Ford fuel efficiency update guinea pig testers

[MaineFusion]

Update on my software upgrade. One thing did get reset on my car yesterday; the lifetime braking score seemed to have been reset. I also observed the mechanic had a hard foot because the new starting score was like 78% when I left the dealership. Maybe he was just trying to polish my rotors for me since they get very little use when I'm driving I normally have a brake score of 98% or higher).

 

I did do 5-10 mile drive that I do on occasion that has 25-35 mph speed limits and very few stops. I got 63.5mpg, which is about the same as I got the last time I took that drive under similar conditions (breezy 75F). I can typically get 63mpg for any trip I do with speeds of 45mph and lower.

 

One short test isn't indicative of long term results, but maybe these changes don't do much for low speed driving when air conditioning and radiator fans aren't really needed. Tuesday my real tests begin when I drive to work (47mi each way).

[neod192]

Did your EV+ locations stay? Mine got reset, but I also has one other software update at the same time.

[MaineFusion]

Did your EV+ locations stay? Mine got reset, but I also has one other software update at the same time.

How do I tell what my EV+ locations are set to?

 

The only thing I've observed that got reset was the lifetime braking score. No clue why only that would have been reset unless the mechanic accidently reset that.

[neod192]

The only way to tell if EV+ locations stayed is to drive to one and see if it kicks in. I noticed EV+ doesn't kick in on mine when I go home.

 

There's no way to just reset the lifetime breaking score in the settings. I believe the setting is for both breaking score, MPG and EV miles. A similar thing happened with mine a while ago: Lifetime EV miles got reset somehow.

Edited July 28, 2013 by neod192

[MaineFusion]

The only way to tell if EV+ locations stayed is to drive to one and see if it kicks in. I noticed EV+ doesn't kick in on mine when I go home.

 

There's no way to just reset the lifetime breaking score in the settings. I believe the setting is for both breaking score, MPG and EV miles. A similar thing happened with mine a while ago: Lifetime EV miles got reset somehow.

I looked again, and my EV miles still shows over 3,000 miles (odometer at 10,381), however, my regen miles shows 1.2 and my braking score shows 94% (when I left the dealer yesterday it was at 78%). Before taking it in for the software upgrade, my regen miles was in the hundreds of miles (I think) and my life time braking score was 98%.

 

So basically my regen and braking scores got reset, but my total EV miles was unaffected.

 

I could kick myself for not taking a photo of the scores before going in to the dealer. :-(

[cwb1183]

I have My HiTi scheduled for the update on Wednesday morning, they told me I will take about 1 1/2 hours to complete.

Edited July 29, 2013 by cwb1183

[neod192]

So basically my regen and braking scores got reset, but my total EV miles was unaffected.

That's exactly what I'm seeing as well. I'm going to reset my Lifetime everything at 5k miles (only 335 miles away) for the first time. That way I'll have a new clean start.

Edited July 29, 2013 by neod192

[dtw-dave]

@dtw-dave

 

Hi all ... just got our 2013 Ice Storm Fusion Hybrid on 7-11-13. While we are at a lifetime MPG of 41.9 after only 325 miles, I am hoping that Ford wouldn't bother with this upgrade unless it made a 5% to 10% improvement for most drivers ... that would put me at 45-ish and make me a very happy camper. On a side note, I wonder if this is something they just "came up with," or it was a 2014 (or '15) improvement that they figured they needed to pull out of their pocket now due to the poor press on anticipated fuel economy. I'll post more as I have more info on our car. Love all the number geeks here.

[greycrx87]

anymore feedback anyone? thx

[David Henry]

I got my update applied today. Short trip home but noticed that climate control not using nearly as much power when looking at kw usage. Will post more on my 100 mile round trip work commute tomorrow.

[Da0ne]

I got my update applied today. Short trip home but noticed that climate control not using nearly as much power when looking at kw usage. Will post more on my 100 mile round trip work commute tomorrow.

