First trip from California to Michigan with our 2010 Escape in tow found the transmission destroyed and the battery dead. I had the car taken to the Ford garage on the tow truck. After installing a new transmission and getting ready to go back to California I installed a "TOAD-CHARGE" Towed Vehicle Battery Charger/Maintainer. With the transmission level lowered to the recommended level and running the car for a minimum of 5 minutes (Actually, I tend to over react and ran it for at least 10 minutes before starting out each day), we left for California. I stopped every 3-4 hours and ran the car for 5-10 minutes each time. I never went more than 4 hours between each stop which I believed helped to keep the fluid cool which kept the transmission trouble free. The Toad-Charge worked great and I did not have any problem with a dead battery. Fortunately, I had the luxury of time to do all this but had I been in a hurry I feel sure I would have had problems. I now am considering changing back to a trouble free Suzuki and be finished with "baby sitting" the Ford.
