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It would be nice if we could get aerodynamic changes added for say $550.

After an update to SYNC a few month ago, things were weird, the leaves only had a few of them and they were not changing, and after parking I later noticed, the windows were all down and I didn't consciously leave them that way and haven't done that since. I synced my phone once and then the leaves started to work and never had the windows go down on me. I think it is unlikely I held the unlock, by I could have sat on them funny or something. I mentioned it to the dealer and he just said he never heard of that.

http://www.re-involt.com/ FYI, a site that sells remanufactured batteries for older Toyota and Honda hybrids. "We are the only company that upgrades the HV battery packs to be better than the original factory installed." Prices range from $1875 to $2595 and do not include installation (and probably not shipping).

So it is installed. Here is the story. http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/2793-after-market-back-up-sensor/ I never got the SVGviewer installed. The Ford guy that was giving me email support was nice about refunding my money. And he sent me two pictures of what I wanted which were only somewhat helpful. And I did get a response within 24 hours. So I was happy with Ford on this. I did not want to spend more time on getting it to work but he did say that Adobe Ready 10 also needs to be installed and I didn't do that, though that may or may not have been my problem for the SVGviewer looked like it was installing but never showed up on the installed programs. Thanks again for the help.

AFTER MARKET BACKUP SENSOR I installed a back up sensor and here is my experience that might be helpful. Most of what is written is to make it easier for someone who is installing this specific type of sensor. There may be mistakes but this is as I recall. I got this one because it had pretty good reviews and it looked easy to install. It requires no drilling and no under the car work. See link for picture. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002XUXUTS/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ( if you never used camelcamelcamel and want to see amazon price tracked over time http://camelcamelcamel.com/nVISION-60100VA-Back-Sensor-System/product/B002XUXUTS ) I think it works well. It has an on/off oscillating beep in stages like 5ft, 4, 2.5, 1.5, 8 inches. As I get closer the oscillation increases in frequency until the last one stays on. I would recommend backing up SLOWLY. The sensors are on the license plate so they do not sense the corners of the car very well. (I use it for parking and it seems fine for that.) The screws for the license plate need to be longer. The kit comes with screws that I used but I suggest getting something the same diameter as screws you take out but a bit longer but not as long as the two that comes with the kit. I was able to use the ones that came with it but needed 3/8” of washers for they are too long and seemed to stretch the plastic thing they go into. Afterwards I realized that I could have cut the license frame the dealer gave me and use that as a part of the washer – the top part of the frame. The electronics for the sensors are behind the license plate. A wire goes out of the plate area into the hatch door. I was able to remove the square rubber grommet and push it through there and by cutting out a small bit of the grommet was able to reuse it to keep out water and keep the plate off the paint. To remove the hatch door, first take off the handle that closes the hatch. Then removing the hatch door cover requires some controlled hand power to pull the snaps out. The cover attaches to a plastic part that goes around the window. I recommend being careful not to pull the other plastic piece out for those snaps don't seem to go back as easy. That goes for taking it off and putting it back on. Perhaps use duck tape to keep it in place. The system is powered by the reverse light wires. The kit comes with plastic things that allow for tapping in without cutting the wires. I did not use them but it may be worth a shot. I cut the wires and used plastic crimpy things I got from Home Depot. That was not that great a solution either because there is not a lot of extra length to the wires and I am not sure of the expansion and contraction effects of aluminum crimpy things. A perfect solution would be to cut the wires and solder them and then cover with crimpy things. (The crimpy things are called AMP Closed-End Spice Connectores) To get to the wires, a spongy covering needs to be removed. I removed the area near the reverse light. Now there are three wires. Purple, Green and Black. If you cut the wrong one the car blows up. (actually the parking light goes out which happened to me) So use the Green for the hot reverse wire(red) and Black for the ground wire(red and black). (If you have the kit this makes more sense.) If cutting wires be careful not to ground a hot wire to ground. The parking light is on for a few minutes when the hatch opens. I stuck the speaker wire through a panel by the reverse light. The angle of the sensors is adjustable. I tilted mine all the way down for the C-Max license plate is high and it tilts back after the mod. I used small plastic ties so the bottom of the license plate was attached better to the unit underneath. If you are testing it and want to go outside the car and look how close, leave the car in reverse and use the parking brake. Now that I have done this once, I could do it again in under 30 minutes. The first time it took me considerable more time, finding washers, going to Home Depot, figuring out how to take the panel off, cutting the wrong wire, testing it out, showing my parents, feeling stupid and frustrated, general spacing out, getting a light when it got dark, washing the car for what good are sensors with a dirty car. Attached are a couple of pictures of what the hatch and panel looks like off.

