Still not caught up with all events. I can only post periodically, so I hope to get up to date very soon. Today I will describe my service visit from hell. In case you did not read my previous post, I am working with a Customer Service Manager (CSM) from Ford Motor Company because I have been experiencing several different problems with my 2013 Ford CMax Hybrid, and she helped arrange for me to bring my car in to a local Ford Dealership for service on Monday, January 21st. Please read my previous post for the list of items I asked Ford to investigate.
I received a phone call about 9:20am on the 22nd from my CSM. She informed me that she had spoken with the service manager and he informed her that they were working on each issue, one at a time. The CSM stated to me that she wanted all issues fixed before returning the car to me, but that it may take several days. She told me she would call me again on Friday, or sooner if the car had been fixed by then.
I called the service guy that same day (the 22nd) at about 4pm for a status update since I figured they probably managed to get through the list by then. He didn't answer the phone, so I left a voicemail with my name and phone number asking him to call me back.
On the 23rd, at 9:10am I called the service guy again. Again, he did not answer the phone so I left another voicemail with my name and phone number.
At 9:15 am, I called the main number and asked to speak with the service manager. He wasn't available, but I was redirected to some other service guy who immediately placed me on hold. After waiting a long time, I hung up and called again. I got that same service guy, but this time he told me he would check with the service guy assigned to my car. I was placed on hold for a few minutes, but eventually he came back and informed me that my guy was with another customer and could not talk right now. He did say that he wanted to speak with me though, so I was placed back on hold. At 9:25am, my service guy picked up my call, and began to go through the list of items and results of their diagnostics.
In a nutshell, the technicians were unable to reproduce the majority of issues I had reported. One item they were able to confirm involved the check gas cap warning, but alas, the part necessary to repair it was on back order, and they had no idea when it would become available. When pressed for a guess, I was told that it might become available in March but even that was just a guess.
He ran down the rest of the list, and as he did so, I became more and more unhappy. They could not reproduce any of the other issues, and it appeared that the response they had for each was that it was either "normal behavior", or "perhaps I hadn't done something "just right"". I became rather insulted by this, so I simply asked when I could pick up the car, and he said as soon as possible because he wanted it off his lot. (If they were so hot to get it off their lot, why didn't they call ME instead of waiting for me to call THEM?)
I picked up the car that afternoon, and the very first thing I noticed was that the User Guide had been left prominently on the passenger seat. Whether this was done on purpose or not, I was immediately insulted by the notion that perhaps I should just read the manual (or perhaps, the technicians were so ignorant of how the car worked, THEY needed the manual to help them out and simply forgot to put it back in the glove box?). I read the manual cover-to-cover the first week I had the car, and I am no idiot, so this really pissed me off.
I next noticed that all my saved "Favorites" for navigation destinations were no longer saved within the car's computer system, and that all my phone contacts had also been wiped out. I was pretty sure this was a side effect of something they did, but since I hadn't read the entire report yet, I wasn't certain. I just wanted to get out of there. I knew those two things were things I could remedy myself simply by synching my phone, and re-entering the addresses of the places I wanted to keep in my list of Favorites.
It just so happened that this day, the 23rd, was also my son's birthday, and he and his girlfriend had invited me over for dinner, so I was very happy I no longer had to drive the rental Yaris with the Cyclops dashboard. The temperature was beginning to drop again, and the wind was picking up. I used the remote start to warm up the car before heading to his new home. My little girl and I went out to the car which had stopped running at this point due to the remote start timer, got in, I placed my foot on the brake, pressed the start button, and ONCE AGAIN THE CAR DID NOT START. Funny how I have no trouble reproducing this problem, but the technicians just can't seem to do it. I tried starting the car again and, thankfully, this time it started.
While driving off to my son's home for dinner, I decided that I needed to review everything the technician's had listed they had done, and then call my CSM again to determine what steps we could take next. One of those, I determined, was going to be for me to start keeping a log of everything that went wrong as I experienced it, and also log discussions I had with people during phone calls.....
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Thursday, February 14, 2013
01-2013 Ford 2013 CMax Ghost in the Machine?
