turning on my high beam headlights. The high beam headlights worked fine. There was no warning lights, no sounds, the interior lights and everything interior was working normal. It was just the low beam headlights both at the exact same tim…

Engine ODI 11708094 12/31/2025

Vehicle is slowly losing collant, and when I park I get a strong smell of collant. I took vehicle to have collant flushed and was took system was ok. From what I have researched is that there is a history of coolant entering engine cylinder because of defective engine and causeing engines to event ually seize.

Engine ODI 11708104 12/31/2025

Engine failure due to multiple coolant failures, due to poor design of the long engine block. Ford removed and replaced the long block in full, but it was out of warranty. There are multiple class action lawsuits against Ford for the defecting engine block design. There was only 49,187 miles on the car, well under mileage warranty, but above the 7 year old car age warrant…

Engine ODI 11633366 12/31/2024

At 29,314 miles, we experienced total engine failure where cylinder #2 failed and the whole engine failed and needed replaced. This car had impeccable maintenance and engine failure was not due to lack of maintenance. This was an issue with the engine itself and should not have happened.

Same Vehicle

Recalls & Crash Tests

Complaints are one half of the picture — see the official recalls and NHTSA crash-test stars for the 2017 Ford Escape, or check your exact car by VIN with the free VIN lookup.

Check Another Car

Problems Checker

Any year, make and model: open the Car Problems Checker. Data: NHTSA (US DOT, public domain), cached up to 7 days.

Questions

FAQ

Is the 2017 Ford Escape reliable?
Owners have filed 2,694 safety complaints with NHTSA for the 2017 Ford Escape, most often about engine. Compare the complaint counts across model years above — a year with far more complaints than the model's average is the strongest 'avoid' signal in public data.
Which Ford Escape years should I avoid?
The rule of thumb used by analysts: a model year whose complaint count is well above the model's own average (we flag 2× or more) usually had a real manufacturing or design problem — not just noisy reporting. Use the year-by-year strip on this page.
Where do these complaints come from?
Directly from NHTSA, the US government road-safety agency. Any owner can file a Vehicle Owner Questionnaire; NHTSA publishes them as public domain data. We cache each lookup for up to 7 days.
Do complaints mean a recall is coming?
Sometimes. NHTSA opens defect investigations when complaint patterns emerge, and investigations can end in recalls. Check the recalls page for this vehicle to see what has already been recalled.