obob

"SSM 44252 - Hybrids In Taxi Service - HF35 Transmission Bearing Noise ... The current transmission assembly (7000) service parts incorporate design improvements to enhance durability under the unique operating conditions of taxi service" I suspect what's unique is that the failure happens while it is still under warranty. Other than that, what's so unique ? ( After reading post #12, perhaps there is something unique about using the car for such a high percent of the day. ) This is why the foreign manufacturers are reluctant bring there new designs to the US. It messes up their reliability stats and pisses off customers. How can I tell what version of the transmission I have ? ( Mar 2013 manufacture date ) If it wasn't such an expensive fix, they probably would have a recall. Perhaps I should sell my car to a taxi cab company so the problem will come out soon enough to be cover by warranty. My sense is that changing the trans oil isn't going to help much. I assume there is a filter that filters out metal chips and there isn't pollution from gas combustion. ( This may not be correct - see drdiesel1's post #12. ) Added later: I will wait and see what Ford does to set things right.

"The dealer is stating that this would be covered up to 60,000 miles" from post #7 of http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/2998-new-trans-at-52k-miles/ Though if enough people are upset Ford may extend it in some "secret" warrantee extention.

To me this means that my car probably will be needing a transmission at some point. And it probably is expensive(And I hope I am wrong and it is not expensive). Thanks for the post.

Does that include the income tax rebate ? Does that include sales tax ?

http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/2599-my-2c-ev-driving/ The first post in the above thread was most helpful to me. I don't do the pulse and glide thing. I use the empower screen. VERY basic simplied version of that post, I do accelerate in EV to between 10 and 20 mph(empower screen blue), then get up to speed on gas(ICE) going at no more than two bars, actually 2.1 is OK(empower screen white), then kind of use the ICE(internal combustion engine) for going up hills and EV for maintaining speed and down hills.

It seems to me like they have built enough 2013s, though they may just build some custom orders. There might be some good deals to be had soon to clear out the 2013s with the 2014s coming.

Could you expand on this? Why does this improve efficiency? Thanks.

I would not worry about what pressure the tire can handle. The article implies tires can handle way more than the max pressure. "3. A tire is in danger of bursting if pressure exceeds the "max press" number on the sidewall. The truth: The "max press" number has nothing to do with a tire's burst pressure. The "max press" and "max load" numbers indicate the pressure at which the tire will carry the maximum amount of weight. A new, quality tire will not pop at an even multiple of the "max press." I'm sworn to secrecy about the exact burst pressure, but I wouldn't hesitate to double the "max press" of any new passenger-vehicle tire on a new wheel. But hitting a big pothole at super-high pressures may cause a failure. " http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/repair/6-common-tire-myths-debunked-10031440 I think the article is worth a read. I found "putting the best tires on the back" interesting.

I know someone who knows someone with a Ford Focus with park assist who has had trouble getting out. In my friend's words, "she couldn't get out."(I assume that meant without extraordinary measures) Also, getting into small spots may not be something to always want to do, especially if you do not want a pissed off person banging your bumper to get out. While someone might say, oh that person in front has room to get out, that does not mean he will have room to get out later after a new person parks in front of them.

How is it in the rain ? It looks kind of small.

It would be nice if Ford would officially give its blessings to 0w-20 so we could use it with worrying about warrantee issues.

If I had know this it might have have been worth it to buy from a state that has the CA regulation.

I hope this is not a systematic problem. I had a Toyota Van which had a known transmission flaw and Toyota had kind of a secret extended warrantee, but my trans went after the extended period. Actually it started to go during the period but I didn't know it was a problem until after the extended period.

What are the symptoms ? Supports my thought to get an extended warrantee before the end of the warrantee.

Deleted post about 2000 Windstar spare tire being bigger that focus and taurus spare for the tire is too old to recommend. See JAZ's post #94.

So any thoughts on going that fast? Could it have gone faster? How did the brakes work ? How was the handling ? Did you happen to notice the rpm of the engine? Thanks. By the way, after going 110 myself many years ago, I was in a state of "no more of those scheduled."

Now that I think about it, it makes sense. So as I see it now, the wind resistance at 50 mph and a 40 mph head wind would be similar to a wind resistance at 90 mph with no head wind.

Perhaps temperature or use of air conditioner

http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/2875-tool-for-the-third-dimension-mapping-route-altitude/

I recently drover a 3 mile, 800 ft ascent route straight up, followed by 3 mile 600 ft decent and the return trip. On the way up I decided to go about 47 mph to keep the engine cool and the SOC was about 3/4 on the top, and was full on the decent pretty quickly. On the way back I went up 2-3 pixels over two bars(about 3200 rpm) so there was no regen to keep the SOC lower before the descent, but now I am thinking it was not worth it. Once again the SOC was 100% pretty quickly. If the car was geeked out there would be a switch to prevent regen up the hill before a long decent. I was impressed with the power of the engine though. It never seemed like it was stressing. By the way, since the software update, my sense is that when in hill assist the car goes into ICE slowing on any pretty steep hill, even without a full SOC sooner than before the update. I liked the idea that was presented to turn the A/C up (if it is hot) on the downhill to use up some electricity and store the energy as a cool car.

Whoa - that's sweet fbov. Thanks. Might want to add to directions may need to change from metric to US.

If that were true, that would truly impress me.

Some on this site posted this earlier http://www.dealerrater.com/

My mother is not so computer savvy and she uses all CAPS in some of her emails. She has no idea it is interpreted as yelling, and your text (ANTHONYSCOTT) seems rational and sincere. from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_caps With the advent of the Bulletin board system, or BBS, and later the Internet, typing messages in all caps became closely identified with "shouting" or attention-seeking behavior, and is considered very rude. As a result, netiquette generally discourages the use of all caps when posting messages online. While all caps can be used as an alternative to rich-text "bolding" for a single word or phrase, to express emphasis, repeated use of all caps can be considered "shouting" or irritating. For me, I'll interpret "30 days" to mean after a significant number of miles and types of driving. I read that one way to tell if the update even was done is to see if you can go into EV mode above say 65 MPH. My mileage since the update has been very good, however, at the same time I also started to drive differently after reading this: http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/2599-my-2c-ev-driving/ and I also tried a tank of premium gas.

I am satisfied with my car the way it is. I was just kind of adding some levity. Car technology does seem to be getting better and better each year. However, it will be interesting how big an improvement Ford can get. There does seem to be a lot of potential from modifying the front of the car.