jestevens

I wish I could tell you but I wasn't in the shop with the techs when they did the reprogramming. The only reason I knew you could even do it is because someone else here had mentioned it in another post. I'm not sure whether the setting had anything to do with DRLs or not - as far as I could tell originally when my headlights were on, they were on - not half bright or whatever trick they did instead of using separate light assemblies for DRLs on the 2013. It wouldn't surprise me if it was a special programming they did at the factory to just associate Engine On with Headlights On for rental car company and other types of fleet vehicles..of course I'm speculating. "stevedebi" seems to know, and responded in this thread - maybe that's where I heard about it originally. I understand that Canadian law is different. We won't be that lucky but you'd think that they could program it to respond to other input like parking brake applied. I had a similar issue with the HHR, there were courtesy lights under the rear view mirror that would illuminate when a door - including the back hatch, was open regardless of any other control settings in the car. I had to pull a fuse to get it to shut off. I would've liked to stretch out in the back and watch the movie but kind of a moot point anyway because the drive-in owner didn't want the hatch height to go about the roofline of the car anyway - I ended up just getting a folding chair and sitting outside the car to watch the movie. I think I'll bring a portable radio too, that way I don't have to worry about the battery running down.

When I bought my 2013 SEL used it had a former life as a fleet vehicle and as a result the headlights operated much like motorcycle lights when I first bought it. If the engine was "on" then the lights were on, the headlight control knob on the dash was non responsive. I took the car back to the service department a few days after buying and for $35 they reprogrammed the BCM to allow full control of the headlights by the switch on the dash - Off, Park, On and Auto. This DID disable my DRLs so I'm not sure if that's allowable in Canada but I would much prefer the ability to control the lights rather than have them always on. The houses are close together and there are times when the car is parked at night or in the morning when it's nice not to wake up the neighbors. If it's particularly dark, cloudy, glare/dusk, etc. I just switch them on when needed. Just wanted to mention it so you would know there IS a setting in IDS somewhere to control this, you might want to check with your ford service department to see if there is anything they can do to help if it bothers you.

I've charged an LG Android 4.4 phone and iPhone SE with it, my friend had one of the bigger galaxy phones that's more like a tablet and it would act like it was charging but his battery was always running low when he unplugged - I don't get this because USB is always supposed to supply 5V standard I think but my guess is that the bigger phone needed a higher amperage charger... Most of the phones would say it couldn't mount the USB but it still provided power to charge. I use Bluetooth for the audio connection anyway. Because of the 12V battery issues I always make sure to disconnect when the car is not in "Ready" mode (engine "on") .. I've never had a problem with my SELs 12V battery but it doesn't hurt to be cautious I guess.

I would suspect that you can set the "Home" address in the navigation settings somewhere, I'll have to take a look at mine when I am in the car next time. Easy to imagine that when the dealer reprogrammed it reset some of the personalized settings.

I've had issues getting out of the car where I open the front driver's door, press the lock button, change my mind and decide I need something out of the second row driver's side door so I go to open the door behind the driver's side door and the alarm goes off when the door opens. Looking at the dash it shows something like that, "Key not detected" until I bring the key within proximity to the dash or use the remote buttons. This isn't the exact sequence - if I knew the exact sequence of what was happening I would swear a lot less. Whatever it is seems like more of a software bug than anything else though. Then again I used to be able to do the same thing with the HHR and the alarm would go off too..it's a situation where it doesn't expect the back door to be opened. Apparently my behavior patterns aren't consistent with however these engineers think about cars.

Yes, I've heard of a lot of people installing hitches on vehicles as extra "protection" in parking lots, etc. Thankfully I don't have that much experience but I think a minimum replacement at body shop, other than maybe those pops-a-dent things easily costs around $2K these days. I've recently taken a hard look at the front of the C-MAX since I had to wash/scrub it after a bug swarm. After 60Kmi it definitely has some chips in the front fascia (luckily most in the plastic portion) and one on the passenger door handle, a few in the hood, probably one in the windshield that luckily isn't spreading - probably from road debris. I had some chips in the back lower door too where it creates a bit of vacuum. Used to have an HHR that had no stone shield at all in front of the radiator - lucky for me no stones ever caused a problem there.

I bought this one a while back and like it a lot. It fits the width of the C-MAX just right and folds mostly flat if you need the room for other things in a pinch.. https://amzn.com/B000E81VN8 I also used to just use the cubby built into the flip up cover at the back of the load floor but it can only hold maybe a bag or so of groceries.

Yeah, apologies to Ford but I think Tesla is in a whole other class of truly electric car - as far as I can tell there is no "transmission" - the power is provided by one independent electric motor for each wheel with speed synchronized by computer since computers are fast enough to do that now, the battery life is finally better, etc. This is where I expect a lot of cars to be within the next 30 years. With all that new technology right now comes a premium price tag, plus they also do customer service differently, maybe you have to when there aren't that many mechanical things that need changing. I like my C-MAX too, it's a good compromise. My friend offered to pay for gas if I pulled over so he could buy a soda and he was surprised to learn that the tank was almost still full after we had driven an hour and a half. Through an accident of marketing the SEL is a very nice car for an affordable price (used).

