Noel

My peak summer cumulative (for 6 months or so, since the last spontaneous reset) was 45.8mpg. I bottomed out so far this winter to a low of 40.4 (haven't reset for about 10 months or so), now I'm back to 40.9 with some recent warming we've had over the prior months. It's just the way batteries work, since they are chemical they are affected by ambient temperature. I do try hard to maintain mileage during the winter, so as others have suggested I will avoid turning on the heater in favor of using the electric seat heater and gloves, until the engine has warmed up. Even in temps around 30 the car does go into EV mode within a mile or so, as in when I come to a stop. I also keep the A/C at a fairly high level during hotter periods here during the summer--set it at around 76 or so degrees when is high 90's or above ambient. I'm still struggling w/ the decision to buy or not buy extended warranty policy w/ Ford. There are so many features on this car and I'm guessing they will be very pricey to fix, it makes me wonder if it wouldn't be wise. So far, knock on wood, so good. I've got around 24K miles on the car now. Noel

Hmm, as I say Dave, I've already replaced them twice w/ recommended brand of blades . . .

I don't think I have. Looks like it could be worth a try. It's such a new car (it did it on the first rainy season after purchasing) but who knows, perhaps the other cleaners and clay and acid did not affect whatever it is that is causing this. Thanks and I'll let you know if it was effective. Noel

Thank you Dave. If you know, what brand of wiper blades are you using? As mentioned in my post above, I did try two of the top-recommended brands of blades but to no avail whatsoever. I have to think at this point the glass must be defective, and the reason I am concluding this is because you have mentioned you are not experiencing this issue plus I have tried two new brands of blades and done maximum cleaning. I also did talk w/ the dealer the other day and they said they would cover replacement under a the warranty, however if new blades would resolve this I would choose this solution over replacing the windshield. Cheers, Noel

This is a repeat query from last year, about this time when the rains come and I find myself occasionally driving at night. I have a 2010 FFH, and this time last year I went on a quest to fix this annoyance which makes driving against traffic as in 2 lane highways downright dangerous! I bought and tried every conceivable glass cleaning product known to man, including clay, and finally went to the dealer, who said they would try acid next. I tried acid wash, it seemed to help slightly, and then it's right back to square one. I even contacted the dealer from where I bought the car to see if maybe they pre-treated it w/ RainX or equivalent to see if maybe that was the culprit which they denied. I bought two types of wiper blades touted superior. None of this helped. When the wiper move back and forth, a thin film remains that diffuses oncoming headlight glare and it is very distracting. I've never had a car windshield that did this. The glass looks perfect in daylight, and even in the rain during the day, it's only against headlights at night in the rain that the issue appears. So, is it defective glass? It's yours doing this? I talked to the dealer yesterday and they said they could replace it with OEM Ford windshield under the warranty. I'm just not interested in doing this if the same result will happen. Noel Thanks on the tip for my headlight aiming! It's fine now!

Ugg, thank you for pointing out the obvious! For some reason I envisioned if there was an adjustment it had to be done at an official headlight adjusting station so never looked at the manual. Thanks and this is very nice to know! Now not only do I feel like an idiot but you've gone and confirmed it! Cheers, Noel

. . . above which I can see squat! I'm hoping there is a headlight adjusting capability since in this car it is frankly dangerous in certain conditions to drive at night w/ low beams on. The line of demarcation between illuminated foreground and areas out ahead that are not illuminated is way way way to distinct. All other cars I have ever driven diffuse this so you can at least see somewhat past the initial foreground area. W/ my FFH if I make a turn for example 90 degrees at an unlit intersection, the braking to slow down causes the front of the car to drop down slightly, and often I can't see a thing beyond about 15 feet it seems, so if a person, dog, deer, whatever is out a little ways I won't be able to see it in time to stop, so I end up putting my high beams on to eliminate this problem. Anyone notice this? Is there an adjustment? It's really a bad thing and dangerous potentially. Noel

Ditto here: I REALLY enjoy the Sony audio and use it w/ a USB drive, and satellite radio.

Yes, me too on driving generally slower, though I get from A to B at very much the same time as previously when I owned a fun to drive Maxima w/ 220HP. I have to say though, this car has trained me to drive what I like to think of as smarter. It's really obvious now, especially in city traffic, people 'hurry up and wait' all the time, whereas I am have trained myself to keep moving at a pace that prevents needing to brake by timing the lights just right. I do pulse n glide when it makes sense (which is only rarely, since the Fusion lets you 'tease' it into EV easily), and frequently people will pass me and I find them stopped at the next traffic signal. My best sustained long term average is 45.8mpg, however this is in the optimum ambient temp of the summertime here where I live. Once it gets colder, I'm down to 41.x since the HV battery is just not as efficient then.

