Very dangerous 2002 Escape

frazfam

At 55000 miles I was driving my daughter's 2002 Escape up a hill. I engaged the passing gear and the accelerator pedal stuck to the floor. I finally turned off ignition at about 80 mph. Very scary. Ford had recalled some 2002s for replacement of throttle cable but not our Escape and Customer Center said they would NOT pay for repair of new cable installation of $146. My daughter said she wouldn't know what to do if she had been driving. If you have loved ones who own a 2002 Escape, tell them about this now! I have bought 5 Fords in a row and I will NEVER buy another. So much for Ford safety, quality first, and customer service. Their slogans are just a PR joke and from my experience they don't care about their customers or even their repeat customers. I hope this doesn't happen to you. By the way, when you try to put on the brakes and slow down, it just causes the passing gear to re-engage and go faster. I have been driving 46 years and this was the most horrifying moment of driving ever.

stever

If you haven't do so already, you may want to file a complaint at the NHTSA (link).

jefty_jeff

What is a "passing gear" exactly?

stever

When you floor the accelerator in normal driving conditions, the car engine revs and the transmission shifts from overdrive (basically 4th gear) down to 3rd or 2nd. That kickdown is what some of us call passing gear. The 2002 Escape has an Overdrive button, and during normal driving you'd be in overdrive (4th gear), so "passing gear" would be 3rd or 2nd.

Other transmissions in other cars may have 5 or 6 or more transmission speeds so the kickdown gear will vary.

dlear

I have a 2002 Escape and there was a recall several years ago for this problem they replaced the accelerator cable.

darkcargo

http://youtu.be/nap6M5iZM-s