Ford Escape Hybrid - Electric Motor Cooling Pump Safety Recall

It was four years ago that I published a blog post with do it yourself repair instructions or a failed electric motor cooling pump on a 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid. You can read that popular article in its entirety by browsing to Ford Escape Hybrid - Electric Motor Cooling Pump, Do It Yourself Repair.

The article was popular in-part because the problem was so common. It seems that many who owned a 2005-2008 FEH or 2006-2008 Mecury Mariner Hybrid had experienced a failed coolant pump. Mine had failed twice during the seven years that I owned the vehicle.

It may have happened to you... receiving a "High Motor Temperature" message and the warning to "Stop Vehicle Safely." If you had ignored those messages, your vehicle would literally shut down in the middle of the road.

The problem is with the faulty Motor Electronics Cooling System ("MECS") and is resolved by replacing the Motor Electronics Cooling Pump (Part Number: 5M6Z-8C419-A). Ford even issued a Technical Service Bulletin for this problem (TSB 08-24-5) only a few months after the vehicle had started production!

Well, imagine my surprise to have recently received a letter from Ford Motor Company with a message about an IMPORTANT SAFETY RECALL. Safety Recall Notice 14S19 / NHTSA Recall 14V-526 was issued in accordance with the requirements of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, and provides for the repair of the Motor Electronics Coolant Pump. A repair that many of us have already had to pay for out of our own pocket.

If you have not completed this repair on your Escape / Mariner Hybrid, you should contact a Ford dealership's Service Advisor.

If you have already completed this repair and have kept all of your original receipts for the repair work, you may request a refund from Ford. Original receipts only. No photocopies. For more information, contact the Ford Customer Relationship Center at 1-866-436-7332.

While almost ten years too late to help me (my first MECS failure occurred when the vehicle was only a few months old and at 17,000 miles), maybe this information will help you.

It will be interesting to see if the NHTSA every comes to their senses and requires Ford to address the much more important issue of Ford Escape Hybrid brake failure. This problem has cost Escape / Mariner owners much more time and money to resolve, and in some cases has resulted in accidents putting the vehicle occupants in grave danger.

You can read more about my experience with the failure of the regenerative braking system by viewing my other articles: My Ford Escape Hybrid Brake Repair Experience - The Brakes Broke the Bank!; Ford Escape Hybrid Brake Failure - Revisited; and Ford Escape Hybrid - Brake Master Cylinder / HCU Failure and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

I've since sold my 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid, and the poor manner in which several Ford dealerships treated this important safety and reliability issue has committed me to never purchase another Ford product. I chuckle that the NHTSA tag line is "People saving people." A safety recall issued ten years after the vehicle is documented to have first had the problem is crazy, and both Ford and the NHTSA should be embarrassed by their inaction.