Tree63

I agree - best car I've ever had, in terms of comfort ("like sitting on my living room sofa" friend said after 14 hour drive), features, maintenance, FE. I put 325K km on our 88 Honda Civic Wagon over 15 years, with way more headaches. As long as tranny holds up with the highway miles that I'm driving now, it will continue to be a great drive. I'm hoping there will be a swing to fuel cell (hydrogen) before I need another car. Seems less expensive in terms of infrastructure with a shorter "refill time" than plug-ins. ps my lifetime is down to 5.4L/100km, just haven't updated Fuelly for a while

I was told by dealer that the housing holding the bulb in 2013 C-Max was starting to rust out, but new bulb should work for a while. Maybe yours has gone past the point of working. Replacement was about CDN$700.

Twice or so a year, I have towed brush to the dump at the cottage in a small 4x4 box trailer, probably 3 feet high to keep sight lines. The front end is noticeably lighter handling. There's no way I would see anything more than this towed with my C-Max. Solution? Rent what you need for occasional towing. Buy what you need if more serious. But keep the C-Max for routine driving to save $$ to get what you need. :)

My 2013 has some minor surface rust in the same area. It's gone through 4 winters up here. Not bad. Time to put some wax or NuFinish on it before winter.

I had to replace a fuel injector at 80K km/ 50K miles - only unusual maintenance so far ... Flushing coolant due to colour change at 32K miles doesn't sound right.

I just had 12V battery in my 2013 C-Max SEL (140K km/90K miles) fail --- without any warning --- no dimming lights, no hiccups with anything. Almost 4 years to the day I bought it. Just had it towed to the dealer. Paid C$175 for battery plus C$150 for AVR test. With the real winter conditions, it could have been a lot worse. Any way to catch this? I couldn't open trunk or any doors besides driver's. No other battery problems since getting the car. This and having a flat (and no spare) are making think a bit more.

Thanks djc. Fusion Energi cars had a couple of transmission leaks but out of the 4 Fusion and C-Max models, only C-max Hybrid had transmission failures in 3 of 4 testers. Wonder if the transmissions are same across Energi and Hybrid/Electric models? Could C-max H have a "smaller" tranny that shows strain due to proportionally greater weight of vehicle? Perhaps others can offer more depth with this.

Great find - thanks! Will ask when I go in for rest of work on unrelated FSAs/Recalls to be completed this week. Zero hiccups with anything audio related since the last dealer visit, through a good number of bumpy cottage roads and all kinds of fall weather. Probably marking this as "take fuses out if it happens again". Static build up or connections bumped out of alignment with fuses - any guess. Still a great car. Had a Blaupunkt installed after the one radio failure 35 years ago that I mentioned earlier. Glad to hear their sound is still as good as ever.

OK --- not all parts were delivered to the dealer today, including new radio. They "put everything back together" so I could have the car over the long weekend (Cdn Thanksgiving). They drive car up to the pick up spot AND ... car jockey has radio tuned to the Blue Jays - Rangers ball game !!!! WOO HOO, except we lost the game. Paddle for voice control and rear warning system are all working fiine again. I called over the service advisor and of course we'll see if this is an intermittent problem or a matter of pulling fuses 69/79 out from time to time, for whatever reason. Kellytoons - interesting comment - and I hadn't thought of the rock and roll over time - but last radio I replaced was in college days with a 78 Datsun B210. I like holding onto cars too -- there's a lot of earth-materials in every car so may as well stretch their lifetime.

I also have SEL with July 2012 build date. Yesterday I lost Entertainment, Voice Control paddle and Rear Warning system. Couldn't even get CD out - showed No Disc message after swallowing it. Dealer looked at it today while doing some updates and advised radio needed replacing. This is not exactly a part that wears out with mileage so I was surprised it wasn't covered by extended maintenance plan. Anyone else had this happen? Glad to find at least one related thread. ... Tree63

Work done at dealer under extended warranty, so just wait time for me. Ready next day - seems to running fine again. Not sure how a fuel injector "breaks" - just clogged or does something shear off somehow. Wonder if Ford looks at such broken parts from a QA/improvement/root cause perspective, in case it is a manufacturing defect of some kind for a part common across a family or model year.

I am so thankful for this Forum. Just experienced a fuel injector failure on the weekend at 80K km/ 50K miles, confirmed at dealer today, and I think my guess impressed the SA. Good to know they are relatively rare among us, even with the long cold spell through Feb in NE. If I get another, I'll consider replacing all 4 at the same time, but for now will see how FE is affected. Glad car ran smoothly in EV mode but might be fun to have option to press a button and get a "rough idle massage"! Will miss DD.

Might not be what is going on in your case, but when this happens to me, it is usually because the fob has something blocking it in my pocket or my body is in the way (when I am opening the passenger door for instance). Most of the time, a jiggle to reposition it is enough to get it to work. Sometime in winter up here in the north, I have to take a glove off to get it done. The trouble is that I am starting to get upset when the front door of my house doesn't autmatically unlock even with jiggling the house key in my pocket :) - it is such an addictive convenience.

