Software Updates from Ford to improve MPGs

[Jamone]

Got the update two days ago along with cracking noise fix (yay!). So far I have been getting 43 MPG, my driving has been about a 50% hwy (25% 70 mph 50% 65 mph and 25% 55 mph) and 50% secondary in the 35-35 mpg range. This mpg is right at what I have been getting for months and these trips are fairly typical for me. Somewhat disappointed I'm not seeing an improvement but averaging 43-44 per tank isn't bad. It's just not the upper ;0's or low 50's some of you seem to be getting.

[BondMan007]

So what does it mean if your dealer is not a "Certified Electric Vehicle Repair" facility? Should I trust them to do the update correctly?

 

The Ford service guy I talked to on the phone didn't question me on the letter I received from Ford yet he still asked me for the make and model of my car. Isn't the update only for the 2013 Fusion Hybrid? He did say it would take about half a day to complete which is exactly what the letter states.

 

Am I just paranoid?

[jeapa]

I got the update today and it only took about 60 minutes. I will post the results from my commute tomorrow night.

[greycrx87]

300 miles after the update, getting the car to go into EV at 65mph is nice, but I see absolutely no difference in the fuel mileage before and after, my daily commute to work results are about the same.

[Fox43]

I just want to thank everyone who has posted in this thread. It's been tremendously helpful. I dropped my car off on Sunday night to be worked on and when I got it back last night, I found that the car did not run in EV above 62. When I called them to complain today, the service manager told me that the installation was basically plug and play and there's no way it wasn't done. I arranged to go in Friday morning so he can show me that they applied it in the onboard computer. With everything in this thread, I'll be able to show it likely wasn't applied and why. Of course, this forum has also made me nervous about the shifter knob since I have the luxury package. Now I have to check that when I get home that they applied the correct knob last week when it was in for the knob and the fuel pump.

[smr2112]

I've been meaning to ask this... Is there any definitive way to see the installed update if you put the car

in "engineering mode" - is there any version or anything to view that will prove it without having to

drive the car?

[MXGOLF]

OK I did the upgrade. I went on a 861 mile trip and achieved only 35.4 MPG. Very disappointed but not unexpected. I got a lemon. :(

[MaineFusion]

OK I did the upgrade. I went on a 861 mile trip and achieved only 35.4 MPG. Very disappointed but not unexpected. I got a lemon. :(

Someone already mentioned it in these forums, but I really wish Ford would do some research into why some FFH, like mine, get exceptionally good MPG while others absolutely miserable MPG. It would be nice to point to specific causes rather than just saying it is driving style and/or they got a lemon.

 

Maybe there are a combination of factors that include both driving style and issues with the electronics like bad sensors or something. I'm sure there are plenty of people in both camps on these forums, my self included who would be more than happy to participate in any research to figure this issue out.

[TerrorTodd]

So at what point is the car considered a lemon? I was looking on Fuelly to get an idea of what Fusion Hybrids are averaging for the most part and it was interesting. Out of 186 2013 Hybrid (L4) models 40 MPG average seems most common with 21 vehicles getting that. Next is 43 MPG with 20. Funny thing there isn't one single Hybrid that averages 47 MPG the EPA estimated amount! :drool:

 

Here are Average MPG = # of cars reported on Fuelly

 

33 = 2

34 = 9

35 = 6

36 = 10

37 = 17

38 = 15

39 = 16

40 = 21

41 = 10

42 = 19

43 = 20

44 = 6

45 = 9

46 = 6

48 = 3

49 = 3

[Sleddog]

I did is short 1.2 mile trip twice in 2 days. Yesterday my average was 66.3. Today I did a little better. The update seems to be working well.

 

[DeeCee]

Got mine updated today. That plus 10k service took about two hours. Verified the PCM update was good as the car would go into EV mode at 70mph. Reset Trip 2 and will check it after 1000 miles to see how it compares with an earlier 1000 mile check.

[djminfll]

I just want to thank everyone who has posted in this thread. It's been tremendously helpful. I dropped my car off on Sunday night to be worked on and when I got it back last night, I found that the car did not run in EV above 62. When I called them to complain today, the service manager told me that the installation was basically plug and play and there's no way it wasn't done. I arranged to go in Friday morning so he can show me that they applied it in the onboard computer. With everything in this thread, I'll be able to show it likely wasn't applied and why. Of course, this forum has also made me nervous about the shifter knob since I have the luxury package. Now I have to check that when I get home that they applied the correct knob last week when it was in for the knob and the fuel pump.

I posted on a prior thread about this, but I'll repeat it here for you. To complete the software update, the technician has to plug the car into the computer and the update starts. If it is done correctly and they plug it in again, they get a message that states the program has already been run. If it is not done correctly, when they plug it in again, the update should start. My original dealer didnt complete the update, so I took it to another dealer who explained it to me. He then advised me that the software started to download when he plugged it in, so the original dealer did not do it correctly. If your dealer won't do it correctly, take it to another dealer.

[corncobs]

So at what point is the car considered a lemon? I was looking on Fuelly to get an idea of what Fusion Hybrids are averaging for the most part and it was interesting. Out of 186 2013 Hybrid (L4) models 40 MPG average seems most common with 21 vehicles getting that. Next is 43 MPG with 20. Funny thing there isn't one single Hybrid that averages 47 MPG the EPA estimated amount! :drool:

 

Here are Average MPG = # of cars reported on Fuelly

 

33 = 2

34 = 9

35 = 6

36 = 10

37 = 17

38 = 15

39 = 16

40 = 21

41 = 10

42 = 19

43 = 20

44 = 6

45 = 9

46 = 6

48 = 3

49 = 3

But how many of the below 40 can be pointed to driving style vs. something wrong with the car?

