2013 Ford Redundant C-Max Hybrid: battery drain or dead battery

Filed Mar 16, 2019 · Electrical · 54,000 miles · CA

I purchased my car used from a dealership in april of 2016. I leased the same model previously with no problems. I went out of town for an extended time and came back to find the battery dead. I was surprised, as I often travel and had no problems like this with the other c-max. I called a service, they got it started (with some difficulty) I drove it for about 45 minutes and it seemed fine. Several months passed and I went away, came back and car was dead. Aaa started it. I drove it for some miles, then stopped it . It wouldn't start. I had it towed to the dealership. It was sunday, so they were closed. They went out the next morning and it started. They went through my car and could not find any problems. It drove fine for several months, and I went out of town again for extended time. Came back-car wouldn't start. This time I had purchased a battery charger, in case this happened again, but it was not powerful enough to get the car going. Called aaa and they started the car. I drove the car for about 1 hour, on the freeway, came home and everything seemed fine. Dealership told me that "something must be draining the battery" but could not find a problem. Today, 2 weeks later, my car is once again not starting. I noticed yesterday evening, that everytime I got in the car, it would not start. A message would come on saying it was shutting down to save the battery. A blue line would appear and when it had "loaded" all the way, I could start my car. Today it is totally dead, and wouldn't start even with a "jump". So I am stuck until monday. Even if I get it started, I don't trust that it won't start the next time I turn it off.

Filed Nov 21, 2017 · Electrical · 30,000 miles · NY

Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford c-max hybrid. The contact stated that the 12-volt battery did not stay charged. The battery died overnight and was jumpstarted. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The failure recurred several times. The vehicle was towed to the dealer (koerner ford of syracuse, syracuse, ny, 315‑474‑4275) where the battery was recharged and restarted the vehicle. A diagnostic test was performed, but the technician was unable to pinpoint the source of the failure. The failure recurred. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure was not repaired. The contact complained to the state attorney general and was referred to the federal safety agency. The failure mileage was 30,000.

Filed Nov 9, 2014 · Electrical · 1,000 miles · CA

Purchased this vehicle in march 2014. First incidence of a dead battery happened around june of same year and when I called the service department from where I purchased it, they said to have it jumped and then drive it to dealership's service department. Roadside assistance came out to jump battery and then I drove it to dealership (about 40 miles away). Technicians did whatever testing on it and came back to me and said that since I had driven it such a distance, it "had reset all computer functions and they couldn't tell what was wrong". They then told me that if it should happen again, to have vehicle towed to service department so that they could hook up computer to it to see what is wrong. August of 2014, went to leave for work and car was dead again. This time, called roadside assistance to get it towed to dealership. With the way this vehicle is when it is "dead", I could not put the car into neutral to get it out of my driveway for tow truck, so he had to give it a quick jump to get enough power for me to get it into street. Towed it to dealership, they ran diagnostics, and decided to replace battery. Today, november 9, 2014, went to go get into car and it was found dead again. Will be having it towed to dealership in morning to see what they have to say. Very unhappy about this issue as I really do enjoy the car.

Filed Oct 30, 2014 · Brakes, Electrical · 21,000 miles · MI

Purchased used c-max 2013 on or about 15 october 2014. Visited ford dealer 3 times. The next morning the car was found dead in our drive way. Charged the battery at 12 amps for 2-2.5 hours and read 75% charge. There were no indications of battery or charging system malfunction. Called the ford dealer and tried to drive to dealer located 15-20 minutes away. Stopped at red light and proceeded through light when green. Got to the green light side and the battery light flashed for 2-3 seconds, blinked and the car quit. Speed under 10 MPH. Hwy speed 50 MPH limit. With the car now in the off position you have no power steering, no power brakes, no emergency flashers and no brake lights due to battery failure. One day later they found that the charging dc/dc system module had failed which is why the battery failed. The battery light came on at or about 12.0 v instead of 12.8 volts which would have indicated a failed charging system (like the old alternator light but this vehicle does not have an alternator). No battery/charging system monitoring system gauge present in standard instrumentation panel. I believe that there is an error in the computer monitoring system to alarm at 12.0 v (dead battery voltage) verse 12.8 volts showing a failed charging system component. Posted alert on c-max form to buy volt meter to plug into 12 v socket to monitor until ford fixes both the warning light and also makes the charging system components fault tolerant (have 3 or more parallel system with alarms). Called ford. Wrote ford a letter advising them of this condition.

Filed Jul 5, 2013 · Electrical · 6,028 miles · KS

Vehicle battery discovered to be totally discharged after sitting in garage overnight. Told by ford dealer to "jump start" it and bring in for service. This was done. When I picked the car up at dealership, the service writer, stated that the "computers" indicated that for some unknown reason, the radio had turned on (on it's own, and without any key in the ignition) and had drained the battery overnight. He stated that the service department had "reprogrammed the dcdc module per tsb 13-6-23", (this bulletin is for cold weather charging improvements - temperature for the last 60 days has been over 75 degrees and per the bulletin it would not apply) and this would cure the situation. On 7-5-2013, I entered my garage at 5am, and discovered that the "fuel pump" had turned itself on and was running constantly. The vehicle had not been operated for over 12 hours and the keys were inside the house. I am very concerned that something may "turn itself on" and a fire will start. Vehicle is scheduled to return to the dealership again.