2001 Escape fail safe?

The escape will not shift gears and will only go roughly 25mph. I do not have my hands on the vehicle right now so I do not know what gear and any other symptoms other than no engine warning light. Is it possible something else is wrong and its went into a fail safe mode? Is this usually an electrical problem?

Any advice is appreciated so I can get an idea before I leave this evening to get her and try to fix the car.

With no engine light, my first guess would be low transmission fluid.

Hopefully it will be that simple. She says no problems and then "bam" it went screwy.

Thanks

Well its not the tranny. The tranny will not shift because the car will not accelerate. It may reach 15-20 miles an hour and that is it. I found a disconnected vacuum hose underneath the air intake. This small hose comes from what appears to be a carbon cannister routes up under the air intake goes into a bracket then stops. May be something missing but I am not sure at this time. I do suspect a vacuum leak because it sure sounds like that when the hood is open. Have not identified it yet. ANother observation is the engine seemed to get warm rather fast. THt is my opinion though ans have nothing else to back that up. I checked the exhaust and there appears to be good airflow at the pipe. Anyways...ideas?

Thanks

Back,
Latest findings...
Found a broken ground cable on the battery so I took the time to clean those up. After reconnecting and taking for a test drive the problem came back. It drove good for the first couple hundred feet and that was it. By the time I got it turned around the problem was back in full forcce. Whether in park, drive or neutral the engine will only rev to about 2200 to 2300 and thats it. Will do some internet searching and then call it a night.