Hello again! I am still bringing this blog up to date, so I apologize for the post date not matching the actual dates of events I am writing about.
Up to this point I have focused on 2 main issues with my 2013 Ford CMax: 1) The disparity between the EPA fuel economy estimate printed on the vehicle sticker (and used prominently within Ford advertisements for this car) and real life fuel economy, and 2) the fact that the remote start feature of the car did not work.
Item 2 has essentially been corrected at this point, after 3 attempts. Item 1 remains my primary complaint because my car average fuel economy has never exceeded 35 MPG, and the EPA estimate on the sticker is 47MPG. Now I'm not naive enough to believe that I was actually going to achieve an average of 47 MPG. I did, however, expect to achieve something within 10% of that (about 42 MPG during non-winter driving conditions). During winter driving conditions I expect a new car to achieve an average fuel economy within 20% of the EPA estimate, or in this case, about 37 MPG.
REALITY CHECK: My best average fuel economy did not exceed 35 MPG during non-winter driving conditions. That is 25.5% lower than the EPA estimate listed on the sticker. During winter driving conditions, I have been averaging 31 MPG. That is 34% lower than the EPA estimate.
Ford has no solution to this other than to state repeatedly that mileages will vary from driver to driver, and road conditions, winter fuel mixes, and tire air pressure will all affect the average fuel economy. Those are true statements, but still do not explain such a large disparity between the EPA estimate and actual fuel economy. I will leave this discussion alone for a little while now because I get rather upset when I think that I chose this particular car over many others because it had the right mix between features and fuel economy, and the fuel economy I expected is what tipped the scales when making my final decision about which car to buy. I could very well have purchased a gas-only vehicle that achieved the same, or better fuel economy for far less money.
So, what does any of that have to do with the "ghost in the machine" mentioned in the title of this post? Nothing, except I was so focused on those two items that I neglected to start tracking all the other little electrical issues I was experiencing.
Here is the beginning of the list of issues that were intermittent and/or appeared to be electrical issues that I noticed between 10/20/2012 and January 21, 2013:
The CSM informed me that she had spoken with the service manager at a local Ford Dealership, and that I could bring the car in immediately for them to check out. I did just that. When I arrived, I asked for the service manager, and eventually he showed up. I listed off the concerns (list above) while he quietly sat back with a slight smirk on his face and listened. There were 2 other service people standing within 3 feet of me as I described all of these "ghosts", one of whom I eventually was told I could have collect my information (again) and then he would get a technician to start working on the car. I was told I would need another car rental because they expected to have the car for awhile. Again, Ford graciously picked up the tab for the rental, but not whatever gas I used. I left to get the rental, and hoped they could figure out what was going on with this car.
So, get this. The rental car I got this time (3rd rental car now) was a Toyota Yaris sedan. This thing was the strangest car I have ever driven. There were no bells and whistles at all. In fact, I'm surprised it even had a heater in it. The dashboard with the speedometer and other information was not located in front of the driver, it was shifted to the CENTER of the dashboard. Now, I suppose if I were the type of person who slumped down in my seat and leaned halfway over to the passenger side of the car while driving, this would have been ideal. For a regular guy like me, it was really hard to tell how fast I was going or see any other information. Truly the strangest car I have ever driven, and I would never choose to do so on purpose again! As luck would have it, I was stuck driving this thing for 2 and a half days...
Up to this point I have focused on 2 main issues with my 2013 Ford CMax: 1) The disparity between the EPA fuel economy estimate printed on the vehicle sticker (and used prominently within Ford advertisements for this car) and real life fuel economy, and 2) the fact that the remote start feature of the car did not work.
Item 2 has essentially been corrected at this point, after 3 attempts. Item 1 remains my primary complaint because my car average fuel economy has never exceeded 35 MPG, and the EPA estimate on the sticker is 47MPG. Now I'm not naive enough to believe that I was actually going to achieve an average of 47 MPG. I did, however, expect to achieve something within 10% of that (about 42 MPG during non-winter driving conditions). During winter driving conditions I expect a new car to achieve an average fuel economy within 20% of the EPA estimate, or in this case, about 37 MPG.
