Sadly, crossing the CMax off my list

[ScooterMaxiJim]

I'm a C-MAX owner who is very happy with the way the car handles, but amazed at the numerous poor design elements and the very poor, uninformed dealership service (several different dealers) and overall lack of customer service. And, yes, at least two poor safety features are almost certainly going to kill people - and both should force mandatory recalls.

 

First, the rather poor traction control (at least compared to the Hyundai design) should be convenient to turn off with a physical switch, but instead it is buried deep in the menu settings - and that's an issue if you are suddenly sliding on ice going up or down a hill; not only will you not get control in a panic situation, if the engine kills the car defaults immediately back to traction control - on. This is beyond crazy-bad design, and unlike the GM issue (at least partially related to the users putting too much weight on the key chain), this is entirely on the beancounters at Ford who are too cheap to put a proper switch on the dash.

 

Second, the MyFord Sync system causes severe driver distraction problems by occasional Bluetooth failures causing "In Privacy" notifications. No doubt with so many different protocols it's a challenge for a system to work with every possible phone. However, it is unethical to allow the system to place or receive calls that require the vehicle operator to fumble for a phone that has made a connection and the caller cannot hear you. The system should not receive or place a call that does not allow for two-way communication. The current system is going to cause many serious accidents, and could be easily remedied by simply not allowing any form of partial connection. As it stands, my current firmware can't even perform a Vehicle Health Report.

 

We had the dead battery problem, but I do believe it's fixed with one of the updates. You never know, as dealers always seem to be guessing. In any event, the simple solution (and recommended on any car) is to have a portable battery charger on board - the BD 500 amp version fits snugly in the side net in back. You just have to remember to charge it up on occasion.    

[DaveofDurham]

If the tire thing *really* worries you you could always put one in the back -- cost you a bit and take up some room but that's the tradeoff you'd make anyway (IOW, any other vehicle will also cost more and lose room in that manner).

 

I haven't changed a flat in three decades and have no desire to start now so it don't worry me none <g>.

Do you mean you have not changed a flat OR that you have not had a flat?

 

I had a flat on my C-Max about a month ago.  I was a few miles from home.  The tire was ruined by whatever I ran over.  The fix-a-flat and compressor would have done nothing had I tried to use them except to cause me to have to buy a nice pressure sensor.

 

I happened to have my donut spare in the car.  I usually only have it on the car for long trips.  I found that the jack I had bought was too tall to go under the car when the tire was flat and the lug wrench that came with it was the wrong size.  I had to wait for AAA to come help me.    Since then I have a new jack with a lower profile and a new lug wrench that fits.

[DaveofDurham]

I am new but I thought the battery issue was tied to people not using the gas engine and the battery never getting charged. 

 

This is not the cause of the 12v battery problems.  This is a blame the owner/driver red herring that has nothing to do with anything.

[Smiling Jack]

This is not the cause of the 12v battery problems.  This is a blame the owner/driver red herring that has nothing to do with anything.

 

It's worse than that.  The 12-v battery does not get charged by a running ICE (gas engine); so, whoever is peddling that explanation is either uninformed (in which case they are being deceptive by pretending to know what they do not) or they do know the correct charging info and they are deliberately saying something wrong (deceptive again).

 

Deceptive, deceptive, pants on feptive!

[obob]

It's worse than that.  The 12-v battery does not get charged by a running ICE (gas engine); so, whoever is peddling that explanation is either uninformed (in which case they are being deceptive by pretending to know what they do not) or they do know the correct charging info and they are deliberately saying something wrong (deceptive again).

 

Deceptive, deceptive, pants on feptive!

So what charges the 12V battery ?

[Adrian_L]

Good question.   And here's another one:  why the heck can't the 12 volt system tap into that huge power cell also known as the high voltage battery!? 

[drdiesel1]

Good question.   And here's another one:  why the heck can't the 12 volt system tap into that huge power cell also known as the high voltage battery!? 

Because the 12V battery powers the HVB contacts when the key/button is tunred on.

Otherwise, the HVB would be active all the time.

Edited July 29, 2014 by drdiesel1

[Smiling Jack]

So what charges the 12V battery ?

 

The 12-v battery is charged from the HV battery via a  DC-DC voltage converter.  Sure (with the Hybrid), all of the HV battery charge comes ultimately from the ICE (gas) engine (even the energy captured by regenerative braking is produced ultimately by the gas engine) but the engine does not need to be running in order for the system to be charging the 12-volt battery.

[drdiesel1]

The 12-v battery is charged from the HV battery via a  DC-DC voltage converter.  Sure (with the Hybrid), all of the HV battery charge comes ultimately from the ICE (gas) engine (even the energy captured by regenerative braking is produced ultimately by the gas engine) but the engine does not need to be running in order for the system to be charging the 12-volt battery.

The key needs to be on for the DC/DC converter to charge the battery from the HVB supply.

[Kelleytoons]

Do you mean you have not changed a flat OR that you have not had a flat?

