firetoad Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 (edited) Well, after months of waiting, my wife and I finally picked up our brand new 2013 C-Max... It's the hybrid model, with push button start and a remote starter fob. We enjoyed the car for the first 10 minute drive home before starting to have issues. The alarm goes off for seemingly no reason when we shut off the car, lock it and walk away. It can even happen 10-20 minutes after parking the car and going to bed at night. We felt like new parents who couldn't get a baby to sleep through the night, and no way to find out what was the matter. It was extremely aggravating. Further, at this moment, my wife is stranded at work because the battery died. I feel very embarrassed for my wife who volunteered to take her coworkers out to lunch in her shiny brand new car today, only to find the battery dead only a couple hours after parking it at work. We've had the car for about 24-hours and seen more problems then I've ever seen with my 3 year old Fusion Hybrid. One thing I've always hated about my Fusion though was how a couple minutes after I walk away from the car, the car alarm will freak out if there was an interior light left on. Instead of just turning it off, it waits until I'm just about out of earshot to make a scene. I wonder how many times it's done that AFTER I was completely out of earshot. Now we have a much newer C-Max, and it looks like Ford has taken the irritating feature to new heights as the delay is a random amount of time up to 15 minutes, and the cause is a complete mystery still. Is there any way to find out why the car alarm is going off??? If not, what's the point? I'm sure we have some things to learn about keeping the alarm from going off. One superstition we already developed is to never lock the car using the fob, because that seems to anger the cmax alarm gods. The only acceptable thing is to use the thumb sensor on the handle exclusively. I can't believe that locking and unlocking the car has a learning curve. We don't yet know why the battery died. The ford roadside assistance is going to meet my wife at her workplace today to look into that problem. I'm a loyal Ford buyer and several members of my family worked for Ford their whole careers. For the first time, I feel a little foolish for owning a Ford product. I do hope that we're able to work out these issues and we're not plagued by this garbage until we finally have to get rid of the thing. Edited January 18, 2013 by firetoad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RachelnLa Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 Yikes! Hope the issues are cleared up soon and it's something easy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firetoad Posted January 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 (edited) I'm also, of course, new the forum and I look forward to having a place to talk about my experiences with people who might be in the same boat. Is there a way to fix the title of my original post? I feel like a moron having left in "2013 C-Max 2013". I always seem to find things like that after sending an email or making a post, never before, as much as I try. Edit: You can change the title of a topic using the "Edit" button at the bottom of your posts, but you have to then click on the Green "Use Full Editor" button to change the topic instead of an individual post. Thanks! Edited January 18, 2013 by firetoad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurel Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 Good grief! What a bummer. I would be leaving it at the dealership and tell them you won't be taking it home until they can assure you that they have the problems fixed. I guess I have been very lucky as my C-Max has been problem free (I am knocking on wood right not so as not to hex my car). I'm very sorry for your troubles. Adair 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PWBarrett Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 Is this an add-on car alarm, or just the stock "perimeter alarm"? Maybe you have a door or the hatch not closing all the way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurel Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 I'm also, of course, new the forum and I look forward to having a place to talk about my experiences with people who might be in the same boat. Is there a way to fix the title of my original post? I feel like a moron having left in "2013 C-Max 2013". I always seem to find things like that after sending an email or making a post, never before, as much as I try. Thanks!I think you should be able to go back to your original post and edit it. Look at your first post and then down at the bottom and look for edit and click on edit and change the title and that should do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RachelnLa Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 Funny, didn't notice Til you mentioned it. I had to go back and look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roninsd Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 Wow, not a very happy first meeting with your new car! Like Laurel, I've been problem free for the most part (aside from clock and MFT issues). Hopefully, your dealership be able to get you back up and running in short order. Please let us know how things fall out (so to speak). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firetoad Posted January 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 Thanks for the replies. Yeah, it was not a great first day. On the bright side, a service guy did drive out to meet my wife at work and look at the problem. He jumped the battery and disabled the car alarm (stock perimeter alarm, I suppose?) so that it wouldn't go off. The erratic alarm was not due to a door or other hatch being not closed all the way, unless a sensor is faulty. We scheduled an appointment for repair which, delightfully, is in our own driveway this Monday, a holiday (so we're both home from work anyway). Their theory is that the alarm and dead battery were connected. So, there's some hope that we'll be able to put the initial troubles behind us. Fingers crossed. FoutsNC 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrelld Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 Thanks for the replies. Yeah, it was not a great first day. On the bright side, a service guy did drive out to meet my wife at work and look at the problem. He jumped the battery and disabled the car alarm (stock perimeter alarm, I suppose?) so that it wouldn't go off. The erratic alarm was not due to a door or other hatch being not closed all the way, unless a sensor is faulty. We scheduled an appointment for repair which, delightfully, is in our own driveway this Monday, a holiday (so we're both home from work anyway). Their theory is that the alarm and dead battery were connected. So, there's some hope that we'll be able to put the initial troubles behind us. Fingers crossed. Hello and welcome to the early adopters club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RachelnLa Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 Let us know what they find! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobJustBob Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 Gee, firetoad, I am certainly sorry to hear that you and your wife had such a rocky start to your C-Max ownership experience. I certainly hope your dealership can get the problem(s) fixed pronto. I have read several other posts on this forum about brand new C-Max's experiencing dead batteries, so it seems like it may be a little bit of a problem with this vehicle. I have been very fortunate in that I haven't had any problems with my C-Max. Please keep us posted as to how you make out. Adair 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Generalbeluga Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 I would have them check out your fuse box under the hood. Several have reported that some of the lug nuts melted and shorted out. This was causing strange battery discharges and other unexplained electrical happenings. Search the forum for shorted fuse block and I think you will find the string. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertlane Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 I'm betting that the battery and alarm are directly connected. Please keep us posted with Ford's findings. Sorry to read your experience thus far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fits2at Posted January 22, 2013 Report Share Posted January 22, 2013 Sorry to hear about the rocky start. What did they find yesterday? Hope you don't have any issues going forward! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firetoad Posted January 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2013 Update, the alarm guy came out last weekend and spent around 3 hours working on it. I was surprised to find that he didn't really have diagnotic equipment of any sort, he just started rewiring it hoping that it would work better, starting by tapping into a 'different power wire'. The first few attempts failed, eventually he was on the phone with HQ while he rewired the whole alarm from their instructions. It was dusk when he finished.Though I'm concerned about the apparently botched first wiring job, and the haphazard approach to fixing it, it does seem to have worked. Although, we didn't yet verify that the alarm DOES go off when needed!No more dead batteries or false alarms, so we're happy for now.Would you believe it though? It rained the other day and we found out that the wiper arm to the rear window wiper is missing! What in the world happened? That's not even a dealer add on I think. That should have come off the assembly line, right?Sigh.On a positive note, my wife loves driving the car and we both are still geeked about the handless hatchback latch and parallel parking. And I ordered a Sandisk Fit 32GB usb drive to try out the mp3 player next week. :-) The flash drive is absolutely tiny and shouldn't obstruct or snag anything in the console compartment. Looking forward to try out more toys on the C-Max. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roninsd Posted January 27, 2013 Report Share Posted January 27, 2013 Glad all seems to be working like it should. My Sandrive just arrived yesterday. Tiny!! Now i just have to figure out how to get my music on it so it plays! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RachelnLa Posted January 27, 2013 Report Share Posted January 27, 2013 Missing an arm?? Yikes. I would think the plant or the dealership would have noticed that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jus-A-CMax Posted January 27, 2013 Report Share Posted January 27, 2013 Glad all seems to be working like it should. My Sandrive just arrived yesterday. Tiny!! Now i just have to figure out how to get my music on it so it plays! If PC, try RealPlayer to rip from CD to mp3 and it will create a .m3u playlist as well. :) If Apple, what do you call a blind deer ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roninsd Posted January 27, 2013 Report Share Posted January 27, 2013 Thanks for the suggestion, Jus. I may give Realplayer a shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrelld Posted January 27, 2013 Report Share Posted January 27, 2013 For a Mac Alll2MP3 works great; http://www.tresrrr.com/All2MP3/ENGLISH.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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