My new 2013 Ford Fusion Titanium Hybrid

[hybridbear]

Yeah...I get into that a little bit whenever I am arguing with people about the whole "vaccines causes autism" thing or people who don't have legitimate (i.e. medical pre-conditions) reasons for not vaccinating their kids. People are dumb. Dr. Albert Campbell said that people can't understand basic arthimetic. I believe him. And if people can't understand that, then they most certainly won't be able to understand basic probability and statistics.

Gambling is a great example of how most people don't understand even basic stats. So are game shows like Deal or No Deal. Even shows like Wheel of Fortune or The Price is Right show how stupid most people are when it comes to statistics.

[hybridbear]

Admittedly, not particularly exciting, but I work with some really great people in a really great part of the overall Ford corporate. We're a tiny group right now and as I've mentioned before, we're uniquely positioned that as a Global Core guy, I don't work on specific vehicle programs (or the other way of looking at it is that I work on all of them then some). And I ACTUALLY get to say things like "I can't. Conference call with Asia tonight." lol...and it won't just be a lame excuse to get outta stuff. lol...("it's legit" so to speak).

Sounds exciting to me. Being in a more global department, rather than vehicle-specific, sounds like the best place to work at an auto manufacturer. You're making me regret not having pursued engineering now :drool:

[hybridbear]

I didn't pursue engineering in the end because of where I live. Minneapolis is a city built on finance. Wells Fargo & US Bank are from here, a number of major insurance companies are based here and there are just a lot more jobs in business than in engineering. Living in the Detroit/Windsor area I imagine it would be different. That was a big part of why I chose a business degree over an engineering degree

[acdii]

Be careful what you wish for! You might get promoted and then become a paper pusher and all that fun stuff you like doing will be no where to be seen on your desk. :) Probably why the other 15-20 year guys are pushing you, they dont want it! LOL

[alpha754293]

Gambling is a great example of how most people don't understand even basic stats. So are game shows like Deal or No Deal. Even shows like Wheel of Fortune or The Price is Right show how stupid most people are when it comes to statistics.

 

Oh yeah...but that's why those shows are successful right? The brains behind them have got all the math worked out already and the execs of the show can generally count on the vast majority of the contestants being quite clueless about said math.

 

It's like that with a LOT of things.

 

Sounds exciting to me. Being in a more global department, rather than vehicle-specific, sounds like the best place to work at an auto manufacturer. You're making me regret not having pursued engineering now :drool:

 

I will admit that it does give it a bit of an "exec" like feeling without being an exec. Or that we can bounce ourselves in and out of programs whenever it is needed/wanted. And it also gives us a much better view of the "bigger picture" for Ford corporate worldwide in terms of where we are now, what we are doing well at, what needs more attention or things that can be improved, and where we are going (at least based on what they've told me so far). And it also makes it easier for me to think about what I do in terms of its impact for the corporate as a whole, rather than for a specific product or part/component of a product.

 

I didn't pursue engineering in the end because of where I live. Minneapolis is a city built on finance. Wells Fargo & US Bank are from here, a number of major insurance companies are based here and there are just a lot more jobs in business than in engineering. Living in the Detroit/Windsor area I imagine it would be different. That was a big part of why I chose a business degree over an engineering degree

 

Yeah, being in Motor City does change things. There are a LOT of engineers around here. In fact, when I decided that I wanted to become an automotive engineer, it was pretty much a guarantee that I would have to move to this area if this is the career I want to pursue. My dad wanted me to go into computer science/computer engineer (he's officially a business major by education, but he runs bank mainframes right now still - although he's close to retiring) but I was like "no. I'm going into mechanical engineering." But then I've shown him some of the stuff that I do as a mech (the computer simulations) and I think that at the very least, he sometimes pretends to be interested in it (sometimes because he doesn't really quite fully understand what I'm explaining to him.) But I think that he sees how I am using computers just in a different way, and that as a mech; there's a LOT more math and physics/science that goes behind running the computers.

