2020 Ford Escape Hybrid Visibility Problems

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving during rainy weather, the windshield wipers became inoperable and operated slowly. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 26V117000 (Visibility); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The dealer was contacted, but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer confirmed that the part for the repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time to provide the recall repair. The approximate failure mileage was 74,000.

NHTSA ID

11773249

Incident

Oct 23, 2026

Mileage

74,000 mi

The sunroof cover came down and blocked my rear visibility. It took a few attempts to get the cover back up because I need to see what is behind me for safety purposes. Then, when I was sesrching online for the solution, I realized a lot of people with 2020 - 2022 Ford Escapes were also having issues with the sunroof cover. It is quite dangerous for it to fall.

NHTSA ID

11639520

Incident

Oct 31, 2024

The car has a panoramic roof with automatic open/close sunshade that cover the interior of the glass. I was opening the sunshade to open the moon roof and the shade all of the suden came down and did not roll as intended and my visibility while I was driving was gone for a second until my wife helped out quickly so we do not crash. The problem is common for this car in the ford forums online and the dealerships are not concerend or applying any responsbility of the problem and the safety of it. there was no message or warning but it put myself and my family in danger. I went and got it inspected by the dealership but they did not take responsibilty.

NHTSA ID

11630667

Incident

Dec 13, 2024

The shade retraction on the moonroof is malfunctioning, causing the fabric to not retract completely, the sagging fabric is causing visibility obstruction. My Ford dealership have inspected the issue and have quoted me an approximate price of $1700 to fix the issue, which is currently cost prohibitive for me ($400 for the replacement part + approx 6 hours of labor), unfortunately this will not be covered by my warranty. There were no warning messages prior to failure, I pressed the button to open my moonroof one day and this happened, if I was driving this would have caused an accident because my visibility of rear view is blocked, luckily I was parked when I discovered this issue. This issue first appeared in June 2024. I went to the dealership in July 2024, because it was cost prohibitive to fix I have not used the moonroof since then because it affects visibility.

NHTSA ID

11622531

Incident

Jun 23, 2024

The windshield wipers locked up and would not function.

NHTSA ID

11609451

Incident

Jun 30, 2024

A panel under the moon roof that is used to deflect water in case water leaks through the moon roof suddenly fell down on the back seat of the car while we were driving with the moon roof open. Upon inspection we discovered that this panel is glued to some foam pads and apparently the adhesive had lost it's grip. We were able to put the panel back in place. But the next time we opened the moon roof it came down again this time bouncing off the back seat and hitting my wife (the passenger) in the head. Fortunately, she was not injured. Had it hit me (the driver) it could have caused an accident with unknown consequences. Ford's response when we addressed it with Dealer was to replace the panel and install it using the same method of adhesive and foam pads. I believe this is an engineering failure because it was not secured with screws or nuts & bolts. Pictures of the part number and part are attached.

NHTSA ID

11525855

Incident

Apr 17, 2023

While attempting to fuel the vehicle, thinking the hood latch was the fuel door release, the hood latch was pulled (twice). After completing fueling we re-entered the roadway and at about 45 mph, the hood flew up and backwards over the windscreen. We were able to stop the vehicle and close the hood without further incident although there is damage to body panels and the windscreen. Although an operator error was made by confusing the hood latch with the fuel door release, it seems like a poor and dangerous design to be able to completely unlatch the hood (no manual safety under the hood as is customary) allowing it to fly up while underway. Upon further investigation, we determined that the newest generation of these vehicles simply require two pulls of the hood latch to completely release it. The more typical method of one pull of the latch followed by manual release of the safety by reaching under the hood has been abandoned in this design.

NHTSA ID

11515576

Incident

Apr 1, 2023

THE TOP OF DASH BOARD IN ITS ENTIRETY BUT SPECIFICALLY THE TRIM PIECE AROUND THE HEADS-UP DISPLAY ON SPECIFIC TRIM/MODES CREATES A REFLECTION UPON THE WINDSHIELD, PARTICULARLY DIRECTLY IN THE DRIVERS MAIN SIGHT LINE, WITH SUCH LOW OPACITY IT MAKES DRIVING VISIBILITY DIFFICULT. ADDITIONALLY THE TRIM PIECE IS SMOOTH PLASTIC, WHEREAS THE DASH ITSELF IS TEXTURED. THIS OCCURS PRIMARILY DURING THE DAY DURING ANY LIGHTING CONDITION OUTSIDE AND IS INCREASED WITH DIRECT SUNSHINE UPON THE VEHICLE.

NHTSA ID

11364301

Incident

Oct 13, 2020

Mileage

2,200 mi