Has anyone seen anything about 2013 C-Max Battery Issues?

[Tracy Lichlyter Nonell]

I have had my C-Max for a year now and LOVE it.  A co-worker got hers a few months before I did and has had all kinds of issues with the battery dying.  She also had issues with the car randomly locking on her.  She has a key ignition which is different from mine which has no key.  Ford has finally agreed to replace her car which is great for her.  She tells me this is a known issue but I can't find anything on it anywhere.  Has anyone else heard of any of these issues with our beloved C-Max?

 

Thanks,

 

Tracy :love_shower:

[plus 3 golfer]

Welcome Tracy, yes there is a 12V battery issue and many threads on the topic and even a battery failure poll.  Look in the "Batteries"  section of the Forum.  

 

There is nothing definitive from Ford on the cause(s).  It appears to me that the issue is more prevalent on the SE model (key ignition switch) than on the SEL model which has the push button start.

[Jus-A-CMax]

Mod thread edited - moved this thread to the appropriate Batteries section.

@Tracy Lichlyter Nonell

 

Welcome, welcome, welcome :)  As P3G posted, there are many threads here relating to the battery. Some owners have this, many don't and it seems more prevalent with the early SE. You have the SEL and so do I and I know my ONLY battery dead issue was man-made - the repair shop (from accident) left the head lights on. If any of our posters have any dealer issues or CMax issues - we  are lucky to have official Ford Motor Company reps here, see Official Ford Service Rep Ashley is here to help sort out any issues you may have even tough ones like batteries. Not every car is perfect and even the most expensive cars like Aston Martins, lemons are prevalent and I don't expect these to improve with cars such as our CMaxs becoming more like computers than just plain mechanic iron beasts with a gas burning engine.

Feel free to join in any discussions in our wee lil CMax community.

 

:)

Edited July 25, 2014 by Jus-A-CMax

[Tom]

Would it be a good idea to collect all the battery discussions under one umbrella?  I never know where to post or if I've viewed all the information available.

[scottwood2]

Welcome Tracy, yes there is a 12V battery issue and many threads on the topic and even a battery failure poll.  Look in the "Batteries"  section of the Forum.  

 

There is nothing definitive from Ford on the cause(s).  It appears to me that the issue is more prevalent on the SE model (key ignition switch) than on the SEL model which has the push button start.

Just wondering if you are saying that the models with a key have more problems than the push button start or are you just using that to state a difference between the SE and SEL models?  

 

I am looking at the SE model but have not seen anything tied to the key ignition switch.  Maybe I missed something?   

 

From what I could see it see more likely that SE models with the standard 4" sync system seem to have more issues.  Add the MFT and the number of problems goes way down, even lower than a bunch of the SEL models.  Now this is purely votes and not percentage of owners.  So does that mean there are less SE models with the 202A or 203A package?  Hard to tell.  

[plus 3 golfer]

The reference is for the OP since she said her friend has a model with a key which is the SE. ;)

[rob52481]

Car wouldn't start. Dash lights worked but no start. I've had this car a week

[rob52481]

Car wouldn't start. Dash lights worked but no start. I've had this car a week

[FordService]

Car wouldn't start. Dash lights worked but no start. I've had this car a week

Hi rob52481,

 

Welcome to the forum, and congrats on your C-MAX!

 

How's everything been since your last post? Please keep me in the loop, and let me know your mileage. I'll check out some options. :)

 

Meagan

[Noah Harbinger]

Car wouldn't start. Dash lights worked but no start. I've had this car a week

 

You can do better than that. Tell us the story of your car! Sounds like you got a used car. Miles? private party? Model? Have you figured out the build date yet? 

[cheezy]

Our used '13 SEL with 64K miles still has the factory installed battery in it.

 

08/12 Production date. 

[jestevens]

Never had a 12V battery problem with my SEL (with "keyless"), although Ford still sent me a customer satisfaction program letter/invitation the other day.  Thing is, I don't take my vehicle to the dealer on a frequent basis because of the 10K mi oil changes and otherwise been pretty reliable. 

 

 

I still think they are still trying to track down the current drain and seem to have several fixes they can try depending on the variables associated with a particular vehicle..

 

Among other things the letter suggests that you don't leave a bunch of accessories plugged into the car's 12V and USB outlets.  We have several SEs at work and one of them just went dead the other day.  The SEs seem to have more of an issue for whatever reason.  The vehicles at work don't ever have stuff plugged in, but they do sometimes sit around for a while.

Edited July 20, 2015 by jestevens