Battery drain on 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid

Todays vehicles are like computers, best to have the dealer look it over for you. Maybe the vehicle was left on? With todays vehicles without keys it's easy to leave them on when turning off the engine.

Document everything too in case this becomes a Lemon Law claim! Hope that helps! Jim

Yes. Less than 1500 miles and battery dead

Went to remote start vehicle today and no response. Not even manual start working. Battery as dead as it could be.

I have a 2020 Escape Hybrid and the dealership seems to think my vehicle is having similar problems due to leaving the key inside the vehicle while it's parked in my garage.

I have never left my keys in my car, I keep them in my coat pocket which comes into the house with me. So far we have not had a repeat of the dead battery, but if it happens again, I am definitely bringing the car to the dealership. I adjusted the lighting so they only stay on the minimal amount of time when exiting the vehicle also. I am still not sure what caused the battery drain. Thank you all for the responses and suggestions.

I have just around 500Miles on Escape 2020 hybrid Titanium . I didn't run the car for last 2 days and then this morning nothing works. Not even the Key blade is working to unlock the door. Taking to dealership for sure.

My 2020 escape hybrid dies every day because the electrics motor coolant pump kicks on every time you turn the car off sometimes hours after you turn it off. My car has 10000 miles and has been to the dealer 5 times now out of service for 40 days so I guess it’s time to deem it a lemon. I wish they could find the cause though.

Ford definitely needs to start looking into the battery issues

Took my vehicle in, the very day I was suppose to pick it up from the dealership, Wednesday 2/17, after they could find nothing wrong with the battery, an email from Ford came through that it is a module problem. They reprogrammed the ABS module and fingers crossed, no more dead battery. Hope that helps everyone with the same issue regarding the battery being drained.

Here is SSM number for updating module if needed fir your dealership if your battery keeps dying.

Well same boat. 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid dead battery. I measured the voltage with a multimeter and it was 2V. I jumped the vehicle and everything ran fine for about a month and this morning dead again. Taking it to the dealer next week. Guru mentioned something about the coolant pump turning on after you shut the car off. When the car has been off just sitting in the garage I hear all kinds of odd mechanical noises coming from the car long after it has been turned off. I would also like to beat the engineer that designed the jump locations for the battery. I am fairly sure they have actually never laid eyes on jumper cables before.

Yes. Getting that positive red boot off was a pain. Take vehicle in and explain there is an SSM number 49574 - have them check your vehicle for that faulty module program and reprogram vehicle. Hopefully that will fix the issue.

J19735 My vehicle is at the dealer awaiting a fuse panel they think is kicking on my coolant pump, the problem is the part is on back order with no ETA. I’ll advise if the part ever comes and this fixes my issue.

I have had the battery of my 2021 FOrd Escape Hybrid go dead twice. Dealer replaced the battery and the it happened again. Under 4000 miles on the car. This time the dealer said the ABS was on constantly and reprogrammed the module. Keeping fingers crossed but not pleased. The manual start described in the owners manual does not work. Had to jump start both times.

Guru9T8T4G, yes, that was the issue with mine. See my posts above re: the module and SSM notice. Once they reprogrammed that module I have not had a single issue.

Had this happen in December when I went to the garage and the vehicle was completely dead. Had to boost it. Yesterday I parked the car in the garage and noticed that the lights and dash would not power down. This would be the reason why it went dead before. I tried multiple things but eventually had to disconnect the battery. Now it’s fine again. I really like the escape for a lot of reasons but this thing is a lemon. Too many issues from the backup camera, memory seats forgetting they have to return when you get back in. Come on Ford! It’s 2021 ! This kind of crap should not be happening!

Just happened to me 2021 titanium hybrid, dead battery. Vehicle was off all night, then battery dead. Its impossible to "forget" and leave it on because it beeps loudly if you exit with it on. It appears to turn everything off if you turn the engine off. No explanation but a design flaw. Glad to know I can be stranded at any time.

I misspoke, mine is 2020 hybrid. I do not ever leave keys in car.

new SSM 49990 released today ( july 29, 2021 ) by ford

2nd time same problem. 1st time they inspected it and found a dead cell. In both cases the service dept; first answer is we don't drive it enough. They claim it has to be driven at least 3-4 times per week, we sometimes don't drive for a week. AND whatever we do, never ever leave it parked at an airport parking extended stay, it will be dead upon return.

I have a 2020 Ford Escape Titanium AWD Hybrid. This coming Wednesday, Nov 17 it's going in for what will probably be the fourth dead 12V battery in 14K miles. I've owned the car since Feb 2020. Before retiring, I drove the car to/from work 60+ miles on highway. Battery still went dead every four months. It stranded me in -23 degrees and -45 windchill. I keep getting errors on the screen saying "System off to save battery power". When this happens, I lose the radio settings and it defaults to a generic display. The car was last in the shop in June 2021 (where THEY got to jump it, ha ha) and it got another new 12V battery. The issues started right away once I picked it up. The car sits in the garage and I can hear it clicking and clacking away. It sounds like a key FOB unlocking/locking the doors constantly. It's LOUD. I've made video and audio recordings for the dealership to listen to. Right away in June and until now (November), the car gives me an error every day. I don't drive it every day now since I've retired, but when I do drive it, I usually drive at least 20 miles. The hybrid battery seems to function fine. But the service advisor told me I'm not driving it enough to keep the battery charged and told me to put a tender on it. I told him when I was driving 60+ miles a day, it STILL didn't behave. I should not have to drive a car 100 miles a day to keep the battery charged! Nowhere on that window sticker did it say I have to drive 100 miles a day to keep the battery functioning. I have a 2014 Escape that doesn't get driven in weeks and it starts just fine. I've opened a case with Ford and they have told me there are no service bulletins regarding this, but it appears I'm not alone. It also appears there are some papers issued that could be related (SSM 49990). I'm going to print out some of the informative comments above. If there is anything else anyone would like to suggest before I go in (again), I'd love to add them to my list! Call me super annoyed and frustrated because if I turn this car in under the Lemon Law, there is nothing on any car lot to buy! I really don't want to give it up because I love the car. But my confidence is GONE.

I just got thois email, which for unclear reason isnt listed here. Stephanie Yant answered a question you are following: "Battery drain on 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid". They wrote: "I have a 2020 Ford Escape Titanium AWD Hybrid. This coming Wednesday, Nov 17 it's going in for what will probably be the fourth dead 12V battery in 14K miles. I've owned the car since Feb 2020. Before retiring, I drove the car to/from work 60+ miles on highway. Battery still went dead every four months. It stranded me in -23 degrees and -45 windchill. I keep getting errors on the screen saying "System off to save battery power". When this happens, I lose the radio settings and it defaults to a generic display. The car was last in the shop in June 2021 (where THEY got to jump it, ha ha) and it got another new 12V battery. The issues started right away once I picked it up. The car sits in the garage and I can hear it clicking and clacking away. It sounds like a key FOB unlocking/locking the doors constantly. It's LOUD. I've made video and audio recordings for the dealership to listen to. Right away in June and until now (November), the car gives me an error every day. I don't drive it every day now since I've retired, but when I do drive it, I usually drive at least 20 miles. The hybrid battery seems to function fine. But the service advisor told me I'm not driving it enough to keep the battery charged and told me to put a tender on it. I told him when I was driving 60+ miles a day, it STILL didn't behave. I should not have to drive a car 100 miles a day to keep the battery charged! Nowhere on that window sticker did it say I have to drive 100 miles a day to keep the battery functioning. I have a 2014 Escape that doesn't get driven in weeks and it starts just fine. I've opened a case with Ford and they have told me there are no service bulletins regarding this, but it appears I'm not alone. It also appears there are some papers issued that could be related (SSM 49990). I'm going to print out some of the informative comments above. If there is anything else anyone would like to suggest before I go in (again), I'd love to add them to my list! Call me super annoyed and frustrated because if I turn this car in under the Lemon Law, there is nothing on any car lot to buy! I really don't want to give it up because I love the car. But my confidence is GONE." I also have issue with faulty keyless entry, failure on passenger side. As thats the only system powered on when the car is off, that seems a likely culprit for dead batteries.

Same here - 2021 Ford Escape Hybrid. Purchased January 2021. Went dead first weekend I had it home (dealership went out of their way to ignore my calls). In the coarse of almost one year the car has turned up dead 5 times. Dreading the dealer/service dept run-around.

My Escape Hybrid made it a full year and 12,000 miles before I had the "dreaded dead Battery" syndrome. Tow Truck drive knew exactly how to jump the battery so it could be put on the tilt bed to transport to dealer. He also mentioned doing this on Escape fairly often. Dealer diagnosed a dead cell in the battery, changed it and everything work find for 2 months, then dead again. Another tow driver who also knew exactly how to jump the "dead battery" and mentioned doing it several times. Dealer charged the battery, blamed me for the problem and sent me off. Will not return to this dealership again. Carrying a portable "battery jumping system", might resort to keeping a spare, charged battery in the back somewhere. Other than that, really like the car. But will probably trade it in soon if the dead battery syndrome continues to strike.

