@johnch I have an Escape Hybrid with the same issue. You say you ended up not needing the HCU. If you havent sold it yet, I’ll take it off your hands! lunaprk@earthlink.net
This exact thing happened to me for the first time this weekend. As I was driving my 2010 Ford Escape Hybrid off the lot from getting a regular service check, the brake lights came on and I heard the alarm ding, and when I stepped on the brakes, they went almost to the floor, and I barely stopped before I rolled into traffic. I turned the car off, jogged back up to my service manager, and he turned it on and saw no alerts. He plugged it into the computer and saw that I had “low voltage”? I guess the service guy had left my lights on for the few hours it had been sitting in the service department? Seems insane that a low battery kills the brakes right? He drive it round the block and didn’t have any more problems so off I went. Two days later, it happens again this morning. Right after I start it up. Alarm, dings, SUPER mushy brakes. Luckily I was just pulling away from the curb and there wasn’t anything to hit before I stopped. Turned it off, turned it on, everything’s fine, I get on the freeway and drive to work. But now I’m reading these forums and I’m scared to get back in my car. Was there a johnch’s problem? Did he replace the HCU? Did that work? Is this under the long term warranty?
Read johnch’s last post on the previous page.
I had the same problem for about a year, then turn the car off and on several time no longer made the ABS warning light go out and after the brakes completely went out a couple of times, I had to do something. So I purchased a refurbished ABS HCU part# 8M64-2C289-AA/BB from Auto ECMS at www.autoecmstore.com for $1295.00. Took the vehicle to the local ford dealer and had it installed programmed and bled. Dealer had a hard time getting it to bleed, so they replaced the brake lines also, so I would probably have the brake lines replaced first although the dealer will charge a lot for bleeding the system and for a lot of brake fluid 204 oz in my case. Vehicle running fine so far. Auto ECMS was good to deal with part came next day after ordered. Find a good dealership with more than one hybrid technician, it took 3 weeks for my dealer to get around to looking at my vehicle since they only had on experienced hybrid technician. If everything goes well its a $1800.00 fix. In my research, I found the 2008 FEH/MMH have the most problems. Good Luck.
Is there any data to back up the warning? I’ve never heard of any stats on that.
I find the keyless system much safer. Wife doesn’t have to fumble with her keys or unlock the door before reaching the car. When she touches the handle of the drivers door, then only that door unlocks. No need to fumble for keys…just press the brake pedal an press the start button and go.
Disconnect the 12 volt battery cable for 5 minutes. This will reset the computer to default.
I can only assume brake jobs done outside of a Ford dealer need the ecu to be programmed to know the brakes need to regenerate.
I guess the OP must have figured out the problem by then. You answered a 2 year post.
I dunno. Much of what a customer pays for is the trust that the person assigned to the task(s) will have the expertise, time, and equipment to do the job properly and without causing damage. The average customer has no ability to judge these things and trusts what the “shop” says they can do.
Unfortunately, somewhere in time Skippy Lubes realized that customers would trust them to properly do whatever they advertised and exploited this weakness. They advertised more than they were capable of doing and created a business model that almost guaranteed problems.
Although I understand your point, I guess my feeling is that the customer did not get what they paid for. A cheap price should still be backed by some expertise and integrity. The shop advertised the service, they should have been able to do it properly.
I don’t understand people signing in to a forum such as this and replying to old threads and why a great percentage of them only post once.
Whoa . . . you responded to a comment I made a few years ago
I had to go back and reread some stuff
My response . . . which I felt was clearly sarcastic . . . was in response to ok4450’s story about a quick lube place apparently botching an ignition tuneup by cross-threading the plugs
In the past, we’ve often warned about getting repairs done at those facilities, because of the likelihood of substandard repairs
The “yum” emoji was meant to be sarcastic. Perhaps that didn’t come across
In any case, I value your opinions 
Hmmmmm… I never noticed the date.
While I readily accept having made the mistake, I did just notice that once one opens the REPLY sections, there’s no organized visible information on dates. I keep thinking there must be a better way…
There is…they’re just not doing it. All I can think of it was purposely done, or one of the worse software engineers writing the code. This is simple which I’d give to a junior engineer to do.
Something like this would do nicely.
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I wholeheartedly agree
Theoretically, it should be easy for the Cartalk “lackeys” to accomplish this . . . ?
Original poster popping in to say:
- Never had any additional problems with the brakes after the brake lines were replaced
- DOZENS of additional complaints (40+ just in 2018) about this exact problem on NHTSA.gov
- Ford acknowledged the problem with a “Manufacturer Communication” document in 2016:
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2016/MC-10081014-7690.pdf
SSM 45870
“Some 2005-2008 Escape/Mariner hybrid vehicles may experience the ABS warning indicator
illuminated with the following diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) C1478, C1479, C1480 or C1481.
Refer to Workshop Manual (WSM), Section 206-09 inspection and verification procedure under
diagnosis and testing. If no faults are identified while performing the inspection and verification
procedure and before replacing the ABS Hydraulic Control Unit (HCU) verify the caliper flex hoses
are thoroughly inspected for damage, internal restrictions or swelling. Damaged caliper flex hoses
can generate these pressure control plausibility DTCs.”
Sad to see based on the NHTSA complaints that people are paying $5000-$6000 to replace the Hydraulic Control Unit when the problem is actually the brake lines.
SO - If you came here from Google and you have a Ford Escape Hybrid that is giving you an error of “Check Brake System and Regen Brakes Disabled” and showing DTC codes of C1478, C1479, C1480 or C1481, check the brake lines FIRST and don’t just replace the Hydraulic Control Unit (HCU).
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Thank you for the info
I think you had the brake hoses replaced, the bulletin states to inspect the brake hoses for damage. Replacing the metal brake lines can require several hours of labor and likely isn’t the cause of the failure. Brake hoses and brake lines are different parts.
I can’t agree with this. I like safety features too, but a brake system failure worth $5,300 is absolutely inexcusable.
Except it wasn’t a brake system failure worth $5,300. It was a brake system failure worth a couple hundred bucks at most because it was a failed brake hose.
The $5,300 came up because a bad mechanic made a bad diagnosis.
Further, in the post that you quoted, I decried the vin-specific crap as artificially inflating the price of parts.
But in general, brakes are more expensive now than they were in the 19-teens. They’re also on all 4 wheels, and are light-years ahead of those brakes in stopping the car.
There are plenty of things on modern cars that will cost you 5 grand if they die. Some of them will render the entire car inoperable until you fix it. This is just one of those things, when it breaks, which it probably won’t very often. The vast majority of people will go the entirety of ownership of a car without ever having to replace the ABS control unit. Especially if they bother to get the fluid changed at reasonable intervals.
thank you for your post/research. I just got my 2008 Escape Hybrid back. They initially recommended the HCU replacement for $4700. They agreed to perform the brake flushing option–total cost $1333. This seemed like a bargain compared to their initial diagnosis/price. But when I looked at the bill, total parts were $127 (2 brake hose assemblies, 4 units of brake fluid), labor $1100. They had to order parts that were delivered the morning after I dropped off the car and they called me for pickup at 1PM that day. The day I dropped off the car at 0730 and they called with diagnosis by 10AM.
Labor charge seems excessive to me–looks like at most a total of 7 hours could have been required for $1100 = $157/hour. Do Ford dealers bill repairs at lump sum prices? In the future, I will ask for labor and parts estimates separately and see if the total labor charges are negotiable.