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Comments
Now that I think about it, the car was built on a Monday....I know the Bears won that Sunday so hopefully the autoworkers came to work happy!
My question is this, we are going to drive to Orlando from Jersey. At that time I expect the car to only have a few hundred miles tops. The trip is 1000 miles each way. Anyone that has driven I-95 knows the speed needs to be kept up along with the realization that I may have a little bit of a heavy foot to shave a little time (not to suggest 90 mph runs, just keeping it 70ish).
With the CVT and just general break in, what is the groups suggestions on proper overall break in. Even though as mentioned above this is a company car, I plan on buying it out at the end (3 yr or 50K), so I want to treat it like it's mine from the start.
Thanks
I'd try to find some "back roads" along the route, if possible. You don't have to take them the entire way, but I'd break up the freeway with some side trips every now and then.
If there's an old US highway that basically parallels I-95 for a large portion of the trip, that's the perfect way to do it.
I'd stay off the cruise control as much as possible on the highway, and vary the speeds between 60 and 75.
http://www.blueovalforums.com/index.php?showforum=11&prune_day=30&sort_by=Z-A&sort_key=las- t_post&topicfilter=all&st=25
You have to give him your VIN # and he'll give you the info and status of your new Freestyle. Good luck and you're going to be one happy owner.
Yesterday, it got cold here and I took out the manual and looked up the "heated seats" It explained which button activated them, but there is no button. I do no have heated seats. I went for the expense of the leather because I was led to believe the car they had with the leather had heated seats. The leather in the Freestyle wasn't as nice as the leather in my 1992 Explorer but a man at the dealership said it had something to do with the "perforations" and the "heated seats". I didn't know enough to imagine this. I asked questions and assumed I was being given answers by an informed person, not just a sales pitch.
I was led to believe a few other things but minor in comparison. Like side impact airbags and a plug for tail lights if I had a hitch installed at a later date. There is no plug,
I have now, after three months seen only 3 other Freestyles and all in the last week. I am only now getting 17 MPG, up from 16.2. I have 2000 miles on the car and have driven it on the highway for about 600 of that.
I was just told by another dealership's salesperson that you could get heated seats added but he wasn't sure how to do it but was sure it could be done. I called the dealership where I purchased my car and, "Oh no, you didn't get heated seats" Then why did the subject even come up while I was looking at the car to buy it? They are unaware of any kits that Ford has available to install heated seats.
Does anyone know of an after market option for this? Or do I just end up getting a crappy seat warmer that plugs in.
FORD - ARE YOU LISTENING? :mad: I liked this car so much when I bought it and hoped it would grow on me to where I loved it as much as my old Explorer. I bought it when I was advised to stay away from Ford. I looked my skeptics in the eye and said my Explorer was the best car I ever owned and it made up for the crappy Mercury Monarch I had once and swore Ford off then. What else am I going to discover? Is my Freestyle another Monarch?
Thanks again!
Unfortunately some sales reps are a little unscrupulous and will say whatever it takes to get a sale. Beleive me this is not just a Ford issue, I was looking at a Uplander at the same time and the Chevy dealer was so "slippery" we walked off the showroom floor. The Ford dealer was simply awesome in his product knowledge and we bought the car.
I just pulled my 06 sales broucher and it looks like from the heated seats are only available on the Limited. I dont see anywhere in the book that is shows the heated seats option available in any other configuration.
kb540ia, the '05 Freestyle had the option of heated front seats on the SEL. If I recall, the '05 SEL could get about everything the LTD had except the body colored cladding and the sliding second row seats (and maybe AWD).
Built on the 18th, shipped on the 19th. Ought to be there real soon.
Receipt Date: 9/2/2005
Serialize Date: 9/15/2005
Segment Date: 9/15/2005
Sequence Date: 10/4/2005
Blend Date: 10/10/2005
Produced Date: 10/18/2005
Gate Release Date: 10/19/2005
Ship Date: 10/19/2005
Arrival Date:
Sold Date:
Not sure what the other dates are for but the dealer was off by only 1 day. Can not wait to try the CVT. Bring on the SNOW!!
There was no option to get heated seats with SE or SEL trim levels.
This is true in 2006, as well as in 2005.
I agree with barnstormer, the heated seats are NOT an option on the SEL. Only the Ltd came with heated seats in 05. This was one of the reasons that I went with the Limited model and was researched explicitly at the time.
Just like the second row for and aft levers under the seat, they only come on the Limited models and are not an option or upgrade on a lesser model.
What ever salesman said that heated seats were an option in the prior post was incorrect. That salesman should pay to have aftermarket heated seats put in that person's SEL.
As for aftermarket solutions...I have been looking for my wife's Mazda 626 and there is a product you could look at at the following website "www.heated-seats.com". Looks like this product could meet your needs and could perhaps be done by yourself (instructions are available on the site).
