"Stop Safely Now" in Ford Escape Hybrid - What's Wrong? What to Do?

Seeing the "Stop Safely Now" warning when driving your Ford Escape could have you worried. The message is pretty vague and does nothing to tell you what steps to take next. If you're dealing with this message on your dashboard, you only need to keep reading to figure out what this error means and what needs to be done about it.

Stop safely now message highlights

• Common reasons:hybrid or electric powertrain problems
• How to fix:dealership only
• Possible consequences:the vehicle may turn off shortly after you see the message
• Priority level:High
• Can you drive?Carefully
• DIY repair:Impossible
• Repair price range:$250-$600

If you've decided to figure out the cause of the problem, then this article will help you. I'll take a look at the problems the drivetrain can develop to bring up this message. I'll also take a look at the solutions to these problems.

What Does "Stop Safely Now" Mean?

The "Stop Safely Now" warning acts like the way to draw driver's attention in the Ford Escape Hybrid. It alerts you to the presence of a problem in your car, although it doesn't inform you of what exactly is wrong.

The best advice is to see which warning light is illuminating along with this error message. The problem was very common with the older generations (2005-2009) and it also reappeared with the new Hybrid offered on the market in 2020.

Usually, this error message will mean that there is a problem with the hybrid system and the vehicle will not be able to drive for a long time. It urges you to find the safe place to stop your Ford Escape and call for help.

Obviously, Ford thinks that every owner of the Escape will have a huge sum of money lying in the glovebox and waiting till the Escape fails to call the road assistance and gladly give away this money for all those services that the dealership will offer. But I don't support such practices, so I will tell you more about DIY solutions to this problem.

Can I Keep Driving with the "Stop Safely Now" Error?

This message can indicate literally anything starting with overheating of the hybrid battery and finishing with the main relay problem or some ECU glitch. In some cases, it's safe to drive further while in other situations, I would strongly recommend stopping in the nearest safe place.

Given you don't know what exactly is wrong with the vehicle, you may need to stop the Escape wherever it's safe and appropriate and wait for some time. One of the problems is overheated something (ECU, battery, transmission, etc.). Once the problematic unit cools down, you can start your car and drive further with no error message on the dash.

But if the message doesn't disappear after you let the vehicle cool down, things are a bit worse than expected. Look at the warning lights and try to figure out what exactly happened to your vehicle. If you have an OBD2 scanner, it will greatly help. The code will tell you which module is failing.

Personally, I had this message alongside the P068A code that meant the problem was with the main relay. The relay needed replacement but I still could safely drive another 50 miles since I was on my way home from another city. This was the only day I've driven the Escape Hybrid in my life.

What Should I Do About "Stop Safely Now"?

When the "stop safely now" error message comes up, the best thing to do is follow those instructions and stop safely as soon as you can. Don't panic, simply slow down in a responsible manner and park in a safe location.

If you want to get your car back on the road, you'll need to determine the cause of this error and take steps to fix it. While you might need to get your car to a mechanic eventually, you can start by trying to determine the source of the problem. A good first step to this will require an OBD2 scanner.

Next, I will tell you about several most common problems that may trigger this warning on the dash of your Ford Escape Hybrid:

1) Hybrid Battery

A hybrid car, like the Ford Escape Hybrid, comes with two batteries. They have a 12V car battery that starts the gasoline engine and powers the car's electrical systems. They also have the hybrid battery, or traction battery, which provides power to the car's electric motor. It's usually the Li-Ion battery pack and in the Escape it's not that huge (because there is no all-electric mode and the plug-in-hybrid technology).

If something goes wrong with the hybrid battery, the electric engine won't be able to operate. This will seriously affect the operation of the hybrid engine, triggering the "Stop Safely Now" warning.

What exactly can go wrong? Well, the battery may be too old and weak. In this case, you may still drive the car using its gasoline engine. The second option - your battery may be overheated because the cooling system is malfunctioning. Like one of the fans died or the coolant is low.

Here are some other symptoms of a bad hybrid battery in the Escape:

• The fuel economy is decreasing because the hybrid system doesn't help the gas engine much. Of course, this will only be noticeable in the city, not on the highway.
• The engine produces less power and torque. Obviously, the mild-hybrid system is made for torque boost and if it fails, the torque becomes poor which affects acceleration.
• Start-stop system may turn off automatically. If the control unit understands that something is wrong with the battery, it will deactivate the start stop feature to save the battery's life.

If this happens to your Escape, the hybrid battery will need to be inspected. Checking the hybrid battery requires special equipment, so it is best to have this done by a well-equipped mechanic or dealership. Sometimes, it's just about replacing a broken fan, so better don't ignore the issue.

If the battery is quite old and has more than 100,000 miles on it, it may require replacement. Fortunately, the Escape hybrid has a small battery pack which will not cost you a fortune. But it's still not that cheap.

2) Software glitch  

A common complaint of Ford Escape Hybrid owners is that they see the "Stop Safely Now" warning when there's nothing wrong with the car. Even after taking the car to a dealership, no real issue is found. An OBD2 scan might even return no codes. In these situations, the culprit is a computer error on the part of the ECU (engine control unit).

There are basically no other symptoms, just this annoying message. You may try disconnecting the 12V battery for some time and let the ECU reset. But it won't always work with hybrid vehicles, so sometimes professional help is needed anyway.

If this is the glitch of the ECU, it may be gone after you just turn off the engine, get out of the car, lock the doors, let it sit for a minute. Then you can unlock the doors, get into the Escape, start it and see if the problem is solved. In some cases, this simple approach works and the nasty "Stop Safely Now" message never comes back on the dash again.

3) Transmission problems

This is not that common because the faulty transmission will also have its own error messages and warning lights and it's easy to recognize the problem. But sometimes, the transmission may just overheat or start slipping because of some internal failure. It will lead to the chain of self-diagnostic codes that may eventually trigger this message on the screen without any other warning lights or error messages accompanying it.

I would recommend checking the transmission in the last place because it will require a lot of time and effort from your mechanic, so it will cost quite a lot of money, in the end.

4) High temperature in one of the units

Your hybrid vehicle will overheat badly if some cooling system unit fails to work properly. The battery is cooled by the special coolant circulation system with fans. Also, the electronics need to keep cool, so the control units have their own cooling fans.

Of course, those fans are not eternal and they will fail once. If the temperature of any unit rises, you will get the "Stop Safely Now" message with probably no other instructions. Maybe, there will also be the wrench light and some code behind it in the ECU. But you will need a scanner to read that code.

Just stop your Escape for about 20 minutes or so and try driving it again. If the problem disappears for some time but then the message pops up again in 10-30 minutes, you are dealing with the overheating problem and driving further is not recommended. Or you can drive with intermittent stops for cooling.

5) Failing electronics

Like in my case with the Escape Hybrid, you may also have a broken main relay. These hybrid systems are not perfect and they keep failing, so sometimes, you will need to have them repaired. If the main relay fails, you can still safely drive even though the message instructs you to sop immediately.

Also, you will have several other warning lights like the wrench light and the re triangle light on the dash. Make sure you totally understand that your diagnosis may not be completely correct. And when you continue driving with this warning, your car is still at risk.

Final Thoughts

When "Stop Safely Now" appears on your console, the best thing to do is slow down safely and stop as soon as you can. This is a general warning that lets you know that something is wrong with your car that needs to be addressed.

Countless issues can cause this warning to pop up, but the most common cause in the Ford Escape Hybrid is a problem with the hybrid battery. Other common problems are temperature issues, electronics failure, or transmission problems. Some of them you can deal with on your own while the majority of issues will require professional inspection.