Ford Motor Company has identified an issue plaguing a small number of Escape sport utility vehicles. The crossovers in question were produced for the 2023 and 2024 model years between April 19, 2023 and November 9, 2023, with MY23 marking the mid-cycle refresh of the current – and possibly final – Escape generation.
The Dearborn-based automaker didn't deny nor confirm the proverbial end of the road for the compact utility vehicle, which is believed to be discontinued in 2025 for an electric successor. Considering that General Motors made a case for a combustion-engined Equinox and a zero-emission Equinox, the hearsay sounds fishy. We also have to remember that demand for hybrids and plug-in hybrids is on the rise.
Twinned with the Kuga for Europe, the Escape for North America sold better than the Bronco Sport in the first quarter of 2024. Stateside, the sales report reads 36,595 deliveries in the three-month period versus 31,565 for the off-roady cousin. Turning our attention back to the recall, 209 units may have been produced with misaligned cruise control radar modules. The Escapes in question are front-wheel-drive crossovers equipped from the factory with adaptive cruise control (ACC).
This condition was brought to the attention of the Ford Motor Company's Critical Concern Review Group back on December 5, 2023. Turns out the Ford Louisville Assembly Plant had reported an abnormally high failure rate at the wheel alignment and headlight aim station. The subsequent investigation revealed that certain vehicles were calibrated using incorrect cruise control radar calibration board positions.
Instead of recalling the suspect vehicles in a timely fashion, the second-largest automaker of the Detroit Big Three preferred to monitor warranty data and review alignment angle data through May 2024. After comparing the alignment data to the mathematical angular error resulting from the incorrect board height, FoMoCo reported this blunder to the NHTSA.
Photo: Ford
The 209 potentially affected vehicles will have their adaptive cruise control modules properly aligned at dealers nationwide. Of course, at no charge to the customers. ML3T-9G768-AL is the part number of the module, which is – as per the attached recall report – produced by FoMoCo.
However, a simple Google search reveals a black box with a white label affixed to it, which reads the following: "Assembled in Mexico" and "APTIV Services US." The supplier is an Irish-American multinational headquartered in Dublin, with Aptiv stemming from Delphi Automotive Systems. Formerly a General Motors subsidiary, Delphi changed its name to Aptiv in late 2017.
A misaligned cruise control module increases the risk of a crash while also diminishing the functionality of the automatic emergency braking system, forward collision warning system, and the pedestrian detection side of Pre-Collision Assist. Owners will be notified via first-class mail of this recall between July 1, 2024 and July 5, 2024.
Currently advertised as a 2025 model, the Escape carries a starting price of $27,995 for the combustion-only Active grade. The ST-Line Hybrid is $32,490 sans destination, while $38,400 at the least gets you the Escape Plug-In Hybrid.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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