2013 FORD C-MAX Complaints

The wrench ?? light came on in my car. and when I put it in drive the car took off without me putting my foot on the gas. and it was like I had no control over the gas pedal. I tried hitting the brakes and it was still wanting to accelerate.

On the morning of 12/13/23 I got in my car to go to work. Upon starting my car the warning light for service power steering came on. I noticed the car was very hard to steer when existing my drive way. I drove the car back into my neighborhood to see if it was safe to drive in traffic. The steering was so tight and steering wheel would fight me wanting to return to center. With the fault code still present I went home and inspected the steering system and hooked up my scan tool to the OBD port. I had a fault code of 3000-53 and 3000-49. The 3000-53 would not clear. I have found online other Fford vehicles with recalls for the same steering system setup, but not on the Ford C Max. If this had happened when I was driving on the road at a high rate of speed it would have caused a serious accident, as the steering was very unresponsive and actually fighting my input of direction.

I pulled over to take a phone call. The car was in park but idling. When I finished the call, I put the car in drive and released my foot from the brake. The car began to accelerate as if I was pressing the accelerator, but I was not. I checked the make sure there was no obstruction near the pedals. There was nothing there, no random object, no floor mat, nothing. I tried to release my foot a few more times and it continued to accelerate without any pressure on the accelerator. I put the car in park, noticed there was a wrench image lit up on the dash and then turned off the car. When I started it again, the wrench was gone and the car drove normally. I called the service center to make an appointment to have the car looked at. The earliest appointment is in 19 days.

I have owned this car for the last 9 years and have kept It well-maintained. For over a year, the car stalls in the midst of driving, even on a highway, leaving me the only option to find a shoulder or safe area to park. After I turn off the engine, wait for a few minutes, and turn it back on, the engine turns on just fine and I am able to drive. Lately (for about a month or so) this has been happening more frequently(every other day, sometimes twice in a short while compared to once every 3-4 weeks). A few months ago I took it to the local Ford dealership and they told me, that they would need to replace the hybrid system, with an estimated cost of $15000, which didn't make any sense as even car is not worth that much. I also called Ford customer service and even they didn't offer much and just told me something to the effect of "tough luck". I came across this post [XXX] which matches exactly with the issue I am experiencing. That particular car owner was able to get the transmission replaced by Ford, under a California law and the issue was resolved. This seems to suggest, that Ford bears the responsibility for this manufacturing fault and they should own up to it. It is not fair that after paying over $35000, for the car, the only options I am given is to either take the risk of a catastrophic accident with the car stalling in the midst of a highway (with no safe place to stop) or just junk the car. I am pleading that your department should make it a required safety recall and Ford should be required to either fix this issue, at no cost to the owners or compensate them fairly for the present value of the car. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

On March 21, after communicating several times with Yakima regarding difficulties I was having in installing the roof rack onto our car, I was able to install the racks, though the tower and clip system for the front rack were uncomfortably at the limit of extension of the drive bolt (the part of the system that applies the tension that keeps the rack on the car). With the multiple installation attempts and communication with Yakima Consumer Service I am very confident that I installed the rack consistent with Yakima instructions. Following installation the roof racks were not used to transport our kayaks until mid June. On June 16 my wife was driving on the very busy Interstate 5 close to our home in Lynnwood WA when the front rack separated from the car, impacting and damaging the roof on the way off. It was extremely lucky that no vehicle was behind her, and no accident was caused. We found remnants of the front rack on the side of the highway, and there was clear evidence that the rack had been hit by one or more vehicles. I don't know the extent of the damage to those vehicles. I called the Washington State Police to report and ask whether any incident had been reported; none had. The next day I submitted a report to Yakima about the incident. To this date I have not received any response to my report, somewhat surprising since the Consumer Service dept had been very prompt in responding to my previous communications when I was having difficulty installing the racks. Email correspondence with Yakima and photos are attached.

The contact owns a 2013 Ford C-Max Energi. The contact stated while reversing, the back over prevention camera displayed the image upside down. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or the dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 144,000.

The component that failed is the lug nuts. They are swollen. Had them replaced when I got new tires in December, 2022 because mechanic could not use the ones that came with the previous tires. He said I would be driving on broken lug nuts because of how he had to take off the lug nuts that came with my Ford. On May 17/2023, took my car to A ford dealership for an oil change and inspection. They could not rotate the tire because of the swollen lug nuts.

Description from Ford Dealer is in quotes, plus I added more details: "Rear sub-frame" (F1FZ5035D Cross Member) "broke in half" (due to rusting). "Unsafe to drive at this time." Good thing my wife questioned the new clunking sound that was emanating from the rear of the vehicle when going over bumps. We were able to proactively catch this before it resulted in an accident. I believe these parts should last much longer than 10 years.

The contact owns a 2013 Ford C-Max Energi. The contact stated while driving 30 MPH, there was a grinding sound coming from underneath the vehicle; followed by the vehicle shaking abnormally. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the dealer stated that the front axle and the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, and the manufacturer stated that there were no recalls for the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline to file a complaint. The failure mileage was 73,000.

I went to change lanes and all of a sudden the steering became difficult. I thought the car had lost power, but it was only the steering. The sudden loss came as a surprise and did cause me to loose control momentarily during the lane change. Shortly thereafter a warning light came on indicating the power steering needed to be serviced. I was able to arrive at my destination safely, but power steering was completely out. Upon restarting the car the problem went away. Returning home later that evening the problem returned about 5 miles into my trip. I returned home and shortly after brought the car to the auto parts store to see if there was a code on their scan tool. No codes, but this time when the car was started the warning light came on immediately and power steering has quit working 100% of the time.