Federal complaint record · Ford Escape · model year 2005

2005 Ford Escape

Owners submitted 1,394 federal complaint reports about this model year, placing it at the 98th percentile for complaint intensity within its 2003 to 2007 compact suv cohort. The largest reported component group is suspension. Sample sizes and limitations are shown below.

Suspension · 23% · group n = 459Structure · 22% · group n = 437Engine · 11% · group n = 221Electrical · 8% · group n = 153Speed control · 7% · group n = 150
1,394
Complaint records on file
105,000
Median mileage at the reported problem · 1,207 complaints reported mileage
23%
Of classified component reports name suspension · group n = 459
98th
Complaint-intensity percentile in a cohort of 29 model years

Suspension · 2 in ten classified complaints

Where this record concentrates

All failure files
Component group 01 · Suspension23%

Suspension reports

Ford Escape · model year 2005

Reports in this group459
Share of classified reports23%
Component groups on file6
Open the failure files

Adjacent model years · same badge, different data

The complaint signal has a shape

Compare model years
2004
0.2complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
499 matched incidents
This car
2005
0.5complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
1,394 matched incidents
2006
0.2complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
464 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 · 176 reports

Reports describe the vehicle stalling or shutting off while driving

Cluster 1 of 32005 Ford Escape
Brake performance · 169 reports

Reports describe braking performance concerns

Cluster 2 of 32005 Ford Escape
Transmission behavior · 44 reports

Reports describe harsh shifting, slipping, or shuddering

Cluster 3 of 32005 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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