2001 FORD ESCAPE — Complaint #544009
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL:CABLES filed July 13, 2005
NHTSA complaint #544009 (ODI reference 10128681) concerns a 2001 FORD ESCAPE and was filed on July 13, 2005. The owner reports the failure occurred on June 13, 2005. The vehicle had 54,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Washington based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as vehicle speed control:cables, 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: yes, fire: no, injuries: 1, fatalities: 0. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. 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 vehicle speed control:cables 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 2001 FORD ESCAPE shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
MY WIFE WAS DRIVING OUR 8 YEAR OLD TWINS TO A PIANO RECITAL IN MY 2001 FORD ESCAPE, AND, WHILE GOING UP A STEEP HILL ON A FOUR-LANE ROAD, THE ENGINE DOWNSHIFTED AND THE CAR ACCELERATED OUT OF CONTROL. WHEN SHE REALIZED THAT SHE THE CAR WAS SPEEDING FORWARD WHEN SHE WAS NOT PRESSING ON THE ACCELERATOR, SHE APPLIED THE BRAKES HARD, BUT NOTHING HAPPENED. IN AN ATTEMPT TO AVOID THE CARS, SHE TOOK AN OFF-RAMP BUT QUICKLY REALIZED THAT TRAFFIC WAS STOPPED THERE AS WELL. IN DESPERATION, MY WIFE PULLED THE EMERGENCY BRAKE. THE CAR THEN STOPPED, BUT THEN LOST SHE LOST EVERYTHING. MY ESCAPE STARTED ROLLING BACKWARDS DOWN THE HILL, EVEN WITH THE EMERGENCY BRAKE ON. AGAIN, THE FOOT BRAKE DIDN'T RESPOND. SHE WAS HEADED BACKWARDS DOWN THE 1/2 MILE, STEEPLY GRADED HILL INTO THE CARS COMING UP THE HILL. SHE TURNED THE WHEEL TO BACK UP THE STEEP EMBANKMENT ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD. AFTER BOUNCING BACKWARDS THROUGH THE STEEP DITCH AND TRAVELING ABOUT 14 FEET UP THE EMBANKMENT, THE CAR PAUSED
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 544009 |
| ODI Number | 10128681 |
| Date Filed | July 13, 2005 |
| Failure Date | June 13, 2005 |
| VIN | 1FMYU04161K |
Similar VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL:CABLES Complaints for 2001 FORD ESCAPE
2001 FORD ESCAPE. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARDS TO SAFETY RECALL NOTICE. RECALL # 12V353000. *TGW THE DEALER INFORMED THE CONSUMER, THE PARTS WERE STILL NOT AVAILABLE, EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO
ACCELERATOR CABLE GETS STUCK UNDER PLASTIC ENGINE COVER. *TR
TL*THE CONTACT OWNS A 2001 FORD ESCAPE. WHILE DRIVING 30 MPH AND ATTEMPTING TO USE THE BRAKES, THE VEHICLE WOULD ACCELERATE INSTEAD OF SLOWING DOWN. THE ONLY WAY TO STOP THE VEHICLE WAS TO SHIFT INT
ACCELERATOR PEDAL STICKING. HAD INSPECTED, DETERMINED THROTTLE CABLE NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THIS IS THE 2ND TIME IN 2 YEARS THIS HAS BEEN REPLACED. CURRENT RECALL BY FORD FOR THIS PROBLEM DOES NOT
RECALL CAMPAIGN 00V210001 CONCERNING VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL CABLE. WHILE DRIVINGTHROTTLE CABLE BECOMES INOPERABLE. UPON DEPRESSING THE PEDAL IT WILL STICK. CONSUMER HAS TAKEN THE VEHICLE TO THE DEALE
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.