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2012 Focus Average MPG problems

30K views 43 replies 33 participants last post by  rdyapo 
#1 ·
I picked up my 2012 SEL loaded Focus a week ago and love all the features except the Trip 1 and Trip 2 Average MPG is terribly off showing an average between 23 and 26 MPG even though my actual verified is about 38 MPG average.

When I picked up the car I reset the trip 1 and trip 2 while I was driving, both showing 180.0 miles had been driven, but one showed an average of 23.0 MPG and the other 25.9 MPG.

Yesterday I went to my Ford dealer to 'fix' the problem

The Ford mechanic told me the difference might have been because I set the trip meters while driving and the difference in the delay between resets could cause the difference. A Bugatti Veyron could not even use that much fuel in the few seconds it took to clear eack trip meter. Being told something that would be physically impossible is not a great way to start a relationship with my new Ford...

After the dealer called the factory, they handed my car back to me with no fix stating there are no faults, or known fixes...

Anybody else having similar problems?
 
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#3 ·
Are you resetting both the MPG and miles? doing that, I think, starts off the trip with no MPG initially. I did that while in motion yesterday.

Isn't this a Microsoft software product? if that is so, we should be getting changes reloaded nearly every day. duh.... I guess we take the wireless laptop out to the car, plug the cable into the usb socket and everything will be right for the day.

Right now I don't think the mechanics have a clew ... I have a screwed up AM in the radio and am holding off taking it in for a couple of weeks, hoping they may may learn something meanwhile.
 
#4 ·
They download updates through Microsoft wireless thing-a-magiggie?

I reset the trip meters while stopped - same problem exists so far.

The first car I had with a digital odometer was a Pontiac Grand Prix, every 3,000 miles it rest to zero - a great bug to have... drove the car 5 years and sold it with less than 1,000 showing (I did keep a record and was honest).

This bug - not so great!
 
#6 ·
Triton46, on my SE the MPG display is above the steering wheel on the dash. If I'm not mistaken, it's on the same panel for the SEL's too. Regarding your other question, I've driven other Fords that had two displays for MPG's: instant and average. The new Focus only displays the average MPG's, but you can hold down the OK button on the left steering wheel stalk to reset it to quickly learn what you are doing at the time.

I think the OP was correct to calculate MPG's over the course of a tank of gas (distance traveled divided by gallons pumped into tank). I've only refueled the car once, but my calculated MPG's was much higher than what was displayed on the dash.
 
#7 ·
Not sure if I'm right here but far as I'm reading from the manual this is how I understand it,

2012 Ford Focus Owner's Manual said:
Average fuel
economy —
shows the
average
distance
traveled per
unit of fuel
used for a given
trip
That to me says the 'average fuel economy' will be calculated per trip setting. That is, gallons used divided by trip one or trip two, and not the total of trip one and two. So it'd be best to reset one trip and use that for average fuel economy and the other for whatever.
 
#11 ·
My 2009 Fit had an issue of calculating MPG as well. It would overestimate the MPG by about 6 MPG every tank. About 8 months after I got it, Honda issued a software update to fix it. The dealer had no clue about it, but I showed them the Technical Service Bulletin from Honda, and they ran the update while it was in for an oil change. After that, the MPG indicator has been right on, always within about .2 of my calculated average.

So it seems like there may definitely a problem with the MPG math, but hopefully after Ford has had some time they can issue an update to fix the issue.
 
#15 ·
I hear ypu Prefurbia

I bought the SE a month ago. My trip shows within .1 of what I am getting when calculating my mileage at the pump. I have driven mine for 940 miles and I only get 26.9 MPG. About 250 of the 940 miles were all highway and the rest were about 95% suburban with little stop and go. 26.9 MPG for a car they claim 28/38 is awful. It's back to the dealer for the second time and I am waiting for a fix. I also have the trans shifting wierd at low speeds and the car seems to almost have an EGR problem.
 
#17 ·
Posted via FF Mobile Really thats not. Your off 2mpg from the epa estimates. Depending on your driving habits its going vary. Also how long do you let your car warm up for? Rush tothe store is going to net you lower mpgs. And your barely broken in it at, wait...your mileage will go up substantially over time, trust me. Also whats wrong with the trans? I hear a bunch of people complain and think it has a problem, but its really just them not used to the dual clutch and everythings normal.

If your still getting the same mileage in say like 5k miles, and youve tried all different driving styles, then id say you have a problem.
 
#16 ·
I have a 5-Speed Manual 2012 SE model. My guage says I average about 33.2 mpg, so I'm pretty happy with that considering it supposedly gets 36 at best. I drive about 80% freeway at about 70 mph.

I did do a test of driving delicately around 65 mph just on the freeway for about 10 miles, and the mpg average was around 39. The quickly went down after i exited and drove the back roads.
 
#18 ·
There is no instant MPG option on the screen (a bummer). Instead you get a ridiculous eco-coach that displays flowers/leaves that grow based on anticipation and something else that isn't coming to mind.

