2008 Ford Escape Hybrid: 500K Miles, Still In Patrol Service
 

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2008 Ford Escape Hybrid: 500K Miles, Still In Patrol Service

BY John Voelcker JOHN VOELCKER
952 views Jul 16, 2013 Follow John
2008 Ford Escape Hybrid owned by Bayer Protective Services, Sacramento, CA2008 Ford Escape Hybrid owned by Bayer Protective Services, Sacramento, CA
If you ever had any doubt that hybrids were durable--and many people do--here's a case study to set your mind at ease.

A white base-model 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid has just crossed 500,000 miles, which possibly makes it the highest-mileage Escape Hybrid on the road.

That's much higher than the Escape Hybrids with 300,000 miles of taxi service in San Francisco--at which point they were retired.

Bayer Protective Services, a private security-patrol company in Sacramento, California, owns the hybrid Escape--known as Car 804.

It's part of the company's fleet of Ford Escapes--both hybrid and regular.

And Car 804 remains in active duty, although the company did have the car detailed and tuned up to celebrate its half-million-mile mark.

"The car has had a full life," says company executive Adam Bayer.

But as of today, it's going back into 23-hour-per-day service.

Read More: 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid: 500K Miles, Still In Patrol Service

Not to be forgotten to mention - IT IS MAZDA TRIBUTE. That's why it runs for half a mill.

Then where is the hybrid Tribute?

The SUV was a collaboration between the companies as a way of saving development costs. At the time Ford, Mazda, and Volvo were sharing platforms. As a North American model, this Escape was built along side Tributes in a Ford plant.

The hybrid system is all Ford. Mazda had no part in it. Otherwise they wouldn't be seeking collaboration and licensing with Toyota now.

The Mazda Tribute (Code J14) was a compact SUV made by Japanese automaker Mazda from 2001 to 2011. It was jointly developed with Ford Motor Company and based on the front-wheel drive Mazda 626 platform, which was in turn the basis for the similar Ford Escape on the CD2 platform. The Tribute was priced below the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner in Ford's CD2 SUV lineup.
Mazda decided to halt production after the 2006 model year for the Tribute, and a hybrid version of the Tribute has been introduced alongside the next generation Tribute as a 2008 model.
In 2007 for the 2008 model year, the Tribute was significantly revamped, like its Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner siblings. Originally set to be renamed the Mazda CX-5, the vehicle kept the Tribute name.
The 2008 Mazda Tribute (non-hybrid) was first unveiled at the 2007 Montreal International Auto Show, and the 2008 Mazda Tribute went on sale in March 2007.[7]

A new addition was the Hybrid model which was previously only available on the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner.

This should cover
1. Where is hybrid Tribute?
2. Thing is, hybrid is only add on to otherwise very reliable Japanese make vehicle (same goes for Ranger)

NOw, as of remark that Ford hybrid drive is all Ford. I have to respectfully disagree. Ford bought somewhere around 20 patents from Toyota for its hybrid drive, so to call it Pure Ford ingenuity is quite ovestatement. I believe, at some point, Toyota eve had legal issues with Ford on this matter, that were settled. I'll leave it up to those in interest to research this more.
Should all this have been such a great marriage, Mazda wouldn't have dropped Ford and gone solo, and seek cooperation with Toyota on hybrid drive.
Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion on the matter.

Mazda used to be owned in part by Ford. Ford has since sold off their interest in the company. There were hybrid Tributes, but their production numbers were very low. The reason for the patent sharing between Ford and Toyota was that they had concurrently developed similar hybrid technologies. Rather than wasting time and money fighting it out in court, the companies decided it was in their best interests to enter into a patent sharing agreement.

As far as the hybrid drive being "all Ford", the transmissions and battery packs were manufactured to Ford's design and specifications in Japan.

Jay got it with Toyota and Ford reaching an agreement in order to avoid court costs. Patent swapping is a common practice in industry. The details were never disclosed, but Toyota got access to some of Ford's patents. I've seen reports of them being for diesel and/or emission tech. Whatever the details, 20 was only a fifth of Toyota's total hybrid patents at the time. The current Ford system has no overlap with Toyota patents.
They both had to reach an agreement with Paice.
Hybrid Synergy Drive - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ford still has a 10% stake in Mazda, but it was around 30%, giving Ford control of Mazda back then. The Escape/Tribute was jointly developed. Not just badge engineered like the Ranger/B-series. Claiming the Escape was a Mazda is beyond a stretch, and just shows a bias. Going by another comment I've seen, the Mazda side wouldn't have been able to overcome the Ford influence.

The 626 platform was used as the starting point. Which lead to the CD2 platform used in the SUVs. It might have been the first unibody SUV for Ford, but it was the first SUV for Mazda. The engines were Ford's. The AWD was Dana. The Tribute had the suspension tuned differently from the Escape. Considering the list of major repairs that the OP Escape had, the work was probably spread equally among the Mazda and Ford inputs to the design.

