The 2019 Ford Escape actually had quite a decent towing capacity when you look at the overall data and some models were even equipped with a trailer tow package, which was quite surprising. There are only four components that made up the package but each of these components was equally important and served a specific function.
What Do I Get In the 2019 Escape Trailer Tow Package?
The 2019 Ford Escape's tow package came equipped with four main items which included a 4-pin trailer wiring harness, a Class 2 hitch receiver, an auxiliary automatic transmission cooler and a trailer sway control feature.
It is important to note that this tow package was only available for models that have the 2.0 EcoBoost engine equipped and was not available for the other engine options.
(4) Available with 2.0L EcoBoost I4 only.
A Trailer Wiring Harness (4-pin): One of the items listed in the package was a 4 pin wiring harness, which is basically a 4 pin connector that looks like the connector that I have shown in the image and connects your vehicle's electronics to your trailer's electronics, more specifically the lights.
When this connection is made between your vehicle and the trailer, you will have all of the necessary indicator lights such as brake lights and turn signals that you would have available on your vehicle.
A Class II Hitch Receiver: The hitch receiver is the most important part of the package and is mounted onto the chassis or the frame of the vehicle underneath and provides a very strong anchor point to pull an additional weight with your vehicle. These are usually mounted using many very large bolts and are rated at your vehicle's specified towing capacity or more.
The Hitch Class: The hitch class is another important piece of information that you really need to pay attention to, especially if you're buying an aftermarket hitch because the different classes are essentially rated at different specified weight ratings.
Since the 2019 Ford Escape have the ability to tow up to 3,500 lbs., then a Class 2 hitch was a perfect match because it had a maximum trailer weight rating capacity of up to 3,500 lbs.
Your Hitch Receiver Dimensions: The hitch receiver dimensions on the interior portion of the tubing itself is also another thing that you want to pay attention to because not all hitches have the same size dimensions.
Most class 1 and Class 2 hitches will have a smaller interior measurement of around 1-1/4", which is not as common as the two in interior dimensions that are used on some of the class 3, 4 and 5 hitches. Whenever you are ordering accessories for your hitch be sure that it fits the interior dimensions of your hitch receiver.
An Automatic Transmission Oil Cooler: There was also an auxiliary automatic transmission oil cooler that was part of the package, but this was only included if you had an automatic transmission equipped. If you had a manual transmission model, then you did not have this accessory.
I went ahead and posted two images below that show what one of these transmission coolers look like and for those of you out there that are familiar with vehicles, it looks identical to a radiator that your car would use for the coolant. It actually works in the same way too to cool down the transmission oil and is usually very effective at doing so.
Finally, Trailer Sway Control: The trailer sway control feature of the vehicle itself was actually another part of the package and like I mentioned already, it was a feature of the vehicle and not really an additional accessory like the other three items were.
The trailer sway control feature is actually an automatic feature that can help reduce trailer swaying, in some instances, but will not stop it altogether, so this is important to understand because the driver has the ultimate control over trailer swaying.
It basically works by applying the brakes to individual wheels, while at the same time reducing the engine's torque output, which would help to reduce the amount of trailer swaying, or in other words would basically slow down the vehicle a little bit to try to correct any excessive amount of sway.
I Used These Resources to Write This Article:
Believe it or not, I only used two different resources to gather my information for this article and I went ahead and listed these two resources below. Both resources proved to be valuable in the research and the towing guide was actually where I found the table that outlines the four components that were included in the packages.
The owner's manual help to fill in the gaps for the other information that I needed and the two resources combined gave me everything I was looking for.