2015 Escape Titanium questions - new owner

Update

I purchased the 2015 Escape Titanium last night. Really impressed with this vehicle so far, although it's taking some getting used to since I am coming from driving a pickup truck for years. Getting the hitch and wiring installed in a couple days and going camping this weekend. Someone might be able to confirm this, but from what I have seen in my research it seems that unless the tow package was factory installed it won't have the sway control and it also seems like the max towing capacity when using an after market hitch is 2000 lbs. My camper's dry weight is 1000 lbs, so even with accessories and extra gear added I should be ok.

Congrats.

There is a lot of towing info on here you can search on.
You are correct about the sway control, however I can't recall if it was here or another Ford site were someone was looking to hack the system to enable the sway control on a non-factory car.

Soooo - why is the Escape not rated for 3500 pounds unless you have the tow package? Is it just the sway issue?

I am not clear on what the various tow packages and tow prep packages include until 2018, where it is spelled out.

Seems to me before 2018 it was sway control and wiring, not even including the hitch, which could be a dealer installed item.

2018 spells out what it includes, and it is worded differently than previous years, it used to be "Class II Trailer Prep Package".

camaro88lover said:

Soooo - why is the Escape not rated for 3500 pounds unless you have the tow package? Is it just the sway issue?

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This has been answered throughout the forum. Here is one thread with this answer.

http://www.fordescape.org/forum/engine-technical-discussion/11714-class-ii-tow-package-question.html

I moved this thread to the Tow section as this is a more suitable location for this thread. @madhattim,have you had a chance to search the forum for the answers to your questions? Lots of information on towing here.

Thank you.

bangster said:

I am not clear on what the various tow packages and tow prep packages include until 2018, where it is spelled out.

Seems to me before 2018 it was sway control and wiring, not even including the hitch, which could be a dealer installed item.

2018 spells out what it includes, and it is worded differently than previous years, it used to be "Class II Trailer Prep Package".

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The factory Ford Escape Tow package always included the hitch itself, no option to just get the wiring.

@jshel101 I have had a chance to more thoroughly search the forum for answers about towing. A lot of great information here for sure, thanks!

Ok, here is a thread on the Ford Flex forum were someone enabled the sway control on their Flex. Not sure if it can be applied to the Escape or not, and of course it is a hack, so attempt at your own risk. Honestly if towing is that important to you there are a lot of FEs out there with the factory tow package. Between the time and money it takes to add it I think it would be much easier to get an FE with it already factory installed. However I know a lot of people like to tinker so if that is your hobby have at it.

https://www.fordflex.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=17567

Nice! I need to do some measuring, but I was expecting to need a drop hitch and not a rise for my trailer with 12 inch wheels. The hitch came with a 1 3/4 drop, 3/4 rise bar, I felt that was enough drop for it to be mostly level.

bangster said:

Nice! I need to do some measuring, but I was expecting to need a drop hitch and not a rise for my trailer with 12 inch wheels. The hitch came with a 1 3/4 drop, 3/4 rise bar, I felt that was enough drop for it to be mostly level.

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I was expecting to have to get a different hitch. This one is what I used on my pickup truck, just turned around. Glad it worked out and is level so I didn't have to go buy another hitch.