This is a message that I copied from the OP's article. It seems like there is a double standard. It's OK to miss the city numbers compared to EPA but if the highway numbers miss that's a crime. There are lot's of cars that really miss the city numbers bad. http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130815/OEM05/130819953/ford-to-restate-fuel-economy-on-c-max-hybrid#axzz2c3aN1wrZ bloggin • 28 minutes ago− With CR's testing, the Prius Liftback got 32mpg city when the EPA is 51. Which is 19 short of EPA for the city. But where it made gains was the hwy at 55 with EPA 48 with it's tiny engine. A gain of 7, which brought the Prius liftback to 12 below EPA 'combined'. The C-MAX got 35 mpg city when EPA mpg 47. Which was 12 short of EPA for city. But since CR test was at 65 and hybrid drivetrain stopped at 62, the hwy was 41. Short 6. Which brought the C-MAX/Fusion Hybrid to 18 below. So yes, based on CR testing, the Fusion/C-MAX Hybrids were 'combined' more below EPA combined, but the Prius Liftback was 19mpg short of city EPA and the both the Fusion/C-MAX Hybrids were 12. For comparison, in the CR tests, the Prius C only got 37mpg city when the EPA was 53, but CR had nothing to say about that.

I think Ford software is a bit clunky or the service guys are a bit clunky. My dealer twice told me the calibration and headliner was not reported as available and until I told him it was via the web, the site mentioned below, he did not find that it was OK to do. But when I told him it shows up on etis and told him the numbers of the updates that it reads out, he said oh yea there it is. Now if it doesn't come up on etis, then there might be another problem. Is it possible that the update was already done when you came in to do something else ?

My best guess is S is for Service, and A is for Agent or Associate.

Does your PT Cruiser have traction control ? I would think the C-Max having traction control would help. My sense without snow tires, or even better snow tires with studs, cars don't do well in snow and for those few days when it snows, I am careful. In my previous car I carried tire cables in case I got stuck but never used them. They should fit the C-Max but snow chains are not recommended in the C-Max. (If I were stuck I would consider putting them on for a short time but in no way am I recommending that for another person for the manual does not recommend them probably because something could get messed up.) If I lived in a snowy area I would be tempted to get snow tires mounted on wheels for the front for the winter months, though tire people recommend getting snow tires for all four wheels. For those considering snows, via tirerack, *** Unless a TPMS triggering tool is purchased, new TPMS sensors must be registered to the vehicle at the manufacturer's dealership. ***

Update: So I decided to get the online manual. Unwittingly, I decided to get frustrated and perhaps burn $10.95. It seems I needed to install SVGviewer, a program unsupported by Adobe since 2009. Well it didn't install so I couldn't view the wiring diagrams. I left a message to be contacted. (No phone number on the contact us.) I wonder when that will happen. They say 24 hours. I may just put the license plate sensor on and run the wire outside and under the edge of the hatchback and up to the port that accesses the reverse light, and just use a volt meter to figure out which wires I need. If and when I do it, I'll provide another update, but so far, I am not pleased with the online manual, or maybe I should say I am not pleased with having to go back into the Microsoft Windows world to read the manual. As I recall, there was one FAQ in the contact us page that had a response about having to uninstall something and it was like fingernails on a slate board.

FYI I left my car at the dealer late one evening(service was closed) and got a call around 11:30 am the next morning that it was done. The calibration was .5 units and the headliner was 1.5 units which I suspect a unit is an hour. And the charge/unit around $100. The charge for the headliner part was nominally around $13.

Nevermind. I figured it out.

"my jack can lift both wheels on one side" So are you saying that either of those jack points will lift both wheels up ?

Matt, your mods look awesome - looks like a prototype for C-Max Sport. I think your C-Max looks better than the stock C-Max.

http://www.aerocivic.com/ I found this article interesting and related to this thread. Though it is more of a research project for I wouldn't want to have to parallel park that car. Basically the guy gets 95 mpg (gas without the alcohol) in a civic going 65 miles/hr with all sorts of mods.

