Absurdly loud shaking upon unlocking the car?

[Spiffster]

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.

[forceflow2]

Originally Posted by Spiffster

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.

Yay! I'm possibly not crazy!

[dasilvarsa]

It sounds like the Amplifier was on without an input source.
Is the Amplifier a seperate unit on these cars, which radio do you Have ?

[Starfury]

Originally Posted by forceflow2

...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.

Originally Posted by Spiffster

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.

[forceflow2]

Originally Posted by dasilvarsa

It sounds like the Amplifier was on without an input source.
Is the Amplifier a seperate unit on these cars, which radio do you Have ?

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.

Originally Posted by Starfury

The fix:

Make an attempt to disconnect the battery.

It should stop on it's own.

I'll make sure to call Ford and let them know how to fix it


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.

[completely_focused]

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.

[Spiffster]

Originally Posted by forceflow2

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.

Same system here.

Other than this hiccup, I have had nothing but good experiences with this car.

ETA... the camera idea is a good one. I can always whip out the iphone and record what is going on if it happens again.

[ihdillon]

This just happened to my car!!

[revjudi]

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.

[Jdog913]

I noticed the fuel pump turns on while unlocking the car, intial insertion of key and while turning the key. The first one is kind of weird never had it happen in any other car. Could be the Di.