2018 FORD ESCAPE — Complaint #1872081
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STRUCTURE:INTERIOR PANELS:DASHBOARD filed February 9, 2023
NHTSA complaint #1872081 (ODI reference 11506366) concerns a 2018 FORD ESCAPE and was filed on February 9, 2023. The owner reports the failure occurred on January 19, 2023. The report was geocoded to South Carolina based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as structure:interior panels:dashboard, 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: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. 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 cohort independently describe similar structure:interior panels:dashboard 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 2018 FORD ESCAPE shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
I took my car into Lugoff Ford, in South Carolina today, because the passenger side dashboard is lifting up near the glove box, and I felt the transmission slip. I noticed this (Dash issue) has happened on the 2020 Fords. I was told today by the dealer that the "The Clips failed to secure the dash, probably because of to much vibration." I would have to pay $298.00 for a new dash, I have 17,279 miles on it, so under 20,000 miles these clips failed? It sat in my garage for the first 4 years of having the car. I'm 68 years old, and only drive to doctors mainly, not sure how much vibration I could cause on this, just concerned how many more people are actually doing the same, and no one is reporting them. Safety issue to me would be if the other clips failed on driver side, and the dash rose up BLOCKING YOUR VIEW WHILE DRIVING. I DO have Premium warranty on my car until 2026, but was told it doesn't cover the dash. Thank you for your assistance.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1872081 |
| ODI Number | 11506366 |
| Date Filed | February 9, 2023 |
| Failure Date | January 19, 2023 |
| VIN | 1FMCU0HD8JU |
Similar STRUCTURE:INTERIOR PANELS:DASHBOARD Complaints for 2018 FORD ESCAPE
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.