REALITY CHECK: My best average fuel economy did not exceed 35 MPG during non-winter driving conditions. That is 25.5% lower than the EPA estimate listed on the sticker. During winter driving conditions, I have been averaging 31 MPG. That is 34% lower than the EPA estimate.
Ford has no solution to this other than to state repeatedly that mileages will vary from driver to driver, and road conditions, winter fuel mixes, and tire air pressure will all affect the average fuel economy. Those are true statements, but still do not explain such a large disparity between the EPA estimate and actual fuel economy. I will leave this discussion alone for a little while now because I get rather upset when I think that I chose this particular car over many others because it had the right mix between features and fuel economy, and the fuel economy I expected is what tipped the scales when making my final decision about which car to buy. I could very well have purchased a gas-only vehicle that achieved the same, or better fuel economy for far less money.
So, what does any of that have to do with the "ghost in the machine" mentioned in the title of this post? Nothing, except I was so focused on those two items that I neglected to start tracking all the other little electrical issues I was experiencing.
Here is the beginning of the list of issues that were intermittent and/or appeared to be electrical issues that I noticed between 10/20/2012 and January 21, 2013:
- When starting the car, a warning would appear periodically telling me to check the fuel inlet. Whenever I did check it, I saw nothing wrong with it so I simply cleared the error message until the next time it appeared.
- The automatic parking brake would "stick" periodically even though I was not using the parking brake/handbrake. This did not happen all the time, but I would get in the car, start it up, buckle up, put the car into Reverse, press my foot on the gas pedal, and the car would "try" to move backwards, but acted like the tires were glued to the pavement. To work around this, I have to put the car into Drive, move ahead about 6 to 12 inches, and then place it in Reverse and then it will move freely.
- The car has a rear view camera to help when backing up, which is great. Sadly, once in a while, the screen "rolls". For those of you old enough to remember, this phenomenon occurred rather frequently with older television sets. The picture appears to move up the screen while a new version of the picture appears below it.
- Periodically, when I start the car and start driving, I will notice an error on the screen telling me that the navigation SD Card is not inserted into the slot. When I check on it, the card is fully-seated within the slot. I remove the card, wait a few seconds, then re-insert the card and suddenly the problem goes away. So occasionally, the car's computer is not detecting this card or the port it is inserted into.
- The remote start feature in this car works fine now, but every time I open the door to get in, the car stops if it is still running. (Sometimes I wait 15 minutes and the remote start feature "times out" and shuts the car down before I get in.) I have been informed that this is normal behavior, and that it is a security feature. Personally, I am not convinced that it is intentional since the car unlocks itself when the key is within 3 feet and your hand is on the door handle, so why do they need to shut the car off if the key is present? Where is the threat or danger?
- Periodically, after using the remote start feature, I will get in the car to start it, and when I press the Start button with my foot on the brake as required, the car doesn't start. The first time this happened, I got an error message that stated I should read the manual. I tried several times to start the car, but it would not start so I had to use my wife's car to bring my daughter to school. When I returned, I got back into my car (about 15 minutes after the failure) and this time it started up.
The CSM informed me that she had spoken with the service manager at a local Ford Dealership, and that I could bring the car in immediately for them to check out. I did just that. When I arrived, I asked for the service manager, and eventually he showed up. I listed off the concerns (list above) while he quietly sat back with a slight smirk on his face and listened. There were 2 other service people standing within 3 feet of me as I described all of these "ghosts", one of whom I eventually was told I could have collect my information (again) and then he would get a technician to start working on the car. I was told I would need another car rental because they expected to have the car for awhile. Again, Ford graciously picked up the tab for the rental, but not whatever gas I used. I left to get the rental, and hoped they could figure out what was going on with this car.
