2013 Fusion Hybrid Issues & Problems

[hybridbear]

I'm curious how many issues others have had and how they compare to your expectations when buying the first year of a new model. Please succinctly comment on your problems/issues below.

 

Idea credit goes to Frankman on the C-Max Energi Forum. Thanks

Edited April 2, 2013 by hybridbear

[hybridbear]

We got our FFH in December 2012 and have had all the issues listed below

1. Grade assist failing to turn off, 2 days in shop, could not duplicate
2. CEL due to ice build up in fuel filler inlet, 2 days in shop
3. CEL due to defective purge solenoid, 2 days in shop
4. Steering wheel clunk when reversing, braking lightly and turning the wheel right hand down, included in aforementioned trips, dealer could hear but claims nothing is wrong
5. Left rear door piano black trim panel not attached correctly, being replaced 5 days in shop total with other repairs listed below
6. Headliner rattle, broken clip was replaced, part of above trip
7. Left tail lens cracked in cold weather, part of above trip
8. Incorrect shift knob installed by factory, part of above trip
9. Left rear door rubbing on frame when closing, part of above trip

I believe that is all so far...I expected issues, but not this many

[DeeCee]

Got mine in November 2012 and so far just two issues:

 

1. Rubber bumper on hood missing (left side) ( Dealer replaced it)

2. Wrong shifter knob issue. Dealer said he is not aware of the issue. Have not pursued this any further yet, not a priority issue for me.

 

Will add to the list if anything new pops up.

[JSKershaw]

My car was built in October 2012 and Received it in February 2013.

 

Only possible problem is the gear shifter, but I'm not bothered by it and I'm not making a special trip to check on a replacement. I will have them look at it when I go for service.

 

Other than that no problems with mine! (knock on wood)

[aaronj1159]

Just got my car last month, but no problems yet. Build date is Feb. 13th, but I didn't order it, just had the dealer trade with another that had it on the lot. The shift knob is wrong, but like JSKershaw, I'm not going to address it until I take it for service. I'm not too concerned. I think my dealer will be pretty accommodating, so far they've done just about anything I could ask of them.

[fusionTX]

We got our FFH in December 2012 and have had all the issues listed below

• Grade assist failing to turn off, 2 days in shop, could not duplicate

• CEL due to ice build up in fuel filler inlet, 2 days in shop

• CEL due to defective purge solenoid, 2 days in shop

• Steering wheel clunk when reversing, braking lightly and turning the wheel right hand down, included in aforementioned trips, dealer could hear but claims nothing is wrong

• Left rear door piano black trim panel not attached correctly, being replaced 5 days in shop total with other repairs listed below

• Headliner rattle, broken clip was replaced, part of above trip

• Left tail lens cracked in cold weather, part of above trip

• Incorrect shift knob installed by factory, part of above trip

• Left rear door rubbing on frame when closing, part of above trip

I believe that is all so far...I expected issues, but not this many

That is a lot of days in the shop for a new car. I bought the inaugural Camry Hybrid and my car has never spent a day in the shop in seven years. I don't even remember what not having a car is like.

[rl314]

I received my Fusion Hybrid in late January, and I was really enjoying it until 10 days ago. While I was driving I suddenly got a flurry of error messages: steering assist fault, advance trac fault, and parking brake failure. The car was driving fine, but the messages continued to flash. I brought it to the dealer the next day and they told me it would take about an hour to fix. Ten days later they still can't figure out what is wrong (they even called for help from Ford's engineers) and I'm stuck driving a boring rental car. Has anyone else had similar problems?

Edited April 3, 2013 by rl314

[hybridbear]

That is a lot of days in the shop for a new car. I bought the inaugural Camry Hybrid and my car has never spent a day in the shop in seven years. I don't even remember what not having a car is like.

It really is!! It's very frustrating... MN Lemon Law requires 30 days out of service within the first 2 years of ownership. If our issues keep arising at the same pace they've been coming up so far our car will be considered a lemon. There have been many more issues that we expected. I expected a few to pop up immediately and then to have a few peaceful years. We haven't even had one month yet without having to bring the car in at least once. It's very frustrating because it wastes a lot of my time and then we waste money driving a rental car that gets 25 MPG instead of 47 MPG.

