Cruise Control problems with WS Fiesta Zetec

[Hammerhead]

Hi All,

I have had my 2010 WS Fiesta Zetec 3 door since new and have now traveled 35k. Love it.

Recently however I have noticed some issues with the cruise control function. I use cruise alot, but a few weeks ago I noticed that after pressing the on and set buttons, the cruise didn't come on. I tried again, and all was well.

Whilst this annoyed me, what annoys me more is that it has gotten worse - almost to the point that cruise will almost not work at all.

It almost seems like a button issue with the thumb keypad on the rhs of the steering wheel. Fortunately, I am still in warranty. Just wondering if anyone else had had the same problem, and if they took it to a dealer, did they fix it (and how). Known issue?

Hammerhead

[Pursya]

Why even bother looking for advice when you are in warranty?
Get it to the dealer.....STAT!

[Hammerhead]

The reason I am asking is that when I take it to the dealer I would expect that they may take it for a run, have it work for them, and say no fault found.

I am just curious to know of this is a known/common problem so I can tell wether they may know of it or not.

[trumpy73]

I could be wrong but I thought the dealer 'fob off' is with highly technical problems that they can't really figure out. With this it seems like a straight forward swap the switch out which should take care of your problem and PROFIT for the dealership. In my days working at a dealership, warranty jobs were considered money for jam.

[Hammerhead]

Thanks Trumpy! Exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping for... I will call dealer today.

Still curious to see if anyone else has had a similar issue though.

[trumpy73]

No worries - I'm not sure where you live but I've had a pretty good experience with Alto Artarmon.

[Hammerhead]

That's my local - just lodged a request.

[Pursya]

Originally Posted by Hammerhead

The reason I am asking is that when I take it to the dealer I would expect that they may take it for a run, have it work for them, and say no fault found.

I am just curious to know of this is a known/common problem so I can tell wether they may know of it or not.

I'll give the same advice I give everyone with an intermittent problem.
This is the 21st century.
Use your video phone to take a real time video of the issue in action.
That way, there is no denying a fault exists.

[EA2BA]

Kick up a stink and have the sevice manager go for a drive with you

[GoesLikeAZetec]

Most definitely agree. Get videos from your phone of it not working. I've done this with many things now.

[trumpy73]

Needless to say don't do it in front of the cops.

[Pursya]

Originally Posted by trumpy73

Needless to say don't do it in front of the cops.

Wel I assumed that the willowy 6 foot blonde that you would have picked up by now, driving such a chick magnet as a Fiesta, would do the videoing for him......

[Hammerhead]

So... Just got an interesting call from the service dept... I dropped it there this morning. After a couple of hours I get a call asking if the car has ever been involved in an accident as some of the crash sensors were showing errors apparently. I told them that I bought the car from them new, no-one has ever driven it apart from me in the past 2.5 years, so unless they crashed it and repaired it before I bought it, no, it has never been in an accident.

He said "Hmmm... I am going to have to keep digging then..."

Nothing is ever simple...

[trumpy73]

ze plot tikens

[Hammerhead]

So... They found the crash sensors were reporting some errors. Said that sometimes these can be triggered by harsh impacts like a big pothole or something... They cleared the faults, and so far it seems to be much better. If the problem re-occurs, they may look at replacing a faulty crash sensor...

[Pursya]

Good news to have found out the problem.
You would think that it would require the mother of all pot holes to activate a crash sensor though.
Keep a very close eye on it, any sign of a reoccurrence take it back and demand the sensor be replaced.
Thanks for keeping us updated.

[trumpy73]

Originally Posted by Pursya

mother of all pot holes.

Well he does live in Sydney and may be averse (like me) to PAYING Tolls

[sulrich]

Same problem with cruise control, not sure of cause. Reluctant to take it to ford dealer here in act as haven't had good experiences with them (twice changing oil on territory it started leaking).

[Hammerhead]

Ok. So now the car is 6 years old and has 120k on it. Out of warranty obviously. I have kind of learnt to live with the cruise issues which the dealer never resolved... works most of the time. Would still be curious to know if anyone else has similar issues and what the fix ended up being. I don't get serviced at dealer any more...

[Pursya]

Only issue we ever had with steering wheel controls was the left hand audio controls.
Mentioned here; http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11449436

As mentioned in that thread, the controls are a sealed unit and I strongly advise against replacing them yourself due to the air bag issue.
The Mrs has mentioned she had the cruise not come on a few weeks ago, but seems to be ok now. Interestingly, this was not long after I had to replace the front drivers side tyre as it had a huge bulge on the sidewall.
Tyre people said she must have hit a pothole!
Coincidence?

[jb1212]

Hi everyone,
I am having issues with my cruise control not working. It was perfect up to 110k, but then has been not working sometimes, and since this week is not working most of the time. Any suggestions on what to do?

[Pursya]

Check that the brake light switch is not faulty.
Same thing happened a week or so ago to our falcon work Ute. Was the brake light switch.

[jb1212]

Originally Posted by Pursya

Check that the brake light switch is not faulty.
Same thing happened a week or so ago to our falcon work Ute. Was the brake light switch.

Great idea, how can I check if that is my problem?

On my drive tonight, when the cruise control suddenly turned off, I pulled up the clutch and brake lever with my foot but the cruise control would not re-engage. Is there another way to check?

[Pursya]

Unfortunately I’m not a mechanic or auto electrician.
If there’s a switch fault then it probably occurs under vibration.
I suppose you could temporarily join the wires coming from the switch to make the lights “always off (or On depending on what the switch does)” Then test drive.
Though this needs to be done with extreme caution as only the steering wheel switch will disengage the cruise.
Extreme caution if you try this.

Before that, see I the switch is locating against the pedal correctly. Maybe it’s out of position.

[jb1212]

Thanks for your thoughts so far. I'm very keen to get to the bottom of this.

On a long road trip last weekend the cruise control was not working. If I turned off the car while driving, then turned it back on, the cruise control would work for a few minutes and then just "drop out" and I would have to use the accelerator pedal again.

Any thoughts on what this may be linked to?

Also, sometime I have to push soft on the cruise control buttons to get it to work, but other times I need to push very firm to get it to work. They are some of the patterns I have seen so far.

[Pursya]

Do you know an auto electrician?
Because that would be my first port of call, considering the “drop out” situation.
Vibration, or heat can cause disruption in the electrical supply. As for the buttons, that’s a common problem for all push button devices. You need to google the issue. Should find that pulling the keypad apart and giving it a good clean can solve that issue.
Unfortunately, the work/not work appears to be a random event situation. The hardest ones to track down.
I’m shooting in the dark here, like you I’ve no actual idea/proof that my thoughts are the issue.

[jb1212]

I do know an Auto Electrician - that's an idea.

A new clue I had on this random issue is: when the cruise control drops out, I can click the CAN RES button to get the cruise control to come on again. Then it drops out again after a minute. Then when I click CAN RES it does not come on again.

I'm keen to get to the bottom of this one (by myself if possible )