We had been suffering with this issue. Either we would get the dreaded "No Key Detected" when we tried to start it, or the battery would be so dead that we would get all sorts of bogus error messages. We were also regularly getting the "System Off to Save Battery - Please turn ignition off or start engine." We took the car to the dealership and they tested the battery. Initially they said the battery was okay, but after a bunch of prodding, they tested it again with a more sophisticated tester which showed it was bad. They replaced the battery and also applied the fixes to the following two SSMs. Since all that was done, we have had no more issues. SSMs: SSM 49990 - 2020 Escape/Corsair - No Crank/Discharged Battery - Built On 09-Jun- 2020 And Through 16-Nov-2020 Some 2020 Escape/Corsair vehicles built on 09-Jun-2020 and through 16-Nov- 2020may exhibit a key off battery drain which results in a no crank/no start condition. The vehicle may also exhibit a yellow electric parking brake (EPB) warning lamp, Park Brake Fault and/or red EPB warning light Illumination to the instrument panel cluster (IPC). This may be due to the ABS module communicating with the IPC resulting in illumination draining the battery. To correct this condition, update the antilock brake module using the latest software of the appropriate Ford diagnostic scan tool. For claiming, use causal part 2C219 and applicable labor operations in Section 10 of the Service Labor Time Standards (SLTS) Manual. SSM 49574 - 2020 Escape With 2.5L HEV/PHEV - No Crank/Discharged Battery - Built On 09-Jun-2020 And Through 16-Nov-2020 Some 2020 Escape vehicles with 2.5L HEV/PHEV may exhibit a key off battery drain which results in a no crank/no start condition. The vehicle may also exhibit a yellow electric parking brake (EPB) warning lamp, Park Brake Fault and/or red EPB warning light Illumination to the instrument panel cluster (IPC). This may be due to the ABS module communicating with the IPC resulting in illumination draining the battery. To correct this condition, update the antilock brake module using the latest software of the appropriate Ford diagnostic scan tool. For claiming, use causal part 2C219 and applicable labor operations in Section 10 of the Service Labor Time Standards (SLTS) Manual.

I also had the 12V battery go dead in my 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid. The battery was at 6 volts. I charged it and took the car to the dealer. They kept it for a few days and determined that nothing was wrong. I will go back and ask them to do the SSMs listed above. FYI, I connected a volt/ohm meter to the 12 volt battery and tested the voltage under various conditions. Here are the results: Car off: 12.43 volts Car on: driving or not driving, gas motor on or off, headlights off: 12.98 volts Car on: driving or not driving, gas motor on or off, headlights on: 14.35 volts So, driving with the headlights on should improve charging of the 12v battery. And the 12 volt battery must be being charged from the hybrid battery, rather than from a traditional alternator, since the charging voltage is the same whether the gas motor is on or off.

I'm having the exact same issue.... car is less than 2 years old, and under 10,000 miles. Been in the shop for this issue at least 4-5 times. I've heard every excuse... you're not driving it enough (uh... it won't start...); you're not driving it enough in one day (60 miles round trip in a single day isn't enough that I still got that low battery warnings?); we'll replace the battery (still happening); it must be a problem with the ford pass app; no, it's a third party app - but we can't tell you which one or what to do about it (my husband's ford uses android auto without issue); everything is fine... we can't find a problem. I'm tired of carrying around a jump start kit for a new car. Last time, the battery was so dead (drove it less that 12 hours earlier) I had to have it towed. I bought my car in a different state then I live and that state's lemon laws are very narrow, so my time to file under that has passed. I'd just sell it and buy something else, but no one has any inventory! What is the process for getting this recalled or actually fixed?

This is March 1, 2023, and I see that my 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid Titanium (purchased in April 2021) is having some of the same dead battery problems that others are having. I am very sad since I like the car a lot and I'm sure I won't be able to keep it after it comes out of warranty. Does anybody have any solutions for this? Please PM me at newsclips@gmail.com if you have any suggestions.

I'm having same issue. Every couple months the thing goes dead everytime I get in. I have a portable starter. The dealership has replaced the battery twice, that lasts for about 2 months. When I turn the engine off I hear fast clicking in the fuse panel. this is so annoying.