 

took it in because i had weird vibration coming from the front axle this morning which turned out to nothing and they did the update also without telling me

 

so after the update i noticed that the climate stood the same as other with my a/c on at 72 on auto

[hermans]

 

took it in because i had weird vibration coming from the front axle this morning which turned out to nothing and they did the update also without telling me

 

so after the update i noticed that the climate stood the same as other with my a/c on at 72 on auto

The dealer is required to tell you what they did and provide you with documentation in the form of a completed service order.

[acdii]

I got my update applied today. Short trip home but noticed that climate control not using nearly as much power when looking at kw usage. Will post more on my 100 mile round trip work commute tomorrow.

Hoping this is the part that makes the most difference. AC kills the MPG in my car. I can see up to a 12 MPG difference driving with or without AC on. On my trip home I can feel the car struggling to recharge when the AC is on, and when just having the windows down with the vent on and no AC, It rolls smoothly in and out of EV. I normally get 38 with AC on and 46+ without on the same roads. I have seen up to 50 MPG on these trips without AC.

[keithsm2]

Hoping this is the part that makes the most difference. AC kills the MPG in my car. I can see up to a 12 MPG difference driving with or without AC on. On my trip home I can feel the car struggling to recharge when the AC is on, and when just having the windows down with the vent on and no AC, It rolls smoothly in and out of EV. I normally get 38 with AC on and 46+ without on the same roads. I have seen up to 50 MPG on these trips without AC.

Exactly....I believe this is killing me in the texas summer hear.....so hopefully we will do well down here during our mild winters!

[MaineFusion]

Hoping this is the part that makes the most difference. AC kills the MPG in my car. I can see up to a 12 MPG difference driving with or without AC on. On my trip home I can feel the car struggling to recharge when the AC is on, and when just having the windows down with the vent on and no AC, It rolls smoothly in and out of EV. I normally get 38 with AC on and 46+ without on the same roads. I have seen up to 50 MPG on these trips without AC.

Same here, at lower speeds (e.g. 35-45mpg) where I could get 63mpg, the AC would cut 10mpg off my fuel economy. Haven't driven enough with the PCM software update to know if there is any improvement.

[MaineFusion]

Exactly....I believe this is killing me in the texas summer hear.....so hopefully we will do well down here during our mild winters!

Just the opposite up here in Maine, I got horrible fuel economy this past winter, but awesome fuel economy now that it is summer because we don't need the AC often.

[Da0ne]

The dealer is required to tell you what they did and provide you with documentation in the form of a completed service order.

 

yea after they did it they provided it not complaining but wanted to wait a while before i had it done

[keithsm2]

Just the opposite up here in Maine, I got horrible fuel economy this past winter, but awesome fuel economy now that it is summer because we don't need the AC often.

i dont see ONE bad fill up on your fuelly!

[MaineFusion]

i dont see ONE bad fill up on your fuelly!

Didn't discover Fuelly until May by then the weather was decent.

[Da0ne]

Well it was nice to see EV at 70 mph and stay for a mile would've tested it more but hit bumper to bumper traffic and that was the end of that I did get 44.5 in 13 mile drive with a/c on and 85 outside

[acdii]

Just the opposite up here in Maine, I got horrible fuel economy this past winter, but awesome fuel economy now that it is summer because we don't need the AC often.

Grill Covers! They do help these cars quite a bit. Going to make me another set like I sent to HB.

[terryb]

I got the update in 50 minutes this AM.

Made 500 miles today in mostly Interstate at up to 75. Got 38.5 for the day.

Same as I got in March going to FL w/o AC required.

Pretty pleased with it.

[djminfll]

I have what may be a stupid question - I keep reading about the software update changing how the active grille shutters work. Do all FFH's have these active grille shutters, or was this an option or Titanium feature? I don't believe I have active grille shutters.

[corncobs]

As far as I have seen references to the grill shutters all Fusions have it not just the FFH.

What makes you believe you don't have them?

Edited July 30, 2013 by corncobs

[neod192]

As far as I have seen references to the grill shutters all Fusions have it not just the FFH.

What makes you believe you don't have them?

Some Fusions don't have them. There was no simple way to well which ones do and which ones don't.