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Absurdly loud shaking upon unlocking the car?

36K views 82 replies 53 participants last post by  Tpmadden1 
#1 ·
This just happened to me and I sent an email to my dealer about it already, but I wanted to see if anyone might have some idea or have experienced it before. I'm just going to copy the email I sent as it's pretty detailed, but somewhat long. I'll had a tl;dr at the end though.

My Email to dealership said:
Hi Ted,

I experienced my first non-cosmetic issue today when leaving for work. When I left my house I hit the unlock button on my key and I heard the door unlock as it should. Less than a second later, the car began giving off a loud rumbling noise and was shaking. On first hearing it, it sounded like the engine had cranked and was chewing something up, but I don't have remote start so that didn't make any sense.

I opened the door and realized that it was the speakers that were making the noise. The closest I could describe it is that the radio had come on (which shouldn't happen until I put the key in after the car being off) and the volume had turned itself up to maximum (at least I assume it was maximum, it was incredibly loud and caused my parents and some neighbors to come see what was happening) but there was no actual music playing, it seemed like it was just playing a rumbling static as loud as it could.

I put the key in the ignition and tried to turn the volume down on both the steering wheel and radio knob, but nothing changed. I pulled the key, got out of the car and was going to open the hood and pull the battery cable, but in the couple of minutes it took from the shaking beginning to thinking about the battery, the sound suddenly stopped. I put the key back in the ignition, cranked the engine, and it started without issue and the radio was at the volume I had left it at when I exited the car yesterday, the first tall mark on the screen, which I think is only about 1/5 or so of the maximum.

I know how difficult this would be to diagnose unless you have heard of it happening before so I don't expect much to be done, but I just wanted to make you aware of the issue and check to see if you might have any idea of what took place in case it happens again.
tl;dr: Unlocked the car, began making an extremely loud rumbling noise and shook. Opened the door and realized it was the speakers making the noise even though the radio wasn't on. It wasn't even playing music, it was just a rumbling static sound. Sound stopped by itself after a couple of minutes, after which the car cranked just fine.
 
#3 ·
Yeah, that's why I told my dealer I don't expect much. Never heard or seen anything even remotely close to this. I wasn't sure I should have driven it to work, but I didn't have much choice. I will try and remember to get a video with my phone if it ever happens again, it's just incredibly bizarre.
 
#6 ·
2.11. You think it might be MFT related? I guess it's possible, I honestly have no clue what happened.

EDIT: Here's what is listed on Syncmyride, don't know what the three other (patches?) are:

SYNC Version
Gen2 - V2.11
BT4T-14D546-AP
BT4T-14F496-AS
BT4T-14F497-AP
 
#7 ·
I have seen others mention problems where their volume will go up all the way and wont turn off even if they shut their car off. I don't doubt its another issue. If I remember correctly, a lot of that stuff (keyless entry,lights,etc) body control may be controlled by the same module. I may be completely wrong, I don't know the new system but it wouldn't surprise me.
 
#8 ·
From reading your incident, and others of a different type, I am beginning to think that so parts of the electroniccs are having ESD issues. Random but tiny stray voltage is making some of the 2012 Focus electronics go berserk.
It would account for a lot of the almost random strange going on.
Hard to diagnose, and impossible to repeat. The only common factor is they all come from issues in the electrical controllers.
 
#10 ·
Honestly that was the first thing that went through my head when it did it, but it seemed odd that only my car was experiencing it [:p]
 
#11 ·
I had this exact thing happen a couple of days ago. Ocurred after hitting the "lock" pad on the passenger side door handle. Basically it was a very loud rapid thumping type noise coming from the speakers. It was loud enought that my wife came outside from the house to see what was going on. I tried hitting the start/stop button, cranking the engine, and then shutting everything off to no avail. I was just about to disconnect the battery when it stopped on its own. It hasn't happened again, and I have no idea what could have caused it.
 
#15 ·
It's seperate (at least for the Sony version), it's in the trunk. I have the 10-Speaker Sony that comes with the MFT.

The fix:

Make an attempt to disconnect the battery.

It should stop on it's own. [thankyou]
I'll make sure to call Ford and let them know how to fix it [:p]


On another note, the dealership called me back today (my dealer just forwarded the email to his service center manager so she called me). They said they hadn't heard of this ever happening, but wanted to run a full check of the "charging system" of the car, which includes (to me it sounds like that's all there is to it, but whatever) the battery. They expect it to take anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours. They're just going to do it when I bring it in for them to fix my windshield molding coming off sometime this week, whenever they get that in.
 
#14 ·
...was going to open the hood and pull the battery cable, but in the couple of minutes it took from the shaking beginning to thinking about the battery, the sound suddenly stopped.
I was just about to disconnect the battery when it stopped on its own.
The fix:

Make an attempt to disconnect the battery.

It should stop on it's own. [thankyou]
 
#16 ·
I bought one of those flip video cameras a while back and I just keep it in the car for just such an occasion. Take a video of the situation and post it on youtube. Then email Ford the link to it so they know the exact sound and type of problem you are experiencing.

The ESD theory crossed my mind too as a possible cause for some of these random things that happen. It's like temporary electrical interference of some kind is plaguing the electrical modules in this car.
 
#19 ·
Loud Shaking

In response to this shaking, this same thing happened after I got in the car and turned on the engine. My son and I were scared. It felt like the car was being pelted by large hail stones (on a clear blue sunny day - why did I think this was happening?) The speakers were booming and the car was shaking. I turned off the engine and opened the door.

After our hearts calmed down, I restarted the car.

Recently I had brought in the Focus because the radio controls would go all the way up (high volume) or down. No in-between. The reset the whole system.

I'm not too happy with all the problems - and this car is less than a year old.
 
#21 ·
To the OP:

It is most likely a firmware bug (MFT) that may not happen again.

It has never happened to me but I can tell you that the MFT system becomes active when the driver's door is opened (i.e. it doesn't wait for the ignition to be turned on).

You may want to pull fuse #67 and #79 to reset all modules related to the audio system.

Don't be afraid to drive your car.
 
#22 ·
Hadn't opened the door yet when it happened, I just pressed the unlock button on my key.
 
#23 ·
I parked at a building, went in for 2 mins, came out and heard my stereo just blasting and thumping music, even though it all appeared to be off. It hasn't happened since, but I'm afraid it will do that when I leave it for a few hours and it will be dead.

Perhaps it's a similar cause, but without music connected, just random signal noise?
 
#25 ·
Just had a very similar event happen to me. Just glad my little kids weren't in the car when it happened.

Have had the car since 12/2011 with no issues on the 2.11. Upgraded to 3.0 over the weekend with no issues during the install. This morning after stopping for breakfast, got back in the car, pushed the push start button and "holy crap, wtf is that noise?" The static was so loud I didn't know what was going on at 1st. Pushed the start button again the static wound down and the car started and resumed normal radio function. So, apparently the 3.0 update did not address this issue.
 
#29 ·
Get that poor guy out of the trunk! jk

Not sure what is it - I thought someone had a similar issue caused by wires to the sub that were corroding from water leakage in the hatch or something. But I could be completely wrong.
 
#35 ·
I have had this happen twice now. It sounded like the speakers were going to blow. I opened the trunk and the sub was pounding away. It is very strange to have your car freak out like that!

I had just opened the door to get something out of the back seat. Starting and stopping the car did not do anything to make it stop. It continued for 3 or 4 minutes. I was getting ready to disconnect the battery when it finally stopped.

If anyone figures out what is up, please let us know.
 
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