Federal complaint record · Ford Escape · model year 2021

2021 Ford Escape

Owners submitted 325 federal complaint reports about this model year, placing it at the 71th percentile for complaint intensity within its 2019 to 2023 compact suv cohort. The largest reported component group is structure. Sample sizes and limitations are shown below.

Structure · 21% · group n = 91Fuel system · 15% · group n = 66Other · 13% · group n = 55Brakes · 11% · group n = 50Engine · 10% · group n = 42
325
Complaint records on file
39,000
Median mileage at the reported problem · 71 complaints reported mileage
21%
Of classified component reports name structure · group n = 91
71th
Complaint-intensity percentile in a cohort of 40 model years

Structure · 2 in ten classified complaints

Where this record concentrates

All failure files
Component group 01 · Structure21%

Structure reports

Ford Escape · model year 2021

Reports in this group91
Share of classified reports21%
Component groups on file6
Open the failure files

Adjacent model years · same badge, different data

The complaint signal has a shape

Compare model years
2020
1.4complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
1,554 matched incidents
This car
2021
0.4complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
325 matched incidents
2022
0.5complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
222 matched incidents

The line compares submitted complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years, not failures per 1,000 cars. Vehicle-years use compiled US sales, a 0.25 prior-calendar-year plus 0.75 current-calendar-year model-year allocation, and the shipped survival curve. Rates appear only where estimated vehicles in operation are at least 5,000.

From the record · recurring narrative clusters

What recurring complaint clusters describe

How clusters are built
Brake performance · 46 reports

Reports describe braking performance concerns

Cluster 1 of 32021 Ford Escape
Fire or smoke · 24 reports

Reports describe smoke, burning smells, or fire

Cluster 2 of 32021 Ford Escape
Warning indicators · 24 reports

Reports describe warning lights before service

Cluster 3 of 32021 Ford Escape

Cluster summaries paraphrase recurring symptoms reported to NHTSA. They are aggregate descriptions, not individual verbatim reports.

Records through 2026-07-19Published 2026-08-02 · Updated 2026-07-19

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NHTSA consumer complaint records can reveal recurring patterns across published model years. MotorCensus summarizes those records as one complaint-signal index, with a 95% interval and sample size, updated with each data snapshot.

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