 

I received my Fusion Hybrid in late January, and I was really enjoying it until 10 days ago. While I was driving I suddenly got a flurry of error messages: steering assist fault, advance trac fault, and parking brake failure. The car was driving fine, but the messages continued to flash. I brought it to the dealer the next day and they told me it would take about an hour to fix. Ten days later they still can't figure out what is wrong (they even called for help from Ford's engineers) and I'm stuck driving a boring rental car. Has anyone else had similar problems?

I believe in one auto journalist review they had similar issues appear on the screen. Has the dealer done a hard reset/reflash of the car's computers? Does the car have any fault codes stored from this incident?

[acdii]

3 times in, 5 days out of service, still not fixed, and will not be fixed because nothing is wrong(exact words from Ford). Thankfully it started last night even with the HVB being nearly flat, there was barely any blue showing on the battery symbol. The trip summary is very inconsistent, it can show me getting great miles on one trip, then the very next trip, same day, will be far below it, and driving style remains the same. Very confusing. :headscratch: Last night, I got 37, then drove somewhere else, got 47, drove back on the same roads, got 36, then the trip home, 37. All this using Ecocruise, the pedal is way to touchy, in and out of EV by wiggling my big toe.

 

But MAN does that car handle GREAT! I found it handles this one S curve that you MUST slow down to under 50 in all my other cars, and this one takes it at 60!

 

But of course, Y'all knew that! :) :baby:

[rl314]

I think there were many fault codes, but they have had trouble tracing them back to the cause of the problem. They've now replaced the steering rack twice and they think it may be fixed. I finally get it back tomorrow, so I'll get to see for myself.

[erichFla]

Could someone Post a picture of the Wrong Shift knob and then the Correct one Please. Thanks

[RedLdr1]

Our FFH was built on 30 Oct 12, purchased on 28 February 13, and has had no issues to date.... :) The C-Max had a much rockier start (See Here) but it hasn't had a problem since that issue was resolved.... Both vehicles could use some MFT updates both nothing critical....

Edited April 4, 2013 by RedLdr1

[neod192]

Could someone Post a picture of the Wrong Shift knob and then the Correct one Please. Thanks

The search box is your friend: http://fordfusionhybridforum.com/topic/5998-wrong-shifter/?hl=%2Bwrong+%2Bshift+%2Bknob

[keybman]

I received my Fusion Hybrid in late January, and I was really enjoying it until 10 days ago. While I was driving I suddenly got a flurry of error messages: steering assist fault, advance trac fault, and parking brake failure. The car was driving fine, but the messages continued to flash. I brought it to the dealer the next day and they told me it would take about an hour to fix. Ten days later they still can't figure out what is wrong (they even called for help from Ford's engineers) and I'm stuck driving a boring rental car. Has anyone else had similar problems?

I experienced a similar issue with my FFH in January. Didn't affect driving but the multiple warnings continued for my trip home. In addition to what you described, I also had the "yellow wrench", which normally would mean a powertrain issue. The next morning, I started the car but there were no warnings at all, and again driving was fine. I called the dealership anyway, and they said I definitely needed to bring it in for them to look at it. I took it in the following day and left it with them for the day. Obviously, it was the first 2013 FFH the Service dept had serviced, so the head mechanic was in touch with Ford from the beginning. Even though it was not showing any active warnings, the car's computer had recorded all of the fault codes so they were able to verify the issue. Ford told them to change out the 12V battery and that it was not performing up to par. Having seen other battery issues in the C-Max forum and this FFH forum, I accepted this as a reasonable problem identification as well as fix.

 

Don't know if it was a bad batch of batteries that were installed in some C-Max and FFHs, or if it was not the right kind of battery in the first place (design/engineering flaw). But, I do know that I have not had a problem since. My MPGs have increased by over 10 MPG since the end of January (although my hybrid learning curve is still a factor too) and I have not experienced any other issue, related or not.

 

Considering the well-documented battery issues, I would encourage you to ask them to replace the 12V battery. It is a quick fix and they should be able to determine if that addresses your issue as well.

