68 plate Focus: ESC Service Required and other faults

[G60bv]

I have this issue on my smax 16 plate. Does not have anti collision. 

And only happens when I do full lock left it resets itself very quickly. But very annoying.. 

Ford have been less than helpful.. 

[jamieburchell]

Car is back from a service where I mentioned this. According to the job sheet/invoice, they carried out an update to the ABS module. But, they also told me there were no outstanding items coming up for my VIN and no fault codes. So why did they do an update for that, but not for the fuel filter at limit warning?

Started the vehicle and the fuel gauge needle was pointing at half full, but the petrol warning light was on and reading that I had 15 miles to go to empty. Queried this and was told it was "normal after an update" and it'll "sort itself out". Seems like a load of nonsense. I filled the tank because I had no idea how much fuel was actually in it, needle is now on full and miles to empty is 20 and slowly increasing when driving.

So they updated the ABS module and broke the fuel gauge? I don't get it. Are the two things related?

 

I was told they couldn't find anything wrong with the fuel filter at limit warning that happens most days (despite taking it for long runs) and that I need to keep driving. Right. Like from Holyhead to Manchester and back and it did it the following week?

I was then told if I thought it came on too much, to give them the car for a technician to take home for a week or two. You are having a laugh, right? Apart from the fact that for all I know they'll thrash the (fairly new) car, who pays for the courtesy car and my inconvenience? A fob off if I ever heard one: tell you that the only way to resolve an issue (maybe) is to give your car to someone you don't know for a fortnight. I don't know how the technician kept a straight face, but I have to wonder if perhaps this was the stock answer given to anyone with a difficult issue.

Absolute waste of time.

Still, the B&O sound system was on full blast when I got in it, so I can imagine what they've actually been doing.

My car isn't clean by any means, I have a 2 year old, but the courtesy car was next level filthy inside: crisps and gunk everywhere. "We didn't have time to get it cleaned because we are so busy" she said. That's my problem why? No worries I said before I saw it. I felt like hovering above the seat like you might in a portaloo. £10 for the privilege and not as much fuel in it as she told me there was.

At the end of the day, I had to call twice to find out if they were finished with the car (head office couldn't get through to the branch, twice, sent emails and still no call back. So I turned up around 5 and on arrival, they couldn't find my paperwork.

Thanks Evans Halshaw Ashton, I won't be returning.

[ianincheshire]

Quote

So they updated the ABS module and broke the fuel gauge? I don't get it. Are the two things related?

The update has probably reset the average fuel consumption , maybe almost zero. So the calculations for dist to empty are getting a low value even the theres plenty of fuel in the tank. It should sort itself out pretty quickly...

[Pete14tc]

When I recently bought my Mk4 Focus I was told by the sales person that the Forward Collision Warning message was a problem due to the number plate being set too low, raising It solved the problem.

[Rattus]

On 8/25/2019 at 7:32 PM, jamieburchell said:

The strange change in warning tone sound? Odd that it fixes itself when the car is restarted.

That strange change in the warning tones (it goes really tinny sounding) happened again last night. Had to leave the care with side lights on whilst I popped into the office for 10 minutes. When i got back in the car, the warning for lights on, engine off sounded and was really tinny. All because it had been left for a few mins. Once it started and the volts picked up, all was good again.

Start stop still doesn't work though!! 😂🤣

[Pete14tc]

Re: ESC service Required and other faults

This happened to my Mk4 a couple of days ago. Was reversing out of a car parking space and the over sensitive protection kicked in as it detected  another car approaching which I had seen and my car braked very sharply. All the faults appeared as you describe as I pulled away which was a bit disconcerting. Decided to stop as soon as was possible, switched my car off, left it for a few seconds, restarted the car, all faults disappeared and car has driven normal since.

