Ask the Car People.SM


Ford Escape Seats

255 messages,  Last post on Feb 21, 2013 at 7:27 PM

You are in the Ford Escape Forum.

What is this discussion about? Ford Escape, SUV

Messages Page 9 of 27

#74 of 255 Re: Hold on, Not so fast.... [oldbottleman] by marypal

Dec 12, 2009 (4:51 am)

Replying to: oldbottleman (Dec 12, 2009 3:51 am)
Dear Oldbottleman, I was just wondering if you have those wonderful Continental tires on your Escape too? We too are so dissatisfied with our Escape, it only has 28,000 miles on it (also a 2008) and all 4 tires need to be replaced because they are all severely cupped already!!! We had that car in every 5,000 miles and had the tires rotated, so that just tells me that the dealership was rotating bad tires. They claimed that it happened from hitting potholes or a curb. My husband was always commenting on how loud the inside noise was, but I didn't think it was that bad, until lately. I drove home to Mom's in Ohio with one hand over my right ear because it was so loud!!! We had to have the leaky transmission problem fixed, although that was still under warranty, but the tires are our problem. The car is so loud because of the tires, it is deafening and you can't even hear the music!! I had the stains all over my seats, and I got the Turtle wax foam cleaner with Oxy in it. I sprayed the whole seat, so that it looked completely dark, and then wiped them down with very hot water and a rag. When they were dry, I Scotchguarded the living crap out of them and hoped for the best. So far they look pretty good, but we will see. I actually don't care if the stains come back, I want people to see what a piece of s**t my car is so maybe they won't buy one. We are done with Ford forever!!!!!!!!!! Once that warranty is up, (my husband bought the 5 yr. total wrap warranty) that piece of nice looking junk is getting traded in!!!!

#75 of 255 Re: Hold on, Not so fast.... [marypal] by mariposa7684

Dec 12, 2009 (7:06 am)

Replying to: marypal (Dec 12, 2009 4:51 am)
oh, great. my front seats are being replaced (but no the back one that has that brown staining) and now i have to be concerned about the tires? they actually get a very good rating from consumer reports. when did you start having problems with them? my 08 XLT has 21k miles on it.
 
just looked up consumer reviews on this tire. almost everyone hates it. overall complaint: they wear out way too fast. thanks for the heads up!

#76 of 255 Continental Contitracs suck...recommendations for replacement tires? by mariposa7684

Dec 12, 2009 (7:17 am)

in the escape seat complaint thread, someone mentioned that her continentals have had big problems. so far, i've been ok with mine, but with mileage at 21k, i could start experiencing problems. what would you out there recommend for replacement tires? i live in NH, so snow and ice are a factor.

#77 of 255 Re: Hold on, Not so fast.... [mariposa7684] by keytexas

Dec 12, 2009 (8:22 am)

Replying to: mariposa7684 (Dec 12, 2009 7:06 am)
The tires are junk, making the car very loud! The transmission leaked within the first 3 months I had my 2008 Escape as well but was repaired under the manufacturers warranty. My seats are a complete embarrassment and I have been to Ford's corporate office about it as well - twice! The first time customer service sent back a form letter saying they would prefer to talk on the phone, so I called. Then I was readily dismissed because I was past warranty. No consideration by Ford in regard to the horrible fabric used in the vehicle. The TSB was an interesting development but I haven't heard of any success by anyone managing to get a dealers service department to act on that. Also, TSB is not listed on Ford's website area where the current TSB's are listed.
I won't buy another Ford again either. I am about to put $550 worth of new tires on the Escape so it can be inspected. Can't wait to see the inspection techs face when he gets a look at the front seats of the car where it looks as if very unmentionable things have taken place there, the result of a recent snow we've had.
Ugh, I'm totally fed up!

#78 of 255 Re: Hold on, Not so fast.... [mariposa7684] by marypal

Dec 13, 2009 (12:52 pm)

Replying to: mariposa7684 (Dec 12, 2009 7:06 am)
We started having problems with the tires quite a while ago. My husband was always driving and complaining about the inside noise, I didn't notice it nearly as much as him, but other people would ride in it and comment on how loud it was. Just watch for your tires to cup. They said that it happens from the car being out of alignment, but for as long as my husband thought that it was too loud, it must have been out of alignment when we bought it. We just went yesterday and put new Michelin tires on it for about $800, Merry Christmas to us!! It sounds so much better, now we can hear where all the wind comes in the car.

#79 of 255 Re: Hold on, Not so fast.... [keytexas] by mariposa7684

Dec 14, 2009 (7:29 am)

Replying to: keytexas (Dec 12, 2009 8:22 am)
my transmission leaked, too. the dealership admitted to the defect (they had just replaced the faulty part on a fleet of escapes). until they were able to get the actual TSB on the seats, i didn't have any luck on their acknowledging the problem. i was surprised they had the bulletin as, like you, i didn't see it posted on their website. i will definitely keep my eye on those tires. i bring the car in every 7500 miles for an oil change and tire rotation. i'm already researching different brands of replacement tires and keeping my fingers crossed that these continentals stay decent past the 21k i have on my ford. thanks for the heads up!

