Car help for a co-worker
 

Co-worker owns a new Ford Escape. It has the auto shut off whenever she stops. However, while her foot is still on the brake, her car dies (she shouldn't have to actually restart her car whenever she stops). It's currently at the dealership, and they've had it for over 24 hours and say they can't find anything wrong with her car. Upon googling the issue, the common cause for this to happen would be a broken torque converter or low fluid level in the transmission. She's baffled as to why the dealership can't find anything wrong. Just thought I'd bring the issue to the CP mechanics.

PS. I've also seen videos and links regarding how to disable this feature. If it's doing what she says, though, she wants to find out what the issue is before disabling anything, plus she's afraid doing so would void her warranty.

How new? How long has she had it? Did it come with a warranty?

Key word is "She"

Option 1: Keep raising hell with the dealer until the issue is rectified.

Option 2: If it's under warranty, take it to a different dealer.


If the issue persists, you might have a Lemon Law claim, but that would take awhile.

Wait, im not understanding this correctly. The car is suppose to "die" when the foot is on the brake at a light. It's suppose to start again once the brake is released.

Are you saying that upon releasing the brake, it's not restarting and she has to manually start the car?

Can we talk to her husband?

I doubt it's transmission related at all. Low ATF would cause slow or late shifts. A bad Torque converter would be wildly noticeable while driving. You'd have stalls, failed shifts etc.

Recommend checking out this thread. There is apparently a very unhelpful TSB on the issue. It sounds like a lemon law type issue.

https://www.fordescape.org/threads/2...e.99521/page-3

Also, cars with that new fuel economy auto-shut off w/e it's called shit typically have two batteries. Does hers? Could she have a bad battery? Have the batteries tested. If one has low CCA's, that could be the culprit.

Based off this guy's post, it sounds voltage related.

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Test the battery. That's where i'd start. Some cars can be real funky if they're drawing improper voltage. It may be as simple as that.

I was thinking new new, but it's a 2019. Under warranty. She's had it about six months.

Take the car to Autozone or w/e and have them check the battery(ies). Test the voltage prior to starting, test it while starting, and then let the car idle for like 10mins and test it again.

If the Voltage, while the car is running, is dropping (assuming you're not running A/C etc) that's a sign of either a bad battery or a bad alternator.

New cars are electronically sensitive (all cars really, especially older ones on closed loop systems). Bad or irregular voltage can lead to all kinds of weird behaviors.

I don't know if that's your problem, but that's where i'd start.

Battery is good. Definitely showing her about the power control module. Anything transmission-wise has been running just fine, too.

This was tested? You're not just assuming it's good cuz new-ish, right? It needs to be tested at cold start as well as during idle.

This could all be solved with a dick pic.