Hi, 

I have my focus 2018, the stop start does not work. Took the car to the dealer and was told the battery needs to be over 80%. The battery has been recharged twice in one month and the stop start works for the day then stops. Took the car to the dealer today and was told the battery is at 25%.

Is this normal? I drive the car 30 mins every three days a week and for 2 hours (1 hour each journey on motorway) on the weekend.

 

Been told the dealer will recharge battery again. Surely there's an underlying problem...

Hi, yes mine is exactly the same. Works for a few days and then rarely,  no matter what type of driving I do. 
it seems to be the same for all of us in the 2018/2019 models. 
I am concerned that as I bought the car for its environmental credentials among other things, this does not work as designed to cut down pollution in traffic. 
My dealer says it is common and will only work for a short while after a full battery charge. They say it also affects other makes of cars. Given that they have to have this feature for approval, it is a concern that it isn’t working. My 2015 car worked perfectly and still does. Now owned by my son. 
so environmental concerns are right up there for me. 
I think I need to take it up with Ford,  as it appears to be an issue with the battery and how it charges. 
My dealer says it only charges on overrun. They have been very helpful,  but can’t sort it out. 

 

As has been discussed here before it's all down to the way the intelligent battery monitor/charger operates

44 minutes ago, Gilli said:

My 2015 car worked perfectly and still does. Now owned by my son. 

My friend has a 2016 mondeo, never had any problem with the stop start. 

There are some threads on here re SS , I’ve read the 80% explanation, for me if the car can’t charge the battery sufficiently it’s a fault that needs fixed. 

38 minutes ago, Comares2001 said:

As has been discussed here before it's all down to the way the intelligent battery monitor/charger operates

The stop start I have read some posts and gathered some knowledge. But a battery at 25% with the vehicle being a year old. Not so intelligent charger. And like Gilly mentioned how are this new technologies actually helping the environment when Ford have adviced me I need to drive the car more... Really Ford!! 

The car is amazing but I really cannot get my head round this stop start and battery level of 25%

 

I switch SS off, not convinced it's good for the environment, more likely a way for Ford and others to claim better mpg in city driving.

Don't think S/S works in sport mode and when heavy load is on the battery (Air con/lights/wipers etc).

I'm not convinced they are good for the car's eco credentials as they cause increase wear over time which decreases efficiency and so defeats the point. Just my two penny worth.

You will find that if you turn off the sync 3 screen the stop start works more frequently. So no sat nav or radio/ cd or anything else through it. 

2 hours ago, Nard said:

I'm not convinced they are good for the car's eco credentials as they cause increase wear over time which decreases efficiency and so defeats the point. Just my two penny worth.

Agreed  

I drive constantly in sport mode so no S/S.

15 hours ago, sussamb said:

more likely a way for Ford and others to claim better mpg in city driving

It's not really for economy, more to reduce emissions in stop-start town traffic.

I agree, though, that it must increase wear on starters and batteries. Mine hasn't worked for the last four years and I'm perfectly happy with that.

3 hours ago, DaveT70 said:

I drive constantly in sport mode so no S/S.

Still works in sport mode.

Re the battery drain. Its splitting hairs but a number of us found that if you have used the pass app make sure you force stop it on your device otherwise it still communicates with the sync3 in the car so adding to the battery load when car is standing idle.

Personally I always turn off the s/s in traffic as it's a pain in the ****

I have had this problem with my fiesta. Had the battery checked and was also told that the car was charging the battery fine. I was told that it is also because it is a flood prevention battery, so that any loss in charge and the stop start does't work. I have also been told that when they go under a certain amount of charge then electrical systems start to shut off automatically.

43 minutes ago, pragmatix said:

Still works in sport mode.

Not in a MK4

1 hour ago, pragmatix said:

Still works in sport mode.

 

34 minutes ago, DaveT70 said:

Not in a MK4

Not on a Mk3.5 either. 1.0 EcoBoost if it makes any difference.

1 hour ago, karlbbb said:

 

Not on a Mk3.5 either. 1.0 EcoBoost if it makes any difference.

Hi Karl,

I see you have a MK3.5 1.0 auto.

How do you get on with the gearbox?

My wife has a 2017 ST-Line 1.0 auto and find that 2nd gear suffers from a lot of slip

20 hours ago, DaveT70 said:

Hi Karl,

I see you have a MK3.5 1.0 auto.

How do you get on with the gearbox?

My wife has a 2017 ST-Line 1.0 auto and find that 2nd gear suffers from a lot of slip

I quite like the box, it seems to suite the torque-y nature of the EcoBoost engine. Under "normal" driving when pulling away from the lights, I can feel it change into second gear (though the revs don't change much), at which point the revs then begin to drop as the torque converter begins to lock up and then it becomes direct drive by which point the box is changing into 3rd anyway. I don't think it ever locks up in first gear, but you can definitely feel the lockup in second gear which is great because then it's direct drive like a clutch so all the torque converter inefficiencies are negated.

The only time I see any real slippage is if it's cold (the torque converter doesn't lock up in any gear until the transmission fluid has warmed up a bit), or if I'm pottering around a bit slowly then absolutely boot it, in which case it slips for about half a second and then you feel the lock up kicking in again.

The only negative I have is that it will try to change into 5th at about 33 mph and back into 4th as you drop to about 31mph so it's a bit of a hunting if you're travelling at that kind of speed range on a 30mph road. Oh, and the paddle-shift response is hilarious. Takes nearly a second from paddle press to actual gearshift, but let's be honest, this box ain't designed for fast shifts. It's just a nice little 6-speed torque converter and I think it works well - the only reason I wanted the auto is because it is a torque converter box, not the dual-clutch Powershift which is riddled with issues.

Thank you.

Your description is exactly the same as mine.

Yes, paddles are a joke, we never use them.

We have found that when driving around town it's best to drive in "S" as it holds onto the gears longer and doesn't go into 4th gear until 35 MPH, seems to save fuel as it's not constantly jumping from 5th to 4th etc

Thanks again