New MD ecoboost

[allanv6gt]

All modern cars look heavy with their high waistlines.
Compare a 1970's Alfa Spider with the modern Spider - Mountain Gorgonzola and ...um, yeh. (I know, heresy on a Ford forum).

I suspect you can thank styling trends, safety advances (intrusion bars, etc) and the quest to save weight (metal is lighter than glass per sq inch / cm).
.... and then there is reduction in visibility necessitating things light parking senors and lane change warning alerts (çoz you can't see out !!).

[bungfritz]

Just had a quick question about the lane keeping aid, has anyone managed to try it to see if it works?

As an experiment, when I run over the white lines, the car vibrates the steering wheel via the lane departure warning, but I don't see the car applying any torque to the steering wheel to steer the car back into its lane.

I've had a look at the manual, and it says you need to press the button at the end of the stalk three times, but when I do it, there's no confirmation and all it seems to do is to turn off the system and back on again rather than activate another mode.

The manual itself I find is pretty badly written, I feel like they've just taken the Fusion manual from the US and provided it to us with a disclaimer that not all functions are avaliable in our region.

[simon varley]

on the Everest you can certainly feel the steering pushing you back, but like you I've only noticed the vibration in the Mondeo.

+1 (or more) on the handbook.

[DougalXR6]

I have felt the steering guide the car back within the lane on my Mondeo.

Have you switched Lane Keeping Alert and Aid, both on in the set up menu? You are able to select: Alert; Aid; Alert and Aid, as well as the amount of vibration.

When you press the button on the indicator stalk three times the Lane Keeping Aid indicator will iluminate in the instrument panel indicating that it is switched on. During normal driving the dotted lines, which indicate the lane will be green. When they turn to yellow the car will apply torque steer as required. When they turn red the steering wheel will vibrate to indicate that you are outside of the lane.

If the function is tuning on and off when you press the button three times I suspect that you only have the Alert function switched on in the setup menu. The owners manual also states that you have to turn lane keeping alert and aid on each time you start the car however, this is not correct as the function stays on until you press the button on the indicator stalk to turn it off.

You are quite right about the owners manual being poorly written. It requires trial and error to work out how some functions operate.

[bungfritz]

I'll try it again when i'm actually driving, but after having a quick look in the settings menu in the car, lane keeping alert and aid has always been activated.

When you mention of lane keeping aid icon present, whereabouts does it show up on the digital display? Regardless or not if i press the button at the indicator stalk once or three times, all i get is the greyed out lines coming up ( for the lane keeping assist ).

Also when you mention of pressing the button three times, is it three times when the system is off, or when it is on then, you hit the button three times successively afterwards?

Hopefully there isn't something wrong with the system itself, i'd hate to see a ford dealer trying to diagnose the problem.

edit: i assume the lane keeping aid icon are those arrows pointing inwards on both sides of those lines in the digital display?

[DougalXR6]

The lane keeping icon displays above the dotted lines which indicate the lane. If you have the can see the lane lines on the display in any colour, including grey, the system should be activated.

According to the owners manual if the lane markings are grey the system is unable to detect the actual lane or your speed is below 65 Km/h, among others.

To activate the system you press the button on the stalk three times when it is off. After pressing the button three times the icon and the lane indicators will appear on the display indicating that the system is switched on.

I hope this information helps as I'm sure you would only get blank looks from the Ford dealer.

[bungfritz]

Ok so I've got a picture of my dash, the icon your referring to for the lane keeping assist, is it those arrows which point inward toward the lines?

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resi...nt=photo%2cjpg

[DougalXR6]

I have a Trend which has a different instrument display. There are no arrows with the lane marking lines.

The lane marking lines only appear when the Lane Aid / Alert is switched on and then change colour depending on where you are within the lane. I have never seen any arrows next to the lane marking lines.

Maybe another Titanium can assist you further.

[NX74205]

Originally Posted by bungfritz

Ok so I've got a picture of my dash, the icon your referring to for the lane keeping assist, is it those arrows which point inward toward the lines?

