2009 FORD ESCAPE HYBRID — Complaint #1558140
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SERVICE BRAKES filed April 15, 2019
NHTSA complaint #1558140 (ODI reference 11196529) concerns a 2009 FORD ESCAPE HYBRID and was filed on April 15, 2019. The owner reports the failure occurred on June 23, 2018. The vehicle had 95,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Illinois based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as service brakes, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: yes, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same FORD ESCAPE HYBRID cohort independently describe similar service brakes failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2009 FORD ESCAPE HYBRID shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
MY ABS BRAKES ON MY 2009 FORD ESCAPE HYBRID ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON AND THE RPM RAMPED WHILE I WAS GOING 65 MPH DOWN A HIGHWAY AND THE FRONT PASSENGER BRAKES STARTED SMOKING. I TOOK IT IN TO HAVE IT FIXED AND IT WAS GOING TO COST $5700 TO FIX BECAUSE OF SOME HCU UNIT THAT FAILED WHILE I WAS DRIVING AT PRETTY GOOD RATE OF SPEED. I AM GLAD IT DIDN'T THROW ME OFF INTO A DITCH OR CATCH ON FIRE WITH ME IN IT. WHAT A CRAPPY DESIGN THIS IS. WOW!!! SCARY STUFF.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1558140 |
| ODI Number | 11196529 |
| Date Filed | April 15, 2019 |
| Failure Date | June 23, 2018 |
| VIN | 1FMCW49H68K |
Similar SERVICE BRAKES Complaints for 2009 FORD ESCAPE HYBRID
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2009 FORD ESCAPE HYBRID. THE CONTACT STATED WHILE DRIVING 55 MPH, THE CHECK BRAKING SYSTEM, TRACTION CONTROL AND EMERGENCY BRAKE WARNING LIGHT WAS ILLUMINATED. THE CONTACT DROVE
HCU MALFUNCTIONING CAUSING BRAKE SYSTEM FAILURE WHILE DRIVING. DEADLY FLAW IN BRAKE SYSTEM DESIGN
I HAVE HAD THE SUV FOR 3 MONTHS. I'M EXPERIENCING TOTAL BREAK LOSS. THE FIRST TIME I ALMOST REAR ENDED ANOTHER VEHICLE.
HYDRAULIC CENTRAL UNIT FAILED, REQUIRING REPLACEMENT TO PREVENT FAILURE OF THE SYSTEM AND LOSS OF BRAKING ABILITY OF THE CAR.
CAR PASSED SAFETY INSPECTION IN MAY 2018. BRAKE PADS WERE REPLACED IN MAY 2017. ON THE HIGHWAY WHEN MY BRAKES FAILED IN JUNE 2018. WAS GOING ABOUT 55 MPH. HAD CAR TOWED. PROBLEM WAS DIAGNOSED AS A M
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.