Problems with 2008 Ford Escape VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL

On 1/9/20 the car had its last dangerous malfunction of so many sense i purchased the vehicle from a dealership 10/18. the car was parked in a beach parking lot. as my son was getting ready to leave the parking lot he turned car on put car in drive slightly stepped on gas to begin pulling out and the car surged and accelerated full speed by itself. he lost all steering and had no breaks. he had absolutely no control of the vehicle. it went full speed into a parked car about 15 ft away! both cars were totaled. all 3 people involved were injured. there was 2 people in parked car and my son who was burrowing my car. previous to this accident the escape has had so many dangerous malfunctions. some being total steering loss while i was driving 45mph .car was towed and fixed covered by factory recall. another shock snapped and punctured my fuel tank. my mechanic said i dodged death by driving . he said car was a ticking bomb. ive replaced 2 abs sensors at different times because they failed and caused break pedel to vibrate and made it very hard to stop. another wheel bearing and wheel compartment due to total rust and corrosion of under body. all these things happened in only a little over a year sense purchasing this vehicle from mid cape moters for 6000$ in october. *ln *tr *js

Randomly the car will 'stall' to to speak even though it is an automatic and not a 5-speed. when i say stall i am referring to when i am stopped at a stop sign, red light, yielding to turn, etc - when i go to hit the gas the rpm's rev up high and the car speed is very low and at a rolling speed - even though i push down all of the way in order to get the car to speed up to avoid being struck my other vehicles when turning. the car will then regain all speed at once - instead of gradually. this has happened numerous times while i am trying to merge onto an oncoming interstate ramp or am at a red light or stop sign. i have missed being hit thus far but have had a few close calls. i have a check engine light on and have taken it to several dealerships and auto mechanic shops that have been unable to determine an issue with the car. they have read the check engine code and have found nothing wrong with the car.

My lights on dash will all randomly flash while my speedometer and rmp will stop working. my car also seems to not shift well when this happens. my steering feels extremely loose and unsafe. i don't dare to drive over 30mph and have not had anyone be able to tell me exactly what is wrong. my steering has also locked a few times, usually when i'm in reverse. i have to turn the car off and back on to make it work again. i fear for my son and family every time i have to drive to work and school.

Went to accelerate and gas pedal dropped to the floor board and stayed there. i was on the highway at the time. dealer said it was a broken throttle cable and wants to charge me $300.

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 ford escape. while driving 50 mph, the accelerator pedal seized. on another occasion, the accelerator pedal seized again and the contact had to coast the vehicle off the highway to the shoulder. the contact was almost struck from the rear by a semi truck. the contact called shimmers ford (10401 woodcrest dr nw, coon rapids, mn 55433, (612) 424-7648) and dixon ford (489 e 2nd st, dixon, il 61021, (815) 288-3366) and was informed that the vin was not included in a recall. the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure and transferred the contact to the nhtsa hotline. the failure mileage was 196,370.

The vehicle gas pedal becomes stiff in cold weather condition and doesn't allow me to accelerate from stop. one time the gas pedal cable also came out and pedal would not come back up.

Dec. 26, 2017 accelerator pedal cable snapped and fell to floor. had to get tow and now in shop. throttle body and cable need replacement. $700! this shouldn't have happened. it has under 150,000 miles on it. seems very dangerous. the pedal has been sticking a lot and now this. vehicle was in chicago busy intersection. couldn't even press pedal down to move the car and then something snapped. and pedal fell to floor.

