2017 FORD ESCAPE — Complaint #2005058
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about EXTERIOR LIGHTING:TAIL LIGHTS filed July 5, 2024
NHTSA complaint #2005058 (ODI reference 11599242) concerns a 2017 FORD ESCAPE and was filed on July 5, 2024. The owner reports the failure occurred on July 5, 2024. The vehicle had 23,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Michigan based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as exterior lighting:tail lights, 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 exterior lighting:tail lights 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 2017 FORD ESCAPE shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated that upon approaching the vehicle during a rainstorm, the contact observed water pooling inside the taillight assembly. The contact then became aware that the taillights were not functioning as needed. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure with the taillight assembly water seal allowing water to leak into the assembly and short-circuiting the taillights. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was 23,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2005058 |
| ODI Number | 11599242 |
| Date Filed | July 5, 2024 |
| Failure Date | July 5, 2024 |
| VIN | 1FMCU0G90HU |
Similar EXTERIOR LIGHTING:TAIL LIGHTS Complaints for 2017 FORD ESCAPE
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, the contact became aware that the driver's and passenger's side taillight housings were filled with water. Th
The contact's daughter owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated that the headlights and taillights were inoperable. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an unknown loc
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated that upon approaching the vehicle, she became aware that the taillights were retaining water. As a result, the taillight brake lamps failed to f
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.