The average MPGs can be reset for trip 1 or trip 2 and track the consumption for that trip (1 or 2, not litterally a single trip in the car). I left one trip (2) tracking since I got the car and reset the other (1) every time I fill up. The average displayed is actually less than what I'm getting (Titanium 4-door): 33.1 displayed, 34.2 actual. That's with 70% highway (75mph+), 30% rural/suburban (50+ w/ many stop signs). Can't complain! Previous Fusion Sport was getting 19 on a good day.

EDIT: The biggest concern isn't the mileage for me, it's the tiny gas tank. Really wish they had put at least 15 gal in this (it's listed as 12.4). Even my old 2002 Jetta had a 14.5 gal tank. Great mileage would be even better with great range...
 
#24 ·
EDIT: The biggest concern isn't the mileage for me, it's the tiny gas tank. Really wish they had put at least 15 gal in this (it's listed as 12.4). Even my old 2002 Jetta had a 14.5 gal tank. Great mileage would be even better with great range...
I actually like the smaller gas tank on my Fiesta, I know it's all in my mind, but it just makes the gas fill-ups easier to accept these days. Big difference in filling it up for about 35 bucks, even though I'm only going to go 400 miles or so, when I used to get 500 miles on my previous car.
 
#29 ·
MPG Break In

Just wanted to give my 2¢ on the mpg. I drive mostly highway, I'd say 90% of the time on every fillup, 70 miles everyday. For the first 5000 miles on my Focus 2012 SEL it would average 33.4. About 2 weeks ago I did the performance update Gen2 v3.02, but mind you this was about 4900 miles and getting the 33.4 mpg. This last week I reset the trip, still showing 33.7 average, then drove 210 miles out of town for a one stop pickup, then 210 miles back and filled up with gas and showing avg of 33.9, reset the trip. Got home, parked car, then the next day started the car and it showed 37.4 mpg. Talked to the Ford service tech and said it was going through a break in period and he always sees this. All I can say is that I hope the mpg is consistent. I love seeing technology getting better. [nutkick][poke][chair]
 
#30 ·
It does not use odometer readings, trip or other to calculate mpg. It uses data from the ecm from injector pulse timing and probably some other data to calculate avg mpg. It is by no means precise but it is designed to be fairly accurate. In my old Ford truck forum the guys refered to them as the lie-o-meters. I am on the 5th tank of fuel at about 1700 miles and avg is showing 31.2. I hand calculated the last tank to 31.7. It took a while for the display to creep up to this point and showed consistently lower numbers for the first 4 tanks. The overall avg of all tanks show far calculates out to 33. I do about 25% highway and 75% suburban stop and go. Was hoping for a bit better but 31 is still better than 19 and I'm still pretty confident it will creep up some more, particularly if I can shave some pounds of my foot.
 
#31 ·
SAME PROBLEM. Told me same bull crap and drove my car and said it gets 36 and that is true when your driving 70mph then reset while going these speeds. HOWEVER after 3 days in eventually when down and down to 23-24. I believe there is a flaw. I wonder what your build date is? Mine is 5/11 where i had to get the updates and everything. I think the poor gas mileage readings has some correlation to the DCT powershift transmission. I have yet still to have smooth shifting even though I got the latest tsb 2,000k ago. I think the problem with the DCT is causing below normal MPG on the screen. Something is just not right
 
#32 ·
I don't know how you guys drive your Focus by my Average MPG on my car has actually been slightly overestimating what I've gotten over my real world mileage based on what I've calculated out of my tanks, but it's very close to accurate. When I first purchased the car, I had 14.3 Avg MPG with only 22 miles on the odometer. I remember that clearly. Now at 2.8K miles, I have not reset my Average MPG since and it has now gone all the way up to 37.5 MPG but I've actually calculated 36.7 MPG over my 8 tanks so that is very close!! Distance to E is also very accurate and calculates how many miles you have on your tank based on long term averages of fuel-ups.
 
#39 ·
Not happy

I have a 2012 focus with just about 9000km on it and i was feeling like the steering was off and a noise coming from the drivers side. Took it to the dealers and they hooked it up to the computer and said it was fine(that was at 1000km) just took it back in 4 days ago with the same issues to find out now I need a new transmission and a new steering rack omg my experience of buying my first new car has been very bad. There is no lemon law in Canada so I'm stuck with this car. Anyone else have these issues [mecry]
 
#40 ·
I have a 2012 focus with just about 9000km on it and i was feeling like the steering was off and a noise coming from the drivers side. Took it to the dealers and they hooked it up to the computer and said it was fine(that was at 1000km) just took it back in 4 days ago with the same issues to find out now I need a new transmission and a new steering rack omg my experience of buying my first new car has been very bad. There is no lemon law in Canada so I'm stuck with this car. Anyone else have these issues [mecry]
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