I have owned this escape for only about 9 months. i have had many sporadic issues with the gas pedal. the gas pedal has stuck a few times and i have been unable to press down on the pedal. it seems to act up worse when the weather gets colder. i have had a few instances where i was driving and was unable to accelerate and had to put my vehicle in park and keep pressing down on the gas pedal until it finally allowed me to accelerate and move forward. when the pedal locks up it is like pressing against a wall and there is no give in the pedal but when it does finally press down it causes a high acceleration and cause the vehicle to launch forward. this is definitely a scary situation when you are in traffic and all of the sudden can't drive your car. thankfully i have not been in any accidents because of this issue but i feel it is only a matter of time unless this issue is fixed. after doing a bit of research i see that there are many other people who have had similar issues with this make. it is very unsafe and i am always worried about being stranded or having this cause an accident. as a mother of a 4 year old this is definitely a scary issue to have! i love my escape and would love to keep it but i do not feel safe driving it like this. i hope that this issue is being looked into after seeing other complaints about this problem and i hope that this issue can be resolved!

While driving, the carboard noticed several signs and the speedometer dropped to zero. also, on other days, i could not start the car.

Upon accelerating on an on ramp, the shifting did not work properly. it will not easily shift from 1st gear to 2nd gear. i had someone put a computer reader on the truck and it said it was a gear shift ratio for gear #2. the out take sensor was replaced with a new one, however that did not fix the problem. i do not have any other problems with any other gears. all others shift flawlessly except for the afore mentioned. thank you

Car fails to accelerate properly while driving. after stepping on the gas while driving, i feel a strong pull, and the car doesn't accelerate more than 20mph. it seems to happen at random times and no sensor lights come one.

Loss of 2nd and 4th gear/ limp mode. i purchased a used 2008 ford escape with 69,980 miles. no complaints till hit 89,000 miles when all if a sudden there was no 2nd and 4th gear. i was getting ready to pull into traffic. put foot on accelerator went to about 16mph and refused to ho faster. rpms revved up to 4000+ the yellow wrench light came on. once got to 20mph hard shift into gear .and did this again at 40mph except wont shift into higher gear. was told it is in limp mode. so i did internet research on this. said over 368 complaints just on this specific problem, specifically on the 2008 ford escape. i tried resetting the pcm. did not fix problem. replaced the throttle control sensor. did not fix problem. now that leaves the 2nd & 4th gear band assembly. i called and got 3 estimates, they ranged from$1900-$3000. part cost $89 and a new transmission cost $1700. replacing this part can be done without having to remove transmission and said to about 2hours. my complaint in if this is a common issue why aren't you replacing part or fixing this? there has been several investigations and still nothing! this is the first ford i purchased and will be the last! which is a shame because i love my truck. just can't afford to fix it. so i will park it and pray ford owns up to their faulty parts and assembly and fixes this. and i will make sure everyone i know and everyone i meet knows about how ford knowingly put in defective parts on many vehicle so they could make money fixing them. think about it. all these ( throttle control sensor and 2nd & 4th gear band ) go bad at 89,000 mile. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 ford escape. the contact stated that the accelerator pedal was difficult to depress and became stuck in the depressed position intermittently. the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. the manufacturer was notified of the failure. the failure mileage was unknown.

The gas pedal collapsed to the floor while driving my car. i was fortunate enough to coast in to a parking lot. i was able to play with the pedal returning it to the normal operating position. took car to ford dealership. service department replaced the cable assembly/throttle control. i have seen a lot of similar complaints online about the same exact problem with the 2008 ford escape.

The accelerator pedal sticks often and requires extra foot manipulation to get it to work properly. this occurs mostly when accelerating from a stop and makes pulling out into traffic a dangerous proposition. this occurs on city streets and from stop lights on larger state highways. it has also failed to depress, causing the vehicle to be immovable for a time.