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resi...nt=photo%2cjpg

Yes. If you can see the lane markings with two arrows on either side, then lane keeping alert and lane keeping aid are both active. They're grey when they're not detecting any lane markings, and green when they are. When you get green lane markings and green arrows, try steering the car to the next lane and see what happens.

[Mondaveo]

From memory when I test-drove an MD Trend, the lane-keeping aid is fairly subtle; if you drive with a firm grip on the steering wheel, you'll easily override it. And it's more about correcting when the car drifts toward the line markings, rather than counteracting when you deliberately steer out of the lane. I had to use a deliberately light touch before I could feel it work its magic. If you feel the vibration from the LDW kick in, you've gone too far.

I think the salesperson even said it had different strength settings, the demo car was on the strongest level and even that felt very minor. If so it could be yours is on the lightest setting which would make it even harder to perceive?

[bungfritz]

Thanks for the replies everyone, so I tried driving my car yesterday night at 65km/h and I tested the lane keeping aid by letting go of the steering wheel and seeing what it would do (don't worry there was no traffic anywhere and my hands were still right next to the wheel so I could regain control whenever I wanted).

My expectation of the system is as the car drifted toward the white line, it should have torqued the wheel to put it back in line, however what had happened was the car just drifted half way into the other lane where I then took control of the steering wheel again to direct myself back into my lane.

I'm not sure whether night time visibility has anything to do with the camera operation, but it seems clear that the system isn't working at all.

The only thing I'm thinking is that the system might work best on highways where you are driving at a faster speed (say 100km/h+?) and that it wasn't meant to be designed for slower suburban speeds.

[NX74205]

Originally Posted by bungfritz

Thanks for the replies everyone, so I tried driving my car yesterday night at 65km/h and I tested the lane keeping aid by letting go of the steering wheel and seeing what it would do (don't worry there was no traffic anywhere and my hands were still right next to the wheel so I could regain control whenever I wanted).

Were the lane markings and arrows on the dash green at the time?

If so, maybe there is an issue with the system.

[NX74205]

Does anyone else have a problem with the doors locking and unlocking while washing the car with keys in your pocket? I found that I don't even need to be touching the door - I could be hosing it down with a high pressure hose, and the car unlocks itself when the stream of water hits the door handles. It's slightly annoying.

[bungfritz]

The water droplets flowing over the door handle sensor registers like when you put your fingers over the handle so it causes the door to open.

Only solution would be to put your key somewhere other than your pocket whilst you are washing your car.

[DougalXR6]

Originally Posted by NX74205

Does anyone else have a problem with the doors locking and unlocking while washing the car with keys in your pocket? I found that I don't even need to be touching the door - I could be hosing it down with a high pressure hose, and the car unlocks itself when the stream of water hits the door handles. It's slightly annoying.

This has happened to me as well. At first I thought I must have accidently leant on a button while the romote was in my pocket however, I worked out it was the stream of water hitting the door handle.

I now leave the remote in the car while I'm washing it.

[NX74205]

Originally Posted by DougalXR6

I now leave the remote in the car while I'm washing it.

I thought about doing this, but I was worried that I might accidentally lock the key in the car. I'm going to have to test whether the doors will lock while the key is inside.

[kenj]

Originally Posted by NX74205

I thought about doing this, but I was worried that I might accidentally lock the key in the car. I'm going to have to test whether the doors will lock while the key is inside.

I can't speak for the Mondeo but I have a Kuga and the doors will not lock with the keys inside. BTW the locking unlocking while washing happened to me as well, now I just leave the keys in the garage.

[DougalXR6]

I can confirm that you are unable to lock the Mondeo with the keys inside.

I found this out by accident just after I got the car as I tried to lock it in a car park and was unable to as the keys were in the centre console.

I'm glad the designers had preempted this as it could have been an embarrassing mistake.

[ope126]

Originally Posted by bungfritz

Thanks for the replies everyone, so I tried driving my car yesterday night at 65km/h and I tested the lane keeping aid by letting go of the steering wheel and seeing what it would do (don't worry there was no traffic anywhere and my hands were still right next to the wheel so I could regain control whenever I wanted).

My expectation of the system is as the car drifted toward the white line, it should have torqued the wheel to put it back in line, however what had happened was the car just drifted half way into the other lane where I then took control of the steering wheel again to direct myself back into my lane.

