Kelleytoons Posted July 16, 2014 Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 Just took delivery of our C-Max yesterday and driving it home last night I was a little nuts trying to get the ambient lighting turned down or off. So I get home and crack open the manual and the controls I have don't seem to work or (more likely) it's a question of user error. First of all, I DO seem to have ambient lighting (but I need to ask here to be sure). There is this glow around the footwells of the driver and passenger sides, as well as lights where the door handles and cup holders are. This glow is quite bright and right now is bluish and appears to be on whenever the car is on and the lights are on or turned on auto mode. On the overhead (I have no sun roof) there is a lit control panel as described in the manual with two buttons and a knob. The manual says the right hand button turns things on and off and the left one cycles through color choices, while the middle knob controls brightness. Well and good, except that only one button seems to have any effect and it's not the one they say. The right hand button will cycle through two choices -- green or blue. But neither the knob nor the other button appear to do anything, no matter what state the engine and lights are in (which is to say, even with the engine on and lights on I can't get these to function). So does anyone here have an understanding of what I'm doing wrong? Or is this something I need to discuss with our dealer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Smith Posted July 16, 2014 Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 on the console on mine I have two buttons, and a dial. the button on the passenger side controls the interior lights Ie overhead and footwell. on or off independent of everything else. the button on the driver side which has a painter pallette on it. controls the color of the ambient/footwell lights. half a dozen different colors, and the dial in the center control the brightness of these lights. When you open a door the door light turns red... you must have the headlights on to activate the ambient lights. when its dark its much easier to see the lights as well. JAZ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelleytoons Posted July 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 Yeah, well that's not how mine work. As I said, the button on the right cycles through two choices, and the other two do nothing. But I sure seem to have ambient lights (unless I don't understand what ambient lights are). Perhaps I have them but they can't be controlled in any way? (That seems pretty weird, though, considering how bright they are). I guess this is something I need to ask the dealership. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Smith Posted July 16, 2014 Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 does your switch panel look the same? not sure if the SEL is different form the SE http://owner.ford.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Owner/Page/OwnerVideoPage&year=2013&make=Ford&model=C-MAX%20Hybrid the button on the right all it does is turn on/off the dome lights.. and the center is a dimmer... the ambient lights is the footwell, door handle, cupholders, ect. not the gauge lights.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S70Pilot Posted July 16, 2014 Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 The ambient light should only work with the headlight turned on, i.e. at dusk/night if you have auto-headlights Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kostby Posted July 16, 2014 Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 (edited) The ambient lighting option is included on SE's with Equipment Group 201A and 203A, but not 200A (base SE model) or 202A (adds MyFordTouch and Sirius)Ambient llghting is standard on all SEL's and all Energi models (which are all SEL trim level). You need to be in a pretty dark area. Your own headlights in the garage are bright enough to overcome most of the effect, even at full ambient brightness. I think the car 'remembers' the last Ambient color setting, but I'm not positive, because I rarely drive it at night. Here are some pics. You select one color for all the ambient LED's at a time, so these are three different settings: Red in the cupholders: Purple in the footwell reflected by my son's mostly-white shoes: Green behind the door handles:(The lock/unlock buttons to the left are backlit in blue. The blue of the dash displays reflects on the door handle underneath and to the right.) Edited July 16, 2014 by kostby salsaguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banditb17 Posted July 16, 2014 Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 I think the ambient lighting color setting follows the key. I have mine set to red, so when I use my key the lights are red. My wife has blue. Haven't 100% tested this yet, but it seems to be the case. It always irritated me how the intensity knob FEELS reversed. I would assume that based on the swoosh painted on it that if you turn it right it would be dim and if you turn it left it would be bright. It is the opposite. I understand their logic, but it bothers me anyways :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banditb17 Posted July 16, 2014 Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 I also wish I could choose a color theme for my HUD display and radio. How about some custom firmware? :rockon: salsaguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelleytoons Posted July 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 I have the 203A package and, as I say, I do see the ambient light but just can't control it (much). The passenger side button switches it from green to blue but I can't turn it up/down or on/off. So perhaps it is broken -- I'll call the dealership tonight to see (if so, bummer since they are 40 miles away). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kostby Posted July 16, 2014 Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 Left (driver side button) controls the selected ambient color from the palette of 6 (I think) choices. The door pocket LEDs automatically turn red when the door is opened at night, regardless of ambient color palette selection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelleytoons Posted July 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 Yeah, the manual does say that should happen -- it just doesn't for me. I'll give it one more shot tonight when my wife comes home (she took it to work :<( But I suspect mine is broken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xanotos Posted July 16, 2014 Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 (edited) Kellytoons- What is going on is that you have the interior lights off when you enter or exit the vehicle.If you didn't have that feature off, the passenger button would turn all interior lights on and off.I had the same problem figuring it out when I first got my baby. Edited July 16, 2014 by xanotos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelleytoons Posted July 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 Maybe I'm being especially slow this evening but I'm not quite sure what you mean. I get into the car and turn it on and make sure the headlights are on (the two requirements for the ambient lights to work). They are also on, but I cannot adjust the brightness nor turn them off again (trust me, I drove for an hour with them on late last night and it was fairly annoying). I *can* change them from green to blue, but by using a button which isn't supposed to do that. I think they are broken but I'm going to a Ford dealer tomorrow to be either enlightened or get it repaired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtb9153 Posted July 16, 2014 Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 I also wish I could choose a color theme for my HUD display and radio. How about some custom firmware? :rockon:HUD display? I've never heard of that being available on CMax? HUD in my world means the dashboard gauges i.e. the speedometer is displayed in front of you on the windshield. Is that what you are referring to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtb9153 Posted July 16, 2014 Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 does your switch panel look the same? not sure if the SEL is different form the SE http://owner.ford.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Owner/Page/OwnerVideoPage&year=2013&make=Ford&model=C-MAX%20Hybrid the button on the right all it does is turn on/off the dome lights.. and the center is a dimmer... the ambient lights is the footwell, door handle, cupholders, ect. not the gauge lights..thats the same as my SEL :thumbsup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xanotos Posted July 17, 2014 Report Share Posted July 17, 2014 Kellytoons, what I meant is if you open your car door and the interior lights do not turn on, that button on the passenger side will not do anything if you press it other than change the colors from whatever you have them at to a lighter blue. If you have your interior lights to turn on when you enter the car, the right button will turn on all the lights in your interior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banditb17 Posted July 17, 2014 Report Share Posted July 17, 2014 HUD display? I've never heard of that being available on CMax? HUD in my world means the dashboard gauges i.e. the speedometer is displayed in front of you on the windshield. Is that what you are referring to? Yeah... I am a gamer so anything in front of me is pretty much a HUD. I am used to having an excessive amount of information being thrown at me at all times, so having pretty little leaves growing or just a compass feels inefficient. And since my ambient lighting is set to Red, I would like red gauges too :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelleytoons Posted July 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2014 Kellytoons, what I meant is if you open your car door and the interior lights do not turn on, that button on the passenger side will not do anything if you press it other than change the colors from whatever you have them at to a lighter blue. If you have your interior lights to turn on when you enter the car, the right button will turn on all the lights in your interior. Hmmm -- okay, so where, exactly, is THAT setting? (To turn on or not the interior lights when the door is opened). As for the other -- as I suspected, it was user error (exactly *what* user error I'm still not sure). I was driving tonight and as I was driving I tried the controls and they all worked as the manual said. Why last night I couldn't get to happen I'll blame on being an old man (it's a good excuse for nearly any situation :>). But to me driving around with the ambient lights on isn't very useful. However, I would like it if they would come on when I opened the door and then stopped when I started up (I just can't find this in the manual anyway, but I'll look again). salsaguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salsaguy Posted July 17, 2014 Report Share Posted July 17, 2014 I checked on the site and the videos for the 2013 and 2014 models are the exact same link for the ambient lighting systemhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj4oQ2CvALU&fwid=1251735368779 does your switch panel look the same? not sure if the SEL is different form the SE http://owner.ford.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Owner/Page/OwnerVideoPage&year=2013&make=Ford&model=C-MAX%20Hybrid the button on the right all it does is turn on/off the dome lights.. and the center is a dimmer... the ambient lights is the footwell, door handle, cupholders, ect. not the gauge lights.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fbov Posted July 17, 2014 Report Share Posted July 17, 2014 Today may be too late if you've already gone to the dealer, but I'd also check your configuration in ETIShttp://www.etis.ford.com/ I've got "multi colour ambient lighting" and "less footwell lights" listed in ETIS for an SEL with 302A. Just a thought...Frank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banditb17 Posted July 17, 2014 Report Share Posted July 17, 2014 (edited) Never seen etis before. Just put up my vin and I see: 14S04 - REPROGRAM RESTRAINTS CONTROL MODULE 14B03 - FUEL ECONOMY CUSTOMER SATISFACTION Where did 14B03 come from? My vehicle health report only showed 14S04?? edit: oh man, does that mean I should be getting a check? rock on! I was going off of the 45/40/43 when I bought the car. Edited July 17, 2014 by banditb17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fbov Posted July 18, 2014 Report Share Posted July 18, 2014 As I've said before, ETIS is a wonderful thing! Even when I don't like the answer... "less immersion heater" is one I'd really like to say "with" but Paul's priced it out and a retrofit is not in the cards. Frank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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