What goes wrong with a 2020 Ford Escape?
Owners and drivers have submitted 2,468 complaints about this vehicle to NHTSA. They are reports, not confirmed defects, and here is what they are about.
Owners and drivers have submitted 2,468 complaints about the 2020 Ford Escape to NHTSA, spread across 59 component categories. The most reported category is structure, with 675 reports. A complaint is somebody telling the federal government what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect, not a manufacturer finding, and not a failure rate.
- Complaints submitted
- 2,468
- Component categories
- 59
- Most reported
- Structure
- Latest report
- August 4, 2026
Data: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, as ingested August 17, 2026
What these numbers are, before the table
These are complaints submitted to NHTSA by owners and drivers. They are reports, not confirmed defects and not a manufacturer finding, and they are not a failure rate: a car that sold well collects more of them than a rare one for no other reason than that more people own it.
The component category is chosen by the person filing, out of NHTSA's own list, which is why one of the largest categories on almost every vehicle is "unknown or other". Read the table as a map of what owners chose to report rather than as a ranking of what breaks.
All 59 categories.
Most reported first. Crashes, fires, injuries and deaths are counts of reports that also mentioned one, as recorded by the person filing.
| Component | Complaints | Crashes | Fires | Injuries | Latest report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Structure | 675 | 1 | 0 | 8 | July 21, 2026 |
| Unknown or other | 304 | 3 | 1 | 6 | July 16, 2026 |
| Power train | 235 | 4 | 0 | 3 | July 28, 2026 |
| Electrical system | 157 | 0 | 0 | 0 | August 4, 2026 |
| Fuel system, gasoline | 117 | 0 | 1 | 0 | August 4, 2026 |
| Engine | 114 | 0 | 1 | 0 | August 1, 2026 |
| Structure | 105 | 0 | 0 | 2 | June 23, 2026 |
| Forward collision avoidance | 90 | 2 | 2 | 1 | June 10, 2026 |
| Fuel/propulsion system | 73 | 0 | 1 | 0 | June 20, 2026 |
| Engine | 64 | 0 | 1 | 0 | August 14, 2025 |
| Unknown or other | 61 | 0 | 1 | 0 | February 28, 2025 |
| Latches/locks/linkages | 53 | 1 | 0 | 1 | August 3, 2025 |
| Electrical system | 43 | 0 | 1 | 0 | July 3, 2026 |
| Visibility/wiper | 41 | 0 | 0 | 0 | July 13, 2026 |
| Service brakes | 32 | 3 | 0 | 0 | July 29, 2026 |
| Power train | 31 | 0 | 0 | 2 | July 27, 2026 |
| Back over prevention | 29 | 2 | 0 | 0 | August 4, 2026 |
| Visibility | 24 | 0 | 0 | 1 | July 6, 2026 |
| Wheels | 20 | 1 | 0 | 1 | May 1, 2026 |
| Steering | 18 | 2 | 0 | 0 | June 5, 2026 |
| Vehicle speed control | 18 | 3 | 0 | 2 | October 22, 2025 |
| Lane departure | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | September 20, 2025 |
| Air bags | 12 | 10 | 0 | 6 | May 20, 2026 |
| Engine and engine cooling | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | February 21, 2026 |
| Seat belts | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | April 2, 2026 |
| Seats | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | November 3, 2025 |
| Suspension | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | March 23, 2026 |
| Back over prevention | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | June 23, 2026 |
| Exterior lighting | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | April 8, 2024 |
| Forward collision avoidance | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | December 25, 2023 |
| Lane departure | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | December 25, 2023 |
| Service brakes, hydraulic | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | March 31, 2026 |
| Tires | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | October 15, 2025 |
| Visibility/wiper | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | December 13, 2024 |
| Fuel/propulsion system | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | November 22, 2024 |
| Service brakes | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | September 28, 2023 |
| Vehicle speed control | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | May 12, 2026 |
| Steering | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | March 3, 2024 |
| Air bags | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | December 11, 2023 |
| Fuel system, gasoline | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | August 11, 2024 |
| Parking brake | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | March 1, 2023 |
| Service brakes, air | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | December 9, 2024 |
| Electronic stability control (ESC) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | September 1, 2024 |
| Exterior lighting | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | July 24, 2024 |
| Firerelated | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | November 9, 2023 |
| Latches/locks/linkages | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | March 15, 2023 |
| Electronic stability control (ESC) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | June 29, 2020 |
| Engine and engine cooling | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | February 27, 2025 |
| Equipment | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | March 14, 2024 |
| Fuel system, diesel | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | March 29, 2023 |
| Other/i am not sure | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | August 15, 2022 |
| Seats | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | May 8, 2021 |
| Service brakes, air | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | June 1, 2023 |
| Service brakes, hydraulic | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | January 8, 2024 |
| Tires | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | January 25, 2022 |
| Traction control system | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | February 1, 2024 |
| Unknown or other | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | May 1, 2021 |
| Visibility | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | April 17, 2023 |
| Wheels | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | February 11, 2021 |
Of the 2,468 complaints filed about this vehicle, 35 mentioned a crash, 12 a fire and 38 an injury. These are counts of what reporters wrote, not findings, and NHTSA does not verify them at the point of filing.
What to do if your car is doing one of these
A category on this page is not a diagnosis. If your car is making a noise, showing a light, or leaking something, the useful question is what that symptom means and whether it needs the shop tonight or next week.
The symptoms guide works the other way round from this page: it starts with what you can hear, see or smell and says whether it is roadside, a tow, or a booking. If what you are seeing matches a recall campaign on this vehicle, the repair is free at a franchised dealer.
Who works on Escapes in Brooklyn?
We do, at 619 Coney Island Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11218, family owned since 1977. Diagnostics first, then the work, and a flatbed if it will not start where it sits.
NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, owner-submitted complaints. Anyone may file one, they are published as filed, and NHTSA opens an investigation only when a pattern in them warrants it. A complaint that led to an investigation and a complaint that did not look identical in this table.
Registration counts: New York State DMV registration file, five New York City counties, August 17, 2026 snapshot. A registration is a record in a state database, not a car on the road, and the borough is where the registrant receives mail rather than where the car is driven. How we counted.
Fuel economy: EPA and DOE ratings published at FuelEconomy.gov, unaveraged, so each configuration is its own row. Recalls and complaints: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, the agency's own wording, as ingested August 17, 2026. Complaints are reports members of the public filed, not confirmed defects. The NYC registration study is the analysis these counts sit on top of.
234 vehicles in this directory, covering 520,848 registered cars. Data as of August 17, 2026.