Today's fun errand: write to any company "promising" to supply a new Whatzit in (whatever time span) whether the deposit, pre-pay, discount rate for early buyers, etc. is in escrow.
Probable response: [dial tone].
Possible responses: "what? (Buffy the-phone-girl isn't a lawyer)", "we don't release that information", "it's in the prospectus (500 pages of legalese)".
Doesn't mean they're not honest - IMHO very few mfg. begin by saying "how can we cheat our customers?".
But when faced with a choice of using your deposit to pay rent, operating expenses, their own salary, employee withholding they tend to exhibit "situational morality".
I don't know of any way to tell if the money is escrowed, and what the release terms are (judicial order? your signature?), unless they tell you.
Be warned.