answer
What the official records show
For the 2013 Ford Escape, the NHTSA complaint API returned 2,748 unique owner complaint records across the catalog variants ESCAPE when Car Trouble Lab captured this dataset. Those records included 50 reports marked as involving a crash and 89 marked as involving a fire. Injury and death fields summed to 55 injuries and 0 deaths. The NHTSA recalls API returned 18 distinct safety campaigns, including 12V319000, 12V336000, 12V431000, and 12V551000. The captured component evidence profile was ENGINE: 1,267 tags (46% of unique complaint records), 8 crash-marked, 67 fire-marked, and 14 reported injuries; POWER TRAIN: 401 tags (15% of unique complaint records), 10 crash-marked, 7 fire-marked, and 12 reported injuries; ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: 340 tags (12% of unique complaint records), 3 crash-marked, 15 fire-marked, and 7 reported injuries; STEERING: 302 tags (11% of unique complaint records), 5 crash-marked, 0 fire-marked, and 4 reported injuries; FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM: 247 tags (9% of unique complaint records), 1 crash-marked, 13 fire-marked, and 3 reported injuries. The campaign evidence profile was 12V319000 (SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:PEDALS AND LINKAGES; received 06/07/2012); 12V336000 (FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE:DELIVERY:HOSES, LINES/PIPING, AND FITTINGS; received 18/07/2012; park-it flag); 12V431000 (ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING; received 04/09/2012); 12V551000 (ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING; received 03/12/2012); 13V085000 (LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES; received 07/03/2013). These are reported-record counts, not a measured failure rate and not a diagnosis of any individual vehicle.
SOURCES
- NHTSA complaint and recall aggregateNHTSA Consumer Complaints · primary source
- NHTSA complaint and recall aggregateNHTSA Recalls · primary source
custom
How to interpret the pattern
The most frequently assigned complaint component categories in this captured query were ENGINE (1,267), POWER TRAIN (401), ELECTRICAL SYSTEM (340), STEERING (302), and FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM (247). Adjacent captured model years reported 2014: 2,075 complaints and 16 campaigns. These comparisons are raw record totals, not exposure-adjusted rates. One complaint can carry more than one component tag, so category counts should not be added to reproduce the total complaint count. Too few usable positive mileage values were present to publish a median. NHTSA complaint records are owner-submitted and may be incomplete, duplicated before ODI-number deduplication, or unverified. A high count can also reflect how many vehicles were sold and how long they have been on the road. Use this page to choose inspection questions, not to label every 2013 Ford Escape defective.
methodology
What to check next
Start with the categories that repeat most often, then compare the complaint description and warning symptoms with the actual vehicle rather than ordering a part from a category label. Check the full 17-character VIN in NHTSA's official recall lookup because a model-year campaign list cannot tell whether a particular vehicle is included or whether its remedy was completed. Preserve diagnostic trouble codes and freeze-frame data before clearing them, ask for repair invoices, and obtain a qualified inspection when a symptom affects braking, steering, restraint systems, fire risk, or drivability. Car Trouble Lab does not determine whether a vehicle is safe to drive.