According to Wikipedia " Aisin Seiki Co. Ltd., a Japanese automotive components supplier belonging to the Toyota Group, supplies the hybrid continuously variable transmission for the Escape Hybrid. While Toyota produces its third-generation Prius transmission in-house, Aisin is the only supplier of hybrid transmissions to other manufacturers. Friction has arisen concerning Aisin's allocation of limited production capacity and engineering resources to Ford.[7]"
If the above quote from Wikipedia is correct, I would say Ford runs Toyota's tranny and possibly had licensed some other components as well. Since Prius went for sale in Japan around 1997 and Escape hybrid in 2004 I would think Toyota technology at least influenced Fords development somehow.
I just came back from 150 mile round trip: AC on, 2 adults in the car, driving 70MPH in 55 MPH zone like everybody else. It took about 10-15 miles from the start, but MPG display on the dashboard reached 41 MPH and stayed there for the rest of the trip.
I also have 2001 Honda Accord. Old EPA rating was 20/28 and I was getting 18-22 MPG city, depending on traffic and 26-30 MPG on the highway depending on how much over speed limit I was driving. Now 2008 Honda has new EPA rating of 19/29 which makes sense. Why do I have this very strong feeling this new EPA test was manipulated for specific purpose of lowering ratings for particular cars only? Don't tell me I could easilly get 36MPG on a highway in Honda Accord, 7 MPG more than EPA ratring, as I get in TCH (34 MPG EPA / 41MPG actual) because I will have very hard time to believe it. I work in accounting and if the numbers didn't add up like that in my job it would be immediate reason for full audit, LOL.