Battery saver message

[c152driver]

I'm having the same issue, and like others, my car often sits for several days at a time. Has anyone found a real solution for this problem besides driving the car more?

 

My dealer tells me that the 12V battery passes testing and the vehicle is "operating as designed". When I picked up my car from the dealer, I got the battery saver message after leaving it in accessory mode for less than two minutes. If this is "as designed" that's very disappointing. I find that the biggest annoyance with this issue is having to repeatedly reprogram the express window up/down.

 

However, it seems to me that until Ford comes out with a real fix, then in a sense it is "operating as designed". The problem is that the way it's currently designed isn't acceptable. For this reason, I'm not sure it's worth my time to escalate this issue or complain to the dealer. I already left my car at the dealer once for 4 days. As documented in this forum and elsewhere, the issue has been known for at least a year, and the lack of a standard fix documented in a TSB is disappointing. I can only conclude that from Ford's point of view, our cars really are operating as designed. If not, why isn't there a service bulletin after all this time?

 

Am I out of line for thinking this?

Edited March 19, 2014 by c152driver

[Ric]

Very well put.

[hermans]

I'm having the same issue, and like others, my car often sits for several days at a time. Has anyone found a real solution for this problem besides driving the car more?

 

My dealer tells me that the 12V battery passes testing and the vehicle is "operating as designed". When I picked up my car from the dealer, I got the battery saver message after leaving it in accessory mode for less than two minutes. If this is "as designed" that's very disappointing. I find that the biggest annoyance with this issue is having to repeatedly reprogram the express window up/down.

 

However, it seems to me that until Ford comes out with a real fix, then in a sense it is "operating as designed". The problem is that the way it's currently designed isn't acceptable. For this reason, I'm not sure it's worth my time to escalate this issue or complain to the dealer. I already left my car at the dealer once for 4 days. As documented in this forum and elsewhere, the issue has been known for at least a year, and the lack of a standard fix documented in a TSB is disappointing. I can only conclude that from Ford's point of view, our cars really are operating as designed. If not, why isn't there a service bulletin after all this time?

 

Am I out of line for thinking this?

TSB 13-7-11. After the third battery and the TSB applied mine was fixed. Some others on this forum...not so much.

[camelot]

Well my car is currently back for the 4th time since new for the bs mode in 13mos. For those that say theirs is fixed, have you changed your driving distances? I had a 44mile round trip commute last summer and had no problems after new battery install. I now have a 16 mile round trip commute and am back in bs mode. The car sat in the garage for 2-3 weeks WITH an occasional start and 20 min run to keep the battery up, but was no use. The wifes new CMAX was in there and got the same starting due to her broken wrist and did not have any issues. With winter here I drove my f250. This is strange and sometimes wonder if the dc to dc coverter fails to come on line from time to time for short trips and frequent starts. How would we know if we don't have a dvm plugged ito the 12v outlet? I'm looking to get one like I see someone has here. At least we would see an increase in voltage when it comes on line. A short 10-15 min trip might be enough to drain the lvb to bs limit.

[c152driver]

TSB 13-7-11. After the third battery and the TSB applied mine was fixed. Some others on this forum...not so much.

 

Interesting. That one appears to apply to the Energi only. I don't think I'd have much luck getting my dealer to take it seriously.

[c152driver]

Well my car is currently back for the 4th time since new for the bs mode in 13mos. For those that say theirs is fixed, have you changed your driving distances? I had a 44mile round trip commute last summer and had no problems after new battery install. I now have a 16 mile round trip commute and am back in bs mode. The car sat in the garage for 2-3 weeks WITH an occasional start and 20 min run to keep the battery up, but was no use. The wifes new CMAX was in there and got the same starting due to her broken wrist and did not have any issues. With winter here I drove my f250. This is strange and sometimes wonder if the dc to dc coverter fails to come on line from time to time for short trips and frequent starts. How would we know if we don't have a dvm plugged ito the 12v outlet? I'm looking to get one like I see someone has here. At least we would see an increase in voltage when it comes on line. A short 10-15 min trip might be enough to drain the lvb to bs limit.