 

Be careful what you wish for! You might get promoted and then become a paper pusher and all that fun stuff you like doing will be no where to be seen on your desk. :) Probably why the other 15-20 year guys are pushing you, they dont want it! LOL

 

lolll....I dunno. I look at it two ways: 1) part of that is probably going to be true. As you get higher and higher up in the corporate ladder, you become slightly more esoteric. 2) But for me, I NEVER forget what it was like as a freshman when I didn't know all the stuff that I know now and I also NEVER EVER forget my roots too. So having been someone who was a designer first, then analyst, and then into my current position now - if I get higher and higher up - I would be able to hopefully draw on some of my past experiences and to let the people working under my direction that it's like "I was one of you before - so I know EXACTLY what it's like" and then spending whatever little free time I have doing/redoing what they do so that I can keep myself in touch with it so that if I am asking them to do something; they can know that I'm still a techie at heart (and that I hopefully wouldn't be asking them to do something that's completely, utterly ridiculous and impossible).

 

I've seen wayyy too many managers who may not have an engineering background making engineering business decisions and that just doesn't always work. Or they were engineers before, but they really didn't have that kind of engineering drive or passion (the kind that's like "the day I graduate is the last day I'm doing any actual engineering work"). And if I can get to being at the director level, then I can request to see all of the analysis and methods and results and data and stuff - a LOT more than what I can do/see now and to make sure that we are doing our very best.

 

That's the plan/dream anyways right now. We'll see how it goes.

[corncobs]

@ alpha

 

Hopefully your dreams come true and you will be allowed to do more or less exactly what you said - being a better manager.

 

I have a very similar idea how it should work but I know better that's why I haven't really pursued any ladder climbing not that I could climb very high in our company anyway I'm three levels under the CEO due to a very flat structure in the first place.

[Aquineas]

This is a good thread. I also majored in ME but left school to work in real-world CompSci before my gig was up. At the time I would have graduated, it would have been very frustrating to be an ME for an American auto manufacturer, particularly at Ford, since up until Bill Ford was running the company, you couldn't advance your career as an engineer without moving into management (which, in hindsight, was a brilliant move on behalf of Bill Ford, and monumentally, stupendously stupid on behalf of Ford to have the system they had in place before, because you end up having an engineer learn a bit about his/her craft only to lose the value of those lessons when that engineer wanted to move up in the world).

 

I've still got a passion for cars though, and engines in particular are fascinating to me. For example, back in 2003 or so at least one of the large German auto manufacturers (as I'm sure more than one American one) was working on removing the camshaft from the engine equation and using electromagnetic devices for valve controls. This would allow for a lot more control over the ignition cycle, essentially getting rid of the low-end-torque vs. higher RPM power balancing act, much more than VVT could ever do. The big hurdle believe it or not was not reliability but instead RFI. I expect that they'll have that problem solved soon enough, and camshafts will go the way of the carburetor. Love discussions like that.

Edited May 20, 2013 by Aquineas

[acdii]

Give me a good ol mechanically injected Diesel with compressed air start. Just in case the power ever goes out, I will have something that still runs. No electricity needed.

[alpha754293]

@ alpha

 

Hopefully your dreams come true and you will be allowed to do more or less exactly what you said - being a better manager.

 

I have a very similar idea how it should work but I know better that's why I haven't really pursued any ladder climbing not that I could climb very high in our company anyway I'm three levels under the CEO due to a very flat structure in the first place.

 

Truthfully - this is more like a new dream so to speak. The original dream was to work for GM (which is why I went to Kettering/GMI) but I did a very brief two-month stint there and let's just say - I left my position as a contractor to GM to join Ford. (Admittedly, the whole contract vs. direct thing played a significant role in that), but either way, I still ended up here at Ford. So...yeah. ;)

 

And I would also like to teach too. Do like one course per Kettering semester or something. In fact, at the recent 3/8 alumni reunion (I graduated in 2009 so my reunion is actually next year) - one of the guys that I used to work with in University Advancement was hinting once again that I should go back there to teach. And when I used to be in undergrad research, a few of my friends used to nickname me Dr. Chan with the remark being that "it's not a question of if, but a question of when" so...it'd be nice.

 

And it's also helpful when your boss and the tech expert that you work with are like..."oh...you're going to get promoted several levels above us" and I'm like "guysss...I've only BEEN here 6 weeks. Easy. lol..." lol...but I will admit - it does help when you have people who think that about you, WEEKS into your new job.

