2017 Ford Escape3rd gen (2013–2019), facelift, first year

Updated 2026-08-29NHTSA counts read on this date — 2662 complaints. They rise over time.

The 2017 Ford Escape’s Biggest Problem Is Coolant, and It Isn’t Just the 1.5L

The 2017 facelift dropped the 1.6-liter EcoBoost and put a 1.5 in its place. The 1.5 is the engine most of the discussion is about when the subject is coolant getting into the cylinders on this car. Decode the VINs on the complaints and the 2.0-liter is in them at a slightly higher share than it holds of the record overall.

Owners have filed 2,662 complaints with NHTSA about the 2017 model year, and 1,550 of them are about coolant. Ford sold 307,069 Escapes in calendar 2016 and 308,296 in 2017, and the 2017 model year sold across both, so the denominator is in the hundreds of thousands. That is not a rate — 2,662 filings are not 2,662 owners — and the count earns its keep only because the other years in this series are counted the same way.

The basics

First year of the facelifted third-generation Escape. New front end, new dashboard, and a new engine lineup: the 2.5-liter carries over in front-wheel drive only, the 1.6L EcoBoost is replaced by a 1.5L EcoBoost, and the 2.0L EcoBoost continues. All three keep the six-speed automatic.

The 2.5L is almost absent from the complaint record here — 71 filings out of 2,593 that decode. Practically speaking this is a two-engine car.

Specs

Horsepower is from NHTSA’s vPIC catalog, which holds what the manufacturer submitted. Fuel economy is EPA.

This is the first Escape in the generation to earn five stars overall from NHTSA — five frontal, five side, four rollover, on both drivetrains. The 2013 through 2016 cars are all four overall.

What owners filed

Sections below are sorted by count and each complaint is counted once. They add up to 2,022. The remaining 640 are spread thin — NHTSA tagged 274 of them engine, 83 electrical, and 74 wheels.

Engine identification comes from decoding the VIN attached to each filing. 2,593 of the 2,662 decode: 1.5L 51.4 percent, 2.0L 45.8, 2.5L 2.7. The sections below are read against those shares.

This is not a failure rate by engine. The shares here are shares of the complaint record, not of the cars Ford built — the complaint record does not contain that. An engine that draws more complaints of every kind would move both numbers together.

Coolant and overheating — 1,550

Counted as filings that name the coolant, the engine overheating, or a head gasket, and that NHTSA has not flagged as a fire.

Fifty-eight percent of everything filed about this car. No other model year in this series has a section this large, in count or in share.

805 of the 1,550 use the word cylinder. 624 use the phrase coolant intrusion. 371 describe an engine being replaced. 305 name a misfire, 181 a spark plug, 185 a tow.

Now the engine split, which is the reason this section leads the page rather than the 2013 car’s does.

The gap runs the other way from the usual focus: the 2.0L takes a slightly larger share of this section than of the record, the 1.5L a slightly smaller one. Neither gap is large. The honest reading is that both EcoBoost engines run right through this section, and the 2.0L is not the safer alternative.

An owner of the 2.0L describes the mechanism in ODI 11759402:

“2.01 block features a narrow cooling slot machined into the block surface right between the cylinder bores. Under high boost pressure and thermal stress, the narrow metal section around this slot distorts or cracks. This erodes the head gasket clamping force and allows pressurized coolant to bypass the seal, leaking heavily into the combustion chamber. An engine replacement is required to repair.”

And an owner of the 1.5L, ODI 11757782:

“The 4th cylinder started misfiring due to a coolant leak, which is being caused due to the known engine design flaw with the Ford EcoBoost engines. My local mechanic diagnosed the problem and said that the car needs a new engine.”

There is no recall. NHTSA lists four campaigns against the 2017 Escape and none of them is an engine campaign. Seventy of these filings say so in one form or another. From ODI 11756844:

“I have had to repair the transmission twice. Recently the coolant intrusion has forced me to not have a car with engine failure. Mechanic confirmed gasket was blown.The car did not give a low coolant warning, but only an overheating warning, which I immediately called AAA. This car has been well taken care of, with oil changes and everything that comes with an oil change on time! This has been confirmed with an independent business. There needs to be a nationwide recall on this consistent malfunction!”

Ford has service bulletins on this. 219 of these 2,662 filings cite a Ford bulletin by number, most often 22-2229, 19-2346, 22-2134 and 22-2322. A bulletin goes to dealers rather than owners, carries no free repair, and generates no letter. What it gives a buyer is a number to say out loud at a service desk.

Transmission and shifter — 290

Counted as filings NHTSA tagged power train, plus those that name the transmission, the shifter, or the shift cable.

22V413000, from June 2022, covers 2013–2019 Escapes for a shifter cable bushing that “may degrade or detach.” That campaign reaches this car.

The 1.5L share here is 65 percent, above the 51 percent it holds of the record. On the 2016 car the same section skews toward the 1.6L. Two facelifts, two different small turbos, the same lean in the same section, and the record does not say why in either case.

Stalling — 80

Counted as filings that say the car stalled.