The early Ford Courier/Ranger was a rebadged Mazda. Starting in MY1983, the Ranger was a Ford design. In 1994, Mazda opted to rebadge the Ranger for their B-series in North America.

Mazda was quite happy to be rid of Ford, and rather work with Toyota or Honda on hybrids. That's my point though. Mazda is a small company in relation. Which means less resources, and thus no hybrid group of their own. Perhaps Ford wouldn't let them. Perhaps they felt hybrids wouldn't fit their sporty niche. Whatever the reason Mazda doesn't have hybrid experience. Their Skyactiv suite is impressive work though.

How many MPG's do you get in these hybrids? It seems the term "Hybrid" has been loosely applied to some American cars, almost as if they've made a hybrid for the sake of it as a marketing toy, without focusing on the MPG, which in my opinion is kind of the point of a hybrid isn't it?

The Dacia Duster (see picture below) is a NOT a Hybrid, and yet it will do over 60 MPG, not bad for a 4x4. It's when you compare normal European cars to those in the US, you can't help but think that maybe the US government has been stepping in and making sure they don't loose out on an any fuel taxes! What do you think?

https://photo.netcarshow.com/Dacia-Du...4_photo_01.jpg

I get over 30 MPG (US) in mine, and its a 4wd driven in an almost 100% city environment. No, its not a Prius, but I get about twice the mileage of someone driving a non-hybrid Escape in the same traffic.

Ford's system is full hybrid like Toyota's and the one in the new Accord. They have two motor/generators. So the ICE can generate electricity with one to power the other. Depending on model specifics, they can run as a parallel hybrid, serial hybrid, or a mix of the two. They can possibly do so without drawing on the charge in the battery.

Honda's IMA and new system in the Fit hybrid, along with the Sonota and Jetta hybrids, are assist hybrids. They have only one motor. It can charge the battery with the ICE or regen braking, or provide propulsion with battery energy, but not both at the same time. Assists have a more powerful electrical side than a mild hybrid. Some can even manage pure EV for a bit.

Mild hybrids are the minimum hybrid. It's a one motor configuration like the assist, but the smaller electric motor means less assisting to the vehicle's propulsion. The eAssist is a mild hybrid.

Micro-hybrid is a term applied to cars with a start/stop system in some areas of the world. IMO, they shouldn't have hybrid applied to them since the car receives no propulsion from an electric side. Once you start beefing up the batteries though, you open up the possibility of adding regenerative brakes and electrical accessories, like AC, to non-hybrid cars. Which will improve fuel economy.

So the Ford is a full Hybrid, and still only gets 30 MPG? There are hundred's of hybrids currently on the market in Europe, but looking at the stats, very few get less than 75 MPG. Doesn't make sense that a non hybrid vehicle of that size should get 60 MPG, and a hybrid (should be more economical) getting half that.

Are you comparing like to like? The European and Japanese test standards are quite easy and overinflate what a car can get in actual driving. The Prius gets in the 70s at least on those tests, while getting 50mpg on the EPA one. To add to the confusion, there could be a mix up between imperial and american gallons.

The Escape hybrid is also an older design that has been discontinued. Mainly because Ford knew it would garner few sales with the C-max sitting on the lot next it. SUVs are get poor fuel economy in general, and hybrid systems aren't magic. They can only do so much when driving a box.

I agree, the FEH does not get the mileage of other hybrids such as a Prius, but its also a boxy SUV with 4WD available. When compared to other hybrid SUV's of its era, the FEH achieved the best mileage of all of them.

Not comparing like for like, as they are different cars of course. I just noticed how low the MPG were for a hybrid and wondered what the deal was. I think the government has far more involvement in the marketing of cars, especialy in the US, than they let on.

I do not think any of the MPG tests are reflective of what the vehicles actually get in the "real world" of driving in city traffic, varying weather, highway driving (Interstate, Motorway, Autobahn), and drivers who really aren't trying to maximize fuel economy. In the USA, the EPA testing is designed to measure exhaust emissions, not fuel economy. And it does a poor job on that, because it doesn't measure such things as wide-open throttle acceleration up the on-ramp to a highway.

The only place hybrids actually save fuel is in city driving, where some of the energy of stopping can be recovered into batteries instead of being thrown away as heat in brakes. Batteries are not 100% efficient, nor are electric motors in either motor or generator use. Batteries and motors ARE heavy, though, and tend to make the car heavier as well as occupying space. Weight is generally seen as an enemy to fuel economy.

Stop/start engine operation has been in use probably since the electric starter made it possible, and it actually does save fuel. But remember the electricity used to operate the starter motor comes from the fuel required to generate it.

It has proven difficult to generate "real" fuel economy numbers for lots of reasons, including the obvious reason that the "real world" is not easy to duplicate in a test lab. Even Fuelly's numbers may be suspect, because only those who a) have heard of Fuelly and b) who care enough to post do so. It is a self-selected group, and as such likely biased.