[jamieburchell]

On 11/23/2019 at 8:15 PM, Rattus said:

That strange change in the warning tones (it goes really tinny sounding) happened again last night. Had to leave the care with side lights on whilst I popped into the office for 10 minutes. When i got back in the car, the warning for lights on, engine off sounded and was really tinny. All because it had been left for a few mins. Once it started and the volts picked up, all was good again.

Start stop still doesn't work though!! 😂🤣

I was met with blank expressions when I mentioned the funny sound and it was promptly dismissed with "the seatbelt and reversing sensor sounds come out of different speakers". So there we are, clearly it's just in our imagination.

[WU69YWN]

I have a 69 plate ST, in the last 5 weeks its had several issues that you've mentioned. The Anti collision warning went off when there was no one else on the road and subsequently is now off line altogether. The parking sensors go through various phases of different noises (when they work). The auto stop is just offline altogether, the computer screen on the dash goes blank and cannot be revived even when you turn it off and back on (not ideal when you're following the sat nav), 8 times out of ten it wont connect to my phone. The last time I took it back to the dealership every system had gone down one by one including traction control, the car coughed and spluttered. O took it in and they told me trhey could see all the errors but not what the root cause was. They also told me the battery was extremely flat. They have subsequently reset all of the computers which made the car a dream to drive for a week and now its going back in to the dealer again. 

I'm pretty upset really, you spend this much on a car with all the bells and whistles and when it doesn't work, what can you do? I would really like them to take it back and issue me with a new one which works to be honest, this one has had problems from the moment it left the forecourt.. but I doubt that will happen. 

[Rattus]

On 12/3/2019 at 11:01 AM, WU69YWN said:

I have a 69 plate ST, in the last 5 weeks its had several issues that you've mentioned. The Anti collision warning went off when there was no one else on the road and subsequently is now off line altogether. The parking sensors go through various phases of different noises (when they work). The auto stop is just offline altogether, the computer screen on the dash goes blank and cannot be revived even when you turn it off and back on (not ideal when you're following the sat nav), 8 times out of ten it wont connect to my phone. The last time I took it back to the dealership every system had gone down one by one including traction control, the car coughed and spluttered. O took it in and they told me trhey could see all the errors but not what the root cause was. They also told me the battery was extremely flat. They have subsequently reset all of the computers which made the car a dream to drive for a week and now its going back in to the dealer again. 

I'm pretty upset really, you spend this much on a car with all the bells and whistles and when it doesn't work, what can you do? I would really like them to take it back and issue me with a new one which works to be honest, this one has had problems from the moment it left the forecourt.. but I doubt that will happen. 

Mine is a company car, but I still pay the tax etc. The first one I had was rejected by the company as unfit for purpose. A new one was pushed through production (had to be as no stock in the colour ordered). It can be done, but a company buying power is much greater than a single bloke from the street. They respond to the threat of taking 400 odd cars to another manufacturer. 

I am convinced that the issue in my car is related to the charging system but the techies at Ford only know how to plug a laptop in. The day of the true mechanic is long gone! If the computer doesn't say no, then it must be a yes!! #Annoying 

[Nigel Cookson]

I have read with interest the posts regarding the faults and the possible causes and would like to add my experience to the list.

I have a 2018 Ford Focus Titanium X 1.5 diesel.

M y car has been to Bristol Street Ford on two occasions for the faults, these being (pre collision not available & hill start not available).

The first time they supposedly carried out a software update!

Unfortunately the faults persisted and over the last two months I have had 48 notifications and the car is back in the garage.

The garage contacted me to say that they were contacting Ford Technical as they weren’t sure how to proceed and they are keeping the car for further tests.

I am retired and as such I don’t cover many miles so the battery charging may be an issue and the start stop rarely functions!

I will post again as and when the garage return my car.

 

nigel

[Lime_Spider]

@jamieburchell

@Nigel Cookson

Did either of you get this sorted?  I've just had it come up on our 68 Focus Mk4, 3 weeks after it went in for a fix on the Emergency Call System Malfunction.