My 2008 ford escape i purchased in october of 2016 since purchasing my gas pedal completely seizes while driving at any speed. this is a safety hazard. i have done the research to provide that other years have been recalled for the same issue with the throttle body. this vehicle doing this puts not only myself but my 4 month old child in danger. driving today in michigan in rush hour traffic for over 60 miles this completely seized on me. this is a serious issue in which i think needs to be looked into. im hoping for it not to take an accident for this to be researched. *tr

In 2016 november my gas pedal stuck to the floor and i freaked out and ran into my neighbors garage and i had 10 fired fighters and sherriff look at my turned off escape and the accelerated pedel was completely sitting on the floor of the vehicle and it also was towed to ford and said the accelerator pedal link was completely broke and it was not covered under insurance for they said this is a manufacture issue and not insurance and so i had to use the front end damage to pay for the $1500 repair on a part that should not have broke, ford has now over 100 complaints to this say problem and no fix.....this vehicle accelerated and rammed a neighbors garage door and i could have been killed and all the sheriff and firefighters say they have never seen an accelerator pedal depressed to the floor and i was lucky....ford fix this....this is going to kill someone and it i had injuries from the whiplash.

First cold morning the gas pedal stuck after 5 miles. no movement. i was in the left lane & had to cross other lanes to safety. my wife refuses to drive this car. dealer says throttle body issues on other escapes are covered by a 10 year/150,000 mile warranty.

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 ford escape. while driving approximately 40 mph, the vehicle failed to accelerate when the accelerator pedal was depressed. there was a total loss of power and the wrench indicator illuminated. the vehicle was driven home. the dealer was notified, but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. the approximate failure mileage was 81,000.

When sitting idle at red light or stop sign, it rumbles roughly, i hit the accelerator it hesitates to go then all of a sudden gets a burst of speed. this mainly happens in city street.

Purchased vehicle a month ago with 135,000 miles. it has stalled 3 times at low speeds, once while in the middle of a turn on a city street causing me to lose steering and almost hit another vehicle, no lights pop on when this happens it just dies with no warning. i am able to put the vehicle in park and restart it. it has also, on numerous occasions lurched forward from a stop or rolling stop when i hit the gas. from reading other owners complaints it sounds identical to the throttle body control issue so many seem to be having. i can't afford to have it checked out at this point, and don't feel safe driving it but i have no other vehicle. i did call ford but they don't recognize my vin under the "customer satisfaction program" they have for so many other of their vehicles having this same issue! again, i don't feel safe driving it but have no choice, so i wanted public record of the issue in case it shuts off on me at highway speeds and i die in an accident, so my spouse and children have a record that i brought the known issue to ford but they did nothing.

I purchased my 2008?ford escape last year 2015. i have replaced both cv axils on each side and i had my steering column replaced. i purchased the car with 95,000 miles on it at a great deal of $8,900. i then found out why it was so cheap from such a trusted dealership. the dealership was closing in the next 2 weeks. it closed shortly after my purchase and a new ford dealership opened in its place. through out the last few weeks my car has not been driving correctly, especially on the highway. i took a closer look and noticed that no matter my speed my car will not go above 3rd gear. my power tran light came on today. i have read on other sights that there were recalls on this issue. i do not think these issues were fixed while being recalled. the related i've done so far have not been cheap by any means. after a year (even less 2 of the above cases) i should not be having these issues. http://m.carcomplaints.com/ford/escape/2008/recalls/ the above sight was my reference tara

Vehicle power train light came on. vehicle began to shutter then lose power on the highway without a shoulder. vehicle reduced speed to max 20mph.

Abs and traction control lights came on. when braking, it took longer to stop and was like you were stopping on ice. when starting out again, it took awhile for my vehicle to accelerate again and i had to pull off the road until it could start again. i had my daughter and granddaughter in vehicle. this presented a dangerous situation as it impeded braking ability plus the hesitation with the acceleration could cause an accident

My gas pedal completely broke and dropped down while driving on the freeway, and i could not move once the car came to a stop. i have google this particular issue with other ford escapes 2008, and many other folks have the same issue or are complaining about a sticky or loose gas pedal. this is a very serious and dangerous issue. i could have been involved in a very horrible accident, and other folks are at similar risk.

Truck is accelerating and switching gears on its own. while at a traffic light , a wrench light pops on and the truck begins to switch gears. once the truck is turned off, the wrench light goes away but returns after driving begins again. truck is not getting enough power when driving as if it is going to shut off. there are also jerking motions while driving.