So, get this. The rental car I got this time (3rd rental car now) was a Toyota Yaris sedan. This thing was the strangest car I have ever driven. There were no bells and whistles at all. In fact, I'm surprised it even had a heater in it. The dashboard with the speedometer and other information was not located in front of the driver, it was shifted to the CENTER of the dashboard. Now, I suppose if I were the type of person who slumped down in my seat and leaned halfway over to the passenger side of the car while driving, this would have been ideal. For a regular guy like me, it was really hard to tell how fast I was going or see any other information. Truly the strangest car I have ever driven, and I would never choose to do so on purpose again! As luck would have it, I was stuck driving this thing for 2 and a half days...
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
01-2013 Ford 2013 CMax Will They Ever Fix Remote Start?
I'm still playing catch up with this blog, but we're getting closer to current date. Please bear with me. I hope you have been reading all the previous entries so that you are up to date thus far. :-)
On January 2nd, 2013, I realized that the dealership still hadn't called me to bring the car in so they could install the new remote start "kit" they ordered overnight back before Christmas. I was told it would only take two days for the parts to arrive. So I called the dealership and asked the service guy about it. He put me on hold for a few minutes while he went to see if the part(s) had arrived. When he returned, he stated that they hadn't arrived yet, but that they would arrive by Friday (2 days later). Interesting. I believe that they never ordered the parts in the first place, or that they used them on another car and had to order another "kit". Sigh. Another disappointment.
So...I scheduled another appointment to bring the car in to have the kit installed, and asked him how long it would take. He said it shouldn't take more than a few hours, but that I should get a rental car anyway because he wanted to make sure everything was fixed before he returned my car to me this time.
Tuesday, January 8th. I dropped off my 2013 Ford CMax at the dealership for them to make their third attempt to repair the remote start, picked up my rental car, and headed off to work.
I received a call from the service guy mid-afternoon to let me know that they had finally gotten the remote start to work reliably, but when you open the door, the car shuts off (even if you have the key with you). I didn't really care much about that, I was just happy to hear that they had managed to get the remote start to actually work, and that I could pick my car back up the same day.
Did I ever mention what type of rental cars I was provided? Ford graciously picked up the tab for each rental car I was provided by a nationally known rental place, but I was still responsible for the cost of the gas I used. The first rental I received was a 2012 or 2013 Ford Explorer. It was loaded with options and very comfortable, but very big in comparison to the CMax. I had that rental for 24 hours, drove about 40 miles, and the gas cost me $20. This time, I received a Ford Focus. It was pretty much the base model with very few bells and whistles. I only needed it until the end of the day, so I used very little gas and I paid about $5. Because I am still bringing everyone up to date on my car problem adventures, I can tell you that I was provided with yet another rental while my car was being serviced. I will mention what it was in an upcoming post that covers that service experience. Yes, that's right, there is much more to this whole story than just the remote start problems.
On January 2nd, 2013, I realized that the dealership still hadn't called me to bring the car in so they could install the new remote start "kit" they ordered overnight back before Christmas. I was told it would only take two days for the parts to arrive. So I called the dealership and asked the service guy about it. He put me on hold for a few minutes while he went to see if the part(s) had arrived. When he returned, he stated that they hadn't arrived yet, but that they would arrive by Friday (2 days later). Interesting. I believe that they never ordered the parts in the first place, or that they used them on another car and had to order another "kit". Sigh. Another disappointment.
So...I scheduled another appointment to bring the car in to have the kit installed, and asked him how long it would take. He said it shouldn't take more than a few hours, but that I should get a rental car anyway because he wanted to make sure everything was fixed before he returned my car to me this time.
Tuesday, January 8th. I dropped off my 2013 Ford CMax at the dealership for them to make their third attempt to repair the remote start, picked up my rental car, and headed off to work.
I received a call from the service guy mid-afternoon to let me know that they had finally gotten the remote start to work reliably, but when you open the door, the car shuts off (even if you have the key with you). I didn't really care much about that, I was just happy to hear that they had managed to get the remote start to actually work, and that I could pick my car back up the same day.
