Ford Escape really can escape driver control.

Received an internal link at work to this recall, and found a larger article on the interwebz. Ford is recalling a boatload of Escapes for throttle sticking issues.

http://www.insideline.com/ford/escape/2001-04-ford-escape-recalled-for-throttle-trouble.html

Yet another case of the "runaway car". Wonder if Ford will get plastered in the media like Toyota did after the alleged problems with the Prius?

Klayfish wrote: Yet another case of the "runaway car". Wonder if Ford will get plastered in the media like Toyota did after the alleged problems with the Prius?

I heard about this last week so I guess not.

Probably not as they are stepping up and recalling them. Toyota did not issue a recall (not that they should have) but the complaints kept coming in until it was determined that there was possibly fraud involved with some of them. This is a case of yes there is a problem and they are stepping up and fixing it. At the end of the day this is what most people want is for the car manufacturers to step up and take responsibility. Ford is doing that so the press should be minimal. Toyota on the other hand dug its heels in the sand and said screw you. This irritates people and makes for great press as it is the little guy against the big corporate bad guy. As it turned out Toyota was rite but the pr they got was really unfair.

No has been killed because of thiis in an Escape.

Actually, there was one:

"NHTSA has been investigating the defect based on complaints, including the death of a 17-year-old girl in Arizona."

This is actually the second recall on the Escapes, to fix the stupid-ass repair Ford did on the first recall. For knew the original "fix" was wrong and only issued a TSB. The original issue caused the throttle cable to get hung up in the pedal, but the original recall fix caused the cruise control cable to bind, which could also hang the throttle open.

Autoblog said: Ford originally recalled these Escapes in December 2004 to address an accelerator cable assembly defect. After discovering that its repair procedure could cause new problems, the automaker updated the repair procedure in October 2005. By that time, however, The Detroit News reports that 320,000 Escapes had already been fixed using the old procedure and their owners were never notified of the potential damage that was caused.

Read up on what should be a much, MUCH bigger story than Toyota's recalls:

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/07/11/ford-escape-under-fire-for-problems-caused-by-recall-repairs/

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/07/26/ford-recalling-485-000-last-gen-escapes-to-fix-unintended-accele/

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/09/reports-of-unintended-acceleration-lead-to-defect-petition-for-320000-ford-escapes/

And Mazda says that Ford should recall even more years as the problem is even bigger than Ford is willing to admit right now...

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/07/27/mazda-piggybacks-on-ford-escape-recall-with-215-000-tribute-mode/

Oh yeah, Ford's known about it for seven years.

New York Times said: In its petition, however, the safety group argued that in October 2005, Ford sent a technical service bulletin to dealers cautioning mechanics to not damage the adjacent cruise control cable during the course of the recall repair. Any damage could allow the cable to snag on a ridge in the engine cover, causing unintended acceleration, the petition said.

Don't forget that the only reason there's a recall at all is the Center for Auto Safety has been all over Ford and the press trying to get this fixed because of the 17 year old that died.

I remember reading, most likely here, that the pedal assembly that was used on Toyotas mired by the recall was also used by some domestic companies (possibly even Ford) and that the stuff would hit the fan on domestic cars soon enough.

This recall seems to be a bout a cable, but one has to wonder whether the lack of a Ford witchhunt has to do with them finding Toyota drivers at fault vs the cars, or whether it has to do with burning Toyota while giving Detroit a pass.

So it is impossible to shut the engine down in an Escape as well?

EvanB wrote: So it is impossible to shut the engine down in an Escape as well?

Well, yeah, but there's still a reasonable expectation to A: fix the dam thing correctly and B: not have your cruise control suddenly decide to try and kill you.

they still have throttle cables? my opinion of Ford just went up a couple of notches..

novaderrik wrote: they still have throttle cables? my opinion of Ford just went up a couple of notches..

Sorry to burst your bubble, but no, no they don't. This recall is for 02-04 (and 06) models. Sometime between then and now they switched to electrons. I don't think there's a single car sold today (in the US) still with a cable.

I believe this only affects the cruise control . Owners are told to not use it or disconnect it until it is fixed.