Ford started delivering the 2013 Escape to its clients approximately one month ago and already the Blue Oval company has issued a formal recall of all of the cars that feature the 1.6-liter EcoBoost engine. Once you get the car to one of the dealerships, the engineers there will replace an engine compartment fuel line which might split and cause fuel leakage in the engine bay, thus leading to a potential fire. This risk of fire is only present when the engine is running.
Ford said to all owners of a 1.6-liter EcoBoost-powered 2013 Escape to not drive their cars as a measure of precaution until this problem is fixed. Ford recommends those that have this model to get in touch with their dealers right away so that the repair is done while in the meantime they’ll get a loaner car.
The North American car manufacturer has also told the dealers to stop providing demonstrations of the 2013MY Escape with this engine until the problem is fixed. Ford estimates that the repairing process takes about an hour or so per vehicle so they are estimating that if there are enough parts, in just two weeks they will be able to fix all 11,500 units. This recall is exclusively for the 2013MY Ford Escape with the 1.6-liter EcoBoost engine as the ones powered by the larger 2.0-liter and 2.5-liter engines are not included in this recall.
Source: Ford via Green Car Reports