I am a retired old guy with fixed income and this is really making me angry. What is it going to take? Maybe a major crash with deaths involved? This vehicle is not user friendly in the sense of DIY and the part costs from $700-$1500 from what I have read so far Ford should legally be compelled to repair any and all faulty brake systems not just on the Escape but all the others that have a similar issue probably using the same components. Usually the master cylinder by-passes and that can cause a pedal going down like that,from everything I have read this is not the problem on this "thing",it is the ABS module assembly. I have never encountered anything like this. I started researching this immediately online and the amount of complaints and problems associated with the braking system on this "thing" freaked me out!!! Apparently it is the ABS system/module and the repair costs are off the charts around $1700 to $2000 and FORD will not repair it for free. Made it home and it was still like that when I pulled into my garage. Went to leave store and brake pedal went almost to the floor with a severe loss in stopping power. It's like new, even has the original tires that are still good.This morning I went to the local grocery store 1 mile from my house and it was OK. Ford Escape XLS and yes it only has 31,000 miles. The hard cycling of parking brake seems to have cured the failure of the rear drum brake auto adjusters.īought this "thing" new in 2009. It seems that the auto adjusting action of my new (a year ago) drum brakes failed. I braked a couple times reversing out of drive way, and each time the brake pedal action improved. I greased parking brake and put car in reverse to back out of driveway for another drive test. In the north, this may well be a worry.Īnyway my parking brake trick did not seem to affect pedal takeup while the parking brake was on. In AZ there is little corrosion so I did not worry about getting the parking brake on a 12 year old car stuck in the engaged position. I cycled the parking brake several times, pressing it really hard each time. I seemed to make a very small difference in the brake pedal take up. At idle in park, I put the parking brake on really hard thinking it would to take up some slack in the drum system in the rear. So I tried something I had not done before. Air in the line, or the gap between pads and the rotor and/or gap between the shoe and the drum. So I am thinking sponginess (excessive pedal travel) can be caused by some slack in the system. I also tried reversing and braking in order to tighten up the rear brake shoe to drum clearance. Pumping helped a bit temporarily but 30 seconds later it would be spongy near the floor. The fluid levels were fine, so I tried ABS fuses again. Today it scared the wife as she thought she would not stop at the bottom of highway ramp. Not as good as brand new but it was improved.Ī year has gone by and over the course of the year brakes have gotten a bit spongier. I tried the old trick of backing up and braking hard to activate the rear drum adjustors and that made a noticeable difference. I tried pulling fuses again with the ABS and it made no difference. I got good braking half way to the floor. After NA finished replacements it was improved but not like it was when new. I elected to replace rear shoes and drums because it was really inexpensive to do so and that way take front and rear braking hardware out of the equation. I asked about front pads/rotors and rear drums and they said fronts were good and backs were worn but OK. But due to age/milage of vehicle, we thought it would be most cost effective to replace the master cylinder as they had no other ideas. NA did not think it was the ABS controller. We got a second opinion from local place called Network Alignment (NA) in Gilbert that had done decent honest work for us in the past with other cars. Ford for $150 diag fee said we needed a new master cylinder and the ABS valve assembly ~ $3000 total. I tried pulling all three the ABS fuses (one at a time) to see if defeating ABS would cure it. scared my wife a couple times thinking she may not be able to stop. We tried with professional service and got some degree of improvement, but the problem has recurred in full force like it was a year ago when it started. if you punch the pedal quickly you get some decent initial braking near the top of the stroke, but the pedal is heading towards the floor and you don't get solid braking until it is nearly at the floor. Note that you do get some braking near the top of the stroke but it is velocity sensitive. The braking was excellent.īut when the spongy problem develops, the brake pedal goes nearly to the floor before any braking resistance. We bought the vehicle new so we know what it was like coming from the factory.
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