Other engine problem on the 2018 Ford Escape
4 crashes 1 fire 4 injuries 9 of the 554 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 2018 Ford Escape report other engine problem at a median of 82,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 104,000 miles, from 238 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 28,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 124,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 96,601 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.
14% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27,699 miles | 55,250 miles | 81,643 miles | 104,348 miles | 124,300 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, 4 a crash, 1 a fire and 4 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 2018 has 554. 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.
My 2018 ford escape engine light came on. I took it to the dealership to have it checked. They put a machine on it and said you need a new engine. I went to see my salesman and he was not in. I called the next day and told him about my escape. I told him I would not feel safe in it now. He said there was nothing they could do. I called ford motor company and they started a case file on it. Ford said that I need to pick up my escape when it is ready and drive it for at least 5 days, again I told them I didn't feel safe. The case worker said that is how they do things. I am scheduled to pick it up today thursday. June 14, 2018 by 8:00 pm. I have only made 5 payments on the escape. I would like to change my out my lease. The dealership said it would cost me a lot of money to do that. The reasons I get leased cars because they are new and shouldn't need to be at service after the first 5 months of driving it.
Purchased nov 2017- on may 23rd, 2018 my check engine light came on. I contacted services at the ford dealer the following morning. I was at the dealer first thing tuesday morning due to the holiday weekend, where they ran diagnostics on my vehicle. I was informed that it needed a new engine. The engine coolant had mixed with oil and was in the 2nd compression cylindar and a bulletin that this was the steps to be taken to rectify the situation. The engine was replaced with the same engine model as the original with no modification that rectify the manufacture defect I was informed their statistics indicate that 1 in 5 of these vehicles are returning for a second new engine on june 12th, I got the call that my engine had been replaced and it was ready for pick up. I drove it home that evening as well as, to and from work wednesday, thursday and friday. Three days is all it took at about 25 miles a day, friday night on my way home from work the car started shaking on a busy section of the highway, (93sb between 293 and exit 5) where there is construction and little to no pull off points, my speed drops down to 20miles per hour and…
Tl* the contact owns a 2018 ford escape. The contact stated that the vehicle experienced a loss of engine power. As a result, the contact experienced a collision with a tree. A police report was not filed. The failure occurred without warning. The vehicle was taken to lugoff ford (located at 979 us-1, lugoff, sc), but the failure could not be duplicated. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and did not assist. The contact was advised not to operate a vehicle with less than a quarter tank of fuel. There were no injuries. The failure mileage was approximately 7,000. *tt consumer stated car was repaired 12/03/18*jb
Also reported on the 2018 Ford Escape
Misfire or rough idle
Other powertrain problem
Head gasket failure
Radiator or coolant leak
Overheating
Other electrical problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 554 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 2018 Ford Escape?
Across 238 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 82,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 104,000 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 2018 Ford Escape?
554 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 5.7 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