My instructions on restoring the hybrid EV function on the Ford Fusion Hybrid approaching the 8/9+ years mark.

[TonyPSchaefer]

@allen84 Thanks so much for the explanation and instructions.

My wife had been putting off the airbag recall and went in today.  I printed the instructions and she showed them to the Service Rep.  It was the first they'd heard of the issue.  She called me as she drove home sounding as though she had been jumping for joy.  She had her hybrid back!

 

If anyone in the Chicagoland area encounters this problem, head over to Wickstrom Ford in Barrington.  Ask for Mark Karm.  He will know exactly what you're talking about and what to do.  They charged one full hour of labor at $156.  Steep, IMHO, but worth it to see the smile on my wife's face.

 

[Edit: addition]

After I made the original post, she told me the technician said the process worked exactly as the instructions said they would.  Everything was exactly as imaged and explained.  He gave her kudos for having done the research; she gave the kudos to me; I'm passing them on to Allen.

Edited December 14, 2019 by TonyPSchaefer
Addition

[DenverPed]

Tony,

You were lucky to find a dealer with a tech who could read. I paid a Denver dealer $300 and the tech couldn’t get it.

Mine was fixed by my 23 year old Grandson. It is wonderful to have a hybrid again!

Apparently Ford Techs don’t post on a site like this.

@allan84 is the real hero.

[atholt]

Like several users I want to thank allan84 for the detailed description.  I just bought a 2010 Fusion Hybrid with about 168,000 on it.  This is my first Hybrid and the more I read, the more I didn't think it was staying in EV mode like it was meant to.   I read your instructions yesterday, ordered the OBD from Amazon yesterday, received it today and performed the reset in about 10 minutes.  I am very happy with the results.   I am curious to what else I can do with the Forscan software.  

I have read that several people had their HVB re-balanced.  Not sure if this is something I can do or should do myself like the age reset.  I have never driven a new one so I am a bit unsure about how they SHOULD act.   The vehicle is going to my daughter.   Not exactly a Christmas present but the timing works out.  

Thanks again to you Allan.  Any information on re-balancing or advice would be welcome.  

 

Thank You...

[oriza]

As I mentioned earlier, I am still getting terrible mileage even after doing this fix. Well, I took my Fusion to the dealership today here in Ann Arbor and was told that they would be happy to do the $140 worth of tests required to assess my battery, but they "almost never find anything" when it comes to fuel mileage problems. I brought up this procedure and the tech had never heard of it. Curious if that's a direct order from Ford to not talk about it, or if the news just hasn't reached them yet...based on that though I think I'm just going to make a new thread and start troubleshooting there.... Maybe FORSCAN can help with this issue. 

 

Edited December 16, 2019 by oriza

[PaulGo]

On 10/3/2019 at 4:56 PM, allen84 said:

So Ford apparently will announce an official fix for this it seems:

 

Oct 3 2019  8922 - 2010-2012 Fusion HEV, 2010-2011 Milan HEV, 2011-2012 MKZ HEV - Reduced ElectricVehicle Operation

Some 2010-2012 Fusion hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), 2010-2011 Milan HEV and 2011-2012 MKZ HEV vehicles may experience reduced electric vehicle operation and increased gasoline engine operation. Do not attempt repairs at this time. Engineering is investigating, monitor OASIS for updates.

So far Ford has not given the dealers any instruction on how to fix the problem and has told the dealers not to do any repairs.  Hopefully they will come up with a meaningful solution that works. 

[apothicca]

15 hours ago, atholt said:

Like several users I want to thank allan84 for the detailed description.  I just bought a 2010 Fusion Hybrid with about 168,000 on it.  This is my first Hybrid and the more I read, the more I didn't think it was staying in EV mode like it was meant to.   I read your instructions yesterday, ordered the OBD from Amazon yesterday, received it today and performed the reset in about 10 minutes.  I am very happy with the results.   I am curious to what else I can do with the Forscan software.  

I have read that several people had their HVB re-balanced.  Not sure if this is something I can do or should do myself like the age reset.  I have never driven a new one so I am a bit unsure about how they SHOULD act.   The vehicle is going to my daughter.   Not exactly a Christmas present but the timing works out.  

Thanks again to you Allan.  Any information on re-balancing or advice would be welcome.  

 

Thank You...

