- Vehicles
- 348,950
- Built between
- Oct 1999 – Dec 2003
- Models
- 1
- Recall type
- Vehicle
- Initiated by
- Manufacturer
- Owners notified
- 30 May 2014
- Repaired
- 37%
- Unrepaired
- 198,205
Does this affect my vehicle?
This recall covers vehicles built between October 1999 and December 2003. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.
- 2001-2004 Ford EscapeBuilt October 1999 to December 2003
Repair progress
198,205 of 348,950 vehicles in this recall had still not been repaired as of Q3 2015.
37% repaired — 129,882 of 348,950 reported
- Owners not reachable
- 20,532
- Scrapped or exported
- 331
Manufacturers file these figures with NHTSA each quarter. Vehicles the manufacturer could not trace, or that have been scrapped or exported, are counted separately and are not included in the unrepaired figure.
What the defect is
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain model year 2001-2004 Escape vehicles manufactured October 22, 1999, through January 23, 2004, originally sold, or currently registered in, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia. These vehicles may experience excessive corrosion at the forward attachment of the lower control arm.
What could happen
A separation of the lower control arm can result in a significant loss of steering control, increasing the risk of a crash.
What gets fixed
Ford will notify owners, and dealers will install a newly designed reinforcement cross-brace, free of charge. The recall began on May 30, 2014.
Timeline
- Vehicles builtOctober 1999 to December 2003
- Recall reported to NHTSA2 April 2014
- Owners notified30 May 2014
- Latest repair reportQ3 2015 — 37% repaired
Your rights
A safety recall repair is free. Under US federal law the manufacturer must fix a safety defect at no cost to you — no charge for parts, labor or diagnosis — whether or not you are the original owner. A dealer cannot charge you for recall work, and cannot require you to have bought the vehicle from them.
That entitlement is not unlimited. It applies where the vehicle was first sold less than 15 years before the recall was announced — 5 years for tires. Past that a manufacturer may still do the repair free of charge, and many do, but they are no longer obliged to. This recall was reported on 2 April 2014.
To arrange the repair, contact any franchised dealer for the brand. If a dealer refuses the work or tries to charge for it, you can report that to NHTSA at nhtsa.gov/recalls or on 1-888-327-4236.
Manufacturer contact
Owners may contact Ford at 1-800-392-3673. Ford's number for this recall is 14S02.
Official source
- Manufacturer's recall number
- 14S02
- Recalling manufacturer
- Ford Motor Company
- Recall initiated by
- MFR
Everything on this page — the models listed, the build dates and the repair figures — comes from the manufacturer's filing to NHTSA and describes the vehicle line as a whole, not any individual car. Only the manufacturer can confirm whether a specific vehicle is affected, and whether its recall work has already been carried out. Check yours by VIN and read the official notice at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Additional notes
Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.
Check your own vehicle
This page describes the recall, not any one car. To see which recalls cover a specific vehicle, search by make, model and year.
A VIN lookup here identifies your vehicle and shows recalls issued for that make, model and year. It cannot tell you what is still open on your individual car - only the manufacturer knows that. Search by VIN instead, or check your VIN at nhtsa.gov for whether a recall is still open on your individual car.