2001 Ford Escape

In a letter dated July 25, 2012 Ford Motor Company (Ford) submitted a Defect Information Report (DIR), NHTSA Recall No. 12V-353 to NHTSA identifying a safety defect involving inadequate clearance between the engine cover and the speed control cable connector, which could result in a stuck throttle condition.The vehicles involved are model year (MY) 2001 through MY 2004 Ford Escape vehicles equipped with 3.0L V6 engines and speed (cruise) control.A redesigned engine cover was implemented in production beginning in MY 2005, which provided additional clearance of the speed control cable to the engine cover.Similarly on July 26, 2012 Mazda North American Operations (Mazda) on behalf of Mazda Motor Corporation of Hiroshima, Japan submitted a DIR to NHTSA, NHTSA Recall No. 12V-357, identifying the safety defect described above in MY 2001 through MY 2006 and MY 2008 Mazda Tribute vehicles (no Tribute vehicles were produced in MY 2007) equipped with 3.0L V6 engines and speed control.Unlike the Ford Escape recall scope, the Mazda Tribute scope is broader as Mazda Tribute vehicles incorporated a similar engine cover design as related to the clearance to the speed control cable in MYs 2001 through 2006 and MY 2008.The failure report summary above reflects reports identified by ODI in review of data submitted to the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) and reports submitted to Ford and to Mazda.ODI identified 44 reports likely related to the safety defect described in the DIRs; 39 involving Ford Escape vehicles and 5 involving Mazda Tribute vehicles. This Preliminary Evaluation is closed.The ODI report cited above can be reviewed at www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchNHTSAID under the following identification (ODI) numbers: 10116267, 10128545, 10128681, 10137520, 10153327, 10165007, 10199728, 10234846, 10335779, 10466261, and 10468307.

On November 18, 2010, NHTSA's Recall Management Division (RMD) opened an audit query (AQ10-001) to investigate recall remedy completion by rental car companies on safety recall campaigns.It was expected to provide the agency an indication of how completely and how quickly rental car fleets perform necessary recall-related remedies on the vehicles owned and then rented/leased for use on the roadways.RMD queried three (3) major motor vehicle manufacturers (Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors) and requested data regarding completion figures for fifteen (15) discreet safety recalls.Analysis of this data demonstrated that rental car recalls completion was neither complete nor consistent.The rental car companies representing the largest market share in the industry were then queried as to their respective policies for the rental, lease, and sale of vehicles with open recalls.The data and responses from the manufacturers and the rental car companies can be found in the document repository by accessing the ?Associated Documents link above.In December 2015, Congress enacted the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.One section of the Act prohibits rental car companies from renting, leasing, or selling motor vehicles subject to open safety recalls.With the passage of the FAST Act and its prohibition, there is no continuing need for the agency to investigate rental car recall completions.Accordingly, this investigation is closed.The agency reserves the right to open any future investigations, including audits of individual recalls, or groups of recalls, or rental car companies, to examine more closely safety recalls performance and completion issues in this area.

Ford and Mazda recalled model year (MY) 2001 through 2004 Ford Escape (07V-156) and Mazda Tribute (07V-157) vehicles due to non-crash fires or non-fire thermal events originating in the engine compartment at or near the ABS control module.Approximately 545,700 vehicles were subject to the initial safety recalls and approximately 424,700 vehicles were serviced under those campaigns. The campaigns addressed potentially damaged, missing or misplaced seals in the ABS control module wiring harness electrical connector that could allow brake fluid to enter the connector, possibly resulting in corrosion, short-circuit, melting, smoke and/or fire.Since the recall, the agency is aware of 260 subject vehicles that have reportedly experienced non-crash fires or non-fire thermal events originating at or near the ABS control module in vehicles some time after being serviced under the campaign. The post-recall repair incident rates for MY 2001 and 2002 subject vehicles are 90.9 and 126.7 (normalized per 100,000 vehicles serviced under the recall campaigns), respectively.These rates are much higher than the post-recall repair incident rate for MY 2003 and 2004 subject vehicles, which are 5.0 and 3.7 per 100K, respectively.Similarly, the post-recall repair key-off fire incident rates in the MY 2001 and 2002 subject vehicles is 54.3 per 100K, compared to 0.5 per 100K for the MY 2003 and 2004 subject vehicles.The agency is aware of 12 key-off fire incidents, all involving MY 2001 and 2002 subject vehicles, where the vehicle was parked inside a structure when the fire started.In five of those incidents, the fire spread from the vehicle to the structure itself.Ford has identified the brake master cylinder reservoir cap in certain MY 2001 and 2002 subject vehicles as a potential source for brake fluid leaks that could affect ABS module connector integrity.The reservoir caps used on the MY 2003 and 2004 subject vehicles are reportedly an improved design from those used on the earlier models.By letter dated January 4, 2012, Ford notified the agency that it would conduct another safety recall (identified by NTHSA Recall No. 12V-005 and Ford Recall No. 11S24) of certain MY 2001 and 2002 Ford Escape vehicles to perform a more thorough remedy to address the risk of fire originating at the ABS control module.In addition to double-checking the ABS control module wiring harness electrical connector weather seal (which should have been addressed under the previous recall campaign), Ford will replace brake master cylinder reservoir caps to address the leaking cap problem and reduce the risk of brake fluid entering the subject electrical connector.Ford will also modify the electrical system such that the ABS control module is de-energized when the ignition key is switched off to further reduce the risk of an unattended vehicle fire in units that may have sustained some small loss of connector integrity that may not be evident upon visual examination.Similarly, Mazda notified the agency by letter dated January 19, 2012, that it would also conduct a safety recall (identified by NTHSA Recall No. 12V-016 and Mazda Recall No. 6712A) of certain MY 2001 and 2002 Mazda Tribute vehicles.Ford estimates repair parts will be available beginning the second quarter of 2012. Until recall repairs are made both Ford and Mazda are advising owners of affected vehicles to reduce the safety concern by parking their vehicles outdoors away from structures to prevent a potential fire from spreading.Accordingly, this investigation is closed.