Around here the traffic density and hills would make me nervous to drive much faster than traffic on a regular basis. I think what people talk about with hybrids is the electric torque and probably one of the first cars people experience with a CVT transmission - so there's no lag in acceleration once it does start rolling. Now that I've driven hybrids I don't want to go back to a traditional car, they aren't sports cars but they are fun to drive in their own right - plus less of a gas penalty and typically a car with more upscale trim. My dream car would be a Tesla S or X but I would just get into trouble with that, the C-MAX is much more practical and is one of few cars where you can get a panoramic roof for less than $30,000.

I could understand driving fast in the desert because it's -flat- and there's a lot of distance to cover. Around here the roads haven't kept up with the density of population and demand for goods. Plus you've got all sorts of folks, some of them not necessarily driving, some want to race, etc. I guess there are a few times when traffic is lighter but I think going 80MPH for any length of time on a public road around here would greatly increase the chances of an accident.

I did regen from coming back down off a mountain last night and it was beautiful, I think I went about 45-50MPH over a slightly sloped road at the base of the mountain purely on electric for at least a mile or so afterward. Really nice summer night with the windows rolled down and the engine not running, crusing through the country.

Hmm, well mine used to be a fleet vehicle, it was originally programmed to always have the headlights on ALL the time (like a motorcycle) so maybe they also programmed it to limit the speed. I got them to unprogram the headlights but I didn't know about the speed limit. I don't think I'm going to worry about it, with the traffic around here the way it is I can't imagine that I would really need to go that fast anyway.

Try ETIS too - it has all sorts of interesting build information about your vehicle (except some of the C-MAX hybrids are misidentified as Energis) https://etis.ford.com - click on "Vehicle" and enter your VIN I think your dealer needs to take a closer look, sorry you are having problems. I trust my dealer with hybrids because even though they are in the middle of the country the service guy was able to hook up IDS to the car and reprogram the car to turn the "always on" headlight option for fleet vehicles to OFF. At that point I knew this was someone I wanted to do business with, plus they seem to be nice guys.

I have a 2013 so I don't have ECO mode. Eco-Cruise sucks because it does the exact thing which aggravates other drivers on the road - slows down going up a hill and then accelerates right when they are about to pass you. If I am not in a hurry and traffic is light I will use it. I have used ECO on a Chevrolet Traverse that I rented in Vicksburg MS where the speed limit on the highway was 70MPH, that didn't last long - I hated the car to start with and the ECO setting was purely machoistic. I also test drove the Prius v - which I hated, it's like they took the regular Prius drivetrain and just added on an extra 1,500lbs. I kept pressing the ECO and POWER button on that car but it made no difference as far as I could tell - even the sales lady could tell how much I hated that car. The regular Prius sedan (hatchback), although it is certainly not a sportscar has more torque than a lot of people believe, I still think it is one of the best sedans for the MPGs. C-MAX definitely has more power, but it's sort of funny, the speedometer is labeled to 120MPH but was I learned from a bit of emergency driving the max speed appears to be 90MPH. I guess it makes sense to limit the strain on the transmission, motor windings and battery.

There have been reports of a parasitic drain on the 12V battery that was hard to track down in some vehicles but it seemed to me like the problem affected the SE's more than SEL's. Someone also posted a notice about a courtesy battery inspection. I am hoping that since you took it to the dealer they checked/updated car for any open software updates, etc. at that time? Search the forum for Customer Satisfaction Program 15B04

The Prius has the same battery design - 12V to run the computer(s) and accessories. In a way it's not bad because you supposedly only need enough juice to boot the computer in order to get it to start the car. It might be a part of the safety design of the car - there is a physical separation of high voltage until the relays close on the battery pack. Also the battery is in the trunk, which should make it last longer. I had to replace Prius battery after 7 years (that car was acting flaky too) and actually I never replaced the battery on my HHR in the 9 years I owned it - it was in the trunk too, every time I brought it in to Chevy I'd have them test it and they'd report back that it was still good. Prius was actually intelligently designed although it took quite a while to replace the 12V battery (it would have helped if they gave me the right size battery to start with). I could see some smart engineer saying, "Well we only have to replace this once every seven years, let's put it behind this brake controller and some HVAC exhaust tubing.." The OEM battery on the Ford doesn't seem to have much "oomph" in the way of CCAs - technically it probably shouldn't need it.. The computer uses HVB current to spin generator motor which turns the crankshaft to start the car.

The Prius works the same way - the 12V battery is used for accessories and to run the computer which then controls the charging/startup - at least you don't need the cranking amps from the 12V to actually start the engine. I think it must work like the Prius where the HV electric motor powered by the HVB just spins the crankshaft - sort of like a Model T now that I think about it. "Weird" behavior on the Prius (setting DTCs inappropriately, etc.) is a sign of a weak battery needing replacement. I don't know if the C-MAX exhibits any of these strange behaviors if the battery is weak or not, most of the stories I've heard of it says "Battery Saver" or just goes dead unexpectedly.

