Update from Norway. Had the 12volt battery issue back in March 2022. Had the car multiple times die on me the next morning. Ever since the dealer had it for 2 weeks in may of 2022. Updated the car and changed a sensor that they told me is a sensor that talks the the car if the 12volt needs charging either from the main battery or the petrol engine. Now September 2024 and not even 1 issue regarding the 12 volt. Ford app has been working fine aswell ever since then. 
 

If the dealers in your country still don’t have a fix, maybe they should hear with Ford Norway since at least for me it’s fixed.

I got a 2020 Ford Kuga Hybrid ST line which I bought second hand last January. As soon as the warranty ended problem with the battery started. It kept dying so I had to jumpstart it quite often. My car dealer (not Ford) checked the battery and said it was fine. Reading this forum, it looks like this is a common problem for this model. I am booked with Ford service this week and they were charging me over £100 just to diagnose the issue. If they get a lot of complaints with battery I wonder why they don’t recall the car and fix the issue.  I’m really disappointed with this car as it’s been so unreliable. My computer screen also goes off from time to time and I’m not sure if this is related to the battery.  Fingers crossed it’s not an expensive issue to fix! 

Yep, it's still happening. After 2 home start callouts, I got the car to Hendy Ford. They confirmed that the OEM battery was dead and that this was a known issue (see all the posts above). The solution being an expensive upgrade battery with some extra software total bill over £500. Ford say it's not their problem because batteries are consumables....missing the point that the error is in the software not the battery. At the very least Ford should pay for the software upgrade and the difference in price between the OEM and the upgraded battery. I'm taking this to the ombudsman...don't hold your breath. 

Hi all

Yes another one on the list, my 22 plate PHEV earlier in the year was charged (EV battery) and unplugged around 5 o/c next morning car very dead.

Dealer said car under warranty so get it there and it will get sorted, how do I do that then? everything is electric and its parked between two other vehicles, phone Ford they said.

Ford said the first 12 moths only covers breakdown phone the dealer. did that again and dealer felt sorry for me so came out with a starter pack and manage to get it going and took it to the workshop.

Charged the 12 volt overnight carried out a reprogram, all sorted!

No it isnt as said by others a 12v battery that drops to 4v is damaged but apparently it said it was 97% fit so Ford wont change it, 'you dont do enough miles to charge the battery was the comment, so bought a new Optimate wired it permanently to the battery (so dont have to keep lifting the floor) with a new socket in the boot side panel, simples.

No it isnt, all failed again the next morning a couple of weeks ago after charging the EV , pressed the help button on the app and got some very heavily accented gent smarmily telling me to ring the dealer but he would start a record of the issue. Dealer repeated as earlier.

Ford man tried all sorts to bluff his way through and would say one thing then swear he never said it, my argument was twice now I have had a completely discharged 12v battery and although it might still shoe 90 odd percent it is going to fail prematurely so can I have new one.

No, the dealer has to be consulted first, and their reply was 'doesnt do enough miles to charge the battery'.

A second call by Ford to the dealer got the right man (workshop manger) and the story has changed to yes I can have a new battery but it wont be covered by warranty any more (has till March to 3 years up).

But dealer rang me and he is pretty confident he will get it all sorted after Christmas.

So as said on here the problem is not low milage to charge the battery it is a fault in the system that discharges the 12v when the EV is charged, Ford wont acknowledge the problem but between this Forum and another Ford forum this issue is not a small number of cars affected.

The dealer did tell me they get loads of updates monthly and some cars need so many they dont tell the owner if everything is working because the cost would be horrendous.

Not the first time Ford have ignored a problem that is rife but it seems they dont want to open the flood gates and have to deal with hundreds of cases.

Once its out of warranty it your problem so it doesnt cost them anything......

Had loads of Fords in the past some of which are now selling as classics for 10s and 10s of 1000s bet this Kuga wont be one in the future.

Sorry got rambling.

On 2/10/2023 at 8:47 AM, Colin Fox said:

Ford were very helpful and the dealer had my car back in and replaced the 12 volt battery with as near to the original as they could get ,Apparently a direct replacement original battery isn't yet available, They also uploaded the latest software .Since then, 15/12/22 every thing has been OK (touchwood) I can't praise Ford customer care enough I think without their intervension I would still have the problem .

Hi Colin. I have had pretty much the same problem as you re my 2021 Kuga 2.5 Hybrid. Two local Ford dealers, plus Ford Customer Care have claimed ignorance in relation to what appears to be a fairly common issue, and thus far, my financial outlay has been over £700 to try and get this 'mystery' problem fixed. I have pointed them all to this, and other Ford threads, regarding this issue, but they just don't seem to want to acknowledge the commonality or even existence of this problem.

My vehicle was out of warranty by just over a month when the problem first materialised after it had had some switches replaced in the doors as part of a recall. Ford have effectively forced me to have their own brand of 12v AGM battery fitted to replace a brand new Bosch battery that had just been fitted by the AA when first trying to rectify the battery drain problem. Despite the AA claiming that the battery they fitted was fully compatible for this vehicle (also confirmed by the Halfords online battery replacement checker), Ford are insisting that their own Ford AGM Battery is the only one that can be fitted to this car, and without it in place they were refusing to continue with the diagnostic process. This all seems quite odd as the 12v battery removed by the AA was the original one included with the vehicle when I bought it as an ex demo from a Ford Dealer in Bristol when it was a few months old. I think it's safe to assume that that battery had been fitted at the time of manufacture!

I only got the car back just before Xmas and haven't yet dared to charge the EV batteries as I'm 99.99% sure that it is when these are charged via my 3 pin plug charger at home that the 12v battery drains to zero. Please can you let me know if Ford assisted you with any costs regarding the 12v battery or other related services, and also, if your problem has been solved, what the issue was caused by - and how was it finally fixed. 

Thank in advance . . .

K

2 hours ago, Kezz said:

Hi Colin. I have had pretty ......

Colin last visited the forum 12th April 2023