Ford has been feeling the pinch of automotive recalls getting tight enough that we might start calling it a clamp. Or worse. Now, 18,000 Ford Escape owners could feel a pinch of their own. The problem could result in you getting pinched by your power windows, which could cause serious injury.
Power Windows Might Pinch Harder Than They’re Meant To
2017 Ford Escape rear 3/4 angle in red while drivingFord
Ford Escapes from the 2017 model year are being recalled to fix windows that could be a tad too aggressive when going up. A software update should make sure that a closing window won’t exceed safety regulations for pinch protection. If the window is going up, it’s not meant to be able to take a finger or an arm off. The software fix is meant to keep that from happening.
If you’ve owned your 2017 Escape since it was new, this recall might sound familiar. That’s because it is – Ford first issued a recall for these vehicles a full 10 years ago, in August 2016. When that recall was issued, Ford said that “The settings for the closing-force of the power-operated windows may allow the windows to close on an object such as a body part and injure it before the windows auto-reverse.”
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Two separate campaigns affect more than 800,000 vehicles each, and both have to do with a problematic rear camera display.
As for the current recall, Ford says the vehicles should have been fixed before. Ford has records saying that they had been fixed before. But Ford has since learned that not every vehicle marked as fixed actually got the software fix. Yeah, that’s awkward.
Ford’s Re-Recalls Are Another Ongoing Pinch Point
2017 Ford Escape interior view of the front seatsFord
This has been a problem for Ford for a while, and the company has taken steps to fix it. Previously, Ford blamed the tools dealers used to install updates, saying that it could fail the upload but indicate that it was complete, fooling the tech. Ford has attributed many of its recent barrage of recalls in the past few years to this, and has updated the process and the tool.
Ford first learned that some vehicles had not been fixed in late 2024. An audit done as part of Ford’s efforts to improve its recall rates and overall quality found the problem. A team spent the next year creating databases for a large number of Ford’s recalls and the software versions of vehicles versus what they should be. This process led to Ford discovering the Escapes that had, um, escaped the correct software fix.
Starting July 6, owners of the affected Ford Escape SUVs will get a letter advising them to head to a dealer for a repair. The dealer will validate the software version, as many of these vehicles will already have the correct one, and update any that do not. As with all recall fixes, there is no charge for the service.
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Ford has made some changes that should avoid this situation in the future.
A large portion of Ford’s 2024 and 2025 recalls were for software fixes that needed to be checked. In early 2025, Ford warned that the problem could become even worse, because it was auditing so many software recalls that involved the problematic tool. In theory, Ford was taking a short-term hit on recalls from all the audits happening, with plans to have fewer recalls in the future. Thus far, it seems, that future hasn’t yet arrived.
Source: NHTSA