 

[Murat123]

I had this when I bought mine back in december 2018. It put me off the car ever since then especially because the dealer couldn't give a ***** as they took my money. Took it in for a 'repair' which was most likely a diagnostics code delete because I had the same things coming up couple days after.

1.0EB Titanium mine is, all sorts of problems. My clutch slave master cylinder went recently got stuck on the motorway. What a joke of this car.

[Lime_Spider]

10 hours ago, Murat123 said:

I had this when I bought mine back in december 2018. It put me off the car ever since then especially because the dealer couldn't give a ***** as they took my money. Took it in for a 'repair' which was most likely a diagnostics code delete because I had the same things coming up couple days after.

1.0EB Titanium mine is, all sorts of problems. My clutch slave master cylinder went recently got stuck on the motorway. What a joke of this car.

Did you get to the bottom of the multi errors popping up? Any indication as to the cause?

[Murat123]

3 hours ago, Lime_Spider said:

Did you get to the bottom of the multi errors popping up? Any indication as to the cause?

No not at all, I went 3 times and on every occasion they said they've updated the car. Whatwver they done the 3rd time I haven't had problems since then.

[Lime_Spider]

1 hour ago, Murat123 said:

No not at all, I went 3 times and on every occasion they said they've updated the car. Whatwver they done the 3rd time I haven't had problems since then.

Well maybe slightly reassuring that the errors didn't pop up afterwards.

I'm a bit peeved that the SOS error came up again after they supposedly updated it to a later version.  Smacks of a wider issue, or that they didn't do the update properly.  It had gone in once before and Ford were having "server" issues so I had to take it back for the update.  I've also put on the auto-update that is supposed to push the non-SYNC updates to the car, although another poster said that they work on these cars and has never seen one successfully do this.

Whilst all this is going on I am also afflicted by what appears to be the creaky drop links - I'm glad I found this forum!!! 

[Murat123]

10 hours ago, Lime_Spider said:

Well maybe slightly reassuring that the errors didn't pop up afterwards.

I'm a bit peeved that the SOS error came up again after they supposedly updated it to a later version.  Smacks of a wider issue, or that they didn't do the update properly.  It had gone in once before and Ford were having "server" issues so I had to take it back for the update.  I've also put on the auto-update that is supposed to push the non-SYNC updates to the car, although another poster said that they work on these cars and has never seen one successfully do this.

Whilst all this is going on I am also afflicted by what appears to be the creaky drop links - I'm glad I found this forum!!! 

Mate all I can say is I wish I never bought a brand new car. Ford ***** me off so many times it's irritating me. They took 1.5 months to repair a slave cylinder. I've had all sorts of issues and simply had enough. They didn't give a courtesy vehicle either for 3 weeks but still took payments as usual and won't give it back. I hope you don't go through the same thing. Once they take the money, you're no one again. 

Regarding the auto update I've never seen one happen. I updated my system and maps to the latest versions via cyanlabs. But yeah I don't have any error messages anymore so it's all good!

[Lime_Spider]

On 9/30/2020 at 10:55 PM, Murat123 said:

Mate all I can say is I wish I never bought a brand new car. Ford ***** me off so many times it's irritating me. They took 1.5 months to repair a slave cylinder. I've had all sorts of issues and simply had enough. They didn't give a courtesy vehicle either for 3 weeks but still took payments as usual and won't give it back. I hope you don't go through the same thing. Once they take the money, you're no one again. 

Regarding the auto update I've never seen one happen. I updated my system and maps to the latest versions via cyanlabs. But yeah I don't have any error messages anymore so it's all good!

That doesn't sound like a very good experience at all...  Our other Fords were pretty reliable so I am a bit disappointed by what is going on here, esp with the electrics.

Touch wood after the two days it happened, we've not had a reoccurrence, although I have booked it in at the dealership to get it looked at.  I did "clean" the sensor on the front, although if that is the issue then it's poor for a couple of reasons - 1. It wasn't that dirty, 2. It shouldn't fail a bunch of auto breaking features due to dirt on the outside of a car!