 

This is a good thread. I also majored in ME but left school to work in real-world CompSci before my gig was up. At the time I would have graduated, it would have been very frustrating to be an ME for an American auto manufacturer, particularly at Ford, since up until Bill Ford was running the company, you couldn't advance your career as an engineer without moving into management (which, in hindsight, was a brilliant move on behalf of Bill Ford, and monumentally, stupendously stupid on behalf of Ford to have the system they had in place before, because you end up having an engineer learn a bit about his/her craft only to lose the value of those lessons when that engineer wanted to move up in the world).

 

I've still got a passion for cars though, and engines in particular are fascinating to me. For example, back in 2003 or so at least one of the large German auto manufacturers (as I'm sure more than one American one) was working on removing the camshaft from the engine equation and using electromagnetic devices for valve controls. This would allow for a lot more control over the ignition cycle, essentially getting rid of the low-end-torque vs. higher RPM power balancing act, much more than VVT could ever do. The big hurdle believe it or not was not reliability but instead RFI. I expect that they'll have that problem solved soon enough, and camshafts will go the way of the carburetor. Love discussions like that.

 

Oh yea....I think that BMW is STILL working on that. I think that AVL/iAV and Mahle might also still be working on it as well. Actually, the biggest hurdle is the size of the electromagnets that they were using to actuate the valves because of the forces required (you're pushing the valves open against the high compression pressures) and so the size of the magnet became too big for them to package reasonably/sensibly and that the specific impulse and the jerk wasn't high enough/fast enough/quick enough.

 

RFI shouldn't be an issue at all cuz it's not RF driven (though it might affect consumer communications, but that can be fixed). EMI/EMR - like the whole Toyota sudden unintended acceleration (SUA) bit (with the gas pedals) - I think it was Stanford that proved that in order for EMI/EMR to have affected the digital signal between the gas pedal and the electronic throttle control (ETC); I think they said that it would be akin to being like a few hundred feet from Three Mile Island when the nuclear accident occured or something like that. In other words, it needed like a ridiculous amount of EMI/EMR to affect the signal that they claimed was the cause of the SUA failure.

 

And if there were concerns about RFI, you can code/encrypt the commanding signals also as additional protect. It makes it more complicated, yes, but that's only IF it were going to be a concern.

 

And once they solve all that, they need to make it durable enough so that it can stand like 100 million cycles without failure. Which, for the high powered rare earth magnets is asking a LOT from them.

 

But as far as I know, they're STILL working on that. Haven't seen anything come up during the SAE World Congress though since like...2004.

 

Give me a good ol mechanically injected Diesel with compressed air start. Just in case the power ever goes out, I will have something that still runs. No electricity needed.

 

I dunno if you guys have seen the Volvo V60 diesel-electric plug-in hybrid. Ooooh....that thing is SWEET! It's about 50,000 Euros I think (so like $74k or $79k US dollars) but man....sweeet!!! Such a shame that it's only available in UK, France, and Belgium.

[Aquineas]

<snip>

 

Oh yea....I think that BMW is STILL working on that. I think that AVL/iAV and Mahle might also still be working on it as well. Actually, the biggest hurdle is the size of the electromagnets that they were using to actuate the valves because of the forces required (you're pushing the valves open against the high compression pressures) and so the size of the magnet became too big for them to package reasonably/sensibly and that the specific impulse and the jerk wasn't high enough/fast enough/quick enough.

 

RFI shouldn't be an issue at all cuz it's not RF driven (though it might affect consumer communications, but that can be fixed). EMI/EMR - like the whole Toyota sudden unintended acceleration (SUA) bit (with the gas pedals) - I think it was Stanford that proved that in order for EMI/EMR to have affected the digital signal between the gas pedal and the electronic throttle control (ETC); I think they said that it would be akin to being like a few hundred feet from Three Mile Island when the nuclear accident occured or something like that. In other words, it needed like a ridiculous amount of EMI/EMR to affect the signal that they claimed was the cause of the SUA failure.

 

And if there were concerns about RFI, you can code/encrypt the commanding signals also as additional protect. It makes it more complicated, yes, but that's only IF it were going to be a concern.

