2006 Ford ESCAPE - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2006 Ford Escape received mixed safety ratings based on the available data. The car achieved a good score of 4 out of 5 for both front crash driver and passenger side ratings, while excelling with a high score of 5 out of 5 for both driver and passenger side in side crash ratings. However, the rollover rating for this vehicle is only 3 out of 5, indicating a moderate risk of rollover accidents. It's worth noting that the car does not have electronic stability control, forward collision warning, or lane departure warning systems, which could impact its overall safety features.

Moreover, the Ford Escape has accumulated a significant number of complaints, with a total of 713 recorded. Additionally, the vehicle has been subject to 6 recalls and 2 investigations, suggesting potential issues that could compromise the car's safety and performance. In conclusion, while the Ford Escape demonstrates solid performance in certain crash scenarios, the absence of modern safety technologies and the high number of complaints and recalls raise concerns about its overall safety and reliability.

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Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

713

Recall Count

6

Investigation Count

2

Safety Rating

Not Rated

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Safety Features

2006 Ford Escape 4-DR. Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2006 Ford Escape 4-DR.

Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

ESC is an advanced safety feature in vehicles designed to help drivers maintain control during challenging driving conditions. By continuously monitoring various factors such as steering angle, vehicle speed, and individual wheel speeds, ESC can detect and reduce the risk of skidding or loss of control. It achieves this by automatically applying brakes to specific wheels to stabilize the vehicle.

No
Forward Collision Warning (FCW)

Forward Collision Warning (FCW) is a safety feature in vehicles that helps prevent frontal collisions by alerting the driver of an imminent collision with a vehicle or obstacle ahead. Using sensors such as radar or cameras, FCW monitors the distance and speed of vehicles in front, and if it detects a potential collision, it provides visual and/or auditory warnings to prompt the driver to take evasive action.

No
Lane Departure Warning (LDW)

Lane Departure Warning (LDW) is a safety feature in vehicles that alerts drivers when their vehicle unintentionally drifts out of its lane without signaling. Utilizing cameras or sensors to monitor lane markings on the road, LDW detects when the vehicle crosses these lines and triggers visual, auditory, or haptic alerts to notify the driver of potential lane departure.

No

2006 Ford Escape 4-DR. Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2006 Ford Escape 4-DR. Where possible we've included the ratings for the oldest and latest models of this car so you can compare how the safety ratings have changed over time.

Frontal Crash Ratings

Combines Driver and Passenger star ratings into a single frontal rating. The frontal barrier test simulates a head-on collision between two similar vehicles, each moving at 35 mph.

Test 2005 Score 2006 Score 2022 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated 5
Front Crash Driver Side Rating 4 4 5
Front Crash Passenger Side Rating 4 4 5

Side Crash Ratings

Combines Side Barrier and Side Pole Star Ratings into a single side rating.

Test 2005 Score 2006 Score 2022 Score
Overall Side Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated 5
Side Crash Drivers Side Rating 5 5 5
Side Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 5 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Front Not Rated Not Rated 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Rear Not Rated Not Rated 5
Overall Side Barrier Rating Not Rated Not Rated 5

Rollover Ratings

The Rollover Resistance test measures the risk of rollover in a single-vehicle, loss-of-control scenario.

Test 2005 Score 2006 Score 2022 Score
Rollover Rating 3 3 4
Rollover Possibility % 0% 0% 0%
Dynamic Tip Result Tip Tip No Tip
Side Pole Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated 5

Complaints for the 2006 Ford ESCAPE

This chart show the number of complaints for each car component. A Higher number of complaints could indicate that this car might have a common fault. Something to look out for when purchasing one.

Component Complaints

Choose a component to see what complaints people have made about them.