Reposting my answer from about ten months ago for the benefit of recent people experiencing this issue: We had been suffering with this issue. Either we would get the dreaded "No Key Detected" when we tried to start it, or the battery would be so dead that we would get all sorts of bogus error messages. We were also regularly getting the "System Off to Save Battery - Please turn ignition off or start engine." We took the car to the dealership and they tested the battery. Initially they said the battery was okay, but after a bunch of prodding, they tested it again with a more sophisticated tester which showed it was bad. They replaced the battery and also applied the fixes to the following two SSMs. Since all that was done, we have had no more issues. SSMs: SSM 49990 - 2020 Escape/Corsair - No Crank/Discharged Battery - Built On 09-Jun- 2020 And Through 16-Nov-2020 Some 2020 Escape/Corsair vehicles built on 09-Jun- 2020 and through 16-Nov- 2020may exhibit a key off battery drain which results in a no crank/no start condition. The vehicle may also exhibit a yellow electric parking brake (EPB) warning lamp, Park Brake Fault and/or red EPB warning light Illumination to the instrument panel cluster (IPC). This may be due to the ABS module communicating with the IPC resulting in illumination draining the battery. To correct this condition, update the antilock brake module using the latest software of the appropriate Ford diagnostic scan tool. For claiming, use causal part 2C219 and applicable labor operations in Section 10 of the Service Labor Time Standards (SLTS) Manual. SSM 49574 - 2020 Escape With 2.5L HEV/PHEV - No Crank/Discharged Battery - Built On 09-Jun-2020 And Through 16-Nov-2020 Some 2020 Escape vehicles with 2.5L HEV/PHEV may exhibit a key off battery drain which results in a no crank/no start condition. The vehicle may also exhibit a yellow electric parking brake (EPB) warning lamp, Park Brake Fault and/or red EPB warning light Illumination to the instrument panel cluster (IPC). This may be due to the ABS module communicating with the IPC resulting in illumination draining the battery. To correct this condition, update the antilock brake module using the latest software of the appropriate Ford diagnostic scan tool. For claiming, use causal part 2C219 and applicable labor operations in Section 10 of the Service Labor Time Standards (SLTS) Manual.

I have a 2020 Escape Titanium Hybrid and also had the battery drain problem. After 3 visits to the Ford dealer and numerous testing coming up with no problems, I showed the service advisor this discussion. I finally got them to apply fix SSM 49990 and to also replace the battery. After one month, the car is still working just fine.

Thank you for all of your posts as this is happening to me. I have a 2020 Escape Hybrid and most everything you all have mentioned is happening to my car. The first time it happened, about a few months after I bought it, I thought it was my fault and had AAA jump my car and replace the battery ($200). Since then it has happened 3 more times over the past 2 years. I stopped into the dealership service dept, told them about the extra clicking (Like Bill mentioned in his post it sounded like the car doors locking and unlocking over and over), they said they have never heard of anything like that before. This past week its every day. I had to buy a portable jumper battery to keep in the car to wake the car up. If I connect the jumpers and power it up, the car comes to life and starts without the engine coming on. That would seem like the car hybrid batteries are charged, but my AAA is dead again. I can only imagine, Ford will just blame the bad AAA battery and move on. With all of your posts I have something to show them as proof that this isnt normal. Im pretty sure they already know that though. I called Ford service about it this morning, and the soonest appointment is 2 1/2 weeks from now. And thats just to drop it off for the day. Im really hoping this solves the issue. Like many of you, I like the car, but this has been a complete disappointment.

My 2020 Hybrid Escape Titanium has been completely dead 3 times now, but once anything metal touches the +node on the battery, everything lights up and its good to go. It is unsettling to know that any given day, no matter where I am or what kind of weather we are having, my car might not operate. Anyone know what's up? The Battery is NOT dead, but the car certainly is until I touch the + node of the battery.

I also have the 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid Titanium and have had this issue with battery drain, once while under the warranty period and now it's extended warranty period. I've had quite the battle with Ford about covering the cost of the updates. They claim it's not under warranty and extended warranty doesn't cover it either. I've had it escalated a few times and now they say they will cover the $1100 charge for the 2 updates, but I have to pay $265 out of pocket. Does anyone know the specific date that SSM 49574 was created? Because it if was during the time the car was towed in the first time when the issued occurred and the dealership missed it, I think they should cover all of it. Any information/ideas/input would be greatly appreciated.

Hi there Victoria, I'm not sure about the SSM 49574, but would like to share how I finally stopped my battery running dead. After taking my car in a few times I finally got a competent technician to double check everything. They found a fuse (not sure which one it was) that was blown and needed to be replace. Once they replaced the fuse, my battery hasn't gone dead since. Not sure if my fuse fix is the same for others, but it fixed my issue.