 

And once they solve all that, they need to make it durable enough so that it can stand like 100 million cycles without failure. Which, for the high powered rare earth magnets is asking a LOT from them.

 

But as far as I know, they're STILL working on that. Haven't seen anything come up during the SAE World Congress though since like...2004.

 

Yep it was BMW. And yes, I meant RFI in terms of interfering with other electronics; not just with the car, but potentially nearby communications, etc. One thing though, I was doing some back of the envelope calculations about the duty cycle, and maybe I'm assuming too high a usage, but every number I came up with was significantly higher than 100 Million, so I'm just wondering how an actual AE calculates the duty cycle for something like that (not challenging, just seeking knowledge!)

 

Cheers

[acdii]

Yep it was BMW. And yes, I meant RFI in terms of interfering with other electronics; not just with the car, but potentially nearby communications, etc. One thing though, I was doing some back of the envelope calculations about the duty cycle, and maybe I'm assuming too high a usage, but every number I came up with was significantly higher than 100 Million, so I'm just wondering how an actual AE calculates the duty cycle for something like that (not challenging, just seeking knowledge!)

 

Cheers

I think I will just stick with 0+1=2 thankyouverymuch.

[alpha754293]

Yep it was BMW. And yes, I meant RFI in terms of interfering with other electronics; not just with the car, but potentially nearby communications, etc. One thing though, I was doing some back of the envelope calculations about the duty cycle, and maybe I'm assuming too high a usage, but every number I came up with was significantly higher than 100 Million, so I'm just wondering how an actual AE calculates the duty cycle for something like that (not challenging, just seeking knowledge!)

 

Cheers

 

1E8 1E9 - mehhh...for fatigue calculations, it doesn't really matter. You're well in the high durability/high cycle count lmits of the stress range vs. number of cycles part of a fatigue curve anyways.

 

Between the actual customer equivalent miles (CEM) and peak engine speed (rotational speed) and safety factors, 1e8 would be treated as the same as 1e100. Your critical threshold is going to be lower than that, but it'll also be so high (compared to other things) that it limits and converges towards a single value, so it's kinda like 1e8 is the same as 1e100 (for this purpose only). Obviously, mathematically, it's not the same. Yay limits!

[alpha754293]

The pictures of my FFH are up.

[Aquineas]

Looks good in white!

[alpha754293]

Looks good in white!

 

Thanks!

[dougpsy]

Hi, I'm a newby find all of this interesting. I bought a Fusion SE black hybrid in April and have 1400 miles on it. I'm averaging 36 mpg and hope to see and improvement. I live in the Sacramento, CA area and was interested in the Titanium but it wasn't available by order and I talked to a salesperson today and they've never seen one.

 

A major frustration I have is what I see as a design flaw. My wife is 5/3", which isn't all that short, but we only found out after we had bought the car, the seat can't be raised. It is a power seat but the seat can't be raised and it is so low she has a restricted view. Any suggestions.?

 

I loved how the car drives and enjoy all of the safety features. DW

[Toz]

Hi, I'm a newby find all of this interesting. I bought a Fusion SE black hybrid in April and have 1400 miles on it. I'm averaging 36 mpg and hope to see and improvement. I live in the Sacramento, CA area and was interested in the Titanium but it wasn't available by order and I talked to a salesperson today and they've never seen one.

 

A major frustration I have is what I see as a design flaw. My wife is 5/3", which isn't all that short, but we only found out after we had bought the car, the seat can't be raised. It is a power seat but the seat can't be raised and it is so low she has a restricted view. Any suggestions.?

 

I loved how the car drives and enjoy all of the safety features. DW

Not that it helps you much now, but the 14's have an optional 10 way power passenger seat. Maybe you can have one added to your car after the 14s are out?

Edited June 6, 2013 by Toz

[Riggo]

I know the SE has a kind of bucket seat. Now I'm wondering if all of these passengers that have problems are only in the SE and below trim. My titanium seats are different than the SE and those seats seem fine to my passenger.

[B25Nut]

 

A major frustration I have is what I see as a design flaw. My wife is 5/3", which isn't all that short, but we only found out after we had bought the car, the seat can't be raised. It is a power seat but the seat can't be raised and it is so low she has a restricted view. Any suggestions.?