Small, and it is small because of where the filings land rather than what happened — on this model year the cars that quit are usually described in coolant terms first, so they are counted above.

Brakes — 43

Counted as filings NHTSA tagged service brakes.

Power steering — 21

Counted as filings that name the power steering or the steering assist.

Twenty-one, against 212 on the 2013 car. The facelift changed the steering hardware and the complaint record changed with it.

Door latch — 16

Counted as filings that name a door latch, or a door that would not stay closed.

Fires — 15

NHTSA’s own flag on the filing, not a word count.

Fifteen, on 2,662 filings. The 2014 has 103 on 2,076. The coolant failure on this car is described as an engine that has to be replaced, not one that burns.

Backup camera — 7

Counted as filings NHTSA tagged back-over prevention, plus those that name the backup, rear or reverse camera.

Seven. Recall 25V695000, the camera campaign that dominates the 2015 and 2016 records, stops at the 2016 model year.

The window recall Ford ran twice, ten years apart

In August 2016 Ford filed 16V617000 against 2017 Escape Titanium and SE cars built October 5, 2015 to May 12, 2016. The closing force on the power windows “may allow the windows to close on an object such as a body part and injure it before the windows auto-reverse” — a noncompliance with FMVSS 118. Dealers updated the window software. The recall began September 6, 2016.

In June 2026 Ford filed 26V374000, covering “certain 2017 Escape vehicles previously repaired incorrectly under recall number 16V617.” Same standard, same defect, same remedy. Owner letters were mailed July 22, 2026, and the VINs became searchable July 6, 2026.

If you are looking at a 2017 Escape now, a repair order from 2016 does not settle this one.

What doesn’t show up in the complaints

The body and interior barely appear — 50 structure filings out of 2,662. The crash performance that earned five stars overall and five on side impact has not generated a pattern of complaints. The 2.5L is 71 filings out of 2,593 that decode, which is too few to say anything about, and that is worth saying rather than implying.

What the complaint curve says

Filings ran 50 in 2017 and stayed near a hundred a year through 2021. Then 237 in 2022, 381 in 2023, 710 in 2024, 645 in 2025, and 228 so far in 2026.

The coolant section tracks it almost exactly: 84 in 2022, 222 in 2023, 502 in 2024, 473 in 2025.

Nothing in the recall record explains that shape, because there is no recall. What the filings show is a failure arriving as the fleet passes seven years old, and a phrase spreading with it — 624 of them use the words coolant intrusion. That is a technical term, and its spread suggests that service bulletins, repair diagnoses and owner forums are shaping how people describe the failure as much as the failure itself is. Which came first is not something the complaint record can settle.

Complaint databases collect complaints. Nobody files to say the engine is fine. Rates are not comparable across models without running the same arithmetic on each. What this data supports is the ranking inside this car, the engine split inside that ranking, and the timing.

If you’re looking at one

Ordered by what it costs you if it goes wrong, not by how many people filed.

Get a compression or leak-down test, or walk. This is the whole page in one line. 1,550 filings, 371 of them describing a replaced engine, no recall, and both turbo engines running through it. Neither test rules the failure out — an engine can pass both and fail later — but they are the cheapest look inside you can get. A pre-purchase inspection that skips this is not an inspection of a 2017 Escape.

Do not treat the 2.0L as the safe choice. It takes a slightly larger share of the coolant section than it does of the complaint record. If someone tells you the 1.5L is the one to avoid, the filings do not support that.

Ask for the coolant reservoir history, and look at the plugs if you can. 181 filings mention spark plugs and 305 a misfire — on this failure the plug often finds it before the temperature gauge does.

Ask whether 26V374000 has been done — not 16V617. Ford recalled the power windows in 2016 and then recalled the cars that were “previously repaired incorrectly” in June 2026. A 2016 repair order is not an answer to the 2026 campaign.

Ask whether the shifter cable bushing has been done. 22V413000 covers this car.

If it is a 2.0L, ask about the block heater. 26V011000, from January 2026, covers 2.0L cars for a heater that “may crack and develop a coolant leak, causing it to short circuit when the block heater is plugged in.”

Numbers worth writing down

Four campaigns, and none of them is an engine campaign, which is the single most useful thing on this page.

The 2018 car is next, and the coolant section gets denser rather than smaller.

Sources

• NHTSA complaint database — 2,662 complaints for the 2017 Escape, quoted above by ODI number
• NHTSA recall API — four campaigns, quoted from the campaign summaries and remedy text
• NHTSA vPIC — engine and horsepower, decoded from the VINs attached to the filings
• NHTSA safety ratings — 2017 Escape FWD and AWD
• EPA fueleconomy.gov — fuel economy by engine and drive
• GoodCarBadCar — Escape US sales figures

Complaint counts and quotes come from NHTSA’s public database, retrieved 2026-08-29; each quote lists its ODI number so you can look it up. Engine identification comes from decoding the VIN attached to each filing — 2,593 of the 2,662 decode. Recall applicability depends on the VIN — check yours at nhtsa.gov/recalls. This summarizes what owners reported. It isn’t buying or repair advice.