Other engine problem on the 2001 Ford Escape
5 crashes 14 fires 2 injuries 21 of the 208 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2001 Ford Escape report other engine problem at a median of 47,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 27,500 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles, from 66 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 22,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 135,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 113,549 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
32% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22,163 miles | 27,112 miles | 46,805 miles | 104,500 miles | 135,712 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 5 a crash, 14 a fire and 2 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $300–$4,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 25 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2024, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2004 at 105,000 miles.
By volume the 2017 carries the most reports, with 810; the 2001 has 208. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
I have a 2001 ford escape xlt with approx. 54,000 miles. Near the end of my 45 minute morning commute, as I was slowing to go through a traffic light, my vehicle stalled and I lost power steering and braking abilities. Luckily, I was able to safely pull to the side of the road. I turned off the ignition and then restarted the car and was able to continue without further incident. This was the 2nd time that this has happened - the first was shortly after I first purchased the car (in early 2002). I took it to my dealer and explained the issue. Upon investigation, the dealer was unable to reproduce the problem. I am not sure if this is related, but I have also experienced numerous 'false' warning lights that the dealer has been unable to reproduce.
Third time in 2 years SUV has lost power driving on highway. Loss of steering and brakes nearly caused multiple accidents of I-95. Called dealer, was told other complaints exist, ford is aware of complaint, but unable to duplicate problem. *jb
2001 escape stalling - I am driving down the road and the escape just stops right in the middle of traffic or when I am turning. This is very scary and I have been lucky since it happened once on the interstate in 4 four lanes of traffic. I have tried to contact ford about it to see if they had a recall or service bulletin and they left a voice mail with no telephone number. Now they have unanswered 3 additional emails. I contacted the local dealer and he says he knows nothing about escape stalling even though it is all over the internet where they say the dealers can not fix it. My dealer is just making guesses. This is why I wanted at least a service bulletin so I do not have to go through a guessing game with my dealer. I am very scared of my escape now especially in interstate traffic. *jb
Also reported on the 2001 Ford Escape
Other electrical problem
Other speed control problem
ABS module or sensor failure
Other powertrain problem
Other body or interior problem
Stalling while driving
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 208 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other engine problem happen on the 2001 Ford Escape?
Across 66 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 47,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 27,500 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2001 Ford Escape?
208 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.6 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed