You can open the hood of a 2017 Ford Escape by pulling on the hood release lever in the interior of the driver’s seat by the side footwell. It will be toward the hinged side of your driver’s side door.

You’ll likely need to look under the hood of your Ford Escape at some point. It might be to perform an

oil and filter change

, add coolant, or jumpstart your battery. Whatever the reason, you’ll want to be able to open it up without any delay or hassle.

That’s why we wrote this guide to the 2017 Ford Escape hood release. We’ll show you how to get the hood on your Escape open with ease, and we’ll even help you determine whether your

car insurance

will kick in if your hood release requires repair.

MORE:

Ford Escape car insurance costs

Where is the hood release on a Ford Escape?

You’ll typically need to locate a hood release lever to open the hood of any car. On a 2017 Ford Escape, this small lever is located toward the floorboard on the left side of the driver’s seating area. Just look toward your driver door’s hinges, and then look downward.

That’s the first lever you’ll need. Then you’ll need to slide a finger under the hood, a bit left of center, to release the secondary hood latch. This release undoes the safety latch that makes sure your hood doesn’t fly up unexpectedly while you’re driving.

How to open the hood on a Ford Escape

When you’ve located your release lever, you can open the hood of your car with the following steps:

Pull back the hood lever until you hear a pop. That means the hood is ready to open.

Slide your hand under the hood, which should be slightly ajar. Then move it a little to the left. You should bump into the secondary release latch.

With your finger, press the release latch and then lift the car’s hood.

Lift the rod that’s under your hood up and insert it into the notch to keep your hood lifted.

Jerry sends free alerts to keep your car up-to-date so you can avoid costly repairs

* checking your rate won’t affect your credit score

Get ahead of my car maintenance

* checking your rate won’t affect your credit score

What if the hood release latch doesn’t work?

If the release lever doesn’t cause your hood to pop open, you might have a broken

hood latch release cable

. That means opening your Ford Escape’s hood just got a little more complicated.

You’ll need to get a thin flathead screwdriver and a flashlight. Go to the front of your vehicle and shine the flashlight through the front grill, close to the hood. Look in the area toward the center of the hood and locate the cable that pulls your hood latch.

Once you locate the cable, follow it to the hood release latch. Take the screwdriver to the lower right side of the release lever and push it until you hear the hood release. Then you can slide your hand under the hood to open the secondary release as usual.

MORE:

How much does a hood latch replacement cost?

How to repair the Ford Escape hood release

If you have a broken cable or a faulty lever, it may be tempting to replace it yourself. But unless you have a lot of experience in mechanical and bodywork, you should probably take your car to a mechanic.

The hood latch and cable are such detailed and delicate components that it will be quite difficult and time-consuming for most people to replace them without experience. But getting it fixed by a professional is fairly inexpensive. You can expect to pay $175 to $225.

The repair may be covered by warranty, but if it’s not, you’ll likely have to pay out of pocket unless the damage was caused by an event covered by insurance.

For instance, if your hood was dinged in a fender bender, you may be able to get the repair covered by your

collision coverage

. Or, if the other driver was at fault, you can file a claim through their

liability coverage

MORE:

Does car insurance cover repairs?

“I would 11/10 recommend
Jerry
. I was originally quoted $700+ for insurance for my new car, but by using Jerry I got my payments down to $320 a month. They also have a great support team ready to answer any questions!” —Tobias F.

RECOMMENDED