Scooter80

Push the wiper lever from the down-most position up to the first detent. That is the sensing position. Try to remember to turn it back off as they'll pop on in the car wash or when a bug hits, making quite the mess. Turning them off fully will also store the arms properly.

I happened to be on shift the next town over (I'm a police officer and my wife is a 911 dispatcher for a different town) and my dispatcher advised me via phone that my wife was involved in a crash that I was currently hearing on the fire district radio. They mentioned a rollover on the radio, but my dispatcher had no further info on my wife. I think at that point I was more shaken up than my wife was!!! That phone call will haunt me. Anyhow, I got permission and went to the scene. While I was headed there, I got my wife on the phone and she immediately said she was fine. Whew! Anyways, met her there and gave her a big hug. She was more pissed than shaken, but did need some more attention later in the day as her anger at having our new car damaged wore off and her senses returned to normal. Though I really wanted to make sure the Deputies did everything in their power to hammer this lady, I stayed on the sidelines and just comforted my wife. Then back to duty for another hour. That was a tough hour. Anyhow, thanks for the well-wishes. Certainly could have been worse. Glad they got 'em for your wife, FE! I love it when I get the opportunity to make it right like that!

Actually, mine just suffered a collision yesterday and the front-end faired pretty well. After what my wife told me on the phone, I figured it would be in pieces, but it was just scuffed. Scratched at worst. Body shop figures just a resurface will be all that's needed. The fender on the other hand... I'm getting a new one. As well as the wheel.

Well, 3,700 miles and a month and a half in and our Bordeaux baby is no longer a virgin. My wife was driving home after shift and a "tweaker" (as she called her) cut her off, clipping the front end, fender and wheel. She further explained that tweaker went off "into orbit," spinning out, off the road, into a van parked in a driveway, pushing the van into a house while also striking the house itself. Homeowners were fine but "bumped out of bed." Corner of house is now sagging and a wall was pushed in a bit. All in all our car faired okay, but the other will be a total loss and hopefully the driver will be jailed as it appeared to be a road rage or DUI incident. She sped past my wife, passing over a double-yellow after a merge from two to one. The Deputy found a two-month expired insurance card in the offender's vehicle after she was transported to the hospital. I sure hope she has a better one or we'll be out our deductible. Goes in Monday for a new fender and wheel and the associated bodywork. Luckily it appears no mechanical damage was sustained and there is no noticeable change to the driving. Can't post photos from my iPad but they're in my gallery. Got one posted:

Mine also failed to close the front windows. I thought it was because I had opened the front ones manually before I used the global open function and it was remembering their setting. Any chance this was your case as well? I swear the first time I tried it a few weeks ago they all opened and closed, moonroof included.

Lol, no there aren't. I'm far n/w suburbs so we have a few up here, but I also took a trip into mid Wisconsin to see my folks. Some hills to and from and a really decent one by them allowed some tests.

Huh, strange that it was that. The car must receive the time signal but not know how to change am/pm, requiring a person to do so? There are other strange things with the GPS clock function as well. I noticed a one hour accident the other day. It was quickly corrected, but still probably would have effected value-charge or go-time had I had one set. It was set one hour back when we got in and, since we were on a time-crunch, my wife and I both noticed it just before backing out of the garage (turning on the backup camera and losing the time display) but it was fixed when I shifted to drive.

In my experience of some moderate (for my area) grades, the grade assist button on the shifter prevents any speed increase due to a down-grade. L is just like driving your previous vehicles in a lower (though still auto) gear (the 1 and/or 2 past D). And while grade assist seems to do nothing (as intended I'm sure) for acceleration, L certainly does. L does change "gearing." Despite driving in L for some time on a downhill run, my ICE never came on in a braking behavior. It simply "geared" the electric motor lower, requiring higher rpm's of the motor for the same distance travelled. And L slowed the vehicle in the descent where grade-assist only did not, it only kept the speed constant. Also, despite being described the same as the L on my nightly ride (a new Ford "Taurus") the L on the Fusion does not act the same per say because of the extra "engine" that is the electric motor and the eCVT as opposed to the conventional auto trans in the "Taurus." But I don't see how driving in L would ever be better for fuel or EV mileage. You are essentially losing your overdrive "gears" (and more). In a conventional ICE car, the repercussions are clear. In a hybrid they are less clear, but still there. While you might get more battery charging from a descent, that power is not free. And keeping it in L for everyday driving seems really silly to me. Having the motor do more work (spinning faster for the same distance) is a waste of energy. Even if you do get a little more back from the increased braking effect, you will still have lost energy due to inefficiencies in the drive-train, the regen brakes, the charging equipment and the batteries themselves. I will, however, now eat crow as far as my previous posts on the engine not providing braking. So much for Car & Driver being experts in their field. From the manual (Transmission section p174): "Grade assist: • Provides additional grade braking with a combination of engine motoring and high-voltage battery charging to help maintain vehicle speed when descending a grade. • As the vehicle determines the amount of engine motoring and high-voltage battery charging, you may notice the engine speed increasing and decreasing to help maintain your vehicle speed when descending a grade. • The grade assist lamp in the instrument cluster is illuminated. E144523 The grade assist lamp will appear in the instrument cluster when grade assist is turned on. Press the transmission control switch again to return to normal D (Drive). L (Low) • Provides maximum engine braking. • The transmission may be shifted into L (Low) at any vehicle speed. "