Edited April 5, 2013 by keybman

[gemdc]

Either these 2013 FFHs have a LOT of parasitic amperage draw or the 12v batteries are really weak. A fully charged 12v battery should settle down to about 12.6 volts with nothing connected. My 2008 Honda Odyssey van will be at about 12.4 volts 24 hrs after driving. My Fusion Hybrid is at 12.2v overnight and 11.9 one day later. Still starts OK but it apparently doesn't take many volts to trip the relay to kick in the HV battery. My Ultra-Gauge jumps to 14.2 volts when you turn the switch to RUN as the HV battery picks up the workload as soon as that relay clicks. I get a lot of the "battery saver" warnings after a few days of short trips. I can believe these low voltages are going to cause problems at some point. Yes, 390 Cold Cranking Amps is pretty weak even at best.

[Osofast]

I received my Fusion Hybrid in late January, and I was really enjoying it until 10 days ago. While I was driving I suddenly got a flurry of error messages: steering assist fault, advance trac fault, and parking brake failure. The car was driving fine, but the messages continued to flash. I brought it to the dealer the next day and they told me it would take about an hour to fix. Ten days later they still can't figure out what is wrong (they even called for help from Ford's engineers) and I'm stuck driving a boring rental car. Has anyone else had similar problems?

 

 

rL314, I had exactly the same problem about three weeks after buying my car. It actually happened randomly once or twice but went out before I ever got out of my driveway. Then one morning I started the car and got all of the messages on the dash about the service trac, front collision sensor not working, parking brake, abs system etc etc.

I only have a 10 minute trip to work but they stayed on the entire time when I got to work I shut the car off and turned it back on still there, did this multiple times and still there. Call dealer and was told to bring it in, of course I go to take it to the dealer and all lights were out.

Dealer scans the car and only came up with low battery voltage detected code. They charged the battery under the hood and I have not had the problem again.

 

[acdii]

rL314, I had exactly the same problem about three weeks after buying my car. It actually happened randomly once or twice but went out before I ever got out of my driveway. Then one morning I started the car and got all of the messages on the dash about the service trac, front collision sensor not working, parking brake, abs system etc etc. I only have a 10 minute trip to work but they stayed on the entire time when I got to work I shut the car off and turned it back on still there, did this multiple times and still there. Call dealer and was told to bring it in, of course I go to take it to the dealer and all lights were out. Dealer scans the car and only came up with low battery voltage detected code. They charged the battery under the hood and I have not had the problem again.

Low voltage can cause this. I had road tested a 13 Focus that had a dead battery from sitting on the show room floor. During the drive everytime I stepped on the gas warning messages would pop up on the screen and dash. They charge the battery the next day which resolved the problem. Pretty much the same type of messages with the exception of options not available.

[hybridbear]

I think there were many fault codes, but they have had trouble tracing them back to the cause of the problem. They've now replaced the steering rack twice and they think it may be fixed. I finally get it back tomorrow, so I'll get to see for myself.

 

How is your car? Any more problems?

[Riggo]

I sometimes wonder what the mechanics really know about these newer hybrid cars. You'd think they've been trained with regular ICE cars but with all the technology in these hybrids they might be as clueless as anyone else. It scares me a little to think about it whenever I'll need to have my car serviced.

[rl314]

So far my car seems fine and I haven't seen any more error messages. If the errors come back the first thing I will ask about is the 12v battery. I'm very happy to have it back!

[acdii]

Well here's hoping you dont become a falling pot of petunias.

[hybridbear]

I agree. I was talking with the tech yesterday who's working on our car at the dealer and he commented about spending lots of time looking in the book from Ford about the car to make sure he's doing stuff right and to find out about the car.

 

He also apologized for not hooking our new shift knob up correctly where the Grade Assist button doesn't work on the new one. He said, "I'm sure I plugged in the wire! But I guess it didn't stay connected."

 

I sometimes wonder what the mechanics really know about these newer hybrid cars. You'd think they've been trained with regular ICE cars but with all the technology in these hybrids they might be as clueless as anyone else. It scares me a little to think about it whenever I'll need to have my car serviced.

[rl314]

Well here's hoping you dont become a falling pot of petunias.

I have to admit I needed to do a little research to refresh my memory about what it was thinking, but yes, I agree!

[acdii]

I have to admit I needed to do a little research to refresh my memory about what it was thinking, but yes, I agree!

Yeah a DA fan! Not many people would get that one, only a true DA fan would

 

42 my friend, 42!

[hermans]

The only issues I have had are the shift knob and the battery.