Federal complaint record · Ford Escape · model year 2002

2002 Ford Escape

Owners submitted 1,027 federal complaint reports about this model year, placing it at the 98th percentile for complaint intensity within its 2000 to 2004 compact suv cohort. The largest reported component group is engine. Sample sizes and limitations are shown below.

Engine · 24% · group n = 333Brakes · 15% · group n = 207Electrical · 9% · group n = 126Powertrain · 8% · group n = 106Speed control · 7% · group n = 103
1,027
Complaint records on file
85,865
Median mileage at the reported problem · 650 complaints reported mileage
24%
Of classified component reports name engine · group n = 333
98th
Complaint-intensity percentile in a cohort of 22 model years

Engine · 2 in ten classified complaints

Where this record concentrates

All failure files
Component group 01 · Engine24%

Engine reports

Ford Escape · model year 2002

Reports in this group333
Share of classified reports24%
Component groups on file6
Open the failure files

Adjacent model years · same badge, different data

The complaint signal has a shape

Compare model years
2001
0.5complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
996 matched incidents
This car
2002
0.4complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
1,027 matched incidents
2003
0.2complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
558 matched incidents

The line compares submitted complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years, not failures per 1,000 cars. Vehicle-years use compiled US sales, a 0.25 prior-calendar-year plus 0.75 current-calendar-year model-year allocation, and the shipped survival curve. Rates appear only where estimated vehicles in operation are at least 5,000.

From the record · recurring narrative clusters

What recurring complaint clusters describe

How clusters are built
Stalling or shutdown · 282 reports

Reports describe the vehicle stalling or shutting off while driving

Cluster 1 of 32002 Ford Escape
Brake performance · 145 reports

Reports describe braking performance concerns

Cluster 2 of 32002 Ford Escape
Fire or smoke · 145 reports

Reports describe smoke, burning smells, or fire

Cluster 3 of 32002 Ford Escape

Cluster summaries paraphrase recurring symptoms reported to NHTSA. They are aggregate descriptions, not individual verbatim reports.

Records through 2026-07-19Published 2026-08-02 · Updated 2026-07-19

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NHTSA consumer complaint records can reveal recurring patterns across published model years. MotorCensus summarizes those records as one complaint-signal index, with a 95% interval and sample size, updated with each data snapshot.

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