The auto updating is supposed to do the modules and systems that you cannot get access to unless you have the "special" computer.  SYNC updates are different, although the last one I did was a bit of a nightmare...

I'll keep you posted if they actually tell me something of value...

[Leo1664]

Has anyone had any luck having Ford fix this issue yet?

Every time they have the car they tell me they couldn't find any faults. The problem keeps happening and it seems to change slightly each time. Last night I lost the use of the indicators and headlights on the motorway, then it wouldn't lock when I'd stopped. The time before the handbrake wouldn't come off...this time it wouldn't go on! On all occasions the dash and 'crashes' (including the sat-nav display) - and comes back on with no speedo (and/or rev counter)...the car does manage to display lots of warning lights though. 

Any help apricated as to fault fixing so I can help my local Ford Dealer as they seem clueless...bless them.

[unofix]

Well Leo you could start by taking the time to fill in your profile details like what car you have, then you could go to the members section and introduce yourself and then you could start a new post that explains what your problem is in a logical manner.

2 hours ago, Leo1664 said:

Has anyone had any luck having Ford fix this issue yet?

Every time they have the car they tell me they couldn't find any faults. The problem keeps happening and it seems to change slightly each time.

This answer might sound blunt but since the forum seems at the moment to be getting new members at a very high rate then help will more likely be given to those who help by explaining what they are in need of.

[Nevetsben]

On 8/10/2019 at 5:35 PM, jamieburchell said:

Hi

Started the car this morning and received the following warnings:

ESC Service Required (traction control light stayed illuminated)

Auto Hold Unavailable

Hill Start Assist Not Available

Pre Collision Assist Not Available

Fantastic. The traction control lamp went out and everything else seemed to be working fine i.e. the car was still drivable. Pressing the Auto Hold button to turn it on from the centre console didn't work, the message returned.

After I turned the car off and back on again, everything worked fine. 🤔

Obviously I need to take it to a dealer. It's a fairly new car, so it seems a bit odd?

I don't know if it's related but the car doesn't always remember that I have Auto Hold on. Sometimes it's on when the car starts, sometimes I have to turn it on. It's really annoying that it doesn't remember the last setting.

The Ford phone app showed a message at the same time: Forward Collision Warning? 

Anyone had the same?

Jamie

Jamie, I'm getting the same issue on my 2016 Mondeo 1.5 TDCI and the following, Speedo stops working, lack of power and the steering goes really heavy, then it clears and all goes back to normal??? can go weeks with no issues, then it happened 4 times on a 15 mile journey on motorway???

[Nevetsben]

On 11/14/2019 at 8:17 PM, jamieburchell said:

Car is back from a service where I mentioned this. According to the job sheet/invoice, they carried out an update to the ABS module. But, they also told me there were no outstanding items coming up for my VIN and no fault codes. So why did they do an update for that, but not for the fuel filter at limit warning?

Started the vehicle and the fuel gauge needle was pointing at half full, but the petrol warning light was on and reading that I had 15 miles to go to empty. Queried this and was told it was "normal after an update" and it'll "sort itself out". Seems like a load of nonsense. I filled the tank because I had no idea how much fuel was actually in it, needle is now on full and miles to empty is 20 and slowly increasing when driving.

So they updated the ABS module and broke the fuel gauge? I don't get it. Are the two things related?

 

I was told they couldn't find anything wrong with the fuel filter at limit warning that happens most days (despite taking it for long runs) and that I need to keep driving. Right. Like from Holyhead to Manchester and back and it did it the following week?

I was then told if I thought it came on too much, to give them the car for a technician to take home for a week or two. You are having a laugh, right? Apart from the fact that for all I know they'll thrash the (fairly new) car, who pays for the courtesy car and my inconvenience? A fob off if I ever heard one: tell you that the only way to resolve an issue (maybe) is to give your car to someone you don't know for a fortnight. I don't know how the technician kept a straight face, but I have to wonder if perhaps this was the stock answer given to anyone with a difficult issue.

