Other electrical problem on the 2005 Ford Escape
2 fires 2 of the 64 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 electrical problem gets reported
Owners of the 2005 Ford Escape report other electrical problem at a median of 102,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 75,000 miles and a quarter after 132,500 miles, from 52 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 11th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 32,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 152,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 119,585 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.
12% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31,815 miles | 75,000 miles | 102,500 miles | 131,500 miles | 151,400 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, 2 a fire is 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 $250–$2,000 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 24 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2022 at 260,000 miles.
By volume the 2013 carries the most reports, with 201; the 2005 has 64. 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.
Just purchased a 2005 escape xlt a few weeks ago, and since day 1 the cd system inadvertantely fades in & out to the point where it loses all base and sounds like it's in a tunnel at times. This last for approximately 4-5 minutes and then the normal volume/sound returns, only for it to occur again a few minutes later. Concern here is an electrical problem which could be causing other issues. Have scheduled an appointment for examination.*ak
My wife started our 2005 escape and placed our grandaughter in her car seat. My wife smelled something burning and when she looked out her window, she noticed the driver's side mirror was engulfed in flames. She quickly shut the vehicle off, removed my crying grandaughter from her seat, and attempted to put the flames out. She eventually succeeded, but not before the heat cracked the mirror and melted the housing. I took my vehicle to a ford dealership, and it was discovered (and noted) that the heating element inside the mirror melted and started the fire. Pictures were taken and sent to ford motor company for repair authorization. Ford responded with a letter to me, titled "general release of all claims," and directed me to sign it before repairs could be authorized. I did not sign the legal document, as I was unsure of the meaning of all the legal terms. On 18 feb 05, a representative from ford motor comapany consumer affairs called me. (vincent d. Kirksey) he was very rude and demanding. He basically told me I had two options: either sign the form and have ford repair my vehicle, or he would rescind the "offer" and make me go…
I have a 2005 ford escape. When bringing the car to a stop in traffic it sometimes jumps ahead for sevearl feet before I'm able to bring it to a full stop. I have owned the car for ten months and this has occurred on five separate occasions. I have had the car inspected by the local ford dealer on several different occasions. They have tried but are unable to determine the cause. Believe me, it has nothing to do with putting the foot on the wrong pedal, etc. Etc. At this point I'm unable to determine whether the problem results from acceleration from the motor or slippage in the braking system. *ak
Also reported on the 2005 Ford Escape
Other body or interior problem
Other suspension problem
Strut, shock or spring failure
Rust or structural corrosion
Other speed control problem
Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 64 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 electrical problem happen on the 2005 Ford Escape?
Across 52 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 102,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 75,000 miles and a quarter after 132,500 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other electrical problem on the 2005 Ford Escape?
64 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.0 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