The battery will recondition itself. You will know it is doing it because the ICE will cut on and not turn off even when you come to a stop. It will charge the battery all the way to H and still stay charging for a little. Then it will stay like this for around 10-20 minutes. (Engine on, no auto start stop) During this time your brakes may feel a little different. I think it’s because it is not able to use any electricity while it is reconditioning, so regenerative braking doesn’t work. 
 

after 10-20 it will just go back to normal. If the vehicle is taken out of drive, it will cancel the recondition and attempt it later. So keep this in mind. If you drive more on the highway than in the city, it is possible you won’t even know it had a reconditioning event as it can do it during high speed driving as well. 

Edited December 16, 2019 by apothicca

[allen84]

On 12/15/2019 at 8:42 PM, atholt said:

Like several users I want to thank allan84 for the detailed description.  I just bought a 2010 Fusion Hybrid with about 168,000 on it.  This is my first Hybrid and the more I read, the more I didn't think it was staying in EV mode like it was meant to.   I read your instructions yesterday, ordered the OBD from Amazon yesterday, received it today and performed the reset in about 10 minutes.  I am very happy with the results.   I am curious to what else I can do with the Forscan software.  

I have read that several people had their HVB re-balanced.  Not sure if this is something I can do or should do myself like the age reset.  I have never driven a new one so I am a bit unsure about how they SHOULD act.   The vehicle is going to my daughter.   Not exactly a Christmas present but the timing works out.  

Thanks again to you Allan.  Any information on re-balancing or advice would be welcome.  

 

Thank You...

 

My car did its first re-balance on its own, approximately 5 months after I performed the EV fix. It was the only setting I've changed within the ForScan. Nothing Else.  I described this instance in my previous post on Nov 22.  Exactly what I experienced that was described in the post above by Apothicca.

Edited December 17, 2019 by allen84

[ldubya46]

Thank you Allen.  I just applied the "fix" you posted.  I have been experiencing all the symptoms common to this issue for several months now on my 2010 FFH.  Reset the battery age to year 1 and test drove the car around the block.  It stayed in EV mode the whole way and avg'd 77mpg .  It would not stay in EV mode before the reset.   Instead the ICE would start immediately.  It seems to be back to the car I purchased.  My Fusion only has 105500 miles on it.  I will watch it closely over the next few days and report any issues if they occur.  Thanks again for all the help.

[rexberglund]

Has Ford ever come up with a Technical Service Bulletin, Field Service Bulletin, or recall to address this issue?

[PaulGo]

45 minutes ago, rexberglund said:

Has Ford ever come up with a Technical Service Bulletin, Field Service Bulletin, or recall to address this issue?

I was hoping the Ford would have come up with a fix for this issue by now.  My service manager who I have been in contact with has not notified me about any fix. 

[DenverPed]

None. I am still waiting for that call from my service manager. ? Meanwhile my grandson did the software fix 2 months ago and my car is performing just as it did when new.

[tadarbie]

Worked great!!! Fixed problem, 112,000 miles and it runs like new again!

Thanks Allen,  please send info on how I can pay pal you something for your effort and detailed instructions.

 

I have never used an OBD device before but your instructions provided enough detail to get me through the process of making the recommended change. There was only one extra thing I had to do. When I got an ELM error I went into windows 10 and had windows search for an update on the coms port driver which fixed the problem.  

I spoke with my dealer(Cincinnati Ohio) where I have always had my car serviced and they said they never heard of this problem, technician checked and said there were no recalls or TSB's.

Sounds like planned obsolescence to me! For my wife and I this was a safety issue. Car wouldn't get out of an intersection or across traffic fast enough, almost had accidents on several occasions.

 

Thanks again.   

[merc190d]

Hey Allen84,

I just wanted to thank you for your post on this issue. I'd been having this problem for about a year before I took it in to the local stealership for a diagnostic. They told me they saw no codes related to this issue but started a battery rebalance and told me they could replace the battery even though it showed good. I personally think the service manager is retarded. I had heard of this fix but had no idea there was anything like Forscan out there. Anyway after I read your post I followed your instructions and 15 minutes later my hybrid has EV mode back again. Thanks again for your excellent post.

