c152driver

While changing the oil, the dealer discovered that the left axle seal was leaking on my 2013. They replaced the seal. When leaving the dealership, I noticed that the vehicle tends to pull slightly to the left. The steering wheel is also slightly off center. i.e. with the steering wheel centered, the vehicle drives slightly to the left. I recall that prior to this fix, the car didn't have any sort of a pull. Can anyone more mechanically knowledgeable than me tell me if this is a possible side effect of this repair or just coincidental? When I called to schedule an appointment to address the pull, the service adviser was already arguing that there's no way an axle seal replacement could affect the alignment. I don't know enough to argue otherwise, but the timing seems suspicious.

So what's the secret to getting dealers to apply these updates? I noticed this chime issue shortly after I bought my Fusion, and was glad to see there was an update available. However, the dealer doesn't show much interest in doing the work. I called about it yesterday and said I'd like it checked out while I'm having an oil change done. Then when I show up today to have the work done, the advisor says he's not sure they'll be able to get to it today. I mentioned the SSM, but he doesn't seem to know what an SSM is. "Must be like a TSB?" In the past, I've tried the other approach of playing ignorant with respect to TSBs or SSMs and just describing the problem because sometimes the advisors seem irritated when you mention TSBs. But that hasn't always worked in the past either. I went to this same dealer for the "one-touch windows keep losing their calibration" software update, and they simply did the one-time recalibration as described in the owner's manual. I had to bring it back a second time to have them apply the software update.. I really wish car manufacturers would make it easy for owners to apply their own updates. We do it with web browsers and computer operating systems, so why not cars?

That's how I'd describe the way the turn signals on my 2013 FFH behave as well. Do let us know if the dealer is able to find an issue. I haven't brought mine in for this yet as unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) the problem is so intermittent, that I don't expect the dealer to have any luck reproducing the problem. However, when it is acting up, I can be sitting in a turn lane at a red light, and have the signal turn off on its own. It will also turn off in the middle of a turn. And yes, I am aware of the "lane change" mode. I am making certain I am activating the turn signal all the way. I also believe this is a problem that emerged as opposed to being a design flaw present from day one. The turn signals worked fine for the first several months. I'm hoping a TSB will emerge at some point.

Awesome! Thanks for pointing this out. I thought for sure it was related to the battery saver issue, but I stand corrected.

Yeah, that's what surprises me the most. I can drive 80 miles in one day and the car will exit battery saver mode (as evidenced by the return of the "fancy" chimes), but then if I don't drive it the next day and start it up on the third day, it will be back in battery saver mode. I would be more understanding if I left the car sit for weeks at a time, but it seems to need to be driven almost every day and for more than a few miles to stay out of battery saver mode. I'm intrigued by the solution gkinla mentioned earlier in this thread. However, it seems that without a software update to go along with it, manually resetting the battery charging system might just be a temporary fix. I wish someone from Ford could comment for us.

Interesting. That one appears to apply to the Energi only. I don't think I'd have much luck getting my dealer to take it seriously.

I'm having the same issue, and like others, my car often sits for several days at a time. Has anyone found a real solution for this problem besides driving the car more? My dealer tells me that the 12V battery passes testing and the vehicle is "operating as designed". When I picked up my car from the dealer, I got the battery saver message after leaving it in accessory mode for less than two minutes. If this is "as designed" that's very disappointing. I find that the biggest annoyance with this issue is having to repeatedly reprogram the express window up/down. However, it seems to me that until Ford comes out with a real fix, then in a sense it is "operating as designed". The problem is that the way it's currently designed isn't acceptable. For this reason, I'm not sure it's worth my time to escalate this issue or complain to the dealer. I already left my car at the dealer once for 4 days. As documented in this forum and elsewhere, the issue has been known for at least a year, and the lack of a standard fix documented in a TSB is disappointing. I can only conclude that from Ford's point of view, our cars really are operating as designed. If not, why isn't there a service bulletin after all this time? Am I out of line for thinking this?