This comes from the idiot Ford service dept, in my experience, overfilling the oil level w/ oil changes. It's happened twice to me. I asked them to remove oil the first time, the second time I never bothered to double check their work, and after the following near disaster happened I discovered the oil was filled to an estimated 1/4 qt past the max fill line. This exact thing happened to me, and when it happened, I lost power as the combustion chambers got oil dumped into them. This is a dangerous condition as it will happen as you say when you step on it, and if you are passing, this isn't good. This IS NOT from carbon build up. The blue smoke cloud is substantial and will generate a service engine light as well, transiently. The solution, which I proved to myself, is to never fill the oil up beyond the max full line for sure, but better yet, adopt a practice to only fill it to 1/2 to 3/4 of the way to max on the dip. When I took the car to the dealer, the SM told me: "Ford tells us to put 4.8 qts in, then not bother to check the dip [presumably to save time?!]" I've since stepped on it with no blue smoke since adopting this practice. Noel

Be careful here. DO NOT, overfill the oil. The dealer did this to me twice, by following what the service manager was a directive from Ford to put in x amount of oil and NOT test the oil on the dip, presumably to save time, and the net result with it was overfilled about a 1/4 quart maybe. This translated to a near disaster for me a month or so ago: I was just starting a pass around a long truck that was making a right hand turn at an intersection. I could see the oncoming lane was plenty clear, and we were only going 10 mph around the turn, so I stepped on it to pass him and the engine flooded with oil, causing immediate loss of power, a huge cloud of smoke, and the service engine light to appear. Fortunately I was able to get back in in front of him before oncoming traffic approached. I now fill only to 3/4 of the way to the top of the dip stick full line to make sure this never happens again. It does not appear to have caused any permanent harm to the engine. Noel

Me 2. It was really bad trying to get wipers to work and not leave a uniform fog on the glass. It took an acid wash to improve it, which it did for a very short time, now it's back at it again. Bad news at night. Now, as you say, I see what appears to be streaks, very hard to describe, but it looks almost like mini fracture lines, not streaks from wiping and not removing something. It's really weird glass and I may go to the dealer and demand a replacement. If it's bad again this winter, the fog-on-glass w/ the wipers going, ESPECIALLY at night in the rain, I def will take it back to the dealer. Noel

727.6 was my last fill. I reset my mpg and with the warm summer weather I'm now at 45.8mpg and still slowly increasing. Good stuff! Noel

Hello All, I have a 2010 FFH w/ 15K miles. 42.4mpg average. Runs great! Yesterday, while driving home from work, I was traveling on a level straightaway for ~ 1/3 of a mile in EV mode at 45mph, behind a truck towing a trailer. He made a right turn off the straightaway, and I decided to pass him immediately after turning right behind him and verifying it was safe to pass. I stayed in EV mode thru the turn, then prepared to step on it to get around him quickly. To my huge dismay, a LARGE amount of white/blue smoke came out the back of my car as I was stepping on it quite hard. After pulling in front of him, I let off the gas and the smoke disappeared. 30 seconds later while still in ICE mode, I decided to step on it again. No smoke this time. The orange engine light on the LEFT side of the display had come on during the smoke, but then disappeared quickly as I was slowing back down to a lesser acceleration, ahead of the truck. I guess one option is a stuck piston ring, allowing oil to accumulate during the longish stretch of EV mode. The other possibilities are: 1. I just had the oil changed, and just a second ago I walked out to check the oil level, and it was well above the upper line. Also of note, the last 5K oil change interval showed my oil level had not gone down at all, so it was clearly not leaking oil. 2. Is it possible the fuel shut off was not working when in EV, so that unburned fuel accumulated? Anyway, it would be hugely helpful if some could try to duplicate this, before I go thru the big hassle of taking it to the dealer. I am inclined to take it back and demand they lower the oil level though, which I just figured out while writing this may be the culprit. Noel

