2001-2021 Ford Escape Towing Capacities Cheat Sheet + Charts

The Ford Escape is a smaller SUV that has been around for quite some time now (since 2001) and, to be honest, I never really paid much attention to until now. After checking out some of the back history I decided to make a simplified towing capacity guide for the Ford Escape.

I broke down the data by the model years and listed some of the most important information regarding tow capacity specs. I hope it is helpful to someone out there!

Overview of the Data For the Escape:

Overall: The basic data showed that from 2001-2021, these SUVs had four different tow capacities: 1,000 lbs., (Hybrid models) 1,500 lbs. (Hybrid models), 2,000 lbs. and 3,500 lbs.


This did depend on the engine equipped and seemed to be the main factor in the overall capacity threshold. There were 5 different groups of years that offered a little bit different engine configurations, which I have broken down in the tables below.


Engine Choices: There were many different engines used, since this vehicle's conception and the engine equipped really had everything to do with the specified capacity ratings. There were basically two different choices, for the most part and this was either a 4 cylinder or 6 cylinder engine.


The 4 cylinder engines seemed to have a maximum capacity between 1,000 lbs. to 2,000 lbs and the 6 cylinder engine was usually at the higher capacity of 3,500 lbs, with proper equipment installed.

Drive Train Configurations: The drivetrain configuration was pretty simple to figure out because of the limited options. The two choices were either a Front-Wheel Drive or Four-Wheel Drive.


The overall capacity for the Ford Escape was not really affected by the drivetrain configuration, it did change the GCWR a little though, which made sense, due to the added weight of a transfer cases on the AWD/4WD models.

Towing Capacity: Overall, there were 4 main ratings specified for the Escape and they were really a maximum number and less of a range.


The four weight limits specified by Ford was 1,000 lbs., 1,500 lbs., 2,000 lbs. and 3,500 lbs over the years, and really just depended on the engine configuration.

2021 & 2020 Models:

The 2021 and 2020 models were nearly identical when it came to the specs in the charts but there were a few differences in GCWR metrics and for the 2.0L EcoBoost option.

The towing capacity for the 2020 and 2021 models still had that same capacity range of 1,500-3,500 lbs., overall though, inline with most of the other model years.

If you look at the two tables, you can see that all of the GCWR specs differed between the two years and models that had the 2.0L EcoBoost engine in 2020 had a rating of 3,500 pounds, while the same 2.0L engine option in 2021 had a 2,000-3,500 pound range instead.

2021 Escape Towing Chart

2021 Chart

2020 Escape Towing Chart

2020 Chart

2019, 2018 & 2017 Models:

The Ford Escapes that were made from 2017-2019 had three different engine configurations and these were the 2.5L, the 1.5L EcoBoost engine and the 2.0L engine.

The 2.5L had the lowest toe rating and the 2.0L engine had the highest, as you can see from the table below.

2017-2019 Ford Escape Towing Chart

2019-2017 Charts

2016, 2015, 2014 & 2013 Models:

There were similar engine configurations for the Ford Escape from 2013-2016 compared to 2017-2019 but instead of the 1.5L, a 1.6L was offered instead.

The towing capacity stayed the same though, having a 1,500 lb. capacity for the2.5L, 2,000lbs. capacity for the 1.6L engine and the top weight spec in the table for the 2.0L EcoBoost engine, coming in at 3,500 lbs.

2013-2016 Ford Escape Towing Chart

2016-2013 Charts

2009, 2010, 2011 & 2012 Models:

From 2009-2012, there were 4 different engine configurations, three of those were automatic transmissions and 1 was a manual transmission.

The maximum towing capacities for the automatic transmissions were 1,000 lbs. for the 2.5L Hybrid engine (except 2009 models), 1,500 lbs. for the standard 2.5L engine and 3,500 lbs. for the 3.0L engine.

The manual transmission model equipped with the 2.5L engine had a 1,500 lb. maximum weight spec, as seen in the second table below.

2009-2012 Ford Escape Towing Charts

2012-2009 Charts

2005, 2006, 2007 & 2008 Models:

From 2005-2008, the metrics really stayed the same for these SUVs, as far as towing capacity goes but the engine configurations did differ from other years.

For the Ford Escapes with automatic transmission the 2.3L Hybrid engine had a maximum towing capacity of 1,000 lbs., the other 2.3L engine had a capacity of 1,500 lbs. and the 3.0L engine had a maximum capacity of 3,500 lbs.

The only manual transmission model had the 2.3L engine equipped and had a maximum capacity of 1,500 lbs.

2005-2008 Ford Escape Towing Charts

2008-2005 Charts

2001, 2002, 2003 & 2004 Models:

There was only two different engine configurations for the first model years (2001-2004) and the weight specs were a little different, but not by much.

The 2.0L engine had a maximum weight capacity of 1,000 lbs. and the 3.0L engine had a 2,000 lb. maximum limit without a class II hitch or 3,500 lb. maximum towing capacity with a class II hitch installed, which made the range for the 2001-2004 models 1,000-3,500 pounds.

2001-2004 Ford Escape Towing Charts

2004-2001 Charts

Resources I Used For This Article:

I used Ford's Towing Guides to gather all of the information in this article for the Escapes and wanted to link to them for others who might want to check them out for themselves.

Last updated on May 7th, 2022 at 08:11 am

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