Did I ever mention what type of rental cars I was provided? Ford graciously picked up the tab for each rental car I was provided by a nationally known rental place, but I was still responsible for the cost of the gas I used. The first rental I received was a 2012 or 2013 Ford Explorer. It was loaded with options and very comfortable, but very big in comparison to the CMax. I had that rental for 24 hours, drove about 40 miles, and the gas cost me $20. This time, I received a Ford Focus. It was pretty much the base model with very few bells and whistles. I only needed it until the end of the day, so I used very little gas and I paid about $5. Because I am still bringing everyone up to date on my car problem adventures, I can tell you that I was provided with yet another rental while my car was being serviced. I will mention what it was in an upcoming post that covers that service experience. Yes, that's right, there is much more to this whole story than just the remote start problems.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
12-2012 2013 Ford CMax - Attempts to fix Remote Start Fail
About the 13th of December, I suddenly realized that the Ford Dealership never called me to bring in my 2013 Ford CMax to have the remote start feature fixed. If you recall, I had stopped in back in November to ask them to show me how to make it work without having the alarm system go off, and they were unable to get it to work either. At that time, I was informed that a software patch of some kind was coming and that they would fix it for me. Having heard nothing for several weeks, I decided to call the dealership and ask.
I was told by the service guy that there was no software patch; the fix required replacement of a hardware module of some type. They told me they would order one and I could come in the following Monday (December 17th, 2012) at noon to have it replaced. I said I would do so.
Monday came and I arrived at the dealership just before noon for my appointment. When I arrived, I was greeted by the service guy, but he informed me that the only 2 people who had any training at all on this had both called in sick. I was shocked that he hadn't called me to let me know so I could have avoided the trip, but he assured me someone would be in the next day at noon, and my car would be fixed then. I headed back to work, having wasted my lunch hour.
On Tuesday, December 18th, I drove to the dealership again, and arrived shortly before noon. I was informed that there was one technician who knew how to work on this problem in the shop, but he was just about to start on another car with the same issue. I argued that they had promised to work on my car, and in fact had promised to do it the previous day, so the service guy went off to call the other customer to see if they could wait a day. Fortunately for me, the other customer was in no hurry, so they started working on my car. I was asked if I wanted a rental car, but since they told me it would only be 2 hours, I said I would wait.
Two and a half hours later, the service guy came to tell me they were still having problems with incorrect signal codes, and that they had contacted Ford for a solution. I asked how long they thought it would be, and he wasn't sure, so I said I would wait another half hour, but if there was still no solution I would accept a rental car for the night.
A half hour later, they were still having troubles with it, and when I asked why this was such a problem, he told me that the car was so new that his people just weren't familiar enough with it. I had mixed feelings about that since I believe if you sell something, you should also know how to fix it. On the other hand, I felt bad for the technicians because it appeared they were not receiving the training they needed in a timely fashion. I mentioned this last part to the service guy, and he also was frustrated by it. He arranged for a rental car, and told me they would probably have it resolved in the morning.
Wednesday, December 19th, I called to ask about my car, and they told me it still wasn't working completely, and that they had ordered a new part. It should be fixed and I should have my car back by the next day.
On the 20th, I was informed that it still did not work, and that they were ordering a complete new kit for the car, but it would not be in until after Christmas, so they were putting my car back together for me so I could drive it until the part arrived.
In my opinion, this had been the second attempt to fix this issue (the first was when I brought it in originally, or you can think of the first attempt as being the first day they had my car and were unable to fix it). Regardless, I'm counting two attempts to fix a single problem at this point. More frustration!
I drive my car back home, look in the back, and things were still somewhat disassembled. The battery was completely exposed, and the trunk area pieces had not been reinstalled. Careless, in my opinion. I put things back together as they should have been and decided to just try to enjoy the holidays.
I was told by the service guy that there was no software patch; the fix required replacement of a hardware module of some type. They told me they would order one and I could come in the following Monday (December 17th, 2012) at noon to have it replaced. I said I would do so.
Monday came and I arrived at the dealership just before noon for my appointment. When I arrived, I was greeted by the service guy, but he informed me that the only 2 people who had any training at all on this had both called in sick. I was shocked that he hadn't called me to let me know so I could have avoided the trip, but he assured me someone would be in the next day at noon, and my car would be fixed then. I headed back to work, having wasted my lunch hour.
