jayhahn03

I understand there are a lot of variables at play. However, in each instance where my front wheels loose traction my rear wheels never provide any sort of force at all. If your theory is correct, if I jack up my vehicle using 4 secure jacking points with all 4 wheels off the ground and place the vehicle in drive all 4 wheels are going to spin? I’ll try it and see what happens. Every time, including this morning, the Escape gets caught up on snow and a slight incline you should be able to feel if there is some sort of assistance from the rear end when your front tires are spinning and the vehicle isn’t going anywhere. Never have I seen or felt the rear end provide any sort of assistance. What type of monitoring system would I need to check to see what my rear wheels are actually doing?

I own a 2009 Escape Hybrid Limited all wheel drive. I absolutely love the vehicle with the exception of one small thing; I have yet to see or feel the rear wheels engage to offer torque in many snow/ice situations. Can someone out there help me? I understand that the Ford traction system checks traction on each wheel that may be slipping and sends a message to the “smart” 4-wheel drive system telling it to redistribute some of that torque to the rear wheels or wheels that are not slipping. But in my experiences in a mild Missouri winter that has yet to happen, I’ve almost been stuck many times in 3in to 5in of snow just attempting to get out of a semi- steep driveway. Same thing happens every time the front wheels just spin out with no assistance from the rear wheels. This happens regardless of if the Track Control button is engaged, there is no distinguishable difference. It slightly angers me because of the extra cost associated with all wheel drive coupled with the decline in MPG average, yet I haven’t once yet got the rear wheels to engage. Maybe I’m missing something here. Should I take this thing back to Ford and have them check to see what’s going on, or are all other alleged (all wheel drives) the same way?

Tazjedi, I did the install myself. I grew up on a farm and have installed many tow hitches in my life; this one was one of the easiest. There was no drilling, welding, or moving of any of the vehicles components. It took me less than an hour by myself; however, an extra hand to help stabilize the hitch would have been of great help.

Update- Last week I installed the hitch from eTrailer on my 2009 Escape Hybrid Limited 4x4. The installation went very quickly and without any problems. I pulled my small tilt-bed trailer to the scales at the local farmer’s elevator and the HEV with a ¾ tank of gas weighed in at almost 4000lbs (no trailer & no driver). The trailer I was pulling weighed in at 400lbs. I pulled the trailer 60miles and noticed a 1mpg decrease in fuel economy. Sounds like I’ll be well within the rage prescribed by my owners manual to pull my Yamaha R6 motor cycle (450lbs). As a side note to Duckracer: No racing for me, just like to pack up and visit buddies that go riding in the southern part of the state.

Chiefstang, No worries at all. My original intent of this post was to put this topic out there to generate a wide variety of input. I want to make sure there is not a dynamic to this issue that I have overlooked, thus all input is very much appreciated. -Jay

Pursuant to the 2009 Escape Hybrid Owners Guide, I have ordered a tow hitch. For your reference I have attached the referred pages found on page 192 thru 197. For my purposes I hope to haul a 450lb Yamaha R6 on a small golf cart trailer that weighs nearly 300lbs.Combined weight will never reach or exceed the recommended 1000lbs as prescribed by Ford for my vehicle. It would also be nice to use the 2in insert on the hitch to mount a rack (cooler holder) on camping trips that will weigh no more than 200lbs. Let me know your thoughts. See Attachment: 2009-Escape-HEV.pdf 2009_Escape_HEV.pdf 09_HEV_Owners_Guide.pdf

Does anyone know the answers to the following questions: Was there a frame change between the years 2008 and 2009 on the Escape Hybrid? If so, in what way? And would it affect the area need for me to put a small tow hitch on my HEV. See - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwEo6QnQbxo Also, are the Taillight wiring harness plugs the same on a 2008 and 2009 Escape Hybrid? I have found the custom receiver hitch ( http://www.etrailer.com/p-V82211.htm ) that has been tested on the 2008 Escape Hybrid, now I just need to make sure that it will work on my 2009 Escape Hybrid Limited 4x4. Any help would be greatly appreciated Towing- Question about 09 Escape Hybrid & Towing

Viper, Very much appreciate the time you take and the things you do. Any info on VIN: 1FMCU59339KA17576 Would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again. -Jay Hahn