On Jan 24, 2013, I decided to read the service report from the recent visit to the dealership near my home. I had calmed down a bit by now, but was curious about the exact comments the technician(s) had entered related to the list of issues I had reported. Below is the list from the report, and my comments related to their findings. The most irritating ones are the ones that have an incorrect description of the problem entered. They should have had me proof-read the entry to assure them that their entries had reflected my concerns accurately.
I am entering the exact text from the service report created on 1/21/2013 after describing them all to the Service Manager, the person who entered them into the system, and a third person who sat between these two men listening as I described the issues. Please understand that any typos are not mine; they are from the person who entered them in to Ford's service order system. The text in italics is the service technician's response/explanation/recommendation. You will note that I continue to avoid listing any names as I do not feel the names of the persons involved are relevant or necessary to reveal at this time. The fact that there were 3 people present (and listening) at the time I described the issues is relevant, however, because they witnessed my actual descriptions TWICE before data entry took place.
2013 Ford CMax Hybrid
1) Driveability/Electric - Warranty
CUSTOMER STATES THIS AM THE REMOTE STARTER WORKED BUT ENGINE TURNED OFF AFTER 10 MIN. THEN WOULD NOT START BY PUSHING THE START BUTTON. A MESSAGE COME UP THAT SAID "SEE OWNERS MANUAL" LET CAR SIT FOR 15 MIN AND THEN THE CAR STARTED
WHEN THE REMOTE STARTER SHUTS OFF WHEN A DOOR IS OPENED IS A NORMAL FUNCTION OF A FORD REMOTE STARTER. ALSO, WHEN THE REMOTE STARTER TURNS THE VEHICLE ON, THE PCM CONTROLS IF THE ENGINE IS ON OR IF THE VEHICLE IS IN ELECTRIC MODE. AND IF THE STARTER SHUTS OFF AFTER THE TIMER HAS EXPIRED, THE BRAKE PEDAL MUST BE PRESSED FIRST BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO START VEHICLE AGAIN. THIS ACTION WILL TURN OFF THE REMOTE STARTER ACCESSORY POWER WHICH IS STILL ACTIVE AFTER THE VEHICLE SHUTS OFF.
I had already been informed at the time the remote starter was finally fixed that the car would shut off as soon as I opened a door if I had used the remote starter, so this was nothing new, and I had already explained to them that I knew this was considered "normal". I had, however, mentioned that I felt that Ford should consider a modification that would keep the car running if the person opening the door was in possession of the "keys". I did not consider this part of the problem at all. The part that was a problem, was that when I got in the vehicle, and tried to start it again, it failed to start and displayed an unusual, and useless, message. The response to that part of the issue listed above was insulting to me. They stated that I had to place my foot on the brake before attempting to start the vehicle. How stupid do they think I am? I ALWAYS have to place my foot on the brake to start the vehicle. I've known that since the day I obtained the car, and it has become a natural habit. In a future post, I will include a video I made when attempting to capture this issue so that I could prove to them that it wasn't something I just made up. The video proves this.
2) ELECTRICAL SYS. BODY
CUSTOMER STATES THE LIGHT FOR THE CK GAS CAP COMES ON INTERMITTENTLY
42:9C915
TEST EEC. FOUND CODE P0457, GROSS EMISSION EVAP LEAK. RAN PINPOINT TEST HX, FOUND CANISTER PURGE VALVE STUCK OPEN. NEED CANISTER PURGE VALVE. FOUND VALVE ON BACKORDER WITH NO EXPECTED ARRIVAL DATE. EMERGENCY ORDERED
At least this one they could identify. While they had no idea how long it would be until the part became available, I was assured that I could drive the car until they were able to replace the part.
3) REPAIR IGNITION SYS
CUSTOMER STATES THE PARKING BRAKE SEEMS TO STICK. VEHICLE WILL NOT MOVE IN REVERSE UNLESS YOU GO FORWARD FIRST.
NPF
UNABLE TO DUPLICATE CONCERN. ACTUATED PARKING BRAKE IN NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES, ALSO RAISED VEHICLE ON HOIST AND VISUAL INSPECT ANY PARKING BRAKE COMPONENT DAMAGE. ALL OKAY UNABLE TO FEEL ANY DRAMATIC CHANGES IN PARKING BRAKE ACTUATION THAT WOULD FEEL OR SHOW ANYTHING WRONG WITH SYSTEM. RAN OASIS. NO REPORTED CONCERNS FOUND, UNABLE TO FEEL OR FIND ANYTHING VISUALLY EVIDENT WRONG WITH SYSTEM. OPERATING NORMAL AT THIS TIME.
