Hill Start Assist not available + Service AdvanceTrac messages

[ddntbd]

Hi all. Looking for some collective wisdom here to help solve an annoying intermittent issue with my 2013 FFH. I searched and found a couple similar looking problems, but not exactly what I have going on.

 

My house sits at the end of a 1000 ft. gravel driveway, all downhill, and approximately 12% slope. Every couple of days, the car will display the "Hill Start Assist not available" and "Service AdvanceTrac" messages on the instrument cluster. The two little yellow car "skid" icons also light up solid, stability control lamp (means: malfunction, according to manual) and stability control off.

 

No adverse effects or driveability is noted. Less than 1/4 mile down the road, the lights just go out by themselves while driving the car and everything is normal again after that. There is no correlation to temperature, wet vs. dry day, or anything else that I can think of.

 

I put it in Engineering Test Mode and no DTCs come up. Dealer supposedly scanned for codes but couldn't find anything wrong?

 

This is super frustrating since it's highly intermittent. Anyone seen something similar and have any resolution?

 

Thanks

Edited March 2, 2016 by ddntbd

[Waldo]

Is the driveway curvy? Stability control systems need to find the "zero" condition every time you start the car, so it could be some weird combination of the curves and grade that confuse it before it can find "home". Then once you're out on the road, it is able to figure everything out.

[ddntbd]

Is the driveway curvy? Stability control systems need to find the "zero" condition every time you start the car, so it could be some weird combination of the curves and grade that confuse it before it can find "home". Then once you're out on the road, it is able to figure everything out.

 

Not really curvy. There's two 90 degree corners in the entire length. Appreciate the suggestion, thanks for responding.

Edited March 4, 2016 by ddntbd

[ddntbd]

Could someone who knows more technical details tell me whether the onboard computers in the Fusion have the ability to save and store (ie, snapshot) intermittent failures like this? There's no DTC being stored, but I know other vehicles can save data about failures beyond simple DTC codes. I'm wondering if the Ford service department response "sorry, no codes, can't help you" is legit.

 

Thanks

[Waldo]

It depends on the module and it depends on the code. Most emissions codes are stored, but most of the secondary modules like the brake controls are not. Sometimes there are codes that are in the modules but don't display in the cluster. So yes, if they can't find any codes it's most likely legit.

 

I'm not aware of any vehicles that can save "snapshots" in time beyond just the codes. You might be thinking of the "black box" that can capture data after a crash, but that's not the same thing as saving data about failure modes.

[Automate]

Fords do record "snapshots" of current sensor values, they call them Freeze Frames. But they are not generated for all DTCs.

http://forscan.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=340&p=2573&hilit=freeze+frame#p2573

[Waldo]

Fords do record "snapshots" of current sensor values, they call them Freeze Frames. But they are not generated for all DTCs.

http://forscan.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=340&p=2573&hilit=freeze+frame#p2573

 

I'm not 100% sure, but I think that "freeze frame" is only the module sending data to an external tool when requested, not actually storing any data inside the module itself.

[Automate]

 

I'm not 100% sure, but I think that "freeze frame" is only the module sending data to an external tool when requested, not actually storing any data inside the module itself.

No, its storing the sensor values at the time the problem occurred. Regardless if a OBD scanner is connected or not.

 

A scanner can be connect at a later time and retrieve the stored values.

 

Just enter OBDII and Freeze Frame and you will find lots of information about it.

Here is even a video explaining it

Edited March 21, 2016 by Automate

[ddntbd]

Automate,

 

That matches my understanding of freeze frame as well: condition of sensors and other data at the time the DTC or some other interesting event happened. This is exactly what I'm asking about. On my 2010 Toyota Tacoma for example, the onboard ABS computer saves freeze frame data when the ABS activates, in addition to when a DTC is set, for example. I guess would need to purchase the factory service manual to see if the Fusion has anything like this capability available.

Edited March 22, 2016 by ddntbd

[Waldo]

Well there you go, learned something new. But I did a little reading and sure enough the "freeze frame" is mentioned in the service documentation for the PCM and TCM modules, but there is no mention of it anywhere else for any other modules, so I think you're still out of luck ddntbd.

[ddntbd]

Well there you go, learned something new. But I did a little reading and sure enough the "freeze frame" is mentioned in the service documentation for the PCM and TCM modules, but there is no mention of it anywhere else for any other modules, so I think you're still out of luck ddntbd.

 

Thanks. I guess next time it happens, I'll pull out my code reader while the warnings are active and see what I can come up with. A bit frustrating because the problem clears itself after driving a little ways down the road.

[Waldo]

I still think it sounds like something related to the initialization of the system, which means other than the annoyance of seeing the lights, it's really not a "problem".

[machoman1337]

Almost the exact same issue - it's happened twice in the nearly 2 years I've owned the car (bought pre-owned at 20 months old) and each time the problem went away on its own before I could diagnose it. Wrench light on, hill start not available, regen brake animation no longer appeared, service advancetrac, etc.

[jgnfld]

Happened to me over a 2 day period. Never while at dealer. Dealer told me next time to come in, leave the car running, and tell the techs! Of course since then it has never occurred.

[talmy]

This just happened to me yesterday. Moving around in a hilly parking lot with sharp turns seemed to set it off. Following the advice to ignore it, the warning lights turned off after a couple of miles of driving.

[Toni R]

I have a 2016 Fusion Hybrid and these lights come on all the time. No matter if I’m driving down the road or just barely turning the car on. It’ll stay on for a while but never long enough to get it to the mechanic. It makes my power steering stop then when the lights go off it goes back to normal.  My mechanic said that it had a code for a bad battery which we changed and the problem is still there.

 

anyone have any idea?

[ReedA.]

Hello. I have 2013 FFH, same problem as what he says in message. I was wondering if there is any new update on how to fix this, is it serious? I was driving down hwy going 75 MPH. all these 3 lights lits up but it was still driving smoothly except for a second felt like it choke up once. this is now happening second time, last weekend and today. dont drive it much during week. It runs REALLY very well, zero problem with it since purchased it with 45k miles 7 years ago, as of 3 weeks ago it hits 200k miles now. Literally zero problem with it at all, nada. only changed the battery once after let family in law drove it for a day, exchange it out with new battery which was 5-6 yrs ago.

Please let me know of any info, it will be greatly appreciate. thanks

 

ReedA.