Run-flat tires would be a great idea for this car but I think they are stiffer and I was afraid there would be too much of a hit to MPGs because I made the mistake of buying "regular" tires for a hybrid one time instead of low rolling resistance tires. I guess it's a good trade off if you want peace of mind. The MPG gauge is "stuck" at 40MPG ever since I bought my Pirellis..it only ever varies a few tenths. I keep the pressures at 42PSI. I do have the slime, and a plug kit, and I've used the air compressor before when the air tower at the local convenience store gets abused too much. I am good at coasting but the acceleration is just too tempting.. I kept one of the old OEM tires when I got this set thinking I would mount it on a wheel but the tire place I was using around here didn't want to bother, I should have just recycled the old tire. I guess the only way to know for sure about run-flats is to get first hand accounts from folks..

Hmm, we have a bunch of SE's at work - I think if you hit the MEDIA button on the stock radio USB should show up as a option as long as it recognizes the USB stick you have plugged into the hub in the armrest compartment. You can choose the options on the tabs by pressing one of the soft keys - which are the weird keys that just have lines on them - they are supposed to correspond to the tabs that are shown on the bottom of the small LCD, since it's not a touch screen you have to press the soft key buttons instead - or like you I just use voice activated sync to say "USB" or "Bluetooth Audio"

I've never seen the parts or any circuit diagrams but I always figured that was a fan for the on board computer that controls the MFT., because it always seems to be on in my 2013 SEL whether I have "climate" turned on or off. The only other thing that gets that hot would be an amplifier or bass speaker? Does this car even have a separate subwoofer? If it does it must be under one of the seats.

There is a service bulletin TSB 15-0174 on this problem that another member posted, please check out the Forum for TSBs and Recalls.. Says "certain hybrids built before 12/1/2013" experience an RTV sealant failure ..so it should be a "known" issue with some build dates although when I talked to my service manager he said he hadn't heard anything about it. I've never received a notice from Ford the same way I have for the other issues. Apparently they identified the problem with yours and are fixing it for free, good news! The last time I took my C-MAX in they were so busy doing 3-4 other "known" recalls (airbag parts finally in, battery check, second emissions, etc.) , plus an oil change that I didn't press them about this one - it took all day but they had my vehicle back to me the same day so I was still pretty happy. I am glad that they do issue recalls and cover the work, unlike some manufacturers.

Considering that ground clearance is just under 14cm I think you did pretty good. I had all season radials on the HHR. I was tired and frustrated the first time, i just wasn't thinking to turm the T/C off. I had managed the turn at the bottom and was making good progress about halfway up, the grade was constant.. Oh well, I traded both that car and the prius in for C-MAX .. I'm pretty happy.

Go here: https://www.etis.ford.com Click on the "Vehicle" tab and enter your VIN to see all the "goodies" that may apply to your vehicle. Apparently there is interesting build information too, although they seem to have misidentified a lot of Hybrid as Energi in that system for some reason.

I had a similar problem with my HHR. It's not a true 4x4 differential - it's sort of a poor man's version - the idea is to automatically use ABS to reduce speed for a drive wheel until that particular wheel gets traction again, except that my friend lives on a hill with a steep grade and an almost 90 degree turn at the bottom. So I'd gotten my HHR halfway up the hill with the throttle floored but apparently the wheels could get "no" traction at any speed according to the algorithm in the computer. So the car is basically stationary with the wheels not turning at all and the throttle to the floor. My friend was unhappy because he thought I had let up on the throttle. Like the other poster it was a long day, a stressful situation - I had forgotten all about putting it in Low first, which disables the T/C on the HHR - I have no doubt it probably would have gone right up the hill the first time if I remembered to do that - of course the more times you try, the more you heat up the road which makes it more slick. When I finally got home my friend called and said the plow truck came by about 5 minutes after I left. Needless to say I never visited him with my Gen 2 Prius because on that car Toyota made it so you couldn't disable T/C - for fear that the instant/extra torque would damage the drivetrain. I think T/C can be disabled in the Gen 3 now..and like others pointed out you can set it in the Driver Settings for the C-MAX, if you remember to do so at the time.

I love this one, with the four dividers - the width fits just right - all of the dividers Velcro in so it's very flexible - and you can lay it down almost flat in a hurry if you need the extra cargo space without taking it out of the car. http://amzn.com/B000E81VN8 If you don't have that much to carry you can flip up the hatch on the load floor - the little cubby that is in there can hold a bag of groceries.. Oh you said covers the WHOLE cargo area, I think I misunderstood the question.. hopefully the canvasback will work well for you..looks nice. When I want to haul messy stuff I just spread out an old wool army blanket but depending on what you have to carry I can see how that might not work.