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 ford escape. while driving 5 mph, the contact lost control of the steering wheel and the steering warning indicator illuminated. the vehicle was diagnosed as needing a new steering column. the manufacturer was notified of the failure. the contact referenced nhtsa campaign number: 14v284000 (steering); however, the vin was not included. the failure mileage was approximately 100,000. updated 08/02/16*lj the consumer stated after the steering column was replaced, she had to purchase a throttle control at a cost of $800, because the vehicle was accelerating on its own.

Accelerator pedal sticking, intermittently not working

Purchased a 2008 ford escape new in 2008 and have had it worked on 3 different times for the accelerator sticking caused by the throttle body. it was never replaced. now because i have 116000 miles on it i just got taken advantage of. once again the accelerator stuck and luckily i was able to pull over and hold the brake and shut it off. i paid $110 to tow it to a ford dealership. well now it is going to cost me $1000 to replace the throttle body. this should have been done previously and now it seems to be on me or risk being killed due to this safety issue. even if it was never issued as a recall item i have had issues with this since purchasing it new in 2008. i want something done. i did call ford mtr co and was told they could not help me because the vehicle has over 100000 miles on it. well if it had been handled even once in the past 3 times it could have gotten me killed then it would not be an issue now. *js

Acceleration is labored. the vehicle skips gears when driving at a low speed rate. the vehicle will jerk and make noises as it skipping through 2nd and 4th gear. unfortunately, this happened in traffic at rush hour.

I had traveled about 8 miles and was traveling at 40mph when the speed of the vehicle remained at 40mph without my foot being on gas pedal (cruise was not on). i successfully stop at traffic light with engine still excelarating (rpms were at 2k)). while sitting at light the engine reved to about 5k rpms as i held the brake. i pulled over to verify that nothing was under the gas pedal. this happened to more times on 9/9/15. morning of 9/10 it worked fine until i had traveled 8-10 miles then the same thing happened. i have taken it to a garage and the can not find anything wrong or recreate the problem. thank god i was not traveling at 75mph when this happened because i doubt the brakes would stopped me. the garage has kept the car tonight to try to recreate the problem. i am afraid to drive the vehicle in fear of hurting someone or myself.

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 ford escape. the contact stated that while at a stop sign and turning right to merge with oncoming traffic, the dashboard displayed "the traction control kicked in" and there was no acceleration available when the accelerator pedal was engaged. the vehicle was taken to the dealer where the tone ring was replaced. the vehicle was repaired. the approximate failure mileage was 117,700.

I had my cruise control on and had used the coast button to slow down when approaching a car in front of me, i proceed to accelerate when the gas peddle continued to go down and speed increase. i pressed the off button on cruise control and it would not turn off. with both feet on the brake the vehicle continued forward. as i left the road way i tried turning vehicle off but it kept running at about 40 miles per hour i tried putting it in neutral and the vehicle continued forward at which time i put the vehicle in park. the engine stopped. after 30 seconds i started the vehicle and the engine roared, so i shut it off. in the process of calling for assistant, less than a minute, i heard a sound of something being release and the gas pedal hit my foot. i started the vehicle and the engine/speed was normal. frick ford dealership says only an acceleration code showing and there is nothing wrong with the vehicle. they said it probably is the floor mat and i should remove them. they only worried about warranty and recall issue and did not advise any service work i would pay for or did the even recommend this.

Attempted to pull into uncoming traffic in a 45mph zone , but could not get to more than 10mph. the power train light appeared as a wrench bottom left of steering wheel. glided/steered car immediatly to closest parking lot and called closest ford dealership.

