2013 Ford C-Max Recalls, Ratings & Complaints

Incident: May 23, 2025 · Filed: May 23, 2025

While driving car, power steering will fail and deactivate leaving the steering extremely heavy and manual. Can happen at any speed, and has happened on the interstate at highway speeds. Information cluster states, "power steering fault - service power steering immediately" When this happens it is highly unsafe and happens instantly without warning. Makes getting the car off the road and stopped safely very difficult and dangerous. Stopping the car, turning it off fully and restarting seems to clear the fault and makes the car power steering operate as normal again. But this has happened many times since owning the car and I can find no reason when or why it gets triggered. Online searches find many other owners of this car describing the exact same issue and they share the same concerns about it being unsafe.

Incident: March 16, 2025 · Filed: March 16, 2025

WHILE DRIVING the dashboard instrument panel beeps and flashes the word "Put in Park" and "Stop Safely Now", and the speedometer stops working, all kinds of warning lights start flashing on and off on the instrument panel, the heater goes on and off on it's own, then the instrument panel goes black, speedometer shows zero and car goes into shutdown mode. I was put in risk while driving without a speedometer and other vehicles near me were put into risk; when I pull over and stop the vehicle it strands me and I need a tow. This has happened randomly many times; I took it to FORD for repair, they didn't know how to fix the problem, my car was at FORD for 6 weeks! and I was without a car all that time, now 3 months later it's doing the same thing! I have videos of it happening along with the pictures I'm posting here, it is very scary when it's happening while driving and it's scary being stranded in unsafe places having to wait for a tow. This issue is Unresolved and DANGEROUS, I need FORD to get more involved.

Incident: November 30, 2024 · Filed: November 30, 2024

Got a “Power steering assist fault” message on the screen. It was very hard to steer the wheel. The case on the wheel was turning around it. Managed to drive 3 more miles to the dealership. A lot of other ford models have same issues, even under 50.000 miles. And many of the are in recall program, but not 2013 ford c-max. Can’t afford 3.400$ price for fixing it at the dealership. I’m a second owner, bought it for 5.000 , 3 years ago. At least it didn’t stuck completely, and I didn’t Die

Incident: September 7, 2024 · Filed: September 28, 2024

My Stereo/Navigation console went out, just went black and stopped working. I bought it to my local garage and they said it was a costly repair and that there is a recall/service bulletin on it and that i should take it to a Ford Dealer. I did and they acknowledged the issue but said my VIN wasn't covered, but it was a known issue with C-Max of this year. So I didnt have the car services. A few months later, (2 weeks ago) my battery died and could not be jumped, so I had it towed to my Ford Dealer. He informed me that the potential cause of the battery damage was a short in the Console/Radio/Nav/Screen system. I agreed to go forward with the costly repair... They have so far not been able to resolve the issues. This morning I called Ford and explained the issue. They said since there is not a Recall associated with my VIN, there was nothing they could do. I asked them to look up the "issue" not the VIN and they acknowledged that there are issues with 2013 C-Max Energi models associated with the console. I asked for a bulletin number and was given 202363. I believe the recall is associated with the Ford Parts and so my VIN number may not be registered or something to that effect. I'm not sure how to look up the number they provided. While I dont think that not having a Radio or Nav system is a safety issue. The fact that it has caused the car to completely shut down and standing us is an issue. Again, Ford is aware that this type of issue exists, for this model, for this manufacturing year. They say they will only cover the repair if your agency tells them to, UGH Thank you, [XXX] [XXX] [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Incident: July 20, 2024 · Filed: July 20, 2024

The wrench light came on in my car. and when I put it in drive the car took off without me putting my foot on the gas. and it was like I had no control over the gas pedal. I tried hitting the brakes and it was still wanting to accelerate.

Incident: March 3, 2024 · Filed: March 3, 2024

225/57/17 driving down the interstate and the tire blew

Incident: December 13, 2023 · Filed: December 13, 2023

On the morning of 12/13/23 I got in my car to go to work. Upon starting my car the warning light for service power steering came on. I noticed the car was very hard to steer when existing my drive way. I drove the car back into my neighborhood to see if it was safe to drive in traffic. The steering was so tight and steering wheel would fight me wanting to return to center. With the fault code still present I went home and inspected the steering system and hooked up my scan tool to the OBD port. I had a fault code of 3000-53 and 3000-49. The 3000-53 would not clear. I have found online other Fford vehicles with recalls for the same steering system setup, but not on the Ford C Max. If this had happened when I was driving on the road at a high rate of speed it would have caused a serious accident, as the steering was very unresponsive and actually fighting my input of direction.

Incident: December 8, 2023 · Filed: December 8, 2023

I pulled over to take a phone call. The car was in park but idling. When I finished the call, I put the car in drive and released my foot from the brake. The car began to accelerate as if I was pressing the accelerator, but I was not. I checked the make sure there was no obstruction near the pedals. There was nothing there, no random object, no floor mat, nothing. I tried to release my foot a few more times and it continued to accelerate without any pressure on the accelerator. I put the car in park, noticed there was a wrench image lit up on the dash and then turned off the car. When I started it again, the wrench was gone and the car drove normally. I called the service center to make an appointment to have the car looked at. The earliest appointment is in 19 days.

Incident: October 18, 2023 · Filed: October 18, 2023

I have owned this car for the last 9 years and have kept It well-maintained. For over a year, the car stalls in the midst of driving, even on a highway, leaving me the only option to find a shoulder or safe area to park. After I turn off the engine, wait for a few minutes, and turn it back on, the engine turns on just fine and I am able to drive. Lately (for about a month or so) this has been happening more frequently(every other day, sometimes twice in a short while compared to once every 3-4 weeks). A few months ago I took it to the local Ford dealership and they told me, that they would need to replace the hybrid system, with an estimated cost of $15000, which didn't make any sense as even car is not worth that much. I also called Ford customer service and even they didn't offer much and just told me something to the effect of "tough luck". I came across this post [XXX] which matches exactly with the issue I am experiencing. That particular car owner was able to get the transmission replaced by Ford, under a California law and the issue was resolved. This seems to suggest, that Ford bears the responsibility for this manufacturing fault and they should own up to it. It is not fair that after paying over $35000, for the car, the only options I am given is to either take the risk of a catastrophic accident with the car stalling in the midst of a highway (with no safe place to stop) or just junk the car. I am pleading that your department should make it a required safety recall and Ford should be required to either fix this issue, at no cost to the owners or compensate them fairly for the present value of the car. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Incident: June 16, 2023 · Filed: July 26, 2023

On March 21, after communicating several times with Yakima regarding difficulties I was having in installing the roof rack onto our car, I was able to install the racks, though the tower and clip system for the front rack were uncomfortably at the limit of extension of the drive bolt (the part of the system that applies the tension that keeps the rack on the car). With the multiple installation attempts and communication with Yakima Consumer Service I am very confident that I installed the rack consistent with Yakima instructions. Following installation the roof racks were not used to transport our kayaks until mid June. On June 16 my wife was driving on the very busy Interstate 5 close to our home in Lynnwood WA when the front rack separated from the car, impacting and damaging the roof on the way off. It was extremely lucky that no vehicle was behind her, and no accident was caused. We found remnants of the front rack on the side of the highway, and there was clear evidence that the rack had been hit by one or more vehicles. I don't know the extent of the damage to those vehicles. I called the Washington State Police to report and ask whether any incident had been reported; none had. The next day I submitted a report to Yakima about the incident. To this date I have not received any response to my report, somewhat surprising since the Consumer Service dept had been very prompt in responding to my previous communications when I was having difficulty installing the racks. Email correspondence with Yakima and photos are attached.