#80 of 255 Hold On, Not so fast... by oldbottleman

Dec 14, 2009 (1:39 pm)

I am currently looking into buying Leather seats out of a wreck at a Junkyard. You have to get all the airbags reset though if they have gone off. I'm told this can be costly. Have seen some grey Leather Seats, but not the Camel Color. It may run my 5-700 bucks to do this though. Dont know if I can stomach that. May try what others have said, and soak the whole seat with cleaners others have mentioned, and hope for the best. They really cant look much worse. I also have the Continental tires on my Escape. I have rotated them faithfully, and watched pressure closely. I have always felt they made alot of Roadnoise, and others have commented on it. They do seem to break traction easily as far as Hidroplaning. The Tread is getting down there, especially considering the Crazy roads I drive on, and how much snow we get. I wont buy another set for sure.
    I wasnt going to get into my Transmision issue on here, but in a nutshell, With no indications there was trouble, My Transmision went from fine to undriveable in about 50 miles. This was at 32,000. Luckily I got home. Called Dealer, they got it on a flatbed, Called to say a main seal had gone, leaked all the fluid out, and they were going to put in a RE-MANUFACTURED Tranny in my Escape. A week later I got it back, and have not had a problem yet. I never saw a drop of fluid anywhere I park. I left work that day, and there was no fluid in my spot. This coming summer I will be towing an 1800 LB Boat. Will see how it likes that. At least theres a 5 yr 60,000 on the Transmision. They gave me no problems.
    Thats just like them to replace only the seats with the ring, and not do the ones with brown stains. I thought was losing it, as these stains just started appearing from nowhere in a new car. These brown stains are surely their issue as well.

#81 of 255 Here I am with my story by rclarksworld

Dec 21, 2009 (1:31 pm)

These vehicles looked so good on the lot, didn't they? I am not having transmission problems, but I AM suffering with the HOPELESSLY STAINED SEATS and the tire issue. However, I don't blame the tires; there appears to be excessive negative camber on my front driver's wheel. (They aligned it - didn't fix it) I'm on a second tire on that wheel and it has now cupped too and it makes a horrible reverberating road noise with each revolution, being most irritating between 45-60 mph. Two other issues that are driving me insane are that the driver's window is rubbing something inside the door and making a squealing noise as it goes up and down, and the serpentine belt chirps on acceleration with the A/C engaged. I have also heard other Escapes/Mariners/Tributes do this as well, seemingly only the 2.3 L4 powered ones do this. I am currently conferring with Ford and if I don't get satisfaction I'm making a mini-documentary and throwing it on YouTube.

#82 of 255 Re: Here I am with my story [rclarksworld] by marypal

Dec 21, 2009 (3:08 pm)

Replying to: rclarksworld (Dec 21, 2009 1:31 pm)
That is a great idea to put all these issues on Youtube, we should all do that. Did you try my idea with cleaning the seats? It really worked and that was about a month and a half ago. I don't know if it is cold now where you live, so you will have to wait for warm weather, but my seats still look good (knock on wood). You have to be able to let the seats dry in the sun, so that might not be an option for you right now, but I am pretty happy with how they look now. My husband said that if we just spent over $800 on new tires, and these get ruined too, because this car is still out of allignment, the Ford dealership is getting this car back, right through the showroom window, and then they will pay for the new tires that we already had to buy. Thanks for sharing your story and good luck.

#83 of 255 Re: Hold On, Not so fast... [oldbottleman] by mariposa7684

Dec 22, 2009 (6:45 am)

Replying to: oldbottleman (Dec 14, 2009 1:39 pm)
i don't get why every dealership is not replacing seats as they all have that TSB. have you asked them about this? the new upholstery looks good. it's exactly the same as the old. hasn't gotten wet yet, though, even with all the snow we got. supposedly whatever process is making those stains has been eliminated. we'll see. i feel that all stains that won't come out, or get worse with cleaning, should've been addressed. i'll keep an eye out for white ringed stains on the back seat. if they appear, i'll see if i can get the back seat covers replaced.
 
last may i noticed the tranny fluid leak (at about 15k miles). luckily, i still had fluid left so they only had to replace the seal, not the whole tranny. did you end up getting a brand new tranny or did you have to go with a re-manufactured one? how were they able to do the latter if the car's under warranty?
 
last week, when the weather got very cold, the low tire pressure light came on. since i couldn't find an air pump with a gauge, i ended up at the dealership. of course, they charged me to fill the tires and reset the computer (they were taking advantage of all the people showing up with the same problem). what worked out was that i needed a couple filters replaced (i had missed doing this 15k miles). so i was ok with it. i don't notice any excessive noise from these continentals. even so, when it comes time to replace, i will get another brand.

Messages Page 9 of 27

To POST a message, please Sign In.

Advertisement

Browse by Category

Browse by Vehicle
   View All Vehicles

Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
View All Topics

Edmunds Community

Advertisement