While idling in traffic, about to get on the crowded 405 freeway in Santa Monica, my instrument panel flashed a brown wrench icon plus the words “check manual†then within 2 seconds, an additional alert “stop now†inside a scary red triangle icon. After 8 years of driving my car I had never seen either alert. Before I could respond my entire electrician system shut down, no radio, no windows, no hazard lights, no nothing. There was a line of cars backed up behind me honking & cursing since they were unaware that my car had died & couldn’t be moved. A kind man pushed me out of traffic lanes (a task indeed as I had almost no steering ability). I’ve never been more scared as cars whizzed past me. I was towed to my usual Ford dealer. After several days in their service department they were unable to recreate the “faults†(they couldn’t find anything wrong with it.)
Never got a real diagnosis of the problem. They had the car for many days on multiple occasions & finally diagnosed a BECM fault, replaced it, but when hubby picked it up the wrench came on as he drove out the dealership parking lot! Don’t know what happens next…exhausted! I’m out of warranty & still have no idea of what’s wrong with it or if I can ever trust it’s “roadworthiness†in the future. I now HATE my lovely little Cmax.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
While idling in traffic, about to get on the crowded 405 freeway in Santa Monica, my instrument panel flashed a brown wrench icon plus the words “check manual†then within 2 seconds, an additional alert “stop now†inside a scary red triangle icon. After 8 years of driving my car I had never seen either alert. Before I could respond my entire electrician system shut down, no radio, no windows, no hazard lights, no nothing. There was a line of cars backed up behind me honking & cursing since they were unaware that my car had died & couldn’t be moved. A kind man pushed me out of traffic lanes (a task indeed as I had almost no steering ability). I’ve never been more scared as cars whizzed past me. I was towed to my usual Ford dealer. After several days in their service department they were unable to recreate the “faults†(they couldn’t find anything wrong with it.)
Never got a real diagnosis of the problem. They had the car for many days on multiple occasions & finally diagnosed a BECM fault, replaced it, but when hubby picked it up the wrench came on as he drove out the dealership parking lot! Don’t know what happens next…exhausted! I’m out of warranty & still have no idea of what’s wrong with it or if I can ever trust it’s “roadworthiness†in the future. I now HATE my lovely little Cmax.
- kayinla, Inglewood, CA, US