CNCGeek Posted October 22, 2012 Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 (edited) I have noticed something weird twice when starting in reverse out of my garage. I cannot recall the exact circumstances of the first time it happened (except that the battery charge was low and the engine turned on at startup). The problem re-occurred this evening, when I started the car the engine started up becuase the battery was low (about 25-30% charge). When I put it in gear for reverse and let off the brake nothing happened (which I have found is typical - sometimes it has to get a tap on the gas before it starts moving), well I tapped the gas and nothing. Checked the brake, it was not set and this is a level driveway/garage. Tapped down some more and the engine clearly reved, but no movement, I also noticed the engine seemed to struggle a bit so I let off the gas. I shifted back to Park and then back to Reverse and gave it some gas, this time it did start to move. The ambient temps were in the upper 80's, low humidity (no rain today and it did not feel humid, I think it was less than 50%), and the car had been setting for a day, but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary. Has anyone else noted any weirdness like this? Edited October 22, 2012 by CNCGeek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtorres Posted October 22, 2012 Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 Haven't noticed that behavior on mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrelld Posted October 22, 2012 Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 Hasnt' happend to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REC Posted October 22, 2012 Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 Me neither. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinto Posted October 22, 2012 Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 (edited) That has never happen to me either. Edited October 22, 2012 by Chinto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNCGeek Posted October 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 (edited) Cool, even though I've had the vehicle for a while I am still getting used to the way it operates, and I would not rule out operator error somehow - unfortunately at the time I did not stop and take some notes on the circumstances, though both myself and the passenger noticed it. If it re-occurs I will take down some notes. I hope it is just some transient weirdness. Update - I just checked and there are no codes. I am going to chalk this up to user error unless it happens again and I can document it better. The only scenario that makes sense is that maybe I did not have the key all the way on, and possibly when I put it back in park to re-try backing out I may have turned it off and back on (if I did that it, it slipped my mind). So it may have been in the accessory position and not the running position when I was gassing it. I have had a few starts when I thought it was on and realized that the green go light on the dash was not lit so had to twist the key again. Edited October 22, 2012 by CNCGeek rfruth 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfruth Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 Is a tap on the throttle the norm (sometimes) ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinto Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 This is probably nothing to do with your quirky operation you posted here but I discovered a feature that I would think is abnormal if I did not know it was a normal operations feature on the C Max. The owners manual talks about a feature called "hill start assist" (pg 212). Basically, a sensor activates when stopped on a slope and delays the brake release (2-3 sec) until engine rev is detected and automatically releases the brakes. The purpose is to prevent vehicle roll on while transitioning from brakes to gas pedal. This feature sounds cool if you live in hilly areas. Also though a new sensor to go bad. Another cool feature I found is "grade assist". The little button on the side of the shift selector. That is on pg 209 in the owners manual. It functions to charge the battery and speed control while driving on a downgrade. Basically it is engine braking. Cool stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNCGeek Posted October 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 (edited) Is a tap on the throttle the norm (sometimes) ? Yeah, this is one of the things that seems to be the most inconsistent when backing out of my garage. Sometimes it will just roll (when in reverse) and sometimes it needs a little kick to get going - especially when the engine is running due to a low battery. Edited October 26, 2012 by CNCGeek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNCGeek Posted October 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 (edited) This is probably nothing to do with your quirky operation you posted here but I discovered a feature that I would think is abnormal if I did not know it was a normal operations feature on the C Max. The owners manual talks about a feature called "hill start assist" (pg 212). Basically, a sensor activates when stopped on a slope and delays the brake release (2-3 sec) until engine rev is detected and automatically releases the brakes. The purpose is to prevent vehicle roll on while transitioning from brakes to gas pedal. This feature sounds cool if you live in hilly areas. Also though a new sensor to go bad. Another cool feature I found is "grade assist". The little button on the side of the shift selector. That is on pg 209 in the owners manual. It functions to charge the battery and speed control while driving on a downgrade. Basically it is engine braking. Cool stuff. I am not sure if the hill climb assist was the cause (my garage is only slightly sloped for water to run away from the building, but level enough to not cause the car to roll on it's own). I have not experienced the problem again so hopefully it was just something I did wrong. There was no code either, but I have no idea if a faulty hill sensor would send one or not. I'll keep this in mind though if it happens again somewhere where there is a decent slope. I found out about the grade assist when I was driving and noticed the lamp for it on the cluster. It took me a bit to realize that I had bumped it, and it's nice to have on long hills when the regen fills up the battery early on. Edited October 26, 2012 by CNCGeek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-MaxJaxon Posted October 28, 2012 Report Share Posted October 28, 2012 This problem happened to me this morning backing out of my garage in EV mode. There was an engine light on the dash and I had no power steering. I power cycled the car and then the problem disappeared. Is anyone from Ford reading this forum? It's ridiculous that I have to "reboot" my car to fix it. This type of problem should have been found in validation testing. Owners shouldn't be beta testing your vehicles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNCGeek Posted October 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 Hi Jaxon, was the engine running when you experienced this, and do you recall if the green car with the arrows was lit (indicating the car was ready to drive)? Also do you recall the state of the battery when it occurred? Do you think the engine may have been running (to charge the battery) when it was in the accessory position, buy the key was not fully turned to the start position? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-MaxJaxon Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 (edited) Hi Jaxon, was the engine running when you experienced this, and do you recall if the green car with the arrows was lit (indicating the car was ready to drive)? Also do you recall the state of the battery when it occurred? Do you think the engine may have been running (to charge the battery) when it was in the accessory position, buy the key was not fully turned to the start position? It was in EV mode with the engine off. It is almost always on battery when backing out of the garage. I don't think the battery was very low. I didn't notice if the green arrows were showing. It has keyless ignition, so it is not a key problem. If it happens again, I will try to request a Sync Vehicle Health Report to see if it shows any messages. Edited October 30, 2012 by C-MaxJaxon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-MaxJaxon Posted October 31, 2012 Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 Might have figured out this problem. I got the same behavior when I pressed the Start button without my foot on the brake. The engine is off and not ready to be driven until pressing the brake and pressing Start again. This is confusing behavior and more of a bad design with lack of proper feedback than a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michigan Max Posted October 31, 2012 Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 How is that confusing? Every car I've bought in the last, I don't how many years, you had to have your foot on the brake to start it. Been doing it for so long it's automatic. I don't even know I'm doing it. wab and Adair 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-MaxJaxon Posted October 31, 2012 Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 My previous non-hybrid car with key ignition didn't require pressing the brake to start. I am new to both keyless start and EV mode start. The only real difference between "started" and "no started" for me now is the dash showing the green arrows or the orange engine light. I think it should be made more clear by showing a message when you put the car in gear that the engine isn't in "running" state. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfruth Posted November 1, 2012 Report Share Posted November 1, 2012 Do you (anyone) have to press the brake to 'start' (boot) or to shift into a gear (wonder how other cars with push button work) ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrelld Posted November 1, 2012 Report Share Posted November 1, 2012 (edited) Do you (anyone) have to press the brake to 'start' (boot) or to shift into a gear (wonder how other cars with push button work) ? My push button start 2012 Passat TDI, previous push button start 2006 Lexus IS, and my step daughters push button start 2012 Golf TDI all require(d) pressing the brake before starting. Edited November 1, 2012 by darrelld Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNCGeek Posted November 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2012 I've done the same thing with putting it in gear when it was not actually started up, but I think in my case (since I have the key) it may have been due to not fully turning it to the start position. Since nothing really changes except a light on the dash when you "start" the car and it is in EV, I think some feedback like a chime or something would be good to confirm it is actually started. Coming from a non-hybrid I always press the brake when starting, but it is pretty easy to tell when a normal car is actually started too :D Themoo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CassidyB Posted November 8, 2012 Report Share Posted November 8, 2012 Has happened to me numerous times.. At first I thought it was maybe a user error.. But it's not.. The car shows that its ready to drive but when I push the gas, it acts like the emergency brake is on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RachelnLa Posted November 8, 2012 Report Share Posted November 8, 2012 Learning more every day. Love this site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNCGeek Posted November 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2012 Has happened to me numerous times.. At first I thought it was maybe a user error.. But it's not.. The car shows that its ready to drive but when I push the gas, it acts like the emergency brake is on. Do you normally set the e-brake when you park? The reason I ask is because the other day it happened and I forgot to take the e-brake off, and let off the brake briefly before I realized what happened so I put the brake on, released the e-brake and it would not go in reverse so I put it back in park, then in reverse and it still would not go, had to powercycle the car to get it going again. I think I triggered the hill climb assist (see Chinto's post about that above) in that last instance, but it's weird that it did not reset after putting it back in park, the engine was also running at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CassidyB Posted November 8, 2012 Report Share Posted November 8, 2012 Never use the e-brake.. I even had my wife to witness it.. I like my car, but I've had a few more issues than expected.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
different drummer Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 (edited) Has happened to me numerous times.. At first I thought it was maybe a user error.. But it's not.. The car shows that its ready to drive but when I push the gas, it acts like the emergency brake is on. (emphasis mine) That's exactly how I experienced this at the dealership on a test drive, but I wasn't familiar enough with the car to realize something odd was going on. I thought at the time I just hadn't started it up correctly, but having driven a Prius regularly for the last 6 or 7 years, I always have my foot on the brake when I start up any car, so that wasn't the problem. Pushed the button off, then back on and car worked just fine. Edit to add: First thing I did was check the emergency brake, and it was fully released already. Edited November 9, 2012 by different drummer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrelld Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 (edited) This happened to me for the first time today. Going to lunch with temp in the mid 70's. Hit the start button, release the brake, and shift to R...nothing. I double checked to make certain the brake was released the display said ready to go and the transmission was in R, still nothing. I did not do anything other than wait to see what would happend and after about 10-15 seconds I heard a click and the C-Max starting moving backwards in EV mode. Battery levels were around 50%. Edited November 9, 2012 by darrelld Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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