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It seems there is no way to turn off the interior lights while leaving the radio on and the rear hatch open. If anyone does find a way to do so please fill me in.
Have you had any problem with engine or throttle sensor taking control, when not in cruise control. I have had a few times when taking my foot off gas , then car will continue several blocks at about the same speed, maybe dropping only 5 mph.
I took it back to Ford , they checked it and said everything seems ok.
I will send Ford a e-mail on both these Safety Issues, and I hope other people will.
Please watch out for throttle sensor taking over!!! Thanks
Windshield shine is a big problem for me, light cream color dash puts lots on shine on windshield. I think Ford should come up with a solution for this problem since it is a safety factor. They certainly must has know this would happen with the slant of the windshield.
Have you had any problem with engine or throttle sensor taking control, when not in cruise control. I have had a few times when taking my foot off gas , then car will continue several blocks at about the same speed, maybe dropping only 5 mph.
I took it back to Ford , they checked it and said everything seems ok.
I will send Ford a e-mail on both these Safety Issues, and I hope other people will.
Please watch out for throttle sensor taking over!!! Thanks
Have you had any problem with engine or throttle sensor taking control, when not in cruise control. I have had a few times when taking my foot off gas , then car will continue several blocks at about the same speed, maybe dropping only 5 mph.
I took it back to Ford , they checked it and said everything seems ok.
I will send Ford a e-mail on both these Safety Issues, and I hope other people will.
Please watch out for throttle sensor taking over!!! Thanks
However, I was unable to duplicate this after closing it and using the key fob. I found that, if I use the fob to unlock the vehicle, all the interior lights go on, and then if I immediately open the rear hatch, the lights stay on. I had thought that maybe if I unlocked the doors with the fob, but waited until the interior lights went out before actually opening any door, they would STAY off if I opened the hatch.
But no such luck. No matter what I tried to do, I could not get the interior lights to not go on when I opened the hatch. It seems that I have to let the car sit unlocked for some undefined but extended period of time in order to be able to open the rear hatch without the interior lights going on.
If I ever get this figured out, I'll let you know.
I don't know for sure but this may be a characteristic of the CVT and completely normal. If you read the material from Ford they state that the CVT will automatically maintain vehicle speed when descending hills.
Link to advisory
http://www.blueovalnews.com/2005/advisory/cdplayer.18mar05.htm
Where did you find the copy of it?
I'll have to take mine in one of these days. It's been quite nice in my Five Hundred, which does NOT have this issue.
While the issue doesn't always raise its ugly head on the Freestyle, when it does, it's annoying.
I hope I can also get them to fix/replace the drivers' side seat-belt latch. Sometimes it doesn't quite want to release with ease, and I have to re-press the button. Nothing earth-shattering, but a bit annoying.
Despite this cosmetic defect, we really enjoyed putting our vehicle through its paces during our week at the beach. We really like the flexibility of hauling all of our luggage (and we've got a lot of baby gear for our six-month old!) one day and being able to accomodate six passengers (or four passengers and the dog) the next.
But I'm not done complaining. Two weeks after buying the car, the hydraulics on the hatch just quit working. Now these things happen and I'm sure it will get fixed in a timely matter, but you can imagine what a hassle it is to remove a stroller and hold open the hatch at the same time!
To make matters worse, when my wife took the car to the dealer to have the hatch problem evaluated, she inquired about the missing E that our salesman "ordered". He told her it had been sitting in the back, but thought he would wait until our first oil change to have them replace it. Who wants to drive around their new car for 5000 miles with such an obvious defect? Never mind the fact that we made it clear that we would not be having our oil changed at the dealer when we made the deal.
And this guy had the nerve to try to convince us to give him only the highest ratings on our customer satisfaction survey!
I just booked an appointment for an oil change and checkup on the radio. The service department sounded like they knew about this problem. The service guy said he would remove the radio and check some codes on the back of the unit. It's probably the date . My FS was built right in that period when these notorious radios were installed.
It's elves. When this happened to me, I just openend the vent and let them out. They told me that it got darn cold in there with the A/C on!
This truely is a safety feature. As a woman, I certainly don't want the doors to all unlock the minute I turn the car off. If I am in a ramp or lot, I like to know who is around me before I get out of the car. Any nut case could hop in beside me if the doors all unlocked when I shut off the car. We have always enjoyed this Ford feature.