I haven't had mine checked out. I've found that if I drive the vehicle for a long period of time (say more than half an hour), the regular chimes will return. It seems that the basic chimes are the result of some power-saver function. After my vehicle sits for a few days, the basic chimes return. I suspect that the car shuts down the computer that operates the fancy chines once the battery reaches a certain threshold. It doesn't seem to affect the vehicle any other way, and my battery has yet to run completely dead, so I haven't bothered to bring it in yet.

Sounds interesting. I wonder what effect these changes will have on the life of the battery and drive train in general. I thought I had read somewhere that the current 62mph cut-off had something to do with protecting the transmission. Also, I hope running the AC compressor less won't negatively affect the cooling capability. Personally, I'm happy with the 44MPG I'm averaging over the first 1500 miles. I'll probably wait for reports from other upgraders first before I take mine in!

Yeah, I first noticed the chimes had changed when I hadn't driven it for about a week or so. However, I've now driven it enough (I would think) to recharge the 12V battery, but I still have the basic chimes. I might try a soft reset of MFT next.

This is a really odd problem. The chimes on my FFH (seat belt warning, cross traffic alert, etc.) don't sound like they used to. Originally, they were modern melodic tones that came over the vehicle's sound system. Now they are much simpler sounding, like a 10 year old car instead, and seem to come from a speaker near the steering column as opposed to the sound system speakers. Has anyone else experienced this? I haven't been driving my FFH as much lately, and I've also found myself having to recalibrate the auto-up/down window feature (oddly front passenger side only, though) and am also now getting the Battery Saver message. I wonder if these are all related?

Congrats to a fellow Colorado Fusion Hybrid owner! The color really looks nice. We would have considered it, but it's too close in color to our Mazda5.

Here the ones I specifically checked for: Wrinkled headlinerPaint defects where plastic and metal body pieces meetDents around sunroofI'm sure there are a few others that I might have missed. I think it's always a good idea to take time to look things over before you sign on the dotted line!

After patiently waiting for about 7 weeks, we picked up our Oxford White Fusion SE Hybrid this past Tuesday! Thanks to the forum, I knew what places to check for possible defects, but was happy to find nothing amiss. It was a long three hours at the dealer, as we ended up having to wait for the F&I guy to be available. I regret not having financing lined up ahead of time, as they tried to dump us in a 36 month loan at 6.5%. With credit scores around 800 and over 50% down, I found that offensive. We had to threaten to walk in order to get offered a more reasonable 3.7% for 48 months, which I know is still slightly above market rate. We plan on paying the car off in a few months, anyway, so it was more about the principle of the matter than anything else. I'm disappointed dealerships still play these games. It soured what had been up until then a mostly positive experience. I am glad I got my trade, a 2007 Saturn Aura, appraised by Carmax ahead of time. The Ford dealer wasn't willing to match Carmax's offer, so we ended up driving both cars home and selling the Saturn to Carmax the following day. I must say I was surprised that they wouldn't match Carmax's offer. If Carmax figured they could make money at the offered prices, why not the Ford dealer? After lurking here in the forums for awhile, I had lowered my MPG expectations. However, I was thrilled that, according to the car, I got 48.5 MPG on the 45 mile, mostly interstate drive home from the dealership. My current commute is 35 miles each way, again mostly highway and interstate, and I've been getting between 45-47 MPG each way. It really leaves me perplexed why some people have been reporting such poor MPG figures. Granted, the weather has been pretty mild, but I wasn't even really trying that hard to maximize MPG. Granted, I'm generally not a super aggressive driver. So far, I'm really enjoying my Fusion, and look forward to learning more about all of its capabilities.

They both seem like really nice cars. I like the exterior styling of both. I think the interior of the Fusion looks more modern. No hybrid in the Mazda6 is an obvious difference, although the published mileage figures for the 6 are pretty impressive. I haven't driven the Mazda, but I'm sure it has a sporty character like other Mazdas. That seems to be what the auto press likes the most. Personally, I think it's great to have two new well-reviewed mid-size cars. Both make the Accord and Camry look pretty boring, in my opinion. More competition should be good for the auto-buying public.