 

I had a tire that went *gradually* flat (turned out that my wife probably ran over a bolt somewhere) and after putting air into it regularly for quite some months I finally took it to the dealership and got another one.  But in 30 years the only "flat" I've had was finally having a blowout in our 14 year old Durango (the tires were younger :>) on the highway.  AAA came by and changed it for me but if it had been the C-Max I would have had them tow it to the dealership for a new one (as it was I should have done this with the Durango, but that's a whole other story).

 

I look upon it, nowadays, as any other highway emergency.  Which is to say, depending on the severity, I either can do something temporary until I can have folks do a true fix (like using the included patch kit) or use all the automobile service (AAA, Ford, Geico) I have in my arsenal to have the professionals handle it.  The same thing would be true if my engine developed issues -- if they were minor enough I might be able to do something, but most likely the whole reason I pay for all this roadside help is not to have to worry about it.

 

(Then again, I'm retired and time is the one commodity I have PLENTY of -- relatively speaking, of course).

[ScubaDadMiami]

I look upon it, nowadays, as any other highway emergency.  Which is to say, depending on the severity, I either can do something temporary until I can have folks do a true fix (like using the included patch kit) or use all the automobile service (AAA, Ford, Geico) I have in my arsenal to have the professionals handle it.  The same thing would be true if my engine developed issues -- if they were minor enough I might be able to do something, but most likely the whole reason I pay for all this roadside help is not to have to worry about it.

 

(Then again, I'm retired and time is the one commodity I have PLENTY of -- relatively speaking, of course).

I carry a plug kit. However, there are road hazards that can kill a tire. In that case, I worry about traveling in areas with poor cell phone reception.

 

Sure, I have the top plan from AAA, and I have Ford and GEICO, but what happens when I can't reach them? Should I be without cell coverage with a destroyed tire while in the middle of nowhere, that would become quite inconvenient. I don't like having to play the odds, hoping that each trip will win at the roll of the dice.

 

BTW, should that tire happen to blow on a Saturday night, after all of the small town dealerships have closed, they are not likely to open again until Monday morning. That means camping out in a motel or hoping that my AAA plan with towing can find an open dealer with this tire in stock within 200 miles.

 

I am not about to start throwing a tire inside my already packed car. So, I considered adding a hitch mounted spare tire that will still allow the rear hatch to open. The product does exist, but it's expensive. Also, since I don't have garage storage available, after my trip, I'd be stuck with driving that set up around all the time. Not my first choice.

 

Technology will sort all of this out, I understand. Batteries will become smaller and more powerful. However, I just can't see releasing a car onto the market without the provision of a spare tire. When I travel, I want my mind to be free of these concerns. A couple of MPGs would be worth it, IMHO. I wish that Ford had figured out a way to include a spare in the C-MAX.

Edited July 31, 2014 by ScubaDadMiami

[Kelleytoons]

Well, at least in the parts of Florida I travel in I don't find it to be an issue (depends on carrier, also).  But I don't get your way much (actually, never been down there although wife and I would like to some day -- it's on our bucket list, along with a trip to the Keys which I suppose *might* also have cell phone coverage issues :>).

 

It was FAR different when we lived in Nevada (where about 95% of the state was uncovered -- there I'd be scared to go ANYWHERE and rely upon cell service).

[ScooterMaxiJim]

Glad no one torched me regarding the two safety issues (no physical traction control switch and the In Privacy problem with Bluetooth). 

 

Truly, I do believe that the Ford engineers haven't figured out what's causing the dead battery problem (while firmware updates seem to have lessened the number of reports, but no one seems to know why). 

 

Knowing full well that the miniscule 12-volt battery really only has to have enough juice to power up the relays at which point the big HV battery literally charges into action - and acts like an instant alternator - why not just fall back to the old failsafe mechanism we used to see with 12v batteries that had a small extra reserve battery that could put a charge into the main 12v battery? It would be just a matter of a flip of a switch (allowing the isolated baby bear battery to charge the big bear battery that can flip the switch to activate the big bad wolf HV battery. Yes, a lot of redundancy there, but that seems like a good solution when the experts can't figure out the real problem.

[FordIVTteam]

....Second, the MyFord Sync system causes severe driver distraction problems by occasional Bluetooth failures causing "In Privacy" notifications. No doubt with so many different protocols it's a challenge for a system to work with every possible phone. However, it is unethical to allow the system to place or receive calls that require the vehicle operator to fumble for a phone that has made a connection and the caller cannot hear you. The system should not receive or place a call that does not allow for two-way communication. The current system is going to cause many serious accidents, and could be easily remedied by simply not allowing any form of partial connection. As it stands, my current firmware can't even perform a Vehicle Health Report....

 

Hey ScooterMaxiJim (and anyone else having SYNC issues),

 

I'd like to help with these. Please send me the following information in a private message:

 

Phone model and carrier

VIN

Explanation of what's happening with Vehicle Health Report.

 

Thanks!

 

Rebecca