I think the safety function is for the doors to lock automatically when you drive off, so you don't get carjacked while sitting at the lights, etc. But, IMO, whether or not the doors stay locked when you park and the engine is shut off won't save you, if danger is lurking.
ROTFLMAO!
The factory control buttons will no longer be able to be used but there is a a remote control that mounts to your steering wheel.
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-nyU6YAWn6IR/cgi-bin/prodgroup.asp?g=237450&est=&search=steeri- - ng+remote
The Pioneer works with these stereos (any Pioneer with a "P" in teh part number:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-ClzcMHlrToz/cgi-bin/prodgroup.asp?g=300&avf=Y&nvpair=FFBrand%- - 7CPioneer#see_all
The Blaupunkt works with any of these that have remote capabilities:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-ClzcMHlrToz/cgi-bin/prodgroup.asp?g=300&avf=Y&nvpair=FFBrand%- - 7CBlaupunkt#see_all
The above links are just a thought. I'm dissapointed with the sound of this factory unit. Add to that the inability to handle MP3s on a consistent basis.
My two previous cars have/had no trouble playing MP3s with the factory head units. (one a Subaru and one an Acura)
edit: well it look like those links only bring you to the car selector. I'm sure you guys can figure the rest out from there.
:-)
Why? Because Ford has realized that the Freestyle cuts into Explorer sales. The Explorer is a cash cow and the Freestyle is not. Around where I live, dealers keep their Freestyles hidden away. They just want to sell the "big" metal instead. In other words, they just don't get it! Can't wait until the Freestyle platform gets kicked up to Mercury. Maybe they'll appreciate and understand it there!
I noticed that after placing a black book on the dash that the corresponding area of the windshield was very clear and easy to look through.
In my case the problem could be the aborted normal start which can load only parts of the fuel injection system.
Help
Thanks!
I saw a more tangible benefit going downhill on long stretches. The benefit is not immediate like when downshifting on a regular transmission, but it slowly and surely decreases your speed without using the brakes, so switching is smooth.
.
Just a guess.
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Some people have reported a transmission problem where the transmission either seems to slip (revs without moving the car) or act erratically, accompanied by a "check transmission" warning. The most common broken CVT problem is a faulty metatronics unit. It's basically a sticky solenoid. With high likelihood, replacing the metatronics unit will clear the problem.
For what it's worth, from reading various accounts of this problem in this forum, I believe it has the following characteristics.
- Intermittent. The transmission may rev, or slip, but letting the car sit (even if just for a minute) may clear the problem. This is very useful information because it means you may not be stranded.
- If the problem clears, the warning light will soon clear as well, leaving no trace of the problem except a diagnostic record of having shown a fault (specifically, stored codes P0701, P0871, P0961).
- A couple of people reported rain/puddles at the time of the problem, which may be correlated with the solenoid sticking.
- If the problem clears, it will leave no symptoms for the dealer to diagnose (except the stored codes), which means the dealer will have no incentive to expend efforts to fix it. A bad dealer will just clear the codes and tell you they fixed the car.
- One person here had the problem recur after the dealer claimed to have replaced the metatronics unit. Either they received a second bad metatronics unit (certainly possible), or the dealer lied about what they replaced (also possible).
- Once you have a "check transmission" light shining in your face, it becomes impossible to tell the difference between normal CVT behavior (which may involve RPMs anywhere between 1200 and 3500 at any given speed) and "running wrong" (revving or slipping). Every sound the engine makes, you think "is that broken?"
I had this problem (in the rain) and got the run-around from the dealer. I made a lot of stink and eventually got assigned a mechanic who was apparently the only honest guy in the whole place, who walked me step by step through the diagnosis and repair. 5000 miles later, no troubles.
I switched into L at very low speeds (on a flat road) and I saw no effect.
Descending hills I usually switched to L between 5 (sometimes from standing still) and 75 Mph.
Like I said, driving at 80 Mph and shifting into L will not cause your engine to explode. The transmission will start changing the ratio gradually.
The power train is controlled through the transmission and the electronic throttle control on the engine. Did anyone try to press the accelerator while sitting in P? I did. The engine revs only to 3500 RPM and no more.