Posted on 03/26/2011 7:49:43 AM PDT by chickadee
Yesterday, I decided to take my relatively new car out for a spin. Due to a combination of ugly winter weather and health issues, I hadn't driven the car in a couple of months and wanted to give it a spin to keep its "juices" flowing.
I got in the car and tried to start it. Nothing. All the symbols lit up and went nuts, but no sound of cranking.
Fortunately, Ford gives new owners 5 years of Roadside Assistance. Ford's service responded quickly and professionally. The technician came prepared with a "box" to start the car in my garage. It wouldn't start. He had discovered a loose battery connection, which he tightened, but still "no go". He was familiar with the vehicle and tried one or two adjustments before deciding that the car was in lockout mode.
After consulting the manual, he determined that the car's computer was not recognizing the key. He presumed the loss of coding was due to the "dead" battery. He said the dealership would need to repower the battery and reinstall the codes before the car would start.
I contacted the dealership and they said to arrange with Roadside Assistance to have it brought to them and they would reinstall the codes.
Longish story short - it turned out that the battery was not dead - not even low. Ford has a program built into it that if a car is not started in 50 days, it goes into lockdown mode to conserve the battery. To protect the battery from itself and its constant computer analysis.
Once the dealership discovered that the battery was fine, they contacted Ford who explained the above to them (even the techs were unaware of the 50 day thing.) The cure was simple, disconnect the negative lead for 30 seconds, reconnect and all was well.
Meanwhile, two service calls to the house and the car had been loaded on a flatbed and towed across town.
Wow. Ain't technology great?
Re-Boot fixes everything! LOL
you shoulda bought a bmw.
No more long vacations!
i would file this under unintended consequenses of software design
they thought they were doing something good (saving the battery is a good idea) but locking the car down was not a good idea
As a car’s “systems” to make things “easier” become more and more complex, it can also make the car more fragile - capable of problems.
Have you never owned a car before? Batteries do not hold charge forever. The car needs to be started and driven on occasion, otherwise the battery will lose charge and go dead, especially in cold weather. If you’re still having winter weather you’re in a colder climate. Simple common sense.
Maybe you should trade your Ford in for something else. Maybe a Prius. They have a bunch of batteries. Maybe you can leave it sitting for months in the winter and have it fire right up, since there are so many in it, lol.
and pay several hundred a pop for oil changes?
SOFTWARE! I hate those guys in software. They think they can just do anything they want with code.
Is it still possible to buy a normal, non-computer car?
Ain't that the truth. I was telling a kid the other day--in the old days, if something wasn't working right, you just pounded on it a couple of times. Now, you just reboot.
I predicted long ago and probably on this forum that bad software design would eventually start to kill people. I’m sure that is already happening but fortunately not in this case. Of course high blood pressure is still a dangerous thing.
Interesting. It would be nice if they put that in the owner’s manual, but the blasted things are an inch thick these days and I bet 10% of people read them cover to cover.
I have a second car which I won’t let sit longer than a couple of weeks. I’ve seen 2 weeks become 4 weeks become 6 months become locked brakes and shot seals, so I just get in the habit. I know that properly prepared they will sit a long time, but I don’t like surprises.
A rather unpleasant comment on your part.
I thought I made it obvious in my opening paragraph that I knew I needed to drive the car.
And, if you read all the way through - the battery was not dead. It wasn’t even low.
It was a programming issue . . . but don’t let the facts interfere with a good rant.
Oh, yeah: lol
Stop being a bonehead
“...software design would eventually start to kill people...”
STUXNET ?
;-)
“Meanwhile, two service calls to the house and the car had been loaded on a flatbed and towed across town.”
Just nuts! It reeks of Obamacare for an analogy does it not?
Sure, Ebay is full of them listed under "vintage". However, be advised, they will reqire a real tuneup every 30k miles. (unlike todays 100,000) I love the computer controlled fuel control, etc. I really don't miss the days of timing lights and a tach/dwell meter plus flooding carburetors.
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