Aftermarket Heated Seats
Steve, Host
Using Edmunds, I researched the Freestyle and Freestar to help my brother's family replace their old Windstar. They just bought a 2005 Freestyle SEL with AWD, leather, and the six seat configuration in pueblo gold / tan.
The upcoming Mercury version of the Freestyle, the upcoming Lincoln version(s) of the Five Hundred, and the upcoming "refreshed" Five Hundred / Montego are all at the top of my watch list for my next vehicle.
I ended up backing out of doing it because I had/have a feeling that Ford will be coming out with an install kit for the Freestyle. The aftermarket heated seats usually have the control switches mounted on the side of the seat and I would prefer to have them on the dash where the OEM versions are mounted. I would also prefer the OEM switches over some aftermarker doohickeys.
Seeing as how they already make the heated seats for the Freestyle, it shouldn't be hard for them to create an install kit that would include the heating pads, switches and the wiring harness.
At the time (August) they did not have a kit yet.
I am going to be calling my local Ford dealer very soon because the nights are starting to get cold and the seats are starting to show it (yikes! ....frosty buns!)
:-)
Shame on Ford for not even offering the heated option on the leather seating.
Maybe it was one of those weird regional things or possibly a very early release option that was later deleted. I recall having the conversation that if you can get pretty much everything in the SEL that you can get in the LTD, why get the LTD? They may have changed the literature from what was later printed for the '05s. The dealer (Dale Jarrett Ford) almost never had any brochures for the Freestyle; maybe that was because of a literature change. I got lucky and got one when the Freestyle first hit. I'll see if I still have it. Do they still have all the little "flip-book" pages demonstrating the different interior configurations?
What should I do? I am about to drive to Mineral Wells and tell the owner of the dealership to make those seats heat up. I am very angry about this.
Or you can use the Search Forums link, also on the left sidebar and put "heated" as the search term and the discussion will be in the first couple of hits.
Let me know if you still have trouble finding it!
Steve, Host
Under Model specific features & options the Leather trimmed seats are shown as an option on the SEL and it says "Requires Front-Row Comfort Package on SEL 3rd Row vinyl"
The Front-Row Comfort package is described as: "Includes 8-way power drivers seat, Dual-zone Electronic Automatic Temperature Control, outside temperature display and 4-way power front passenger seat with manual lumbar." It does not mention heated seats.
This is why I truly believe you can never trust a salesperson. They typically know very little about what they sell and will tell you whatever you want to hear to get a sale.
I would talk to the owner and bring your witness. The salesperson lied to you. Even if you didn't have it in writing the owner should want to do what is right to maintain his reputation.
I have heard nothing from you folks about this problem. Are you just living with it? This is very annoying to me. The regional Ford representative responded by saying the his personal car has this same "feature". The dealer has strongly suggested that I just live with it.
Please let me know if I'm alone in the woods!
Nope, not at all alone in the woods with your CD unit problems. I've had my car since Jan., and have 25K on it. The CD works for weeks on end with no problems with either my home-burned CDs or anything else. Then it will mess up for days. I just figure it's the full moon or something letting the gremlins out... Seriously, after reading all of the hassles people have had trying to solve this problem, I still feel like it's easier to deal with the intermittent issue than trying to deal with "fixing" it.
Speaking of problems, has anyone had problems with the lever that releases the middle row (I have the bench) being so hard to release that either a: my fingers will break, or b: the handle will break. I knock the seats into their various configurations frequently, but I should think the handle could (sorry about this) handle it for longer than 10 months?
Aside from that stuff, it's such a great car and I'm quite happy with it.
Side note. Early on before all of the above. When we were on vacation and I was singing the blues because all of the CDs that I had burned special for the trip would not play in the CD player my 10 year old daughter piped up from the back seat, "Dad just try them in the DVD player". Lo and behold it played all of the CDs even my iTune Protected AAC Format.
My daughter regretted coming up with a solution. She was subjected to hours of dads music.
I know the problem is different than yours but I thought the info might help someone else.
Out of the mouth of babes, eh? We should try to get some of these bright kids with common sense and no fear of digital/computer stuff to become auto technicians. It seems like a computer programmer or someone with a good knowledge of electronics is what we need with these cars with computers onboard that run the cars nowadays.
Unfortunately, most of these so-called "bright kids" aren't really that bright. And the ones that ARE won't want to be auto technicians.
I have YET to have a help-desk ANYWHERE that could solve any of my computer-related problems. It always boils down to ME doing the leg-work, reading forums, etc, and just plain trying fixes that "can't work" (and then proving that they DO work . . . even though I can offer no real explanation of why it worked). Sometimes you just have to solve things by trying the "impossible" simply because all the things that SHOULD fix the problem haven't.
An example: Several years ago, a lightning storm took out my wireless router. I bought several replacements (the exact same thing I had), and couldn't get any of them to work. I also tried the obvious thing of hooking up the PC directly to the cable modem, which worked fine. But I couldn't get the router to work.