Quiet start keeps lower fan/blower speed to reduce exterior noise.

I tried L on a good down-grade last night. I felt the regen brakes grab harder, but the engine stayed off. Had half the battery left (in EV mode, not hybrid) so it would be interesting to see what'd happen if the battery was full. Everything I've heard of this new generation of Ford's hybrid drive is that the ICE will not provide braking. I could certainly be wrong of course.

The Fusion will not act the same. An Atkinson cycle engine mated to an eCVT is not physically capable of being used as a brake.

While I agree with your concept (of course, it's physics), as it applies to a 2-ton vehicle and its associated drag, it isn't going to make any difference you could notice. Maybe one in the very small decimals, but not on any scale we'll be measuring regularly. Now, throwing on 24's and the *gearing* difference associated with that along with the inertial change, you'll see a difference. A difference no one could like with those looks! But there will be little to no *gearing* difference with a Ford-offered wheel/tire combo and any inertial change would be so washed out by the inertia of the vehicle, there's no difference.

I agree with you. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with the wheels and tires I have now. They're better looking than I thought they'd be and the tires are near silent and give a good ride. I just take issue with the perception that a larger wheel will automatically mean more unsprung weight when it could feasibly mean LESS weight depending on the wheel you choose. And if one sticks with a combo offered by Ford for other trims of Fusions, I'd wager the difference (if any) will be negligible. That said, I don't think anyone could classify the 17" combo we have as low-profile. Compared to the 60's and 70's yes, but not today.

I don't ever recall hearing any noise from the included 120v charge cord. From the car itself, perhaps, but not the cord. Certainly not a loud pop though. Now, my 240v charger does pop and hum and it IS normal.

Larger rims are not going to automatically mean higher unsprung weight. First of all, larger rims will also likely mean smaller sidewall tires to equal out the revs per mile. Less rubber, less weight to counteract the possibility of more metal in the wheel. Secondly, the reason people go with larger wheels is for a different look. This usually entails less spokes. Less spokes equals less metal equals less weight. I would be very surprised if a larger wheel/tire combo from any Fusion is of significant weight difference than the 17" standards from the Energi. Just my thoughts. I think the bigger picture of wheels and efficiency is not the weight, but the air resistance. A solid wheel would be most efficient. More spokes and less spacing is the next best. Less spokes and more spacing would be least efficient.

Just finished charging and I pulled the data down. It actually drew 100w less during the remote "start" 10 minutes than the rest of the charge cycle. Just a quick chart this time, so ignore the numbers on the bottom and the name.

Yeah, though that number seems really high for 15 minutes, I'd say its more on par and that my go time didn't work as intended today. I'll try more this week.

Yeah, cabin was probably mostly warm now that I think on it. Wife was only home for a half an hour or so from an empty HV battery. I think no matter what charge point, what combo of go times, starts, climate, etc. this car as equipped and programmed (firmware), will never draw more than the on-board charger is rated at.

For giggles, I just hit the remote start while it is charging and went out to look at the meter. Still only drawing 3.3kWh, charging and starting.

Well, I'll throw a hitch in the giddy up. Just spoke with my wife who drove the car to work early this morning. She says the car was "not really that warm", "but I'm not really sure." But she also said she was running a little bit late and didn't get in until a bit after the go time. So I can't be sure if it worked properly. She said yesterday worked much better, but I don't have the data for that, it overwrites every 1,000 reads (minutes). I'll try to capture some more go times to get a better sense of what it's doing. I'll also try to do so when it is charging and then goes right into a go time, and also when using the key fob to remote "start" which I have personally used and know it is highly effective at prepping the cabin. As far as the above data, the car had finished charging the night before. You can see the 4w standby power being consumed at the beginning of this newest chart. I think I watched that lunch break on YouTube that you're speaking of. I don't recall the 5kW heater part, but it certainly seems incorrect at this point and a bit overkill. But my chart certainly isn't the authority either.

Sure thing! Once I got my excel worksheet and chart to work right, this is easy! You can see there is very little power being drawn during go-time warmup. Might be different on much colder days or during a go-time cooldown. We'll see!