For such comparison you should look at the highway vs. city as well.

 

 

For example I'm sitting at 39.8 MPG but I have another 50 MPG tank coming and my 3 month avg. is 48 MPG just because I don't have that much Interstate travel anymore.

[jeapa]

i find it hard to believe that more people are not getting in the 40-43mpg range. I think fuelly it is more biased towards cars getting 40 mpg and under because those are the people reporting their mileage. I am getting 47. Maybe fully rounds up or down for reporting.

 

I do believe there are lemons as there is plenty of evidence to support that. Ford should be working with the owners to fix those cars. I also believe that there are many drivers that just don't know how to drive a hybrid. There are so many variables to look at I think it is hard to draw conclusions just from the milage.

[jeapa]

So far my milage is about the same, but I should probably give the car a few more days. I got 47 mpg on the nose for my commute today. That is combined for morning and afternoon. That is slightly less then normal, but not by much and the weather was crappy this morning. I am not sure if I will gain anything on the highway miles because instead of getting a steady 43-45 mpg at 65-68 mph the car now spends a lot of time charging the battery and sitting at about 37-40mpg. I think the time in EV mode at higher speeds ends up working out to be the same.

[JimArch]

My overall has been 40.9 and I ride with the AC on (always), today I got the update done, so I'll keep an eye on it. I did notice that I was able to release the gas pedal while going 65 and it would move into blue electric mode. I'll report more as I drive more.

[Riggo]

I just drove 9 miles like I would have in a non-hybrid... Slow start but fast on the highway, not trying to baby the accelerator, and I got 52 mpg. Maybe this new update is allowing us to drive more "normal," or maybe it was just an anomaly. I also didn't have the AC on. I'll try a few tests driving like this and see what happens

[bcrisp]

Some people will never be happy. I'm really excited to see what happens with the update. I'm going to willingly be one of the guinea pigs for this because I think, if nothing else, this is going to help me in the winters here.

 

I have mine scheduled at Shelor for Thurs, 15 Aug. Hopefully they'll know how to do it. :)

[gkinla]

Today I noticed that EV+ comes on at least .3 miles sooner than before the update. Has any one else noticed this. I did check it several times today with different return directions.

[aaronj1159]

 

I have mine scheduled at Shelor for Thurs, 15 Aug. Hopefully they'll know how to do it. :)

I had mine done at Duncan because Shelor's service dept. hasn't been too wonderful in my experience. I've had it in there for trim warranty issues and the clicking noise and all that. Seems like they do fine for anything mechanical, but they just didn't respect my car when it came to the trim issues. They had to drop the headliner to fix it, and when I got the car back they had broken the clips on the sunglasses holder and one of the microphone covers above my head. I didn't realize these until I left, but they told me they broke one of the springs on the "oh crap" handles above the rear drivers side seat. So I waited for the part to come in, and brought it back for those 3 issues. Go back for it (they of course had to order MORE parts for the broken clips) but the worst part was there was dirt and grease all over the place.

 

Like I said they did the clicking noise fix just fine, but I took my car to Duncan for the 10000 mile service and the PCM update. They were also a good bit faster at getting the car back to me.

[djminfll]

Today I noticed that EV+ comes on at least .3 miles sooner than before the update. Has any one else noticed this. I did check it several times today with different return directions.

When I first got the update done, I lost my EV+ but it only took a few trips for it to recognize home destination. But it's not happening any sooner than before.

[acdii]

Someone already mentioned it in these forums, but I really wish Ford would do some research into why some FFH, like mine, get exceptionally good MPG while others absolutely miserable MPG. It would be nice to point to specific causes rather than just saying it is driving style and/or they got a lemon.

 

Maybe there are a combination of factors that include both driving style and issues with the electronics like bad sensors or something. I'm sure there are plenty of people in both camps on these forums, my self included who would be more than happy to participate in any research to figure this issue out.

I am waiting until winter comes to get a good comparison between the old one and the current one before I can clearly state it was the car that had issues. I dont have enough warm weather data to prove 100%. So far from the few times I drove the other one in 50+ temps, I can say that this one does a Whole lot better.

 

When I do have that proof though, I dont know what good it will do me, other than say Hey Ford, Told Ya So! You Walters.

[jsolan]

Today I noticed that EV+ comes on at least .3 miles sooner than before the update. Has any one else noticed this. I did check it several times today with different return directions.

 

How long have you had your car? My distance for EV+ grew the more I went to it. Mine has not yet re-learned the EV+ locations to compare from before, but I do know that when it first learned "home" it started coming on further and further away the more often I drove to it.

[gkinla]

 

How long have you had your car? My distance for EV+ grew the more I went to it. Mine has not yet re-learned the EV+ locations to compare from before, but I do know that when it first learned "home" it started coming on further and further away the more often I drove to it.

 

I've had the FFH since 12/12/12 with 8200 miles, the EV+ always came on one block from home. Now the EV+ comes on 4 blocks from home. This just started after the PCM upgrade. My FFH re-learned after 4 trips home.

[djminfll]

I definitely think the software update worked for me. Not so much on the highway, that's about the same. But city driving has improved.

I just did my first tankful since the update, and I got 48mpg. My current tankful is at 51mpg, let's hope it remains.

Here are a couple of my most recent trips of approximately 8 miles, plus a short one where I stayed in EV for over a mile!

 

FYI, I updated fuelly to start again effective with the soft ware update, hence, the Avg MPG of 48.0 and only 1 fuel-up.

 

 

 

Edited August 14, 2013 by djminfll