Problems with the 13A01 Update

[Stretch2727]

Has anyone experienced problems with the 13A01 update to their car.

Mine has been a disaster so I would not do it yet as there are bugs to be worked out.

-Took the dealership more than 10 hours with several calls to Ford.
-The car was fully charged when I dropped off. They returned the car to me with 3 miles of charge. I thought this was odd as just running the car without driving it would not discharge it completely in 10 hours. This was the first sign of a problem.
-The first day I parked the car without it plugged in it was totally dead when I returned.
-A call to roadside assistance brought a tow truck, he suggest we jump the 12 volt battery. This worked and the car "started" The high voltage battery still had plenty of charge.
-Thought maybe I accidentally left the car running and this caused the discharge of the 12 Volt battery? So maybe my fault?
-Second day I park the car without it plugged in it was dead again. This time I had someone jump the 12V battery.
-The bluetooth stopped working with my phone. Tried to delete and pair the phone again, but now it will not pair.
-I noticed the car is not always re-gen braking when I leave off the gas. It freewheels and feels complete different and uncomfortable without some "engine" braking. It does not always freewheel...no consistent reason why it does this sometime. ie low speed, high speed, slow lift off etc.
-The consumption w/mile has increased considerably. 20% or so.

The updates to the sync and new energy screen are really not a big deal and not worth the time or effort. If it were up to me now, I would not have it done. My car was functioning perfect prior to the update. I have a service appointment tomorrow. I will update based on how this goes.

 

[jeffand]

Some of the 2012 FFE need a hardware update also. When I was at the dealership, I saw the list of VIN numbers, they were all 2012s. This may explain the problem you are seeing if your car is on the list.

 

[Stretch2727]

The discharge problem turned out to be a bad 12V battery. I purchased a 2012 in March or 2013 so the car sat on the lot for a long time. The dealer thought this contributed to the battery failure.

The bluetooth issue was fixed with yet another software update.

The regen issue remains. Now that I have had the upgrade I noticed the car will not regen or regen brake when the battery is fully charged. My guess is this is something they added to protect the HV battery from over charging.

Anyone else notice this after the upgrade?

 

[Jasper7821]

After my update I had a more issues than before the update AND it was several days to complete the update.
I did a master reset from the settings menu on the touchscreen and all seems fine now.
One change I notice is before on a full battery and without the AC on it would say about 12-15% more miles and now from a full charge it only varies 2-3 miles when turning the AC of for on.

 

[kmaluo]

After the update, the Reverse Guidelines option keeps reverting to off, and Sync tells me that no phone is connected when it proceeds to switch to BT streaming. A master reset deosn't fix the problems. The only thing I like about the update is the smoother regen braking and battery % display. I wish I could easily revert back to 3.1.3.

 

[Kung Fu Panda]

I had the same issues after getting the latest software update in late July. Three days after the update (first time starting the car after the update), the car would not start. I called roadside assistance and they jump-started the car. I took it in to Ford and they diagnosed it as a dead 12V battery. However, before the update I never had any issues with the 12V battery (even leaving the car parked for over a week at times), and thought it probably had something to do with the update - perhaps the update temporarily put the car in a high-current drain mode? Now I see I'm not the only one with the same exact issue!

I haven't had any issues since getting the new battery except MFM now reports my average consumption (and occasionally brake and driving scores) as 0 Wh/mi. every time.

Also, I'm still getting the occasional no drive when I shift into reverse or drive from park, even though the green dash light indicates I'm ready to go. When I press the accelerator when this happens, the car budges slightly as if the parking brake is activated (it wasn't - at least the brake handle was down, but maybe the brakes were still activated?).

 

[jeffand]

I see a similar issue when i park on a incline at work. I have to give it some throttle just to get it to roll backwards. Normally the car would roll back by gravity alone. It feels like the brakes are clamped on, and you need to brake them free. But i have not noticed this when the car is parked in the garage.

 

[WattsUp]

I see a similar issue when i park on a incline at work. I have to give it some throttle just to get it to roll backwards. Normally the car would roll back by gravity alone. It feels like the brakes are clamped on, and you need to brake them free. But i have not noticed this when the car is parked in the garage.

Guys... you may simply be encountering as-designed behavior. Read the owner's manual.

If you press the brake while stopped on an incline (like, say, when starting the car parked on a slope), you are likely to trigger the "hill start assist" feature. This feature is covered in the owner's manual (on page 265 of the 2013 edition). The hill start assist is designed to hold the car still for a couple seconds (by automatically applying the brakes) on an incline, giving you time to move between the brake and accelerator pedals, without having to use the handbrake (as you might in another car). The manual says the feature is triggered by inclines greater than 5 degrees.

 

[jeffand]

The parking spot at work is steeper than 5 degrees. So this is triggering the hill start assist. This just proves that it's time to read the owners manual again. So this may also prevent you from moving vehicle when shifted in nuetral.

 

[Kung Fu Panda]

This happens to me on flat surfaces as well. And the car will not move whatsoever despite all attempts, even flooring the accelerator.

 

[WattsUp]

This happens to me on flat surfaces as well. And the car will not move whatsoever despite all attempts, even flooring the accelerator.

It's odd that you say that, when this happens, the green ready-to-drive (RTD) light is indeed on. It really sounds just like the "NRTD" (not ready-to-drive) scenario. (I'm not saying I don't believe you, I'm just saying it is a new scenario.)

Normally, people do quite easily get confused having tried to start the car "too fast" (not holding the brake when pressing START, shift out of neutral early, etc.) and fail to notice that the RTD didn't come on.... and find themselves in a classic NRTD scenario.

In your case, perhaps fast startup is still the problem? -- and you've just found cases where the RTD light also comes on anyway? (I admit, this is a big "perhaps".) Still, it would interesting for you to deliberately slow down your startup and see if you still run into the problem.

I always start my FFE like so:
1) Hold the brake and wait a beat.
2) Press the START button.
3) Wait for the green RTD light and wait a beat.
4) Shift into gear.

I almost never encounter NRTD when I follow this procedure carefully (as I sometimes used to when I first got the car). I've made it my habit. And, when I do get NRTD, I just start over, and go more slowly, and it always get RTD the second time.

 

[jeffand]

I believe in my case if car fails to be ready to start is because, i failed to have my foot on the brake before the power button was pressed.

 

[Kung Fu Panda]

Yes this happens when the RTD light is lit green. I noticed I have to push and hold the start button for about half a second to register a start. Foot is on the brake before I push start. I have deliberately waited several seconds before shifting into P or R, and still occasionally get the loss of drive. What's wierd is the car seems to respond to the accelerator pedal by budging slightly, exactly like if the brakes were applied very tightly, and not just the parking brake which is usually not strong enough to withstand acceleration... at least in my other cars.

So I have a rare issue then?

 

[brad]

I dropped off my car today for the 3.5 and 3.6 upgrades, as well as the headlamp recall. Service advisor informed me that my hardware would not accept the new s/w. My car is a 2013 model, purchases March 2013. Will have to wait until tomorrow to see what happens.

 

[brad]

So my worst fear became reality. After trying to update my software, the dealer says the car is dead and they are trying to revive it. :shock: