2019 Ford Fusion Reliability Report

Coolant intrusion into the cylinders is the main failure, and it usually ends in a recommendation to replace the engine. The car shakes at startup or at highway speed, the check engine light comes on or flashes, and scans show a misfire on one cylinder. Other signs include white exhaust smoke, an empty coolant reservoir, Engine Coolant Overtemperature warnings, and limp mode. Several cars lose power while moving and have to coast to the shoulder. Swapping spark plugs, coils, or the water pump does not fix it. Failures mostly appear between about 75,000 and 108,000 miles.

These reports cover a mix of problems. A flex plate rattle that gets worse on cold starts and at idle comes up, along with coolant leaking into a cylinder and causing overheating. The backup camera freezes, goes blank, or stays on while driving. Other cars refuse to start until they sit for hours, shut off on the interstate after a communication error message, or cannot shift because of a broken shift cable or bushing. One crash report describes the car pulling left into a bridge wall without airbag deployment. Shattering glass and a leaking sunroof also appear.

The wheel stiffens or locks up while driving in a few reports, one with an electronic power steering control module fault message. Others describe the wheel catching on left turns while the brakes grab and the ABS light comes on, and the steering wheel shaking whenever the brakes are applied, which one dealer could not diagnose. A sudden hybrid shutdown in traffic left steering and braking very heavy. One owner reports the steering wheel control panels melting and cracking in direct sun. The reports are too few and too varied to point to one cause.

The car is hard to start right after refueling. It takes several tries or a wait of about five minutes, and the check engine light stays on. Mechanics trace this to a stuck canister purge valve or a failed EVAP canister. Some cars also hesitate, slow down on their own, or stall. The remaining reports describe a cracked flex plate or flywheel that makes a loose, knocking noise at idle, with one car losing power around 70,000 miles. The purge valve failure appears around 56,000 miles.

Most of these complaints are about a recall delay on the plug-in hybrid. Owners say they were told in June 2023 to stop charging until a fix arrived, and some were still waiting as of March 2025, driving what amounts to a less efficient regular hybrid. Compensation reports are thin. Other reports describe hard starting after every fill-up caused by a failed purge valve, with replacement parts hard to find. One complaint describes the transmission locking the front wheels at 45 mph.

Cruise control accelerates past the set speed in several reports. Holding the plus button can cause runaway acceleration until the driver cancels or brakes. One car surged to 71 mph after the driver released the brake, at just 350 miles. Adaptive cruise misses vehicles during lane changes and on curves. Other complaints describe the accelerator pedal seizing, the brakes seizing in traffic, and the car sticking in first gear, problems one owner links to the auto stop-start feature. Most of these reports come from cars with very low mileage.

Front airbags fail to deploy in serious frontal crashes in three reports, each with an injury. These include a T-bone collision in an intersection, a deer strike at 70 mph, and a 35 mph impact that totaled the other car. Injuries include a fractured sternum and back and neck pain. One driver saw a front camera unavailable message minutes before the crash. A separate report describes an airbag warning light from a failed module at 6,400 miles, with warranty coverage denied.