Poor gas mileage in a 2010 For Fusion Hybrid

[J2thel]

I recently purchased a used but well cared for 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid in September of 2012. When I received the car the avg mpg was showing at 40mpgs. After about a month and half for what ever reason my spouse reset the fuel efficiency gauge. When it was reset the avg mpg dropped to 36mpg and it steadily declined until plateauing out at 28.5mpg. The tank was recently filled and with a little less than a full tank the display is telling me there is only 373 miles till empty. That is a huge drop from the 500+ I was getting when I initially took possession of be car.

 

I don't have much experience with hybrids, but 28.5mpg gallon seems to be poor gas mileage for a regular non-hybrid car let alone a hybrid that is supposed to get upwards of 41mpg.

 

The weather has been getting colder over the last few month as winter set in, 34-50°, but I still feel like I should be getting better gas mileage than this. Am I overreacting at the avg mpg's? Or is something wrong? Furthermore, does anyone have any ideas on what the problem could be?

 

Any information would be much appreciated!

[murphy]

When the weather gets cold and you have the heater turned on you will not get the EV mode until the engine warms up. Set the left display to the fourth mode. The name escapes me at the moment but it is the one that has an ACC column for the accessory power drain. In this display there is a thermometer icon that turns green when EV mode is possible.

 

Do not try to accelerate from a stopped condition in EV mode. That requires a huge amount of energy from the battery. Instead use the ICE to get up to the desired speed and then momentarily release and reapply the throttle to allow the switch to EV mode.

 

It is unlikely that the MPG reading was a lifetime reading. The reading and all of the ICE parameters are reset if the 12 volt battery is disconnected. The 2010 is rated at 41 MPG city and 36 MPG highway. It would not surprise me at all to learn that the previous owner reset the meter and then drove to get the highest reading he could prior to trading it in.

[acdii]

Dont worry about it at this point, let yourself get accustomed to driving to maximize MPG. What I find most useful in the 10 is the instant MPG gauge on the right. Accelerate steadily, not too fast, but with some gusto to speed then lift the foot and hover it on the pedal like there is an egg there, and watch that gauge. When you can keep it between 35 and 40 while maintaining speed, you have mastered this car. What you are seeing now, is just factors of winter fuel, cold temps and newness of the car. Ours gets anywhere from 31-43 MPG in the 10 depending on length of trip, roads, temp and whether the roads are dry or wet in the winter, and between 38-45 in the summer.

 

Up to 17% cold losses is normal, above 20% and there is something wrong with the car, provided it is driven correctly. If you drive in the city, expect to be around 35-36, highway around 30-31, mixed around 34. Although I have found that my 10 does 36.5 at 65 MPH when it is in the teens, and that is perfectly acceptable, since highway is 36.

[lolder]

I recently purchased a used but well cared for 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid in September of 2012. When I received the car the avg mpg was showing at 40mpgs. After about a month and half for what ever reason my spouse reset the fuel efficiency gauge. When it was reset the avg mpg dropped to 36mpg and it steadily declined until plateauing out at 28.5mpg. The tank was recently filled and with a little less than a full tank the display is telling me there is only 373 miles till empty. That is a huge drop from the 500+ I was getting when I initially took possession of be car.

 

I don't have much experience with hybrids, but 28.5mpg gallon seems to be poor gas mileage for a regular non-hybrid car let alone a hybrid that is supposed to get upwards of 41mpg.

 

The weather has been getting colder over the last few month as winter set in, 34-50°, but I still feel like I should be getting better gas mileage than this. Am I overreacting at the avg mpg's? Or is something wrong? Furthermore, does anyone have any ideas on what the problem could be?

 

Any information would be much appreciated!

Read all the manuals several times ( while parked ). The important ones are the "Owners Guide", "Hybrid Quick Reference Manual" and the "Sync" manual. They should be in the cars zippered folder together with other cards and data. If not get them online. Learn about the SIX !!! different mileage calculations available: The "Avg MPG" re-setable from the "Info" screen; the "Long Term Fuel Economy" re-setable within the "SetUp-Resets-Long Term Fuel Economy" menu, The instantaneous "MPG" gauge; The bar graphs which are selectable within the "Setup" menu instead of the leaves; The "Trip summary" on shutdown and the "Miles to E" which is an algorithm including the last 500 miles to about 1 gallon remaining in the tank. They are ALL different. I reset the LTFE at 10,000 mile oil changes and the Avg MPG at fill-ups. Make sure you're not in "L", it's easy to do. Go to CleanMPG.com and read about everything. It's unlikely there's anything wrong with the car. Go to my post in this forum's thread " I have done some calculations" and read my recent post on the things that can lower mileage. The opposites of all those things make the mileage go UP. Have fun with this adult, high tech toy. WATCH THE ROAD !

[acdii]

Once you learn the car, it is possible to get 40 MPG highway/city mix even on a 32* day. The average over winter so far is over 34 MPG, which ir pretty good considering for a while there it was in the teens and under. I wish I could get a clearer picture, tried, but this is the best it can do.

 

 

Patience and practice, it will come to you.

[Shovelready]

We have a 2010 Fusion Hybrid with 19200 miles on it. Since we have had it our mileage averages 32.4 MPG.

 

At times much worse. We took it to the dealer about a year ago for poor mileage and the instant mileage gauge jumping around. Of course the mechanic test drove it on a flat and level, no traffic route, probably acceleration like a turtle, came back and said he got 40 mpg.

 

Finally a year later after the poor mileage came and went several times, the engine check light came on. We took it in and there was a erg code. The dealer did nothing except reflash the computer and gave it back. After two more trips to the dealer with the same song and dance, I asked them if they had any mechanics that knew how to acrually trouble shoot a car without a trouble code.

 

Finally last week the mileage dropped to 26.5 MPG and the instant mileage gauge was erratic. The gauge which normally shows 60+ coasting downhill would sometimes only show 40 mpg.

 

Took it into the dealer again and the ordered and replaced the egr valve.

 

It seems much better and is getting better mileage. The instant mileage gauge is not erratic anymore. Haven't driven far enough to get a long term mpg reading.

 

If the erg is not seating fully, it probably is messing up the fuel mixture, and if it really sticks open it will finally give you a error code.

 

 

[acdii]

Whoa, find a different dealer! They didn't bother to check that the EGR valve was malfunctioning, just cleared the code? Hope the new EGR helps get the MPG back up. You should be up around 38 in it with average driving, Higher with using hybrid techniques. The 10 FFH is a great car. We had no complaints with ours.

[Dabunk]

I too experienced a sudden drop in fuel economy and diminished acceleration in my 2010 FFH. It had about 120k miles on it when the symptoms started.  I replaced the O2 sensor. That didn’t help. No ERG codes have shown up. Engine seems to run fine except for bad acceleration from dead stop and the diminished fuel economy.  Given that I had been driving the car for 5 years at that point, I don’t think my knowledge of how to drive a hybrid has any bearing. Moreover, I’m very aware of seasonal fluctuations.  I did have to disconnect and replace the battery. I can’t remember if my problems may have started around that time.   Nor do I know what setting may need to be reset as a result. Any help is most appreciated.