On Tuesday, December 18th, I drove to the dealership again, and arrived shortly before noon. I was informed that there was one technician who knew how to work on this problem in the shop, but he was just about to start on another car with the same issue. I argued that they had promised to work on my car, and in fact had promised to do it the previous day, so the service guy went off to call the other customer to see if they could wait a day. Fortunately for me, the other customer was in no hurry, so they started working on my car. I was asked if I wanted a rental car, but since they told me it would only be 2 hours, I said I would wait.
Two and a half hours later, the service guy came to tell me they were still having problems with incorrect signal codes, and that they had contacted Ford for a solution. I asked how long they thought it would be, and he wasn't sure, so I said I would wait another half hour, but if there was still no solution I would accept a rental car for the night.
A half hour later, they were still having troubles with it, and when I asked why this was such a problem, he told me that the car was so new that his people just weren't familiar enough with it. I had mixed feelings about that since I believe if you sell something, you should also know how to fix it. On the other hand, I felt bad for the technicians because it appeared they were not receiving the training they needed in a timely fashion. I mentioned this last part to the service guy, and he also was frustrated by it. He arranged for a rental car, and told me they would probably have it resolved in the morning.
Wednesday, December 19th, I called to ask about my car, and they told me it still wasn't working completely, and that they had ordered a new part. It should be fixed and I should have my car back by the next day.
On the 20th, I was informed that it still did not work, and that they were ordering a complete new kit for the car, but it would not be in until after Christmas, so they were putting my car back together for me so I could drive it until the part arrived.
In my opinion, this had been the second attempt to fix this issue (the first was when I brought it in originally, or you can think of the first attempt as being the first day they had my car and were unable to fix it). Regardless, I'm counting two attempts to fix a single problem at this point. More frustration!
I drive my car back home, look in the back, and things were still somewhat disassembled. The battery was completely exposed, and the trunk area pieces had not been reinstalled. Careless, in my opinion. I put things back together as they should have been and decided to just try to enjoy the holidays.
11-2012 - 2013 Ford CMax Reporting Issues via Twitter
On Nov 11th, I began using Twitter to communicate
my disappointment with the fuel economy discrepancy. I posted the following (I am still fairly new
to the ins and outs of using Twitter effectively):
Disappointed with my 2013 #Ford #Cmax. Advert mpg is 47/47.
Lucky to get 35mpg Counted on 42 to help offset car pmts. Many S/W bugs too.
On the 12th, I posted the following:
I guess #FordMotors doesn't monitor
Twitter or they would know that their claims about the new #Ford #CMax getting 47/47/47 mpg
are all LIES
On the 13th, I posted the following:
I wonder if #Ford will let me out of my
lease & return down pmt, so maybe I can lease a #Chevy #Volt instead. I don't like
false adverts.
On the14th, I posted the following which received a
response from Ford Motor company rather quickly:
Follow me if you like - @hey_ole is the handle I use within Twitter.
More issues and interesting exchanges will be documented in forthcoming posts. I'm playing catch up here...
Friday, February 8, 2013
11-2012 - Issues 2 and 3 with my 2013 Ford CMax
After just a couple of weeks driving my 2013 Ford CMax Hybrid, when I would place the car into reverse to back out of a parking space, the car would not move. It was as if it had been glued down to the pavement! I tried several times, but it just would not budge. So I placed it into Park, then back in Reverse and tried again. It still would not move. I looked down to be sure I hadn't set the handbrake/parking brake, and discovered that I had not (I never use it unless I park on a steep hill). I then tried driving forward about a foot, which is all the room I had available, and the car did move forward. I then tried using reverse again and this time the car moved. This happened off and on, and as long as I had room in front, I could work around the issue by moving forward before moving backward. I decided I better mention this the next time I went in to the dealership.
The weather began to get a bit cooler in the morning later in November, so I decided to try the remote start feature, even though it still really wasn't cold enough in my opinion to warrant it. This was the first time I had ever had this feature on a car, so when the car alarm started going off whenever I tried to start it per the instructions in the Owner's Manual, I figured I must have misunderstood something and resolved to go back to the dealership to ask them to show me how to do it. I figured this would be a good time to mention the disappointing fuel economy as well.