Here is their first data entry mistake. I clearly told 3 people, including the person who entered this into the system incorrectly, that I never use the parking brake. The problem I reported to them was that occasionally, after the vehicle has been parked for awhile (no parking brake used), the car would not move in reverse. It acted as if the tires were locked to the pavement. The only way I could get the car to move again was to put it into Drive, move ahead about a foot or so, and then I could move it in Reverse. Lucky for me, I never had a solid object close enough to the front of the car to prevent me from moving forward. I don't blame the technician for not finding this issue, I blame the inaccurate entry of the issue. In a future post, I will report that after many phone calls, capturing this phenomenon on video and sharing that with Ford Customer Service, Ford admitted to me that this was a known issue and that a Technical Service Bulletin was being issued. So sad that they only admit a problem after multiple people report it, and a video is submitted. I am writing this blog entry long after the fact, so I can tell you that this issue has STILL not been resolved as of 3/11/2013.
4) DRIVABILITY
CUSTOMER STATES THE MESSAGE SHOWS S/D CARD IS MISSING BUT THE SD CARD IS IN PLACE
04:14D212
UNABLE TO DUPLICATE CONCERN. RAN SELF TEST ON APIM. NO CODES. RAN NETWORK TEST. ALL PASS. RAN OASIS. FOUND NO MESSAGES PERTAINING TO ISSUE OR SYNC IN GENERAL. RAN SYSTEM TO INSPECT FOR UPDATES, FOUND NO UPDATES AVAILABLE FOR THIS SYSTEM. AT CURRENT SOFTWARE LEVEL. PERFORMED MASTER RESET AND HARD APIM RESET
Once again, they could not duplicate the issue. This had to do with the navigation system, and occasionally, this message about the SD card missing would appear and I would have no navigation capabilities. To work around the issue myself, I simply removed the SD card, waited a few seconds, and reinserted the SD card. The system would then recognize it again, and things would work normally. Since the technician performed the reset(s) described, I have not seen this issue reappear. I have seen more than one SYNC update since then, so perhaps a bug was discovered and fixed. Regardless, it currently is operating fine.
5) CK ENGINE LITE ON
CUSTOMER STATES THE FUEL ECONOMY IS POOR. OWNER HAS NOT GOTTEN PAST 38 MPG AND IT IS RATED AT 47 MPG
NOTE: I must interject my anger here. I NEVER stated I obtained 38 MPG. I repeatedly stated, to at least 3 people present at this dealership, and 2 others at another dealership, that I was very disappointed that I never obtained a fuel economy greater than 35 MPG during fall weather with temperatures in the 50s to 70s. That's 25% below the EPA estimates listed on the sticker (47/47/47), and that EPA estimate is used by Ford as a major selling point fro this vehicle.
DIAG
CONFIRMED CONCERN. FOUND TO BE NORMAL CONDITIONS FOR WINTER DRIVING. EXTENDED WINTER WARM UP DROPS FUEL ECONOMY, LOW TEMPERATURES IN THE TRACTION BATTERY WILL CAUSE LONGER THAN NORMAL RUN TIME OF GAS ENGINE. HIGHER SPEED DRIVING ROAD AND WEATHER CONDITIONS. RAN FUEL ECONOMY TEST. IN TOWN AVERAGED 41.7 AND HIGHWAY (HIGHER SPEED DRIVING) AVERAGED 37.9MPG. INSPECT TRANSMISSION FLUID LEVEL. ALL OKAY. MONITOR LONG FUEL TRIM VALUES. WITHIN SPECIFICATION. VERIFIED ENGINE OPERATES WITHIN NORMAL ENGINE COOLANT TEMPERATURE. THE PURGE VALVE STICKING OPEN CAN CAUSE POSSIBLE ISSUE WITH FUEL ECONOMY, BUT UNABLE TO DETERMINE THIS ON ROAD TEST. NORMAL CHARACTERISTIC OF VEHICLE
Much of what the technician states is quite reasonable FOR WINTER DRIVING. That said, the inaccurate entry of fuel economy, and the absence of the fact that the MPG I reported was based upon the lifetime of the vehicle during fall weather conditions, really pissed me off. After MULTIPLE phone calls and physical visits, Ford continues to refuse to correct this within their database system. Had I been allowed to review the service issue list prior to submission of the service order, I would have caught this error (and the other one) so that the record would be accurate. The Customer Service Manager assigned to my case even stated that the record could be amended, but after attempting to have the dealership do so, she later called me to state that she never told me that the record itself could be amended; just that her case file would contain this information. It was at this point that I decided I would need to start recording our phone conversations so I would have an irrefutable record of what was stated via phone calls. At this point, it was my word (memory) versus hers. My stress levels began to increase, and my anger about all of this increased.
I became obsessed with trying to prove to Ford that these issues were real. I started logging everything I could, and began using my cell phone to capture videos every time I started my car, or backed it up, or saw something unusual in a display with the hope that I would catch it on video as proof. My efforts have begun to pay off. In upcoming blog entries, I will begin posting videos, pictures, and sound files so you may see/hear some of these anomalies for yourself.
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