Ford C-max owners have reported 5 electronic stability control related problems since 1996. Table 1 shows the 1 most common electronic stability control problems. The number one most common problem is related to the vehicle's electronic stability control (5 problems). For details of each of the problem category, use the links in the table.
| Problem Category | Number of Problems |
|---|---|
| Electronic Stability Control problems |
Power steering assist warning light comes on, warning to get off the road and take to a dealer. Each time I have been driving when the light came on. Could not drive it had to have the car towed to my mechanic. Two weeks later the power assist light has come on. Not safe to drive will have it towed to a Ford dealership. Is is very hard to turn and the (epas) electronic power assist steering needs to be replaced or fix the whole system.
Very loud popping initially. Deafening pops that sound like your windshield was hit with a high velocity object. At first you cant tell where the sound is coming from. It does resemble the sound of a speaker blowing. It does not always occur when the radio or bluetooth audio is being used. In the beginning after it pops the blue tooth will not work for a few minutes to a few days. The sounds are terrifying and distracting. I believe it does place one in an unsafe predicament. You are not sure if you hit something or something has struck you. You feel like your windshield is broken. On other occasion it is clear that the speakers are cracking and again it very loud and dangerously distracting.
Wrench light came on meaning contact dealer ASAP about powertrain issue. I had noticed a few days earlier it seemed to not be switching between electric and engine as well or smoothly when driving. When stationary, the display screen for radio would not come on when getting into the car. Instead it gives message "turning off to conserve battery. " car has been well maintained and is at 78000 miles. Took to dealer. Cannot find issue. Codes it is throwing are for battery but they both test good. They reset codes and we went to pick it up. Now key fobs won't work unless the car is turned on. Alarm button on the fob makes the car sound like a fluttering noise, but no real alarm. The dealer is going to keep it more and check it out more. Still has the message about conserving battery on the screen. They hadn't found what caused the battery codes and now more things aren't working.
I was in an accident, driving approximately 25 mph when I hit the brakes with approximately 20 feet of distance, the anti lock brakes failed to engage causing the car to slide, and rear end the car in front of me, upon impact the airbags did not deploy.
Excessive torque is too easily applied to the wheels when taking off from a stop causing unexpected traction loss and tire spin even under light acceleration, especially when turning. When driving at speed while passing or otherwise using close to or full power (in a straight line), the car will suddenly pull to one side or the other unexpectedly. Any necessary steering correction causes the car to pull to the opposite side and often causes the car to wander across the lane back and forth as I try to maintain control. These issues seem to be related to the high torque of the electric motor as well as the electronically controlled "torque vectoring" differential. An intermittent problem that I've noticed is, when coming to a stop, sometimes the electronics controlling the internal combustion motor get confused, power is applied to wheels in a stuttering fashion, requiring extra force to be applied to the brakes until the engine shuts down (as it normally does when coming to a stop). Despite the required date of incident field below, this is not a one time incident and commonly happens on a day to day and/or intermittent basis.