 

Yeah, that's what surprises me the most. I can drive 80 miles in one day and the car will exit battery saver mode (as evidenced by the return of the "fancy" chimes), but then if I don't drive it the next day and start it up on the third day, it will be back in battery saver mode. I would be more understanding if I left the car sit for weeks at a time, but it seems to need to be driven almost every day and for more than a few miles to stay out of battery saver mode.

 

I'm intrigued by the solution gkinla mentioned earlier in this thread. However, it seems that without a software update to go along with it, manually resetting the battery charging system might just be a temporary fix. I wish someone from Ford could comment for us.

[hermans]

 

Interesting. That one appears to apply to the Energi only. I don't think I'd have much luck getting my dealer to take it seriously.

That is the TSB that the dealer applied to my car, a FFH. It changes how the 12v is charged. It worked for me.

[Texasota]

Since I am considering ordering a 2015 FFH I have been following these BS related threads for a long time. Obviously I have no personal experience with BS mode on the FFH but I am wondering what the negative implications are when the car goes into battery save mode? What kind of bad things happen?

[murphy]

Since I am considering ordering a 2015 FFH I have been following these BS related threads for a long time. Obviously I have no personal experience with BS mode on the FFH but I am wondering what the negative implications are when the car goes into battery save mode? What kind of bad things happen?

The radio and 12 volt power ports turn off to stop further drain on the 12 volt battery. Put the car in run mode and you are back in business. If you drive the car every day there should not be a problem unless all of your trips are of the 1 to 5 mile variety. That is not long enough to recharge the 12 volt battery. The long standing rule of thumb is that it takes 25 miles of continuous driving to fully charge a 12 volt battery. That was for cars that had alternators and starter motors. This car has neither. The engine is spun up using power from the HVB and the 12 volt battery is charged by a DC to DC converter (300 volts to 14.4 volts) also using power from the HVB. In my case where I sometimes go a week without driving I keep the 12 volt battery in shape with a 12 volt battery charger. This is not a new problem. My 2010 Fusion Hybrid had the same problem.

[milleron]

I find that the biggest annoyance with this issue is having to repeatedly reprogram the express window up/down.

 

I think the express up-down problem is a separate issue. I was one of the lucky ones that got rid of the battery-saver message with a new battery (under warranty), but the need to reprogram the express-up feature just keeps getting worse and worse. It's needed more frequently, and i often have to run it through 5+ manual up-down cycles before the "programming" takes. Once recently, I just gave up because I didn't have time to fiddle with it any further, and a day later, it worked as designed . . . for a short time. At the very best, this is going to lead to premature failure of the power window. Has anyone heard about a separate TSB for the window express feature?

[murphy]

TSB 13-10-4

LOSS OF ONE-TOUCH-UP POWER WINDOW OPERATION—BUILT ON OR BEFORE 4/30/2013.

This fixed my window problems.

[c152driver]

TSB 13-10-4

LOSS OF ONE-TOUCH-UP POWER WINDOW OPERATION—BUILT ON OR BEFORE 4/30/2013.

 

This fixed my window problems.

Awesome! Thanks for pointing this out. I thought for sure it was related to the battery saver issue, but I stand corrected.

[SteveB_TX]

TSB 13-10-4

LOSS OF ONE-TOUCH-UP POWER WINDOW OPERATION—BUILT ON OR BEFORE 4/30/2013.

 

This fixed my window problems.

Didn't fix mine. Grrrr!

[camelot]

When mine go out I just hold the button up or down for which ever fails for about a second or two after it stops and I hear a very faint click. It seems to come from the door I'm resetting. It then works aftr that. Not all of my windows loose the one touch together. Definitely seems to happen due to bs mode.

