2018 FORD ESCAPE — Complaint #2103954
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION:TORQUE CONVERTER filed June 25, 2025
NHTSA complaint #2103954 (ODI reference 11669282) concerns a 2018 FORD ESCAPE and was filed on June 25, 2025. The owner reports the failure occurred on June 22, 2025. The vehicle had 56,500 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Minnesota based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as power train:automatic transmission:torque converter, 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 power train:automatic transmission:torque converter 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
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving 70 MPH, the transmission was slipping, and the power train malfunction warning light was illuminated. In addition, the contact became aware of fluids leaking underneath the vehicle and accumulating on the rear glass. The contact drove the vehicle to a nearby parking space and turned off the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed with a fractured flex plate, a failed torque converter, a failed front pump, a failed crank shaft and engine failure. The contact was informed that the suggestive repairs would be to replace the flex plate, torque converter and the front pump. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but provided no assistance. The contact was advised to contact the NHTSA Hotline to report the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 56,500.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2103954 |
| ODI Number | 11669282 |
| Date Filed | June 25, 2025 |
| Failure Date | June 22, 2025 |
| VIN | 1FMCU9GD2JU |
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.