New brake lines and Ford powerflushed solved my issues also. I bought Escape from auction like that and remembered an old thread where someone stated it’s not always the HCU. This one had all dash lights and hard brake pedal. My buddy replaced all the pads and rotors (were corroded), replaced both hoses (parts store parts) and I towed it to Ford to do the rest.

I had one burst a brake hose in my driveway. They are known to have problems so much my local Ford keeps them in stock.

 

Yes I replaced the front lines all brakes and all rotors

 

How were the brake lines bled?
My buddy who works at Ford swore that he could bleed them. He has a power bleed system but after he tried there was no change.
From my understanding the process they have to do at Ford is complicated and uses a lot of fluid. Whatever they did it worked.
i didn’t ask them to diagnose anything just do the proper bleeding of system.

 

Yes took it to Ford $246 to bleed the brakes

 

Hey Jason, If you have already replaced brakes, rotors and had it bled. I personally would be checking the tone rings and checking the grounds. Btw: Big O flushed my brakes for $100.00, the stealership wanted $350 citing it was a 2-person job. Big O didn't think so and it worked great. Ford sucks! The following is my story: After 7 months, 4 tows, 5 mechanics, 2 dealerships (two bad HCU diagnosis), 1 ABS harness line and 1 ground cleaning...it was the brake hoses collapsing. I also had the brake fluid flushed to get any sediment out of the system from the brake/rotor install earlier in the year. A retail tire chain found it in less than 15 minutes. Dealerships here said that if those codes are present, Ford says to replace the HCU 1st! Will NOT even consider venturing into anything else. It's a win-win for Ford, they know this was a bad design, too expensive to recall and I believe they want these cars off the road due to liability. If they can get you in and diagnosis your car with a bad HCU 1) They are off the hook if it's not fixed and in most cases the owner takes the car off the road. 2) VIN specific and $5900 to replace HCU. 3) The part is worth more than the car, causing most people to scrap the car and possibly buy a new Ford (Not me). Big KUDOS to the dealerships who allow critical thinking and let their mechanics be mechanics. In the Louisville area, they are ARROGANT scanner readers and liars. I asked both dealerships to check the tone rings and brake lines, which both "said" they did however, it took a brake/tire store to find the front brake lines were collapsing causing the 1478/1480/2023 codes. It's been one 1 year and no more ABS problems. I will never buy another Ford!

 

x2 that above I had same lights/hard brake pedal for a cracked tone ring on another Escape hybrid. Besides this I haven’t had any other issues with them.

 

I wish you better luck with Ford than I had, Ford barely stopped short of saying "it sucks to be you." Anyway, just a note to tell you why I wouldn't give up besides I just did not believe the diagnosis. The behaviour of the car was inconsistent with each incident, brakes would work on restart, only happened in the heat intially. Later and as it worsened, I bought a scanner, would clear codes and everything worked great. Codes appearing not consistent. So, if the HCU is bad, why does it work perfectly when the codes are cleared? It's either broken or it's not, imo. I seen later where an electrical engineer here in GH pointed out that if these HCUs were bad, the behaviour would be consistent, not intermittent. He was convinced It was a short or something else triggering these codes. This fueled my fire further to get to the bottom of this problem, granted I was on my last leg and wasted many $$ when Big O found the brake lines collapsing. I would also consider looking at the engine battery, if it's going bad, it can cause some weird things to happen. I unnecessarily replaced an ignition switch...it's worth a look. Do you know what your codes are and have you cleared them?

 

I had this problem, I replaced the brake master cylinder, and the Hydraulic Brake Control Unit and it did not solve it.
After much research, I downloaded the free program Forscan.org and looked at all the brake sensors. I noticed that the brake pedal return home switch was reading that the brake pedal was still engaged when my foot was not on the brake pedal. I took a crescent wrench and slightly bent the bracket that the sensor was mounted on until the brake pedal return home switch engaged as verified by Forscan (picture of bracket attached). This switch is attached to the brake pedal next to the rear brake light switch. The brake valves opened and the problem was solved.

You can easily check for this without getting Forscan by pressing the brake pedal then putting your toe under the brake pedal and pulling up (when in park) and listen for the brake valves opening. They should open without having to pull up on the pedal. Bend the bracket until this occurs. Verify that your brake lights still work properly.

This is a cheap and easy 15 minute solution for this brake problem that will not break the bank.

 

I have a 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid. The brakes were fine until July 2022 when ABS started showing and then today I received the other break error (I think with !P).
Ford still hasn't fixed the problem; it just takes more years to appear.

Thank you for this information since I will use it. However, since it cost more than $7000 in 2010 and I might just get rid of it since it will probably cost about twice as much now.

 

The 09 parts are cheaper and different than the ones for 08 and below.