I added a 3" memory foam pad with a sheepskin seatcover and my 5'1" wife is very happy with it. See Passenger Seat in the Interior section. This only works esthetically, however, with the Dune interior.

[acdii]

My wife likes the seat, but does wish it were a couple inches higher.

[alpha754293]

Hi, I'm a newby find all of this interesting. I bought a Fusion SE black hybrid in April and have 1400 miles on it. I'm averaging 36 mpg and hope to see and improvement. I live in the Sacramento, CA area and was interested in the Titanium but it wasn't available by order and I talked to a salesperson today and they've never seen one.

 

A major frustration I have is what I see as a design flaw. My wife is 5/3", which isn't all that short, but we only found out after we had bought the car, the seat can't be raised. It is a power seat but the seat can't be raised and it is so low she has a restricted view. Any suggestions.?

 

I loved how the car drives and enjoy all of the safety features. DW

 

Hmm....odd. They should be able to order it. Titanium feature group code is 900A and they should be able to get their ordering guide from their Ford dealer website that they plug into.

 

If you have the SE hybrid, it should be 10-way power seats which should be able to go up and down. See p. 134 of your owner's manual.

 

 

Not that it helps you much now, but the 14's have an optional 10 way power passenger seat. Maybe you can have one added to your car after the 14s are out?

 

Unless it was one of those feature items that got deleted just before the start of production, but you should have it. I would check with p. 134 of your owner's manual first to see if you have the 10-way power seats and see if that's what you're looking for. If that doesn't work for you, PM me.

 

I know the SE has a kind of bucket seat. Now I'm wondering if all of these passengers that have problems are only in the SE and below trim. My titanium seats are different than the SE and those seats seem fine to my passenger.

 

The only differences between the SE hybrid seats and the Titanium hybrid seats should be one's cloth and one's leather (respectively) and one's 10-way power/2-way manual (driver/pass respectively) and the other is 10-way power/2-way power.

 

 

 

I added a 3" memory foam pad with a sheepskin seatcover and my 5'1" wife is very happy with it. See Passenger Seat in the Interior section. This only works esthetically, however, with the Dune interior.

 

You might be able to do it with black vinyl or something as well. I'm sure that you could figure something out if you need to.

 

My wife likes the seat, but does wish it were a couple inches higher.

 

Is that with the seat raised up all the way already?

[Razdan]

My wife likes the seat, but does wish it were a couple inches higher.

 

This is the biggest worry I have since I went alone to get the car. She has never sat in the seat and I didn't even realize it may be an issue until I read it here. I am going to buy a 2014 passenger seat if it turns out to be an issue, and the 2014 offers one that adjusts height like the drivers side.

[alpha754293]

So some bad news:

Here's a list of things that's gone wrong with my Titanium Hybrid already. I've had it for a month and almost two weeks and this is kind of ridiculous. It's not exactly a "cheap" car, but it's already having some issues. It's currently I think either 4200 or 4400 miles on the odo (I forget), and it's already back at the dealer. [grumble...]

 

- "skipping" when playing a song over USB to my MyFord Touch/SYNC with an iPhone 4 (iOS 4.1). Thought that might have been the cable, so I went to Apple to get a new one and it still does it. Interestingly enough, it only does it for SOME songs (and is repeatable) and if I were to play the exact same songs over Bluetooth, it has no issues.

- Front passenger side window regulator one touch-up wouldn't work a few weeks ago when it was slightly cooler here. Then it got warmer again, and the problem went away on its own.

 

- Check engine light came on on Saturday and then went away by lunchtime the day before yesterday. Apparently, because it self-cleared the code, so it took the dealer more time to find it, but it's apparently a very small, minor evap leak. C'mon guys! Seriously? at 4200 miles and 6 weeks of ownership??? Not what you'd expect from a $40k MSRP car.

[alpha754293]

It appears that it's easier to hit the fuel economy numbers in the SE hybrid than it is with the Titanium hybrid.

Edited June 6, 2013 by alpha754293

[kuzzi]

- Front passenger side window regulator one touch-up wouldn't work a few weeks ago when it was slightly cooler here. Then it got warmer again, and the problem went away on its own.

+1 for this as well