Car Starts All By Itself?

[Rocketfan]

About 3 hours after I started work, I get a call from security telling me I left the keys in my car and it is still on. I have the keys in my pocket (push button start), but rushed over two buildings to the parking structure just in case.

Sure enough, the car was on. While I could have sworn I turned the car off, I guess I could have failed to push the button to shut the car down. However, doesn't the car turn itself off when the keys are two blocks and ten floors away (especially after 3 hours)?

One thing to mention is that my MFT was really acting up on the drive in (Radio didn't work/ bluetooth stereo didn't work/ expired Sirius and USB audio DID work). I can't believe this had anything to do with the car still running as I don't believe the start/ stop has any ties to MFT, does it (I have had a ton of intermittent MFT problems but the car has worked like a champ)?

Does the Ex with push button start/stop not turn itself off when the key is out of the car a few blocks away? If not, I guess I will assume this one is my error.

 

[GertR]

The car does not turn itself off if you take the keys away.
Once my wife dropped me and a friend off to go mountain biking (downhill). 500m away I noticed the key was in my pocket. It was impossible to get back to the car.
She drove back home with a warning light on (can't remember what it said), with no problem. Luckily she did not switch the engine off.

 

[FordIVTteam]

Hey, Rocketfan!

I'll let Cory chime in to answer your key fob questions, but I want to let you know that MFT won't keep your vehicle running. How is everything [MFT related] working now?

Also, SiriusXM is having another free trial I'm not sure when it ends but enjoy it while it lasts!

Rebecca

 

[blwnsmoke]

If you leave with it running, all you get is a message on the left display saing "no ksy detected". The car will still run as normal until you shut it off.

 

[CDNexp]

Hmmm.. Car starts by itself.. The one thing you want to hear the day before picking up the explorer .

 

[GWA1]

Sounds like you didn't turn it off. I've almost done that myself.

 

[peterk9]

Sounds like you didn't turn it off. I've almost done that myself.

You can add me to that list as well.

 

[calb]

Hmmm.. Car starts by itself.. The one thing you want to hear the day before picking up the explorer .

You're taking it the wrong way ... MFT is so good now, that it reads your mind

Hope you enjoy your new Ex. Picking mine up on Friday.

 

[Bill #5 Explorer]

I bet dollars to donuts, you left it running when you walked away. The truck is pretty quiet, and if there was any noise in your surrounding area, it would be pretty easy to do. I've almost done it several times.

 

[myfoot]

We came out of the grand daughter's graduation soon after we bought it and the wife had left her's on the whole time we were inside. Went to eat and she got out and left it running again.

Must be something about not needing a key to start it I guess

 

[Adam14]

I went and got my Ambien prescription filled a few nights ago and woke up to find that my Explorer not only started by itself but ran itself through a car wash and came back with a full tank of gas and apparently purchased 9 pairs of sunglasses from the gas station.

 

[Rocketfan]

I probably left the car on. This is my first car without a key and I have almost forgotten to turn it off on several occasions. This time, I must have left the car on.

Rebecca, as for MFT, thanks for asking. I still have intermittent problems: i.e. sometimes nav doesn't work/ sometimes USB and/or bluetooth stereo doesn't work/ sometimes radio doesn't work/ sometimes phone won't pair, re-pair or connect at all. Frustratingly, the problems go away so I can't ever point to something and say fix it.

I have workarounds for the USB at least which is what I cared about the most (basically, I don't use the touch screen, I use some combination of the steering wheel controls and unplugging and replugging in the USB (in this case my iPhone) to get it to work. Sometimes the sound still cuts out but it comes back after I repeat my workaround. The USB also stops working at the end of a streaming song (next streamed item will be playing but will not play over car speakers). Again, repeating the workaround fixes this.

As for the nav, I just print maps just in case the nav doesn't work. Rather than do an intermediate update, I figured I would wait for the big update in Q1 2012 to fix the problems.

Other than MFT (and my forgetting to turn the car off/ and the third row seat trim coming off when I lowered the headrest), I have really enjoyed the Explorer.