flychinook

Well, wish me luck, my C-Max is in the dealership this morning for this same issue (along with replacement of the door latches under recall). The noise started a few months ago for me, and has gotten worse. The best way I can think to describe it is that it sounds like a stone wheel on a stone axle. Noise starts at 10mph. It gets louder at higher speeds, but never changes pitch. I thought it was the tires at first, but a new set didn't fix the issue. 

When I dropped it off, dealership said they were going to charge $100 to diagnose the problem. I'm not sure they realized that the trans is still under warranty (2013, 66k miles). I didn't correct them... maybe I'm just paranoid, but I feel like I may get a more honest diagnosis if they aren't aware that Ford could be footing the bill. 

It is more an "ON" mode without the engine running than an accessory mode. The SEs with a physical key have a three position switch; accessory, on, and start. Accessory only has things like the radio turn on, it doesn't turn on things like the dashboard displays. When you switch the key to "On" it turns on the rest of the electronics, such as the dashboard displays but the car is not started. Start is just like a starter in a normal car, it is spring loaded, so you push against the spring to start the car and then let it go back to the On position.

 

The push button only has one "position" which is on. Depressing the brake pedal, while pushing the button, is essentially like pushing the key to the "start" position. There is no accessory mode.

Ah, ok. Mine is an SE (just got it last week!), so I wasn't able to test it for myself. For what it's worth, I did find a thread in the Fusion Hybrid forum saying that the radio can be powered on while the car is off, and it will stay on for about two hours. May help for the drive-in situation. 

I'm late to the game here... but doesn't pressing and holding the start/stop button for a few seconds, with your foot NOT on the brake, put it into accessory mode? Thought I saw this in the manual somewhere.