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What neat tricks and tips have you've found since owning?

727K views 1K replies 388 participants last post by  antbarlow76 
#1 ·
Just wondering what features, tips and tricks people have found since owning?

For me I found the hidden menu to be neat. Holding trip/reset down while starting car shows the menu. Holding again for 5 seconds returns you to normal operation.

Salesman didn't know that the SE has a line in for mp3 players. Inside glovebox on top.
 
#338 ·
Okay...did something last night and I'm not sure what actually happened.

Was parked as I was waiting to meet up with my wife after work. As she drove up, I flashed my lights at her (like she could miss me being the only Focus in the parking lot), but as I did heard a distinctive beep. Did it a couple times and it kept beeping, but couldn't see why it was beeping. Then, when I got out of the car to lock it up, noticed the tail-lights were on, but the light switch was set to off. Had to start the car, then shut it off again.

Now is this a feature of some sort? Try flashing the lights (while off) and see if anyone else sees similar reaction. What kinda thing would this benefit???
 
#349 ·
Keep the key hole visible

Some have complained about not being able to see the key hole when trying to insert the key into the ignition. That is true with the steering wheel straight up, but if you simply give the wheel a 1/4 turn to the right the key hole is easily visible. I have gotten in the habit of giving the steering wheel that 1/4 twist before turning the car off and it is a piece of cake to put the key in the next time.
 
#352 ·
OK, I'm pretty sure that this isn't in the manual... [;)]

One thing I noticed while running cables to the trunk was the massive amount of sound deadening material (at least compared to my previous cars):

* There's a big thick layer of padding under the carpet in front, (I also noticed that the dead pedal area was just a wedge of styrofoam stuck under the carpet, ha)
* Probably not designed for sound-deadening, but under the first layer in the trunk there's about about a 1.5" layer of styrofoam (to match the height of the spare) but it has rectangles built-in that seemed to be designed to be cut out for audio equipment, my amp fit perfect in one
* Under that styrofoam layer, you can see various spots where vibration-damping material has been attached to the body
* In the rear wheel areas, in the trunk, beneath the carpet, you can see a large piece of foam inserted between the outside body panels

Explains why this car is so much quieter than my previous cars which had none of this nice stuff.
 
#353 ·
I had opened the hood and left it open but locked the doors.
I checked the oil level. walked away, did a few things then came back and when I closed the hood, the usual door closing lights blinked.

The car knew the hood was open! And responded to it closing with the 'all locked' lighting blink.
I am amazed. [driving]
 
#363 ·
I saw a vehicle with 'puddle lamps' last night. (not a Focus)
What a useless feature? IF the lamp had a directional beam to the full door sides and bright enough to really see anything on ground anywhere near door. but they just seem to be little 'puddles' of light. not worth much.
???
Maybe in a pitch black area they would be of some use?
Also saw a Focus SEL sedan with the added interior LEDs. nice. I liked.
 
#367 ·
Puddle lamps or reflectors on the doors are for safety.
If you are parked and open the door, the driver of a vehicle driving in the lane next to you will see the lamps and will hopefully avoid crashing into your door.
They are not meant to be for illumination.
 
#364 ·
Did some playing around

Where I live, DRL's are required by-law. My previous Focus had the foglights modded so the fogs were the DRL's. My 2012 SEL has the automatic feature for the headlights, but i did some playing around, turned the lights to the Parking Lights setting, and turned on the Foglights.....it's kinda cool if you ask me.
 
#373 · (Edited)
By default, when you press on the unlock button on the key fob, it unlocks only the driver door, then pressing a second time, it unlocks all the other doors (hatch included). This is called "two stage unlocking" feature and I find it really annoying. Today I had some time and found how to disable this feature, so that doors unlock all at the same time after one single press.

As per Owner's manual, page 165 :

Two-stage unlocking may be disabled or enabled by simultaneously
pressing the lock and unlock controls on the transmitter for four seconds
(disabling two stage unlock allows all vehicle doors to unlock simultaneously).
The turn signal lamps will illuminate twice to indicate
that two-stage unlock was enabled or disabled. The unlocking mode will
be applied to remote entry, keyless entry and intelligent access (if
equipped).
No more "double press" for me. Sweet !