 

Rob

[89sandman]

Since my Autel  scanner would only show the live data from the BECM and not adjust any of the parameters I decided to take my 95k miles 2010 into the dealer today. Gave them a copy of the linq to this thread as they had never done this before. Would have done it myself if they had a program for android. Worked like a charm for the cost of $120. My fuel average had gone from 36 to 28, EV mode only when stopped with foot on the brake. The worst thing about this was the huge throttle lag my car had. Sometimes I'd push the pedal and it would take a second or 2 for the car to respond and sometimes the response was very slugish. Doesn't sound like a big deal but the road I live on intersects with a highway so I have to pull out in front of cars going 55-65 mph and the second or 2 lag at the wrong time could cause someone to get seriously injured or killed. This is one of the stupidest things a dealer could do. If they are going to program stuff like this it should have to be disclosed when the car is purchased. If they told their customers in 9 years your hybrid is going to become gas only car no one would buy one. Gonna save my receipt and hopefully if Ford ever makes this right I'll be able to get my money back.

[prdobson]

 

 

Did anyone know at the time of purchase that their hybrid had an age limit on the effectiveness of EV mode?  I certainly was  not informed of the limit and as I have owned my cars for 15 years or more over the past 60 years  it would have been part of my considerations in purchasing the car. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[akirby]

1 hour ago, prdobson said:

 

Did anyone know at the time of purchase that their hybrid had an age limit on the effectiveness of EV mode?  I certainly was  not informed of the limit and as I have owned my cars for 15 years or more over the past 60 years  it would have been part of my considerations in purchasing the car. 

Of course nobody knew about it.  It was probably put in as a temporary measure while they completed long term testing and they just forgot about it.  No conspiracy theories here just sloppy coding and testing.

[Alan Luka]

Can someone assist? I do not get BECM configuration option to appear in FORSCAN. What might I be missing?

[Savhp]

@Alan Luka, Have you verified that your OBD2 tool has both HS-CAN (high speed) and MS-CAN (mid speed) capabilities as per step 1 of the instructions?  I remember that I had to toggle from HS to MS or vice versa in order to read/access certain modules.   I hope that helps.

[lolder]

On 1/1/2020 at 3:40 PM, akirby said:

Of course nobody knew about it.  It was probably put in as a temporary measure while they completed long term testing and they just forgot about it.  No conspiracy theories here just sloppy coding and testing.

I'm not sure it wasn't on purpose since it activates after the hybrid warranty expires. The people that wrote the code may no longer be employed at Ford. They're taking too long to address it.

[eGuru]

1 hour ago, lolder said:

I'm not sure it wasn't on purpose since it activates after the hybrid warranty expires. The people that wrote the code may no longer be employed at Ford. They're taking too long to address it.

What purpose would be served by making users unhappy after the warranty expires?
 

 

 

 

 

 

[Taurus]

Has anyone experienced a problem with no start after the clock reset? I needed a boost twice in the last week, but then car run normally after sitting overnight. Although I'm thinking that my 12 V battery needs to be replaced. I'm still on  the original and it's over nine years old.

 

Anyone knows where to get one in Canada, since my dealer doesn't have one in stock?

 

Edit: I got lucky and picked one up from Erinwood Ford. They just received 5, minus one for me. The parts guy was super nice and gave me a battery at the cost. He's got a  2011 FWD Fusion Sport, after the PTU died. 

Edited January 4, 2020 by Taurus

[PaulGo]

2010 Ford Fusion VIN 4757 Hybrid Electric Vehicle Battery Test Results - Department of Energy

 

Conclusion: The Ford Fusion, with VIN 4757, experienced a 3.8% degradation in battery capacity and stayed below DOE targets for all aspects of the HPPC test over the duration of 160,000 miles of fleet testing.

 

From this result I would assume the 9 year cut-off that Ford did on the hybrid function is much  too conservative.  Full hybrid functionality could extend for many more years without risk of HV battery problems. 

 

https://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/02/f7/batteryfusion4757_0.pdf

Edited January 4, 2020 by PaulGo

[lolder]

On 1/3/2020 at 2:17 PM, eGuru said:

What purpose would be served by making users unhappy after the warranty expires?

 

 

 

 

 

Reducing the demand on the HVB might have been an idea to prevent older battery failures which would trigger a NHTSA recall as the cars would die on the road. A degraded HVB will still operate the car but a failed one will not even allow the car to move using the ICE. Ford would be liable to fix them even though they were out of the hybrid warranty. Car companies don't look too far ahead.

Edited January 6, 2020 by lolder

[eGuru]

lolder, please fix the post where you quote me. Only the first sentence is from my post..

[drolds1]

3 hours ago, eGuru said:

lolder, please fix the post where you quote me. Only the first sentence is from my post..

Fixed it for you.