Absolute waste of time.

Still, the B&O sound system was on full blast when I got in it, so I can imagine what they've actually been doing.

My car isn't clean by any means, I have a 2 year old, but the courtesy car was next level filthy inside: crisps and gunk everywhere. "We didn't have time to get it cleaned because we are so busy" she said. That's my problem why? No worries I said before I saw it. I felt like hovering above the seat like you might in a portaloo. £10 for the privilege and not as much fuel in it as she told me there was.

At the end of the day, I had to call twice to find out if they were finished with the car (head office couldn't get through to the branch, twice, sent emails and still no call back. So I turned up around 5 and on arrival, they couldn't find my paperwork.

Thanks Evans Halshaw Ashton, I won't be returning.

Had this on my mondeo after a sync system replacement and software upgrade, reset trip function sorted the issue.

[DaveR51]

I have Focus ST Line 2019 that has had all these problems and just took in for MOT only for the garage to fail it because it went into collision mode displaying these on Ford app

After 45 minutes he restarted car and started the MOT which passed until put on rollers to test brakes and all returned faults displayed so had to fail car. He then told me to take to Ford dealer as he Hatherley software required to check everything! I have now taken to dealer who is trying to check out and do MOT but looking at my app last night he was not having much success as displayed all those conditions again and waiting to hear outcome but also noticed car gone into deep sleep due to low battery could this be the issue? 

[unofix]

The state of charge of the battery is low.

Charge the battery for at least 12 hours with a Smart Charger.

[DaveR51]

On 12/18/2019 at 8:39 PM, Nigel Cookson said:

I have read with interest the posts regarding the faults and the possible causes and would like to add my experience to the list.

I have a 2018 Ford Focus Titanium X 1.5 diesel.

M y car has been to Bristol Street Ford on two occasions for the faults, these being (pre collision not available & hill start not available).

The first time they supposedly carried out a software update!

Unfortunately the faults persisted and over the last two months I have had 48 notifications and the car is back in the garage.

The garage contacted me to say that they were contacting Ford Technical as they weren’t sure how to proceed and they are keeping the car for further tests.

I am retired and as such I don’t cover many miles so the battery charging may be an issue and the start stop rarely functions!

I will post again as and when the garage return my car.

 

nigel

 

On 9/29/2020 at 1:39 PM, Lime_Spider said:

@jamieburchell

@Nigel Cookson

Did either of you get this sorted?  I've just had it come up on our 68 Focus Mk4, 3 weeks after it went in for a fix on the Emergency Call System Malfunction.

 

 

On 9/30/2020 at 12:21 PM, Lime_Spider said:

Well maybe slightly reassuring that the errors didn't pop up afterwards.

I'm a bit peeved that the SOS error came up again after they supposedly updated it to a later version.  Smacks of a wider issue, or that they didn't do the update properly.  It had gone in once before and Ford were having "server" issues so I had to take it back for the update.  I've also put on the auto-update that is supposed to push the non-SYNC updates to the car, although another poster said that they work on these cars and has never seen one successfully do this.

Whilst all this is going on I am also afflicted by what appears to be the creaky drop links - I'm glad I found this forum!!! 

I have Focus ST Line 2019 that has had all these problems and just took in for MOT only for the garage to fail it because it went into collision mode displaying these on Ford app

After 45 minutes he restarted car and started the MOT which passed until put on rollers to test brakes and all returned faults displayed so had to fail car. He then told me to take to Ford dealer as he Hatherley software required to check everything! I have now taken to dealer who is trying to check out and do MOT but looking at my app last night he was not having much success as displayed all those conditions again and waiting to hear outcome but also noticed car gone into deep sleep due to low battery could this be the issue? 

[DaveR51]

UNOFIX  Does the low battery cause the faults I listed before as its been a constant issue !!?