I'm not sure whether night time visibility has anything to do with the camera operation, but it seems clear that the system isn't working at all.

The only thing I'm thinking is that the system might work best on highways where you are driving at a faster speed (say 100km/h+?) and that it wasn't meant to be designed for slower suburban speeds.

I am experiencing the same issues with the Lane Keeping System.
I have both Lane Keeping Alert and Lane Keeping Aid activated t the highest level of intensity. And all it does for me also is drive right into the next lane...

With the MC Titanium it would vibrate its little heart out all the time.
Not in the MD...

Booked into Q Ford Sprigwood in 2 weeks time!

[gsd112]

Anyone expecting a Mondeo delivery late July early August?

[blue17]

For the lane keeping aid to work you actually have to have your hands on the wheel and it will gradually guide you back. You can change the setting as to how much it pushes against your steering inputs.

[stuart]

I found on my MC Mondeo that if you put the blinker on and move toward/over the white line, ie an intentional lane change, the vibration and steering torque movement was disabled. Only when deviating toward/over the white line it was operating.

[gsd112]

Dealer today has advised my new Mondeo wagon will more than likely be late September early October know. What a joke Ford Australia is. Possibly 8 months to wait for a car. Thankfully our fleet manager has told the dealer if its not delivered by end of August that they will cancel the order and allow me to get a Passat which I could have in 2 weeks. We were told June delivery after ordered in early February, then each month it goes to the next month.

[AndrewMac]

I ordered mine in April last year when they were first released and car came in October.

1000% worth the wait though . . . . . best car I've ever had by a mile (and I've had lots of work cars back to AU Fairmonts, VX Berlinas, VY, VYII Berlinas, BA Fairmonts, BF XR6s, VZ Acclaims and a stack of others like Camrys, Astras, Focus x 3 (nice diesel manual ones) over the years....!!)

I am thinking about getting a couple of things done to the car - it is an Ambiente, so I am thinking about plastidip the front grille in black and also an ECU remap tune . . . to take the specs to Trend/Titanium ecoboost specs.

[blue17]

Has anybody tried fuel economy with 91RON compared to 95RON (as recommend for max performance and fuel economy? Mine runs fine as far as power and driveability goes on 91RON but fuel is usage is averaging about 11.4 compared to previous diesel at about 6.5. Hard to justify the 20% difference in price depending on price cycle. Also can't understand how Falcon ecoboost gets nearly identical power and torque figures but better fuel figures with a lower compression ratio and heavier vehicle and based on using 91RON.

[NX74205]

Originally Posted by blue17

Has anybody tried fuel economy with 91RON compared to 95RON (as recommend for max performance and fuel economy?

I always put 95RON in mine and I'm getting about 11L/100 in mostly stop-start traffic use.

[AndrewMac]

I started in mine on 91RON and fuel in mostly stop start around city was anywhere from 14-16L/100km average and not driving like a maniac either. This car does not spend much time above 50 or 60km/h unfortunately and does lots of short trips.

I thought that amount was too high and requested fleet manager to let me use 95RON as per recommendation from Ford and now consumption has fallen to a long term (8,000+km) 11.1L/100km in the same traffic/conditions. The car feels better and has in particular, a smoother idle in my opinion.

I did the sums and it is cheaper to use 95RON despite the higher purchase price and as I say, the car seems to like it better too.

[R12RT]

I put diesel in mine and I'm getting 5.9L/100km.

[blue17]

Never thought about using diesel, will the fuel nozzle fit ?

I always thought that the ecoboost engines were the same for both the Falcon and Mondeo but know I see the Falcon is euro 4 comp 9.3:1 while Mondeo is euro 5 comp 10:1. I assume they have different heads and ECU settings and this explains why the Falcon can run on 91RON with same power fuel economy?

Also wish they had fitted a bigger fuel tank.

[NX74205]

Originally Posted by blue17

Also wish they had fitted a bigger fuel tank.

Same. I've never managed to get 500km before the low fuel (40km to empty) warning came on (which is when I fill up). That's easily done in my thirstier Fairmont.