Ford to Offer Free Updates to Boost Hybrid Vehicle Efficiency

[hybridbear]

That sounds like the way mine is now. Just drove it to Virginia over the holiday and was getting passed by semi trucks in the mountains. Got a a hole 28mpg for the trip 400+ miles. I JUST LOVE THIS UPDATE!!!

I'm in the same boat.  My dealer told me it will take another 3000-5000 miles to adapt.  Since we're already 11,000 miles into ownership that doesn't make me very happy.  We were getting 40-42 mpg before the update (in non-winter).  Now we're at 36-38 (obviously with occasionally good runs that exceed that).  :-(

Some Fusion Hybrid owners who also had their MPGs go down after the update found that doing a hard reset may help cure the issues. It's too soon to tell though. They definitely found that the car behaved differently after doing the hard reset. You do a hard reset by disconnecting the 12V battery and the HVB. This effectively reboots the computer.

 

See this post.

[Robert Burke]

The fact of the matter is, high road speeds is a killer for hybrids, any hybrid...and the C-max is

no exception.  

 

It's simple.  The higher your speed, the less time on batteries, the poorer your fuel/EV economy.

 

If you want better MPGe, drive in the sweet spot, between 50-55mph.  The whole idea behind

a hybrid, is to save on gas and this means more milage on battery.   So, the slower you go,

the more time you spend on battery.  

 

And use the 'see-saw' method for better MPGe....

[Jus-A-CMax]

Welcome to the forum Robert Lane, suggest you spend some time in the Fuel Mileage & Hybrid driving tips section where many CMax drivers have put a lot of time and research to find the sweet spot without having to be a safety hazard on the freeway (65+ mph speed limit)  doing 50-55 per your post. Most of us who do freeway stay around the 60-65 if we are p&g or we simply use eco with the  :airquote: blip when the soc is high enuf that utilizes the negative split mode. There's many ways to skin this fish..but she's a beaut for sure :) 

[bigalpha]

we simply use eco with the

 

I took my ECO off a few days ago and have noticed no mpg decrease.  In fact, I think my mpg may have bumped up a smidge.

[Jus-A-CMax]

Interesting. All the eco does is to slow the acceleration when compared to the standard cruise and I believe, it also does not strictly adhere to the set speed and allows some variations/fluctuations.

 

I wonder if this is similar to how, in my City driving, a 2 bar acceleration is more FE than a slow 1 bar acceleration by burning the least gas to get to my speed.

[bigalpha]

Yeah, the whole reason I turned off the ECO is because I hate the speed fluctuations.  Seems like if I set it at 77, it varies between 75 and 79.  But I don't want to go 79, I want to go 77.  With ECO off, I believe it behaves the same.

[Edsel]

Yeah, the whole reason I turned off the ECO is because I hate the speed fluctuations.  Seems like if I set it at 77, it varies between 75 and 79.  But I don't want to go 79, I want to go 77.  With ECO off, I believe it behaves the same.

 

Does it engine brake when you are going down a steep incline with eco cruise off?  I have noticed up to 10mph over what the eco cruise is set at going down hill. 

[IndySteve]

I noticed a slight increase in displayed MPG in my first tank since having the software update done in August 2013. On the other hand in my first two tanks since the update, the difference between displayed and hand-calculated MPG went up. Prior to the update, the trip odometer MPG for the tank (reset at fill-up) was within about 1 MPG either way of the measured mpg. After the update, the display is 2 MPG over the calculated MPG. I'm only on my third tank since the update. One tank lasts me about 3 weeks or so.