Ford Escape Hev
Problems & Worst Years

Door construction, of all things, is the leading complaint theme on the hybrid Ford Escape. The 2021 — the heavier of the two years in this data at 247 total occurrences — logged 60 reports of spot weld failure on the doors and another 52 specifically citing driver-side door check arm weld failure; the 2020 shows the same pattern with 65 occurrences of door check arm spot weld failure plus 23 more describing weld failures that left doors inoperable. Across both years, the symptom owners describe is structural: doors that stop working the way a door should.

The rest of each file is more conventional. The 2020 carries the model's two safety-severity entries, including 16 reports summarized as engine stall/fire risk, along with 19 reports of electrical system malfunction leading to stalling. The 2021 — which, notably, reports zero safety-severity problems — adds 41 occurrences of powertrain warning light issues and 21 of faulty service brakes. Both years also register a quieter frustration: roughly 20 reports apiece of delays getting corrective repair work performed.

For a test drive and inspection, the checklist writes itself. Open and close every door fully and repeatedly, feel for looseness or resistance at the check arms, and have an inspector look at the welds owners kept naming. Then watch for powertrain warning lights on a drive long enough to warm everything up, and test the brakes with attention rather than habit — braking complaints made the 2021's top five.

At 162 and 247 total occurrences, neither year is a heavy file by the standards of this database, and the two are close enough that year choice matters less than condition. Which is the honest note to end on: complaint counts reflect what owners filed with NHTSA, not measured failure rates; the newer car has simply had less time to accumulate reports; and a pre-purchase inspection plus documented service history will separate a good example from a bad one far better than the model year will.