When i slow down or come to a complete stop the car sounds like it is going to stall & then it feels like i am in neutral. as soon as i press down on gas pedal the car jerks forward. when i was driving home this past saturday night same thing happened & the traction light & abs light came on. i was informed by a co worker same thing happened to him & it was throttle body assembly that was on recall. i was never informed of this by the dealer & now they want to charge me $2,000.00. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 ford escape. the contact stated that the accelerator pedal traveled to the floorboard. the contact was unable to stop the vehicle and crashed into a curb. there were no injuries and a police report was filed. the vehicle was taken to the dealer and it was determined that the accelerator cable needed to be replaced. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure mileage was 74,500. updated 5/15/15*cn updated 06/02/15*jb

We have had throttle body problems since 2008. ford dealer replaced it once in 2008. throttle body sticks and you can't push the gas pedal down. this happens the first 5-15 min of starting the car.. it happened on 3-2-2015 while trying to cross a highway, could not push gas pedal down. we just about got t boned ! also we have had the transmission replaced at 114000 miles. dealer says we have transmission problem again and the throttle problem again. *tr

My car feels like it's jerking into gear. if started off only jerking when i would be at a corner and i needed to make a turn. the car would move very slow and then mum forward. this is very dangerous because any cars coming could possible hit me. after a while it would also jerk when i was stopped at a light and needed to pull off, the car would move forward slowly and then jerk forward. now the jerking is happening while i'm driving. is there something going on with this vehicle? i am scared that i'm going to get hit one day. *tr

2008 ford escape had the recall done for the power steering in september then in november i had everything checked because my gas pedal got stuck. then i got the readout they gave me a list of all of the problems that were wrong with my vehicle which nothing appeared when they did the recall the torque sensor was one of them something that they should have replaced but told me since it didn't read at the time the software was the only thing that they could do and i had to pay for it now.now in february the power steering went back in to manual they will not fix it at the dealership they tell me to call ford. ford tells me that there's nothing that they can do that there's an independent company that handles recalls the dealership tells me to call ford so from september till now i put about 5000 miles on the vehicle i don't think i should have to pay for this the only thing i can think of is to take them to court along with ford motor company i don't understand how they can find so many things wrong with my vehicle now when they had to do a diagnostic check and check the entire vehicle and did not find anything wrong at that time.all they did was software update i dropped it off and had it back in one hour and two months later they want me to pay for all these things wrong with my vehicle when i definitely suspect that everything was wrong with it at the time they just don't want to pay for anything and i definitely feel like the government should go after them. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2008 ford escape. the contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the accelerator pedal became stuck. the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. the manufacturer was notified of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 103,000.

Approximately in march of 2014, we had an issue with the abs light coming on and traction control coming on for no reason at all. this made driving/steering extremely difficult. we took it to the shop where the tone ring and speed sensor were replaced. in december 2014, we had similar issues and we took it to the ford dealership. we were told it was a speed sensor issue again. the work was done at the independent shop though since they did the original work. yet again, in january 2015 we were experiencing the same issues again and had the car towed to the shop. the left front speed sensor was diagnosed as the problem. there is obviously some sort of failure that is occurring to trigger this issue. if you do a google search, there are several complaints similar to mine. i believe this should be investigated for a possible recall. this is crating a safety issue that can lead to accidents. *tr

While driving the vehicle it stopped accelerating & lost rpms. the suv jolted forward & back & did not have enough power to accelerate. it made a revving sound each time the gas pedal was pressed. at moments the suv would accelerate slowly but then repeat the process over. *tr

I was driving on the freeway with cruise control on and the safety issue occurred when i tried to slow down/turn off the cruise control. the cruise control would not turn off and the brakes did not work. i was stomping on the brake with both feet and the car was not slowing down. after riding the brakes the car slowed down and i was able to pull into the scales on the side of the freeway. ford replaced the cruise control cable for $235 and said there was no recall for this safety issue. this was a very dangerous issue and i believe it should be free to fix. *tr

Throttle body actuator system failure. surging, unnecessary revving at low speeds. inconsistent acceleration and gear change. trouble code "p2112 throttle actuator system stuck". *tr

Gas pedal sticks when air temp is below 20 degrees. can't press pedal to get gas to engine. *tr

