2017 FORD ESCAPE — Complaint #2142238
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES:TAILGATE:LATCH filed October 22, 2025
NHTSA complaint #2142238 (ODI reference 11695049) concerns a 2017 FORD ESCAPE and was filed on October 22, 2025. The owner reports the failure occurred on October 21, 2024. The vehicle had 65,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Ohio based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as latches/locks/linkages:tailgate:latch, 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 latches/locks/linkages:tailgate:latch 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 the tailgate unexpectedly opened while driving. The contact stated that the tailgate could be opened manually or with the key fob. The contact stated that depressing the button near the tailgate failed to open the tailgate. The tailgate ajar message was displayed. The contact attempted to resolve the issue by changing the key fob battery, but the issue persisted. The local dealer was contacted and suggested a diagnostic test be performed. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and confirmed that there was no recall coverage on the VIN and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline to report the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 65,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2142238 |
| ODI Number | 11695049 |
| Date Filed | October 22, 2025 |
| Failure Date | October 21, 2024 |
| VIN | 1FMCU0JD2HU |
Similar LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES:TAILGATE:LATCH Complaints for 2017 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.