[hermans]

I've had troubles with the windows on my FFH since it was new. The dealer has applied the TSB twice and they still don't work. I've programed them myself dozens of time and they still won't work. I'm like Steve....forget it. My MKZh has had no such issue.

[Texasota]

The radio and 12 volt power ports turn off to stop further drain on the 12 volt battery. Put the car in run mode and you are back in business. If you drive the car every day there should not be a problem unless all of your trips are of the 1 to 5 mile variety. That is not long enough to recharge the 12 volt battery. The long standing rule of thumb is that it takes 25 miles of continuous driving to fully charge a 12 volt battery. That was for cars that had alternators and starter motors. This car has neither. The engine is spun up using power from the HVB and the 12 volt battery is charged by a DC to DC converter (300 volts to 14.4 volts) also using power from the HVB. In my case where I sometimes go a week without driving I keep the 12 volt battery in shape with a 12 volt battery charger. This is not a new problem. My 2010 Fusion Hybrid had the same problem.

 

Thanks for the response. I'm probably getting off topic here, but this makes me wonder what happens when the FFH sits for several months without being used (e.g. it is left home when going south to be a snowbird). Will the HVB go dead in that amount of time and if that happens does the car require a tow to a Ford dealer?

[corncobs]

Mine wasn't moved for 2.5 month and turned right on!

[murphy]

 

Thanks for the response. I'm probably getting off topic here, but this makes me wonder what happens when the FFH sits for several months without being used (e.g. it is left home when going south to be a snowbird). Will the HVB go dead in that amount of time and if that happens does the car require a tow to a Ford dealer?

Look in your Owner's Manual for the title "Vehicle Storage". There are lots of recommendations, one of which is to disconnect the 12 volt battery if it will be more than 30 days.

[camelot]

Mine always starts also. But going into bs mode continuously makes you leary that one day it won't start.

[camelot]

ell got the car back today. Another battery....Seems it failed the second time it was tested. they removed the surface charge to avoid a false reading and it showed the underlying failure. Hope that was it. Time will tell. This was the second battery since new. It lasted 8 mos. Hope this one didn't come out of that batch again.

Edited March 21, 2014 by camelot

[hermans]

ell got the car back today. Another battery....Seems it failed the second time it was tested. they removed the surface charge to avoid a false reading and it showed the underlying failure. Hope that was it. Time will tell. This was the second battery since new. It lasted 8 mos. Hope this one didn't come out of that batch again.

The batch of bad 12v batteries had the date code of 9/12 on them. I seriously doubt that any are left laying around. When the dealer replaced my battery for the second time they said they had received instructions to send any they had back.

Edited March 22, 2014 by hermans

[murphy]

Where is the date code on the battery? I have looked at every number on mine, which is no longer in the car, and don't see anything that looks like a date.

[hermans]

On the first battery they replaced it was on top of the battery. I don't know about the other two.

[Ric]

Heading back to the dealer this week. BS message back again after a week.

[mrobinso8]

In December 13 after a year of nothing but problems with the BS message and lost settings and jumpstarts, the Ford Field Service Engineer determined the problem was the gear selector module. Stated that the car did not know it was in park. This is after months of being told BS message was "Normal", not driving far enough, or usb drive draining battery. Part replaced and fixed for about 2 days. Service manager kept car for about a week and battery went bad after testing ok days before. Replaced to make now on 12v number three. So after a month of no problems told dealer it looked like I would keep the car. Well, yesterday, 22 Mar 14, got the battery saver message again. Car has not yet reached 9,000 miles and has exceed my 2003 Saab in problems and visits to the dealer. However, the Saab was perfect after the first 8 months of fixes. Mine appears defective to where it is not repairable. For the 3 months of no problems since Dec 13 it was a good car. At least the dealer gives me a loaner, knowing what I have been through. Decision is to try again or cut my losses and get something else. Mental health is worth more that the loss on this last car purchase. The sad thing is I traded in a 2006 Honda Accord for the Fusion. The Honda was never in the shop for any problem.