2002 FORD ESCAPE — Complaint #439522
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:IGNITION filed November 6, 2003
NHTSA complaint #439522 (ODI reference 10046524) concerns a 2002 FORD ESCAPE and was filed on November 6, 2003. The vehicle had 35,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Missouri based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as electrical system:ignition, 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 electrical system:ignition 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 2002 FORD ESCAPE shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
VEHICLE LOST POWER WITHOUT WARNING. ALSO, IT EFFECTED THE ABILITY TO STEER THE VEHICLE.*AK DEALER WOULD HONOR THE WARRANTY. IN THE TSB THAT WAS ISSUED, THE DIAGNOSTICS ITEMS WERE FINE. FORD THINK THEY NEED TO CHANGE THE ITEMS ON THE TSB. *PH
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 439522 |
| ODI Number | 10046524 |
| Date Filed | November 6, 2003 |
| VIN | 1FMCU03162K |
Similar ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:IGNITION Complaints for 2002 FORD ESCAPE
The contact owns a 2002 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while shifted in park(P), the key failed to release while the engine was running. The contact drove to a local O'Reilly's where one of the
DT*: THE CONTACT STATED WHILE DRIVING 40 MPH, THE VEHICLE STALLED. IT WAS MANEUVERED OFF THE ROAD AND RESTARTED HOWEVER, THE VEHICLE WOULD NOT ACCELERATE PAST 20 MPH AND STALLED AGAIN WHEN THE BRAKE
FOLLOW UP TO AN EARLIER REPORT REGARDING A 2002 FORD ESCAPE XLT WITH IGNITION COIL PROBLEMS. ON MAY 30, THE VEHICLE LOST ANOTHER IGNITION COIL (3 PREVIOUSLY HAD DIED) AFTER SITTING OVERNIGHT IN A RAI
I OWN A 2002 FORD ESCAPE XLT WHICH I PURCHASED NEW IN 2001. LAST JUNE, I DID NOT USE THE VEHICLE FOR SEVERAL DAYS DURING WHICH TIME IT RAINED. WHEN I WENT TO START THE ENGINE, IT RAN SLUGGISHLY AND
WHEN DRIVING AT ANY SPEED THE VEHICLE STALLS. THERE ARE TIMES WHEN TRYING TO START THE VEHICLE TAKES AT LEAST SEVEN MINUTES. THIS VEHICLE HAS BEEN TO THE DEALER THREE TIMES, AND IS AT THE DEALERS
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.