2021 Ford Escape at 38,792 miles
You did not give a mileage, so this uses 38,792 — the median reported failure mileage for this model year, which is a rough stand-in for “a typical example of this car”. Put your real reading in the box below for an answer about your car.
At 38,792 miles on this car
At 38,792 miles on a 2021 Ford Escape, 16 of the failure modes other owners have reported already have their median report at or below your reading, and 1 more fall inside the window where they are usually reported. The heaviest of the ones already due is other brake problem.
Already past the median 16
Half of all reports of these failures came in at or below where your car is now.
- Other brake problem 5k
- Other driver assistance problem 32k
- Fuel injector failure 3k
- Loss of braking 3k
- Backup camera failure 6k
- Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure 14k
- Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure 15k
- Software fault or failed update 5k
- Other wheel or tire problem 27k
- Other lighting problem 5k
- Wiring harness or short circuit 31k
- Overheating 35k
4 more.
You are in the window 1
Your reading falls inside the middle half of reports for these.
Typically later 18
Reported further down the road than where you are.
- Complete engine failure or seizure 40k
- Other suspension problem 42k
- Other powertrain problem 51k
- Other electrical problem 51k
- Excessive oil consumption 58k
- Other engine problem 65k
- Alternator or charging system failure 79k
- Fuel leak or fuel odor 80k
- Other fuel system problem 89k
- Loss of power steering 91k
- Complete transmission failure 95k
- Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure 98k
6 more.
Timing unknown 25
Reported, but too few owners gave an odometer reading to place them.
- Sunroof failure or glass breakage 10×
- Infotainment screen failure 9×
- Lane keep or steering assist fault 7×
- Misfire or rough idle 4×
- Engine sensor failure 4×
- Oil leak 3×
- Cruise control failure 3×
- Radiator or coolant leak 2×
- Fuel gauge or level sensor failure 2×
- Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure 2×
- ABS module or sensor failure 2×
- Window regulator or power window failure 2×
13 more.
Why the list is generic until you type a number
Every figure below is a comparison against your odometer, so with no reading given the page has to pick one: 38,792 miles, roughly what a 2021 car covers at 12,000 miles a year. A reading 30,000 miles either side of that moves failures between the columns, which is the difference between a useful list and a generic one.
Already inside the reported range
16 failure modes on the 2021 Ford Escape have a median reported mileage at or below 38,792: other brake problem (median 5,000 miles, 44 reports), other driver assistance problem (median 30,000 miles, 18 reports), fuel injector failure (median 5,000 miles, 8 reports), loss of braking (median 5,000 miles, 8 reports), backup camera failure (median 5,000 miles, 6 reports) and steering rack, gear or tie rod failure (median 15,000 miles, 5 reports).
These are the ones worth mentioning to a mechanic by name at the next service. Being past a median is not being overdue — it means the reports cluster below where you are now, so if the failure was going to be typical, it would already have happened.
The window you are in now
1 further mode is reported in a band that includes 38,792 miles: other body or interior problem (22k to 45,000 miles). These are the ones to watch on this car over the next few thousand miles.
A window here is the 25th to 75th percentile of reported mileages, so it holds the middle half of the reports and excludes the tails on both sides.
Still ahead of you
18 further modes sit above your reading, the nearest being complete engine failure or seizure at a median of 40,000 miles. On a car you intend to keep, these are the ones that decide whether it is worth keeping.
What this list is not
It is a reading of what owners of other 2021 Ford Escapes reported, and at what odometer reading they reported it. It is not a maintenance schedule, not a diagnosis, and not a prediction about this car: two identical cars with different service histories are not the same car.
Complaints are filed voluntarily, mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers, and a failure mode with few reports has a wide window even when the median looks precise. Modes with fewer than 8 dated reports are shown without percentiles for that reason.
Where 38,792 miles falls on the curve
The three columns above sort the failure modes one by one. This is the same evidence in aggregate: every dated report on this model year, stacked up in the order the odometer readings arrived. The dashed line marked you is where your car sits. How much of the line is to the left of that mark is how much of this model year's reported trouble is, on the evidence, already behind you.
About 43% of the dated reports on this model year had already been filed by 38,792 miles. That is the share of the problems that show up in this record, not of the problems this car will have.
- Line share of reports filed by that mileage
- Dashed the mileages called out above
A steep early climb means a car whose reports cluster young, which is the pattern of a defect rather than of wear. A line that only gets going past six figures is the opposite. Neither shape says anything about the specific car in your driveway, and a curve built from a few dozen readings can be moved by one owner with a talkative afternoon.
Full report for the 2021 Ford Escape Compare with another car
Questions this page answers
What should I expect at 38,792 miles on a 2021 Ford Escape?
16 of the failure modes owners have reported on the 2021 Ford Escape have a median report at or below 38,792 miles, and 1 more fall inside the mileage window where they are usually reported. That is a watch list drawn from other owners, not a prediction about this car.
How to use the three columns. The left column is the list to hand a mechanic before you buy, and to check the service history for if you already own the car. The middle column is what to budget for this year. The right column is not a reprieve — it is a reminder that a used car has a bill schedule, and this is roughly where it falls. All of it is drawn from 463 owner complaints about this exact model year, not from a maintenance manual. How the percentiles are computed.
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