There are threads in the Forum on hitches, and certainly my local guy had a few listed for C-Max. He had no problem putting in a hitch with harness for me. I use it a few times a year to haul shingles and brush about 10km (6 miles) to the dump at the cottage with a 4 x 4 pup trailer. With a full load of shingles once this year, the rear sagged a few inches but no other sign of strain. Saw a "towing number rating" (forget the real name) on a commercial for a "super heavy duty top-towing" pickup - 873. A regular pick up was 450 something. When I looked up the value for C-Max, it was 97. Now, I wouldn't call it a 97-lb weakling, but as OM says it just wasn't designed for any serious towing. Bicycles and brush are enough for me.

My Ford dealer has a service bay for free Nitrogen top ups, since that's what came with the tires. I follow all the other helps mentioned - monitor for leaks, check regularly, watch start of colder weather etc - and also do a visual before any long drives, and at all stops on those drives. Spotted a bulging tire on one drive and that could have been serious safety issue.

Even with non hybrids I've had over the past 25 years, I've just driven after starting the engine. Even with full HVB, I've found ICE will come on to ensure slight warming of components with winter temps here up north, but not enough to provide cabin warmth. I keep an eye on the coolant temp and when it's a bit above the low line, that's when I start warming up the cabin with Climate on Auto (as I did with non-hybrids basically). C-Max climate control is nice because t delays fan blowing at higher speeds if engine is not sufficiently warm for set temp. Takes about 2 minutes to get there on an expressway, sometimes quite a bit longer if city driving since C-Max is so efficient. Seat heaters and touqes help until then.

C-Max works for what I need - head and stretch room for 6+ footer, room for 2 sets of golf clubs and a greener driving experience. I've always thought buying one was an early investment into the right direction for personal transportation, not the final product. EPA and Transport Canada numbers were not real world to begin with and most of the recalls have been more noise than substance to me. At least my kids (20-somethings) have seen you have to be prepared to put your money where your mouth (or rear) is, and wife thinks I am still a hero keeping her comfy, cosy every time we're on the road. :) Ford - bring on the next gen!!

I agree with HotPotato - the C-Max is unique and wonderful as a driving experience. I bought it with a jaundiced eye on EPA rated 47/47/47 because the same technology on a friend's Prius was not delivering anywhere near that. My sat point was set for 40/40/40 and I am pretty much there, 2 winters included. Resale discounting is probably expected now due to perceptions but I'm planning to hold for quite a while, and then pass on to family as a first-time or second car. The kinks aren't going to be out of the next-gen or new-edge market cars like C-Max for a while -- I am willing to share some of the ri$k -- but good to name the problems and disappointments as a reminder for next time and get pre-production quality of product and marketing to improve.

For Canadian C-Max hybrid folks, called Ford this morning and second cheque would be C$725, same reasoning as before for amount that seems higher than for US customers. My overall mileage (including the brutal winters) is pretty much what is now the posted numbers and I continue to enjoy the ride.

The Revmobile is always in a garage but it has been a very long, cold winter here this year. I've used pipe insulation in front grill both winters so far. Haven't read much about oil pan heater so far but assume it is similar to block heater as an add-on that needs a plug - ok in garage but not when travelling around. Shoot - just did the Sync update myself on Friday (all good) and this afternoon lost my Nav - it is asking for SD card. Will check other threads but first time that has ever happened.

I live at top of a hill and in cold winters. At anything below freezing, even with a good SOC, ICE kicks in within half a block. It does stage1 cutoff within about 2 minutes and stage2 cutoff after ICE is on for at least 3-4 minutes again. Lucky SoCal and Miami folks!

Well done Scuba Dad M! Sounds like you are on your way to many more miles of eco saving travel. I'll have to read up on the seat covers even though I find the seats very comfortable still, even on long hauls. Like the idea for the dead pedal too. Please post more about the LED project - could be fun - not sure how many others have done that too. FE just takesa hit from the cold weather up here in Canada, but otherwise your story sure lines up well with my experience up to now (about 28K miles). My Revmobile keeps going and keeps me comfy/happy all the time. In the meantime, keep C-MAxing! Glad the Forum is around to share these as well as the problems and glitches that can happen to any of us.

If it helps with sourcing it: I've only heard anything like wooo-ooo for the first minute on really cold mornings (here in the great white north) when driving the car uphill.

What other Fords have the same access system? Wonder what their experience might be with same feature. Warmth in cold temps helps but I had to revert to fob for a while after a recent deep freeze, and now back to working fine (cancelled dealer appt). Moisture at sense point might be the problem.

I think the one-time payment reflects difference in original and revised FE according to Transport Canada figure, period of time from 2012 original to 2013 revised FE, and higher price for gas at pump in Canada. Remember the impact of cold weather was a part of the recent TSB tuning and all Cdn owners were affected by the original settings being less optimized for chilly times. Bottom line: we're worth it! :)