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I have an interesting update from today. When I started the car this morning the climate fan problem magically disappeared, and the other issues all seemed to go away as well. On my first two trips (5 mins, ~ 2mi back and forth) the regenerative braking still did not work, but nevertheless I was able to get decent mileage even on short trips -- about 37 there and 35 back. Thats reasonable for a cold engine and a short trip, I think. Much better than the day before, where the same round trip netted 23 there, 17 back (fan going full speed the whole way.) Importantly, the EV mode was available immediately after starting (no wait up time of a half minute nor certainly not 3-4 minutes.) And then I had several errands to run all day, and throughout the day, regenerative braking and EV BOTH worked immediately after starting, even after completely cold starts. Most trips were 3-6 miles in length, and I got the following mileage per trip: 38, 42, 36, 54, 45, 42, 45, 39 -- WAY better. Seems like if the problem with the fan can be fixed permanently, all will be well. For now I am going to wait until the fan problem comes back, and try to get it back to the dealer ASAP.

Thanks -- I've read through your thread (mostly) and I feel for you. I hope they get that all figured out soon!

Thanks for this reply! This sounds very much like what my experience was over the first few days. Perhaps if the dealer can take care of the climate system problem, everything else will settle out as well.

If everyone has the same experience regarding #1 and #2, then thats great -- at least then I know that its not a problem with my car. Is a 4 minute "warm-up" period pretty reasonable in 40-50 degree weather among most FFH owners?

Yes, #11 on page 68, the climate system "Power" button.

Yes, I was assuming that -- so I had started turning the climate off and leaving it off most of the time. Unfortunately now I can't turn it off for a couple of minutes. But even then, there is a one or two minute period AFTER I am able to -- and do -- turn off the climate, during which I still cannot get it to switch to EV mode, and do not see regenerative braking working.

Thanks for commenting. Sorry, I wasn't very clear about the mileage. I mean using the bar graph over the last 10 minutes. I typically see the first 3 or 4 bars (3 or 4 mins) at between 0 and 25 mpg. (After watching more closely the last three trips since my first post, I see that I never get > 20 mpg for the first 3 minutes of a trip.) However, for a typical trip to or from work (about 15 mins of light city driving), I get about 35-40 mpg overall. Which isn't awful, for sure. It's just worse than I think it should be because of the poor mileage over the first 20% of a 15 minute trip. Overall mileage is reporting at around 36.

Thanks for the reply. At first I thought the fan was possibly coming on because the car was determining defrost was needed (even though it should not have been -- temps have been very mild 40s-50s since I bought the car.) However, I now see that that is not likely what is happening -- the A/C is not turned on (and in fact I cannot turn it on/off for the first 2 minutes.) The only climate button that works for the first two minutes after start is the fan "-" button, but the system immediately increases it back to max after every time I try to decrease it. So yes, I think you are right -- I will need to bring it back to the dealer. Regarding items 1 and 2, why would this be normal? Why would regenerative braking not work for the first few minutes after starting? Also when I first got the car, I know I was able to enter EV mode right after start and stay in it for quite some time, depending on the road conditions. On one of my first short (2.5mi) trips, I was able to get 72mpg. Now I cannot get into EV mode until after about 3-4 minutes. The temperatures over the last few days has been warmer than it was the first few days. Also note this behavior is independent of the level of the battery -- this happens even when the battery is nearly topped off (according to the dash indicator). Thanks again!

I am a brand new owner of a Fusion Hybrid -- now about 10 days old. I have been seeing some odd issues with the car that occur for the first few minutes of driving the car. Some of these odd behaviors started within the first day after I bought the car, but it seems like things have escalated a bit since then. I am new enough to the car that I am not sure if its just something I unknowingly set that is causing this, or if there is a problem with the car. Any help is appreciated! Note: I have the full-nav system, 502A package. Here are the things I have noticed that typically occur for the first few minutes after starting: 1) The regenerative braking does not work, or at least the recycle symbol does not come on when I expect it to. It works normally after this "startup" period, coming on almost every time I apply brakes. 2) Sometimes, but not always, I cannot get it to run off the electric motor (EV mode), even when the battery is showing nearly full and I am coasting down hill. Again, after the startup period, this works more or less as I expect. 3) I cannot turn on the heated seats for either driver or passenger. In fact in the first trip I took my family out, I was unable to turn on seat warmers for the entire 15 minute ride. But usually after a few minutes, I can turn the heated seats on/off as I wish. 4) This just started 2 days ago -- every time I start the car, the fan (climate system fan) turns on at full blast (and it is very loud.) During the startup period, I cannot turn off the climate system using the climate power button. Also -- I don't know if this is normal, but my accessory power display pretty much never changes. It is pegged at the lowest line all the time, maybe moving up or down a pixel or two at the most (though I have not really paid all that much attention to this, or played around with a whole lot of options of what to turn on or off. I assume turning heated seats on or off should make a huge difference, but it does not.) These problems all occur no matter where I start from, nor drive to. During the startup period, my mileage is typically not higher than 20-25 mpg. Since most of my trips are only about 15 minutes, spending the first 5 at low MPG really puts a hurt on my average mileage. Thanks again for any help -- I welcome your comments.