P.S. I would like to propose this topic/thread to become a sticky one. This way, any new Focus owner would have access to whatever tips and tricks everyone here found out about his car. What do you think about this ?
 
#374 ·
By default, when you press on the unlock button on the key fob, it unlocks only the driver door, then pressing a second time, it unlocks all the other doors (hatch included). This is called "two stage unlocking" feature and I find it really annoying. Today I had some time and found how to disable this feature, so that doors unlock all at the same time after one single press.

As per Owner's manual, page 165 :



No more "double press" for me. Sweet !

P.S. I would like to propose this topic/thread to become a sticky one. This way, any new Focus owner would have access to whatever tips and tricks everyone here found out about his car. What do you think about this ?
+1 to the sticky idea!
 
#380 ·
First of all I love that there are so many fanatics to share info. (My other car is the Ford Taurus X and there is a much smaller community of us.)

Second, I love how I can set MFT to read the name of the person calling me. I don't remember the exact name of the setting but it was under ringer options.
 
#385 ·
Not sure if anyone's posted this yet, but if you nave Non-MFT Gen 1 Sync, you can definitely speed up the voice interactions by saying...

SYNC... (if you're not in the SYNC menu yet)
Voice Settings...
Interaction Mode Advanced...

Voice commanding doesn't have the feedback anymore leading to more instant gratification from your commands. There's no menu setting for this on us non-MFT ers, at least I haven't seen yet.
 
#386 ·
I have no idea if this has been posted before, but I saw in another thread that if you let your Focus go bone dry and run out of gas, in the odometer LCD at the bottom it will read "You should have filled up long ago moron!" It shows that ford has a sence of humor built right in. Lol[bootyshak
 
#389 · (Edited)
Trunk Cubbies in My SEL

I just unloaded all the "treasures" I carried in my '03 Elantra's trunk box and tucked all the important stuff into the slots under the trunk's cover. I have a 1/4 inch socket set, a screwdriver set, an umbrella, a roll of shop towels, a can of hand cleaner, a roll of duct tape, a pair of winter gloves, a pair of leather work gloves, a roll of 30 gallon plastic trash bags, a large flashlight, two bungees, a 30' long ratchet strap, and a tarp to work on/from. [thankyou]
 
#412 ·
Don't know if anyone even checks this thread anymore, but just had to share this with my fellow FF's! Although I have the Nav package, rarely have it on that screen, especially during my daily communte, however yesterday had it there to check to see if there were any traffic delays and just didn't move it off that screen. As I was getting near my exit, noticed the gas needle was nearing empty so decided to go ahead and fill up. Before I reached the fuel station the amber light came on to indicate getting low on fuel...no big deal, all the cars do it, right? What totally freaked me out though was that the second that light came on, all the surrounding fuel stations popped up on my Nav system!!! It was like, "you need gas, here are all the stations around you".

To double check, went ahead and filled up, then re-checked the Nav map...all the fuel stations were gone! Now THAT is slick!!!
 
#413 ·
i think this also works with restaurants if you give the voice command "i am hungry". it will either bring up a list of closest places to eat or show them on the map. then you can set it as a via-point.
 
#415 ·
That is cool. I didn't bother with the factory nav because I had a gps already but I'm regretting it now. Gps devices are power hungry and with no power supply handy a good mounting location you end up with a less than elegant looking solution.
I have been wondering if it's possible to have the factory one installed after the fact and what would be involved.
 
#416 ·
That's the question of the year. From what everyone has said, the summary is that 1. Yes it should be possible since all or most of the hardware is in place. 2. No, it can't be done because Ford does not provide the ability/knowledge to do so to its dealers, or 3. No, it can't be done because of the need for some unknown necessary part, and 4. Don't buy the map SD on eBay because that is not all you need and you will simply waste your money.[paranoid]
 
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