Neither Linksys nor my cable company could help. I suggested to BOTH of them "how about replacing the modem, just to see?". I was told by both that this couldn't help, because the computer worked fine hooking it up to the modem (makes sense, doesn't it?).
Finally, I took it upon myself to go buy a new modem, just to see. You guessed it . . . that solved the problem. And to this day, nobody has ever managed to give me an explanation of how the modem could work with the PC, but not with the router, when it had worked before.
Or how about the time my (well, my wife's) Tivo quit working? She couldn't get the Tivo box to respond to the remote. She had already rebooted the Tivo several times, to no avail. I suggested several times to change the batteries in the remote, but was told "that can't be it, because the remote is able to change the remote on the TV just fine".
Finally, I'd had enough, grabbed the remote, changed the batteries, and voila! It worked just fine.
My wife couldn't believe it. She then queried "how did you know?" and "what do OTHER people do about stuff like this?". To which I respnoded, "it was the only obvious thing left to try, even though it shouldn't have fixed the problem" and "I have no idea". LOL
You might enjoy reading the hacks at hackaday.
Steve, Host
Yep. And sometimes that's the only method that seems to work. The interactions between various electronic parts have become so tangled, I don't think any one person can keep track of them in a system like a car anymore. That, plus the "tolerances" between various units can start to cause issues, IMO. I've seen this with digital SLRs. Most don't realize it, but there are electronics not only in the SLR bodies, but in the lenses. And each have tolerances. And even if both are within tolerance, you can get some combinations that give pretty poor performance. It wasn't always so obvious with film (due to the cost of doing testing and printing big), but now with digital, it's very easy and inexpensive for people to start testing and looking at the results with a fine-toothed comb.
Interesting link. Seeing that Ipod image (for building an Auxiliary adaptor) brings up another recent example. PIE's Aux-input for the new Ford CAN-bus radios (which the Freestyle and Five Hundred have) shows that the manufacturer missed the fact that the unit has issues with the Mustang and Five Hundred. (And I hope they finally get that issued fixed . . . looks like they're close).
Kinda makes me wonder: if the world was hit by a big meteor and only 1,000 folks survived (but assume that ALL the technical work in the world was still archived in a readable format), just how long would it take to get back to where we are today? Think about all the information out there, and how specialized a lot of it is.
We returned the car to the dealer and because, as they explained, the title had gone to the state they could not trade the car for a nonleaking one. The sales manager then stated that he could not repair it and sell it to someone else in good conscious. They gave me a loaner and told me that the Customer Service Manager would investigate the issues. 5 days later he called and told me that he could not find the source of the leak so they wanted their loaner back and told me to pick mine up. We refused saying that the damage has been done and it is not repairable. I returned his car and pulled our belongings out of the Freestyle. The next day I called the Customer Service Hotline in Dearborn and the CSR was very pleasant. She asked what we wanted to do and I stated that we only wanted a comparably equipped vehicle that did not leak. She said that the request would need to go around the office for signatures and we would hear from the dealer in 2 - 5 days. The next day the dealer called and said that the Area Customer Service Rep helped them and found two areas on the body (in the rear) which were leaking. We could opt for repair, trade the vehicle in which would, as he explained, result in a big loss (no kidding), or have Ford buy the car back. You can guess which one I have opted for...I filed the papers (with pictures) with the BBB this afternoon to bring the issue to arbitration.
This is really a perfect example of poor customer service on the part of the dealer and Ford. I certainly will never buy another car from the dealer (purchased a 'new 97 Cobra and a new '99 F-150 4x4 from this dealer). The jury is still out on Ford but it doesn't look good.
I will inform the group as this unfolds.
That aside, more experienced employees who have been at a place for years can also have computing/high tech skills and come from the old school where analytical skills were expected and tearing things apart logically was not randomly done, but with a methodology. But, there is no motivation to keep those skills if the place of work doesn't reward you for it and considers you replaceable by anyone off the street.
I would love to go to the equivalent of a Mayo Clinic for Freestyle. Until then, I would be happy if one of those bright kids (or grown-ups) would read the Freebie electronics manuals backwards and forwards, then log into this discussion group to give us a hand... :shades: You hit on a growing dilemma freestylegal.
Yeah, why would those smart kids want to work at a car dealership when they go to someplace like Electronic Arts and design video games? MUCH more fun and probably more money, too.
I'm about to order a Limited, but don't want the center console.
Thanks
Joe
Aha. Perhaps I'll get mine in to be fixed before the warranty runs out. Some of this stuff I tend to just put up with, but if that lever may quit working altogether, that wouldn't be so good. It seems like such picayune stuff, but it's all so expensive to fix! My husband's F-150 has a rattle in the glove box. To replace that lock (which didn't even fix it) cost a ridiculous amount of money. I mean, how much can a little plastic and some metal cost, anyway?! And don't even get me started about how much I had to pay for a new fog light for my Freestyle!