2013 Ford Escape Recalled for Potential Carpet Issue

The all-new blues seem to have struck another automaker: After GM had to recall the Chevy Cruze for an engine-shield issue in June, the 2013 Ford Escape—which just went on sale last month—has been recalled by its maker. The issue here? Carpet padding around the lower part of the center console can come loose enough so that it “may result in the driver's foot contacting the side of the brake pedal while transferring the foot from the accelerator pedal to the brake pedal, increasing stopping distances and the risk of a crash.”

In plain English, that means the carpeting may cause the driver to have trouble moving his or her foot from the accelerator to the brake pedal, lengthening the overall time it takes to bring the vehicle to a stop, which, in turn, could lead to a crash. A similar problem involving loose floor mats, of course, was blamed for the Toyota “unintended acceleration” fiasco and led to a landslide of problems for that automaker—although, to be clear, there have been no customer-reported incidents of any kind involving the carpet in the Escape. Thus, Ford does seem to be getting off easy, especially as only about 10,000 vehicles are involved in the current recall campaign. The key will be working to ensure this remains a minor glitch in the launch of what should be a major winner for Ford.

Remember, in June alone, with the new Escape just starting to reach dealerships, Ford’s small crossover set an all-time monthly sales record and was the best-selling vehicle in its class. In fact, it’s 28,500 deliveries were more than 5,000 units ahead of the No. 2 entry, the Honda CR-V, and almost 8,000 sales more than achieved by the third-place Chevy Equinox.

Ford will begin contacting Escape owners in the near future, with the recall officially slated to go into effect on July 23, and dealers will fix the problem free of charge. For more information, call the automaker at 1-866-436-7332.