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.
2013 Ford Redundant C-Max Hybrid steering complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 15 of 15, newest first, as owners wrote them.
During a two-leg road trip from orange county, ca to park city, ut via las vegas, on the first leg just outside las vegas I got a warning message "steering assist fault:service required". Car did not lose steering assist however after the next key cycle (off/on) a steering assist failed message appeared and vehicle lost steering assist. The vehicle was driven carefully to the nearest ford dealer . They told me the fault was caused by excessive tire pressures (really?) and they had set the tire pressures and reset the fault code (c102d - excessive friction in steering rack). On the second leg around 40 miles from destination the same thing happened again - same fault code, same result. Car was taken early next morning to nearest ford dealer in park city. After a short time they diagnosed the problem as a faulty steering rack. They issued a loaner car while steering rack assembly was replaced under warranty. It's my opinion that this was a potentially serious safety issue and after reading of similar occurrences on other ford vehicles, I believe further investigation is warranted.
One month after the electronic steering module failed (as previously reported here) & had to be replaced, the rcm module failed. Advanced traction control, and airbag lights were/are lit on dashboard. I drove without a functioning airbag for 10 days while best ford nashua tried to replace the module which is out of stock. Yesterday 6/6/14 ford nashua provided a rental car until they can get the part.
Stopped to get gas. After fill-up car started but steering was gone, lights on dashboard "check power steering now". Was 75 miles from home. Had to be towed, car in shop for weekend until tuesday waiting for electronic steering module. Towing, car rental and part replaced at ford's expense. There are multiple reports of similar problems on new ford small cars on various internet ford cmax forums. According to reports on internet, this can reoccur and has happened at speed after the module is replaced.
After starting (push button start) and driving out of my garage, the power steering failed and a "service power steering soon" warning was displayed. After I stopped and started again, the power steering was again enabled. I took the car to the dealer but no repairs were performed as they could not duplicate the problem. Error code u3000:49 was stored.
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