I drove the car in to the dealership and asked the salesman to show me how to start my 2013 Ford CMax Hybrid via the remote start feature. He tried a couple times and it failed for him as well, so he asked me to drive it into the Service Area. The service guy tried it several times, also to no avail, and was completely puzzled. He then told me the car was so new that they were not very familiar with it, and proceeded to look something up on his computer. He said it looked like it was a known issue with models that had the push button ignition, and that a software patch would be issued for it within a couple weeks. Since remote start is not exactly a critical issue from my perspective, I was perfectly happy to accept that and simply planned to wait for them to call me and let me know when I could bring it back for the update.
Having addressed that issue for the moment, I then mentioned the issue regarding the occasional inability to move the car in reverse after parking. The service gut said it was a bit strange, but that the car had an "auto brake" safety feature when parking on hills, so this might be normal, and he felt that I probably just needed to give it more gas to "break free". I assured him that I had tried that to no avail, and had no interest in damaging my car or any other car in the process. Still, he had no indication from Ford that this was an issue. So, no resolution for this issue at this time.
At this point I mentioned to the service guy that my gas mileage was no where near the EPA estimate. He asked me what I had experienced, and then looked at how many miles I had driven thus far (about 2,000) and told me that there was a 3,000 mile break-in period so that was probably why it was so far off. I was taken aback by that as I had never had a new vehicle that required such a long break-in period before. My previous vehicles began achieving their average MPG within a couple of weeks. He also asked if I was using the braking coach, acceleration coach, etc. and I explained that I had indeed been doing that specifically to maximize the fuel economy. He had no other suggestions, but said he would be glad to consider a complete system reset during the first official service appointment at 5,000 miles, so I left feeling rather disappointed, and frustrated.
The weather began to get a bit cooler in the morning later in November, so I decided to try the remote start feature, even though it still really wasn't cold enough in my opinion to warrant it. This was the first time I had ever had this feature on a car, so when the car alarm started going off whenever I tried to start it per the instructions in the Owner's Manual, I figured I must have misunderstood something and resolved to go back to the dealership to ask them to show me how to do it. I figured this would be a good time to mention the disappointing fuel economy as well.
I drove the car in to the dealership and asked the salesman to show me how to start my 2013 Ford CMax Hybrid via the remote start feature. He tried a couple times and it failed for him as well, so he asked me to drive it into the Service Area. The service guy tried it several times, also to no avail, and was completely puzzled. He then told me the car was so new that they were not very familiar with it, and proceeded to look something up on his computer. He said it looked like it was a known issue with models that had the push button ignition, and that a software patch would be issued for it within a couple weeks. Since remote start is not exactly a critical issue from my perspective, I was perfectly happy to accept that and simply planned to wait for them to call me and let me know when I could bring it back for the update.
Having addressed that issue for the moment, I then mentioned the issue regarding the occasional inability to move the car in reverse after parking. The service gut said it was a bit strange, but that the car had an "auto brake" safety feature when parking on hills, so this might be normal, and he felt that I probably just needed to give it more gas to "break free". I assured him that I had tried that to no avail, and had no interest in damaging my car or any other car in the process. Still, he had no indication from Ford that this was an issue. So, no resolution for this issue at this time.
At this point I mentioned to the service guy that my gas mileage was no where near the EPA estimate. He asked me what I had experienced, and then looked at how many miles I had driven thus far (about 2,000) and told me that there was a 3,000 mile break-in period so that was probably why it was so far off. I was taken aback by that as I had never had a new vehicle that required such a long break-in period before. My previous vehicles began achieving their average MPG within a couple of weeks. He also asked if I was using the braking coach, acceleration coach, etc. and I explained that I had indeed been doing that specifically to maximize the fuel economy. He had no other suggestions, but said he would be glad to consider a complete system reset during the first official service appointment at 5,000 miles, so I left feeling rather disappointed, and frustrated.
