Which parts fail
Components named in complaints (service brakes, ABS, rotors and pads, parking brake).
Mileage when the problem started
Owner reports
Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
I was driving along the highway coming up to an intersection, preparing to stop at a red light in the left turn lane, when my breaks completely failed. The break pedal was stiff, and would not budge. We hit two cars that were sitting at the intersection, totaling my Ford Escape as well as one of the other cars. In the past, the "service breaks" light would go on occasionally in the summer during the hot months, giving the car slightly less break pressure. This was never a serious problem, and has always corrected itself anytime I turned the car off for a while. In addition, whenever having the breaks checked, they could never detect a problem. In addition, my car had routine inspections done during an oil change a month before the accident, and a full service inspection before this. This car is unsafe for the road, and the accident was out of my control. …
Driving down the road I had a complete loss of normal and effective braking. The ABS and brake service lights both came on in the dash and in order to bring the vehicle to a stop it, it became necessary to depress the brake pedal as hard as possible all the way to the floor. Whenever attempting to brake the vehicle would lunge to the right, clearly indicating that (at least) the front brake on the passenger side was completely useless/ineffective. Needless to say, this was a very traumatic experience as it took all of my skill as a motorist to avoid a collision with the vehicle in front of me and to protect my wife and two children who were also with me. …
Nearly impossible to brake, major safety issue with the hydrolic regenerative breaking system and ABS. While driving the vehicle on city streets, speeds between 0-40mph the brake pedal will become very hard and impossible to press with loss of braking. When this happens I am forced to rapidly release the brake pedal and brake again (pumping) the brakes in order to stop. On several occasions this pumping of the brakes has cause the break pedal to go from hard/impossible to push to completely soft hitting the floor with no braking capabilities. On these occasions I am forced to pull of the road quickly, downshift to low gear and even use the emergency brake to avoid causing an accident. Only about 60% of the time when this event occurred does the ABS light, brake light and service brake system warning indicators illuminate or display. …
I was approaching a t-intersection and attempted to make a stop at the stop sign, but the brake pedal resisted my foot pressure and I could not get the vehicle to slow down. I managed to maneuver through the intersection without further incident and spotted a safe place to pull over to gather my thoughts. The brake pedal again failed to work when I attempted to pull over, but I used the emergency brake to stop the vehicle.. Only, this time the brake pedal went all the way to the flood, with no braking effect to the vehicle. This time, unlike the first, 2 brake warning indicators (ABS & brakes!) illuminated on the driver's console. I turned off the vehicle and restarted it, and the indicators had disappeared and the brake pedal had normal resistance to my foot pressure and the brakes worked normally. …
I bought a 10 year old 2006 Escape Hybrid with 73,000 miles. After 4,000 mile the ABS light would go on and the brakes would go into manual mode and the warning lights read check brake system and regen disenaged. After restarting the car the problem would go away. This would happen when the vehicle was moving at various speeds. The car still did stop with more brake pressure. We brought it to the dealer and they reset the error codes and gave us back the car. They stated this was per the Ford corporate standards and they could not find anything wrong with the brakes despite the error codes. About 6 weeks later the problem happened again and kept happening. However, this time the brake pedal is soft and we are not confident it will stop every time as it did before. We brought it back to the dealer. …
Basically, this is happening at least 1 x / day. I am taking back to the dealership tomorrow, but Ford really needs to recall this vehicle and get this fixed. I was driving on a regular road and my ABS brake light and service engine light came on with the warning bell. My hydraulic brakes failed again! I put my flashers on, pulled to the side of the road, I depressed the brake all the way the floor and rolled to a stop with throbbing emergency brakes still working. Then I turn off my vehicle after putting it into park, take out the key, wait a few seconds, then start the car again. It works again temporarily. Now, I know how to deal with it and I plan for it since it happens all the time, but if I am ever in a situation where I cannot control my environment, I cannot guarantee someone will not be harmed or killed as a result of this failure in my vehicle. Please! …
Was driving to work in the morning. Had been in the car approximately 10 minutes when the ABS, brake, and service brakes, indicators came on all at once. Depressed brake pedal only to discover that I did in fact not have any brakes. Turned on emergency flashers and began to merge over into right hand shoulder, repeatedly stomping on brake pedal. Was able to come to a stop. This incident happened while I was approaching a very busy 3-way intersection, off of a major highway. Turned car off and back on to see if this was a malfunction, but all three indicators came on again. Had vehicle towed to Ford dealership. Paid $5280.03 in parts and labor to have faulty hydraulic unit repaired, and hcu and Hybrid system bleed. Had not had any problems with this vehicle in the past. Very thankful that this incident did not cause an accident or injuries to myself or others. …
The brakes on our 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid began grinding around February 2016. We had the pads and rotors replaced and it braked better, but within a mile after leaving the Ford service center the brake light came on and shortly after - while moving - the brake pedal went to the floor and there were no brakes. We had to coast to a stop and pull over. When the car is stopped and turned on and off, you can sometimes get the brakes to work for less than a mile. Its so unsafe, we had it towed to service centers for estimates. Two Ford dealers and one other service place investigated the problem thoroughly and all came back saying the hydraulic control unit must be replaced at an average cost of $4,500. Otherwise, we like the car, but this one repair is greater than the blue book value and is very dangerous.
The first incident was the ABS light illuminating and a chugging sound in 2013.... Took it to the local Ford dealer and the tone ring on front driver side was broken and replaced for $350.00. On 12 January 2015, both the ABS light and brake failure light illuminated, along with message to service brakes. Took to local Ford dealer where I was informed the problem was failure of the ABS hydraulic system --- approx. $4,000.00 to replace. I don't have $4,000.00 plus available to invest in this 2006 Escape Hybrid.... This is a known problem, has been repeatedly reported, and is a vehicle safety issue that Ford appears to be dismissive --- much like GM and the acceleration issue. Fortunately, there have been no reported deaths due to this issue..... Yet. We need to get a recall before that happens.
Driving approximately 35 MPH, suddenly received warning message about the brakes and heard warning beeps. Immediately I lost all braking ability (brake pedal felt soft and give very little resistance) but still had acceleration and steering control of the vehicle. I navigated the car to a side street and was able to slow the car down to an eventual stop on the shoulder using the emergency/parking brake. I turned the car off for approximately 5 minutes. Tested the pressure on the brake pedal and it seemed normal. I then started the car up and moved a little bit forward and depressed the brake pedal and everything worked fine. No warning messages or sounds. The car operated normally as I drove it back to a safe spot.
Brake complaints in other Escape Hybrid years
Frequently asked questions
How common are brake problems on the 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid?
NHTSA has 105 complaints about the brakes of the 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid, 41% of the model year's 256 complaints. The component named most often is antilock/traction control/electronic limited slip (3 mentions).
Is there a recall for 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid brake problems?
No. NHTSA lists no brakes recall for the 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid, though it has 1 recall for other components. If the problem is widespread, a repair may still be covered by an extended warranty or a manufacturer service bulletin — ask a dealer.
At what mileage do 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid brake problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 79,000 miles, and 6% before 25,000 miles.
Is it dangerous?
Owners linked 3 crashes, 0 fires and 1 injury to brakes problems on this model year. If you notice symptoms, have the car checked before driving further.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.