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Showing results for tags 'cold mpg northern climate'.
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Ford Engineers, I don't know if you follow this forum, but after driving my 2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid into my second winter, and experiencing a drop in MPG, I'd LOVE to see a tweak/option that would reduce the cold weather penalty. As any Fusion hydrid driver in a northern climate knows, the ICE will run when the heater is on, since the engine water jacket is the only source of cabin heat. This, of course, reduces fuel economy. We experience a significant reduction in MPG during cold weather - partially as a result of the need to heat the passenger space. In order to improve economy, I typically leave the heater off for short trips and rely upon the seat heaters. If I'm only going a mile or so, the heater setting doesn't help much anyway. I suspect others may be doing this as well. For longer trips, I have been leaving the heater off until I've been driving for awhile (again relying upon the seat heaters for comfort), and then turn the heater on. This tends to help because the engine is typically warm enough that it then doesn't run extra due solely to the heater setting. It occurs to me this could all be automatic. What I am asking is that Ford include an option in the 'settings' area - perhaps called something like "ECO Heater Setting." The setting wouldn't start the engine for the heater setting - but would still provide cabin heat when the engine water jacket temperature was high enough. While this setting would increase the time that it takes to heat the passenger compartment in the car, it would result in an increase in fuel economy. I frankly am OK with the trade-off. I would be interested in feedback from other hybrid drivers. Thoughts? Is this a crazy idea?