David

When I ordered the A7 Chip upgrade there were no such warnings in the email offer about possibly needing a software upgrade. My guess is they now actually do know there was a problem with the A7 chip and rather than addressing the problem are smartening up and putting this little discloser on the newer upgrade. However, considering the combined cost of the potential new upgrade and reprograming(software update) it would be ridiculously expensive for what you are getting.

This Deals with the Ford Nav A7 Chip problem of improperly locating the position of your vehicle on the map and Ford's Interpretation of the ESP warranty coverage for the Nav system. This happened on my 2014 C-Max Hybrid. In 2016 I bought the Nav SD upgrade card referred to as the A7 chip for $150. It seemed to be working but then in July of 2017 it started locating my car off to the right of its actual position by maybe 100feet. It showed me driving through ponds and on road parallel to my car. If I had a destination set it would see me on the wrong road and ask me to take turns to get back to the programed route even though I was already on the right road. I found several other accounts on the Ford forums, though they were all 2013 models and older so far. The overall results from the forams seemed to be the GPS module could be bad and need replacing. I have the ESP coverage so I though I would be set. I brought it to the dealership where they were able to duplicate the problem (as it was an intermittent problem) and told me they had found a problem with the A7 chip syncing up with the system. They mentioned they had just had an Explorer in recently with the same problem. They ended up reprograming the Nav card and the GPS unit and charged me $322.50 because Ford considers it an upgrade and is not covered under the ESP. I asked about contesting this and they told me to contact Ford Customer service. I got in contact with the Ford Customer Relationship Center and explained, they said they would reach out to the dealership and I should get an email in 2 Business days. 3 Business days later no email. Called back and they said there was a problem with the case and told me a member of the customer care team would contact me within the next two business days. A Martin Cruse called me. He apologized fro my problem with the nav system but regretted to inform me that "Ford Corporation would not reimburse this issue" as it was considered an upgrade and not covered under warranty. I told him I paid $150 for the Ford recommended upgrade SD card and I found that the system required the reprograming to make it work properly so I could not see how it could be considered an upgrade. How could he justify this added expense just to make it work. His mantra and answer to most of my questions was the "Ford corporation will not reimburse you for this issue". I mentioned that this meant my Nav upgrade went from $150 to $472.50 and felt that was unreasonable. I got his mantra as a response. I told him that to me it seemed that ford was simply looking for any excuse or technicality for not honoring their ESP and that I was going to have to give serious consideration to purchasing it in the future. Same Mantra. He then said he could offer in compensation a 3 year maintenance protection plan. I never bothered to find out if this was free or discounted as in my mind this was just another way to get my car in to them so they could find other technicalities and excuses to get more money. He said that was fine I did not have to accept this offer. I had started out calm but by this point not so much. He then asked me if there was anything else he could assist me with, I told him he had not provided me any assistance to begin with. He then thanked me for being a Ford customer which in my mind sounded more like thanks for giving us your money, we appreciate that, you not so much. My wife and I have been loyal Ford customers for over 30 years and we have bought 7 new cars from them. We were always proud of the fact that Ford did not take taxpayers money from the big automotive bail out several years ago. We tend to buy a car about every 5 years and have added the ESP from when we could afford to. But I have to say Ford has let us down. I warn anyone considering the Navigation upgrade to think twice as it's $150 cost from ford could turn into considerably more. It is my hope that someone in Ford Corporation actually monitors this who really does care about return customers and will act on it. I will be sending a letter to Ford if I can figure out who would be best to send it to. I have other details about the SD card , who writes the program and who makes it all subcontracted by ford if anyone wants it.

Ford Navigation problem and Ford interpretation of ESP. Ford Navigation problem and Ford ESP Warranty.pdf

Ford Navigation problem and Ford interpretation of ESP.

I have a 2014 C-MAX Hybrid. On 7/27/17 all of a sudden while getting off on an exit ramp my car location stated showing up about a half inch to the right of the road, sometimes I even appeared to be traveling in a pond. I got the car in April of 2015 brand new from the factory. The nav has always been fine till now. I updated to a new SD card in 2016. I tried putting the original SD card back in but the problem persist. Some times after shutting the car off it resets back to the correct location but usually after a fairly short drive my car shows as either to the right or behind where I actually am. If I have a destination set , it keeps telling me to take lefts on roads to get back to the computed route, only I already am on the computed route (very annoying). I am on the East coast near Boston so I am pretty sure it is not a location problem. I suspect the GPS unit based on the different blogs I have read and since changing back to the original SD card does not fix it. I will take a picture of the screen and hope the dealer can get the needed information to take care of this properly after I tell them what I have read here and in other forums. We will see. Prior to this my navigation worked fine and so far none of the forums are reporting problems in models newer than 2013 till now.

I have put on just over 1000 miles on my new C-Max. The first couple of weeks I got around 37 MPG average. As the weeks have gone on I have seen this go more from 39 to 43 MPG average. I reset the average every time I fill which is usually when I get down to about half a tank. Though it really depends on where I am going and how cold it is and how long a trip. I have a very short commute to work(6 minutes) and if it is cold it will tend to run on gas almost the whole way, yet if it is warm or if the car was recently used I get into the 40s 50s and even 60s on the MPG. The highest I have ever gotten on my short trips was 79 MPG though that only happened once so far, I live in Massachusetts so unfortunately there is very little straightaways, everything is hills. I suspect the car would do much better in the mid west where things are flat. Some of my best mileage was while caught in a traffic jam on the Boston Expressway, an hour trip that got me 59 MPG. The car was made for that. As I read in another comment I have also noticed how easily the car goes back to gas on highway speeds over 60 MPH. I have actually managed to get the electric to kick in over 70 MPH but it seems from about 60 and up it really cannot maintain speed without going back to gas fairly quickly and just the slightest move on the gas pedal kicks it out. Not that I am condoning speeds over 65MPH, but realistically, yes I live in New England and it happens. Overall I really like the car and considering my 2002 Taurus only got 18/23 MPG, this is still quite a step up. I suspect the promised MPG is under more conducive and level conditions but all things considered I think I am doing okay and it does seem to be improving with time and practice.

I have a 2014 C Max Hybrid with the automatic hydraulic foot release hatchback. I am wondering if it would be okay to put a 2-bike bike rack on the hatch. I do not wish to damage the hatch but it also appears to be the only way we could take the bikes as they will not fit inside even with the seats down. Is there a weight limit possibly to what can be put on the hatch? I have the extra large moon roof on top so a roof mount is not possible. I am hoping it is possible as we would like to take the bikes to some of the trails in the area. We used to take them all the time on the previous car a Taurus station wagon. That was hydraulic but not automatic open or close. Any thoughts?