42.4mpg is my long term. My car has 15,300m on it. I drive smart to save fuel, but I really question hypermiling techniques. I don't so much question the people who report 58mpg in their FFH, but I very much question the applicability of this sort of driving. I run with 44psi in my tires, practice smart use of the technology (I know I'm being vague, but I know I am applying many many smart principles, and well), have an empty trunk, and live in a warm climate, generally speaking. To use pulse and glide maximally, with this car, would seriously diminish the possibility of routes to take, speed to drive (I hear 25-45mph is pretty much the sweet spot for those mileage figures). I think in order to achieve those numbers, you would be driving a very heavy vehicle in a way that seriously under utilizes the power/convenience it was designed to run at (hey 196hp w/ electric assist). Put another way, if I am going to travel on very low trafficked roads, so as not to slow down traffic too much, and travel at 25-45mph, I might as well own a little electric utility vehicle and get 100mpg. This is my current opinion, and it is based on limited knowledge, but I have a sense now of what it would take, and it's just not worth it to me, and further as I say it's kinda silly, driving around all that car for those speeds. Hey, if it floats your boat, that's fine too. Noel

Found the cure for our haze issues--read my other post! Noel

I bought some Bon Ami, but when I read the warning: do not use on glass or mirrors! I decided against it!

Problem solved. I swung by the dealership yesterday, a different one than where I bought the car from. I explained the whole issue, then we walked across the lot to a new 2010 Fusion and ran the wipers, since it was raining. Absolutely NO smear/haze as I am experiencing. The service manager agreed, something was amiss on my windshield. After describing all I've done so far, including both clay, and Stoners Invisible Glass, plus Stoner's Terminator (alleged to remove silicone based sealers), all to no avail whatsoever, the service manager said what he would do is an acid wash of the windshield. I happened to have some leftover an acid-based product called "Superbowl" I bought a few years ago to get rid of water spots (salt deposits) on the glass and clearcoat of an older car I owned. Superbowl is just that, glass acid wash. I diluted 1:1 per instructions, swabbed it over the entire windshield, left in contact ~60 seconds or so, hose-rinsed it very well of course (got me protective eyewear and rubber gloves doned!), and voila, zero residue. The glass is now crystal clear with or without the wipers moving. I kind of thought about doing that previously but figured acid was not the correct solvent for whatever was on my glass. I'm very glad the guy recommended I do this! The dealership I bought the car from swears no glass treatments were done, at least intentionally. I know there was some though, because water did bead up on the glass before the acid wash. Now water sticks and wipers are mandatory, even if they do work perfectly now. Believe it or not, I am tempted to look into a tx that does not lead to the issue i had before! Cheers, Noel

Yep, that is my experience too. I guess it's a normal condition for this vehicle.

Hmm, that is an interesting take. I wouldn't have guessed this as normal since I don't recall every noticing it on the other couple of new cars. My wife's 07 FEH did not seem to have this. It's a thought however. Be easy enough to test. I so do find it very distracting in the rain at night though. Perhaps a good sandblasting eh?!

Thanks for that. I wonder if the dealer maybe used Rain-X for washers. That would explain it!

Interesting. Well, I don't know if the dealer put rain-x on, but I thought since I cleaned the heck out of it with Strong's, then clay, and since there was no improvement as mentioned, I had some rain-x and decided to give it a try. Definitely no better--in fact, the same. I'm thinking maybe there was rain-x on it to begin with, and so adding more did not affect the outcome. I don't know what to make of it. I can try alcohol and see what happens. I also have a product that is hydrofluric acid based and is fantastic for removing water spots from glass, however I'm thinking acid is not the correct solvent for whatever is on this window. Addendum: several times over with 99% isopropyl, then Strongs again. No remove the rain-x I just put on a few hours ago. When I pour water onto the top of the windshield it stays in long rivulets, exactly as it did when I just applied rain-x. From their website, it appears Bon Ami or their glass cleaner will remove it. I hope so I think this is the cause of it. Either originally applied by the manufacturer, or applied by the dealer when I bought it 6 months ago. If rain-x glass cleaner does not resolve the issue, I will go back to the dealer as it is unsafe as it is right now.

This is a repeat from the other wipers post, but I need to get some recommendations on this very troubling issue. When my wipers move they leave a trail of quite uniform haze on the glass, that disappears momentarily when wind finishes the drying process. It is very troubling when driving in the rain at night only, when oncoming traffic headlights causes a very significant reduction in visability. After reading the other post on wipers, I went out and bought Valeo blades, and cleaned the glass with Strongs Invisible Glass (smells like acetone). It's worse now! I called a local auto glass shop, and they said they have seen this on some cars and said the only resolution was a new windshield. I have not contacted the dealer yet on this. But IMHO it is more than an annoyance. I don't have the best night vision anyway, and this is really troubling. Anyone else? Any ideas? I thought maybe rain-x? Thanks in advance, Noel

Thanks bunches for that. I'm guessing I need some ramps for that. If I used two drive-on ramps, would the angle created cause any issues? Thanks again, Noel

Yep, I'm sure of this. There is some automatic brightness changes built in based on light sensing or something. Noel