Complaint:
"while driving at lower speeds and city speeds, abs light come on with service brake system message appears while driving and turning. braking is tough and barely stops even with hard foot pressure on pedal. this is an ongoing problem that intermittently happens. once you let the car sit for awhile (since you are scared of driving it), the braking system resets and problem is not seen for months...until it occurs again. inquiries to ford about problem estimate the cost of replacing cylinder, hcu, and bleeding brakes far exceeds the value of vehicle. annoying as this brake problem was identified as a weakness of this car's braking system as far back as 2005! why does ford not recall and fix a known problem in a timely manner? may have to scrap an otherwise excellent working vehicle because it is unsafe to drive and unsafe to fellow drivers since it may not reliably stop."
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES
Date of incident: 2021-05-09
Complaint:
"parking / emergency brake failed. cable routed from hand lever to rear brakes goes through a bracket mounted to the underside of the body. bracket separated from under-body of vehicle rendering hand brake inoperable. vehicle was stationary on a slope with regular brakes applied. parking brake was being applied to keep the weight of vehicle on an incline off off transmission park lock."
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES
Date of incident: 2019-01-10
Complaint:
"occasionally when applying smooth pressure on the brake pedal, it becomes very firm and looses braking power. if the pedal is released and reapplied then the brakes work again (for now). this sometimes causes the "check brake system" warning light to appear. this light may or may not remain on after turning the car off for a while. this issue has been reported by many others, and should be handled by ford as a recall as a properly working braking system is vital to the safety of everyone on the road. date indicated is of the most recent occurrence (on the way to the dealership)."
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES
Date of incident: 2020-09-07
Complaint:
"sudden reduced braking capacity while driving. check abs light comes on. one has to push completely down on brakes to get vehicle to stop. wait for 5-10 minutes, system resets and you can continue to drive until at some day and time the same conditions reoccur. research on issue indicates the hcu maybe failing but price to replace exceeds the worth of the vehicle. use of vehicle is now limited due to unpredictable ability to stop car while in motion."
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES
Date of incident: 2019-11-11
Complaint:
"purchased a 2006 ford escape hybrid in oct. of 2018. today (nov 2019) the brake system decided to go out (a known issue with feh) while we were driving on a curvy road while my two kids were in the car. we tried slowing down before entering the curve and the brakes would not work. luckily we are fine but the outcome could have been drastically different. i've only put 10k miles on the car and now ford of ocala is saying even though it's a know issue they will not do anything about it. we spoke with donna who was understanding but still gave us no solution. she forwarded the issue to the sales manager and we are waiting on his call.they basically stole 7 grand from our family. we'll be pursuing this legally until the issue gets resolved."
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES
Date of incident: 2020-03-11
Complaint:
"was heading west driving the vehicle on alameda crossing wagsworth boulevard which the state of colorado says that those are both highways they're more like city streets but highways what is doing a repaving project i personally did not see any notification of work going on as they had strip the asphalt from wadsworth and was repaving left a 6in high drop into the pavement and back up to the old pavement. what is a massive jolt that sure both front brake lines off has no brakes to stop how do you use handbrake. got ahold of cdot and was told martin marietta was the company in charge of the repaving project was told they would not do anything about it as they said that there was warning signs posted."
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES
Date of incident: 2019-01-07
Complaint:
"i am having trouble with my brakes even after all repairs and spending about $1000 dollars my car brake dashboard light is still on and very less brakes are applied .i have to press brakes with lots of thrust but even after that vehicle moves little ahead"
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES
Date of incident: 2019-03-10
Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2006 ford escape. while driving 45 mph and depressing the brake pedal, the service brake system warning indicator illuminated. the brake pedal traveled to the floorboard and the vehicle failed to stop. the contact had to apply the emergency brake to stop the vehicle. the contact powered off the engine. the vehicle was restarted, but the failure recurred. the vehicle was towed to the contact's residence and was later taken to hertrich ford lincoln (1427 bay rd, milford, de 19963, (302) 725-0031) where it was diagnosed that the abs hydraulic control unit needed to be replaced. the vehicle was not repaired due to the repair fees. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle was not under warranty. the approximate failure mileage was 107,405."
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES
Date of incident: 2019-03-05
Complaint:
"this the second ford focus hybrid 2006 we have had a brake pedal issue with. already had to replace brake master and hcu with the 1st one 2yrs ago and have not had the issue again. here we go again with the same model different car and we re visit the same problem with hard to stop or wont stop during normal driving and only periodic. way too much money 7000.00 with 83k miles."
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES
Date of incident: 2021-06-07
Complaint:
"as i was approaching an intersection and red light, my brakes suddenly stopped working. i literally had to stand on the brake and it finally stopped moving. i continued to drive home at less than 10 mph and had to let off the gas in order to slow the vehicle down to attempt to use the brakes and car would shake when brake was applied. took to mechanic who checked the code and it was the travel sensor."
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES
Date of incident: 2019-10-06

Recalls for the 2006 Ford ESCAPE

Component Recalls

Choose a component to see what recalls people have made about them.

Recall:
"ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain model year 2005-2008 ford escape hybrid electric vehicles manufactured october 13, 2003, to june 20, 2008, and 2006-2008 mercury mariner hybrid electric vehicles manufactured june 10, 2005, to june 20, 2008. the coolant pump for the hybrid system may fail resulting in the hybrid electronics overheating."
Consequence:
If the hybrid electronics system overheats, it may shut down the powertrain, resulting in a stall-like condition, increasing the risk of a crash.
Remedy:

Ford will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and replace the original Motor Electronics Coolant (MEC) Pump with an improved brushless pump, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin on October 27, 2014. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 14S19.

Component(s) Involved: HYBRID PROPULSION SYSTEM
Date of incident: 2014-09-03

FORD Overall Complaint Ranking

This table shows the ranking of car manufacturers when it comes to most complaints and recalls. The manufacturer with the most complaints is at the top. However this doesn't necassarily mean they should be avoided. Some manufacturers might just have more popular or affordable cars which a lot of people have bought. Which means there's more scope for a complaint to be made. Use the ranking table below as a part your wider research into buying a car.

FORD ranks 1 out of 44 in the complaints ranking table.

Manufacturer Complaint Count Recall Count Ranking
FORD 208,358 3,259 1
CHEVROLET 111,306 2,082 2
TOYOTA 81,019 1,852 3
HONDA 61,937 1,268 4
NISSAN 56,226 930 5
DODGE 45,756 827 6
HYUNDAI 44,150 649 7
GMC 34,441 1,410 8
KIA 29,832 501 9
CHRYSLER 27,698 254 10
TESLA 26,230 730 11
BMW 24,890 1,877 12
VOLKSWAGEN 23,125 829 13
MERCEDES-BENZ 19,066 2,925 14
SUBARU 18,513 703 15
MAZDA 10,599 364 16
PONTIAC 10,430 138 17
CADILLAC 9,434 444 18
AUDI 7,865 1,093 19
BUICK 7,851 279 20
SATURN 7,672 84 21
MERCURY 7,374 135 22
LEXUS 6,373 408 23
LINCOLN 5,897 423 24
ACURA 5,722 382 25
MINI 5,585 366 26
INFINITI 4,000 187 27
MITSUBISHI 3,912 397 28
VOLVO 3,875 727 29
PORSCHE 2,646 1,231 30
SUZUKI 2,272 123 31
FIAT 2,205 80 32
SAAB 1,536 76 33
JAGUAR 1,195 198 34
SMART 528 17 35
GENESIS 436 42 36
ISUZU 249 37 37
ALFA ROMEO 161 37 38
MASERATI 76 46 39
BENTLEY 46 159 40
POLESTAR 42 2 41
LUCID 14 6 42
CODA 4 2 43
MAYBACH 0 0 44

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