Driving down the road the power cut out to the vehicle, and the throttle stopped responding, the engine continued to run but very labored. at the same time the wrench light lit up on the dash. using the forward momentum i was able to pull the vehicle over, where it stalled. i was able to re-tart the engine where it ran labored again, and stalled out, the throttle was not responsive during this time at all. after approximately 10 re-starts with the last coming after the vehicle sat awhile, i was able to re-start it and drive it normal. throttle response returned, and the wrench light was off. this issue occurred for my wife again on 11/12 with a similar result. *tr

Difficulty shifting from gears. throttling high before shifting. i have replaced transmission three times in this vehicle. *tr

When i would try to accelerate whether from a stopped position or already in motion my gas pedal sticks. i'm unable to press it down and i lose speed. each time i press the gas pedal or brake pedal i hear a pop. i was trying to merge onto the highway and it suddenly wouldn't let me accelerate for a few minutes. this is very dangerous and frightening. it also does this if i'm already in motion of if i try to accelerate from a stopped position. i fear for my life and the life of my family. i take my husband to work an hour away, this is terrifying and unacceptable. i also transport my children to their jobs and schools. please help before someone gets killed.

After years (since early on in the ownership of the vehicle purchased new from the dealer) of intermittent problems with my gas pedal sticking (mostly in colder weather), the most recent incident was by far the worst and, like many other 2008 ford escape owners with the same issue, i am very lucky that it occurred in an area where i was not in immediate danger from other cars. i was stopped at a stop sign and when i pressed the gas pedal to move forward the pedal started to respond then fell to the floor with no further response. there was no power to move forward and no warning lights came on. i lifted the pedal to make sure that it was not stuck on anything and it just fell limply back to the floor. i manipulated the arm under the pedal with my hand until it loosened up and the pedal was able to engage again. i then drove to my destination without further incident. this is not the first time this has happened and if my car does not become part of the "customer satisfaction program," i am sure that it will not be the last. the nhtsa investigation of alleged throttle body failures in 2005-2012 ford escape vehicles sharing the same or substantially similar part, did not result in enough vehicles being included in the resulting ford "customer satisfaction program," which only included cars from 2009-2012, when it should have included many more cars. the complaint forums are filled with many complaints regarding the same issue from at least 2008 ford escape owners. to not include everyone from the initial investigation is doing a disservice and it will be sad day when the rest of the car owners are included only because somebody has died! *tr

Stuck gas pedal: as i was driving to work in moderately heavy traffic on us 127 in michigan at approximately 8 a.m., on 10 october 2014, the gas pedal froze on my (manual transmission) 2008 ford escape and i began to lose speed quickly from the 70 mph i had been traveling. the pedal would not move up or down no matter how hard i pushed or pulled at it. i tried kicking it as best as i could but it would not budge, and the floor mat was not near the pedal at all. i had to maneuver to the shoulder of the road and continued 'coasting' while i tried to get the pedal to move. the area i was at was not conducive to a full stop unless absolutely necessary due to the clearance on the side of the road and the curve i was on. my speed had dropped to less than 55 mph when the gas pedal finally released and i was able to push it down to increase my speed again and eventually work back into traffic, though with caution in case it happened again as i was still not in an area safe for a full stop. the temperature at that time was around freezing. i took the escape to the ford dealer and they said no codes appeared when scanned so there was nothing to indicate it had happened. they also told me that neither my vehicle, nor the throttle assembly in it are listed as part of the recall for "sticky accelerator pedal" for ford escapes. this is a 2008 manual transmission, 4 cy., 4-door, 2wd escape. why was it not included in the recall? i've had problems with the gas pedal 'catching' and then immediately releasing since we bought it (at about 16000 miles), but the dealer could never duplicate the problem and thus did nothing about it. my online research indicates this "frozen" or "stuck" pedal (where the pedal will not depress at all) is not a new issue and across all model years, yet nothing has been done by ford and they refuse to acknowledge it. *tr