Is your jack an ordinary scissor jack? Where was the jack point ? Thanks. My feeling on not putting my spare (which is smaller and pulls) on the front goes something like this: if I have front flat, and it looks fixable with my plug kit, I will try that first. If I can't fix it I will change it using the spare. If I am not in a rush, or am not in a risky area that I want to get out of quickly, or I do not have a lot of driving to do before I can have it fixed I will just put it on the front. Otherwise I will put it on the back and put the back tire on the front. I think the label idea is good. I will also mention on the label about the traction control off until I know that it OK to drive with it on.

I called my dealer and he said he checked my vin number and no updates are available. I actually called him because my phone still doesn't sync up right. I specifically asked him about this fuel efficiency update and the pillar update and he just suggested I call back in 2 weeks.

1. SYNC seems "obtuse" to me. ( I wish for something more like this: https://www.linux.com/news/embedded-mobile/mobile-linux/586164:linux-drives-cadillac-into-the-infotainment-era ) 2. SPARE TIRE 3. The spot where the fog lights would be if I had them should be smooth so no wind resistance. 4. Have more than one MyView 6. Be able to put something useful on the right hand screen in front of the driver, like MyView. 7. Have the leaves come and go as a function of how well I am driving given the terrain, not just how high my mpg is. So if I am gently going up a steep hill, I should not lose leaves. I am not sure about this one but I am thinking maybe I would have preferred tires that were not so sporty, were a bit more cushy over the bumps and less expensive to replace. I like to replace tires way before they officially wear out.

This thread has some good info. http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/1116-spare-tire-solution-for-c-max-hybrid/page-2 Looking at my post #25 there is a link that I thought could be used to find out what the spacing is for a 2009 taurus but it doesn't work for 2009, but 2008 does not match. ( http://www.roadkillcustoms.com/hot-rods-rat-rods/vehicle-car-truck-make-model-photo-specs.asp?Makes=FORD&Models=TAURUS&year=2009#axzz2a6NzkUce ) Perhaps just try to put it on. And my post #29 has the circumference of the C-Max tires and the circumference of spare I have which is smaller. Your spare may be bigger for it has a bigger wheel which may be perfect. Note: smaller spare pulls when braking as describe in that post. Post #17 has the C-Max bolt measurements and some other Ford Models but not the 2009 Taurus. So the info is out there somewhere on the web. PS, you also need a jack. By the way, I also carry a flat fix kit and an inflater, though as I recall, someone seemed to figure out the thing Ford includes to fix tires can also be used as an inflater without using the sealer.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_are_trucks_rear_wheel_drive_not_front

When I bought my car I got a good price quote from a dealer via cars.com about 120 miles away. I used that quote to buy locally. They did not match the price of cars.com but seemed to give me a good price for my trade. (all within 24 hours) (I had a test drive months before) Later I realized some people got a extra 750 rebate from something that I didn't know about, maybe for getting a flyer sent to them from Ford. And somebody got $50 for a test drive from a car show from Ford.

Nice. But one correction, from Consumer Reports Car Compare (XXXXXXXXX) ( Update: As clarified below by Testdriver, my numbers are most likely for the AWD version. ) C-Max 3615 lbs Escape 3675 lbs. Escape Titanium 3885 lbs. Pruis V 3280 lbs. Though I didn't realize they were so close in weight.

I see your point. I think I was getting a bit loopy about the firmware update to get better mileage.

I wonder if vandalism is a possibility. I would be very surprised if hail stones or regular stones would do that for it is just too common a thing that Ford would have the sunroof be prepared for. However, if it breaks that easily, I would think it is defective - perhaps it was tempered wrong or something. I had a tempered glass coffee pot that exploded just kind of sitting there. And my Dad had a truck and one of the windows shattered in the sun, just parked on the street. Unfortunately, if Ford dealers are anything like my old Toyota dealer, it costs $100 just to find out if it is covered under the warrantee.

Not going to happen. http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/about-us/no-commerical-use-policy/index.htm Years ago, 1960's or perhaps early 70's, Remington Shavers used the fact that CR rated their shaver #1 in Christmas TV ads and CR pretty much band them from further reviews. "Businesses understand that if they violate our No Commercial Use Policy, it may have a serious impact on their own reputation for honesty and integrity (indeed, we have written about violations of our policy in our publications and in some cases, even encouraged consumers to write to those companies expressing their concern and disapproval.) Manufacturers, retailers and other businesses realize that adhering to our No Commercial Use Policy is in the best interest of their customers, the marketplace and their own commercial enterprise."