11-2012 - First Disappointment with my 2013 Ford CMax Hybrid
I spent the next several days/weeks driving with great care. I wanted to see just how close to the 47MPG I could get while the weather was still in the 60s and 70s. I accelerated slowly, decelerated slowly while learning to do so in such a way as to regenerate the high voltage battery, and used cruise control whenever possible. Sadly, I never achieved an average MPG above 35. I was quite disappointed and started asking around to see if anyone else had this issue. A friend sent me a link to an article about Consumer Reports ( http://www.autoblog.com/2012/12/06/consumer-reports-calls-out-ford-for-false-fusion-c-max-h/ ) that indicated they never got more than about 37 MPG during their tests.
I started searching the Internet afterward to see if this was a known issue and if Ford had a solution for it yet. I did not find any solutions, but there are plenty of references to other Ford CMax owners with the same complaint. In each case I could find, Ford continued to defend the EPA estimate of 47/47/47 displayed on the sticker by mentioning that individual fuel economy results will vary widely based on driver habits, road conditions, temperature, weather, etc. I started feeling angry because I had chosen this particular hybrid car over a few others based not only on features, but also on expected gas savings based on the fuel economy listed on the sticker which now appears to be an "inflated" estimate which throws off all of my standard calculations (10% less than EPA estimate for normal weather conditions, and 20% less than EPA estimate for winter driving conditions).
In my opinion, Ford needs to correct this issue. It is unacceptable to me to only achieve a fuel economy that is (at best) 25.5% lower than the EPA estimate. I decided that the next time I went in to the Ford Dealership, I would mention this to the salesman and the Service Technicians to see if they had any solutions available.
10-2012 - I got a new Hybrid Car!
October 20, 2012
After spending a full day test driving several different hybrid cars from several different dealerships, and dealing with a few rather unfriendly dealerships, my wife and I stumbled upon a 2013 Ford CMax Hybrid. Even though the salesman was rather busy at the time, he made time to arrange for us to test drive one rather basic 2013 Ford CMax car on the lot (we really liked the more luxurious one on the showroom floor). The test drive was great! Very low road noise, lots of bells and whistles inside (the luxurious version on the showroom floor, that is), and the EPA estimated fuel economy was listed at 47MPG. Because we were trading in a 2005 Ford Explorer that averaged 15 MPG, I calculated we could afford slightly higher monthly payments thanks to great savings in fuel costs. I based that upon an assumed average fuel economy about 10% less than what the EPA estimated, or about 40-42 MPG during non-winter driving conditions, and 20% less (about 37-38 MPG) during winter conditions which is typical for Minnesota.
It was the end of the day, and the car on the showroom floor was the one we wanted, so that's the one they arranged for us to take home that night, although it required a jump start to get it going due to all the people testing various electric features I'm sure.
What a great feeling it was to be driving something new again, and not worrying about things failing, or breaking down unexpectedly. I went home, and read the Owner's Manual (I know, who does that?) because the car had so many features that were new to me.
After spending a full day test driving several different hybrid cars from several different dealerships, and dealing with a few rather unfriendly dealerships, my wife and I stumbled upon a 2013 Ford CMax Hybrid. Even though the salesman was rather busy at the time, he made time to arrange for us to test drive one rather basic 2013 Ford CMax car on the lot (we really liked the more luxurious one on the showroom floor). The test drive was great! Very low road noise, lots of bells and whistles inside (the luxurious version on the showroom floor, that is), and the EPA estimated fuel economy was listed at 47MPG. Because we were trading in a 2005 Ford Explorer that averaged 15 MPG, I calculated we could afford slightly higher monthly payments thanks to great savings in fuel costs. I based that upon an assumed average fuel economy about 10% less than what the EPA estimated, or about 40-42 MPG during non-winter driving conditions, and 20% less (about 37-38 MPG) during winter conditions which is typical for Minnesota.
It was the end of the day, and the car on the showroom floor was the one we wanted, so that's the one they arranged for us to take home that night, although it required a jump start to get it going due to all the people testing various electric features I'm sure.
What a great feeling it was to be driving something new again, and not worrying about things failing, or breaking down unexpectedly. I went home, and read the Owner's Manual (I know, who does that?) because the car had so many features that were new to me.
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