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Old 09-08-2021, 08:02 AM   #15
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Have not bought a new car in twenty years but this year I bought a 2021 Bronco Sport. It absolutely relies on electronics for it's well being. so any kind of electrical problem may kill it. Doubt if Ford will cover it. Good luck with your insurance. I kept my 2001 RX300 tow vehicle for good reason.
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Old 09-09-2021, 05:26 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TandW View Post
Just curious. Must you run it through the gears to circulate ATF?
Yes, there is a note in the manual (not in a step-by-step procedure) that you should run the car for a few minutes and with your foot on the brake, change from Park to Drive, Reverse, and Neutral before placing the car back into neutral tow mode.
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Old 09-09-2021, 05:42 AM   #17
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Correct, on a 2021 Ford Escape Hybrid, the car is turned off after being placed in neutral tow mode and you take the key fob with you. The car is not towed in accessory mode; instead, it is powered off.

When you enter the vehicle after towing, you have to turn on accessory mode to switch the car out of neutral tow mode by placing the car into park. At that point, you can start the car normally. The ease of this process is one of the major reasons we decided on the Ford as our TOAD.

Regardless of the need for the charge line, there was one installed at the time the AF1 and lighting wiring was installed. Also, when I started the car on the morning of day 3, there were no warning indicators on the dash stating that the battery power was low. That was not the case three hours later when we ended our tow session and the failure was discovered — after putting the car into accessory mode, there were multiple failure messages displayed on the dash that required acknowledgement before I could shift from neutral to park. After that, though, I was unable to start the car, the error messages repeated and then the dash and infotainment displays went dark.
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Old 09-09-2021, 10:15 AM   #18
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Originally Posted by mimi phaff View Post
Correct, on a 2021 Ford Escape Hybrid, the car is turned off after being placed in neutral tow mode and you take the key fob with you. The car is not towed in accessory mode; instead, it is powered off.

When you enter the vehicle after towing, you have to turn on accessory mode to switch the car out of neutral tow mode by placing the car into park. At that point, you can start the car normally. The ease of this process is one of the major reasons we decided on the Ford as our TOAD.

Regardless of the need for the charge line, there was one installed at the time the AF1 and lighting wiring was installed. Also, when I started the car on the morning of day 3, there were no warning indicators on the dash stating that the battery power was low. That was not the case three hours later when we ended our tow session and the failure was discovered — after putting the car into accessory mode, there were multiple failure messages displayed on the dash that required acknowledgement before I could shift from neutral to park. After that, though, I was unable to start the car, the error messages repeated and then the dash and infotainment displays went dark.
I am anxious to hear how this plays out. We just bought a 2021 Ford Escape Hybrid - picking it up on Saturday - explicitly as a toad for our 2019 Tiffin RED 33AA. We have an appointment to install virtually the same tow package at Major's RV in Bourne, MA, including a power/charge line.

At the end of driving on day 3, was one of the warnings a low battery warning?
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Old 09-09-2021, 10:48 AM   #19
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I too am curious how this plays out.
Call me skeptical, but I have little faith in anything that must first be put in "tow mode" and relies on a tiny 12v battery with a very low amp hour rating to keep all the electronics in check. Why the hybrid manufacturers refuse to utilize the high voltage batteries to keep the low voltage system alive is beyond logical thinking. We had a fleet of 90 some Prius in our Utility motor pool. Every time I had to jump start one (frequently) I'm thinking wth, 230 +\- volts under the back seat and here I am with a $100 jumper box under the hood to basically "tickle" the ecu?
So one dome light left on or a faulty charge line connection can now total a toad, brilliant...
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Old 09-10-2021, 04:52 AM   #20
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I have a 2021 Escape hybrid set up for flat tow also. I have taken on a couple of short test runs and everything seems to be working well. We will be heading out on our first longer trip soon. I have read this entire thread and a question arises for me.
With the Ford Escape hybrid, "Start the vehicle" and "start the engine" are two different things. I can get into my Escape while still hooked to the motorhome and take it out of tow mode and it says "ready to drive". I can then put my foot on the brake pedal and run the transmission through the selector positions and then back into park, and then back into tow mode, all without actually starting the ENGINE! Perhaps it is just assumed by everyone here that the ENGINE is actually started each time, if so then that is great, but in order to actually start the ENGINE (and thereby lubricate the transmission) I have to turn on the A/C or lights or some other accessory to load the battery enough to require the ENGINE to automatically start after a few minutes. Is this how others do it? If someone knows a way to manually start the ENGINE at will, (like a regular non-hybrid vehicle) I would appreciate you sharing it with me. Thanks.

BTW, I have installed the RVi3 brake system along with their "Towed battery charger+" This charger allows me to continually monitor the charge rate of the toad battery, while driving the motorhome, via the command center tablet. I think this is a good feature, and will give me some peace of mind.
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Old 09-10-2021, 06:37 AM   #21
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Ford Escape TOAD Fail

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Originally Posted by Vibeman View Post
If someone knows a way to manually start the ENGINE at will, (like a regular non-hybrid vehicle) I would appreciate you sharing it with me. Thanks.

I believe you just need to depress the accelerator pedal at least 3/4 of the way to the floor and hold. Engine should start and run at a fast idle. You should be able to reduce pressure on pedal to slow idle, however removing foot from pedal will allow engine to stop (if the car wants it to)
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Old 11-14-2021, 02:51 PM   #22
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Update after two months of back and forth with Ford Corp Customer Support and their technicians, the Ford dealer local to where the failure was discovered, and Geico…

Failure observations: The coolant line from the transmission to its coolant tank was separated from the transmission. The associated coolant reservoir was empty; the other coolant reservoir was full. The 12V battery was dead; the hybrid battery was fully charged. The transmission was burned out.

Root cause: Ford Corp Customer Service support technicians say the only way this failure could have occurred is if I failed to put the car into neutral tow mode. I am confident that this is an incorrect assessment.

Ford dealer service manager says he believes that I placed the car in neutral tow and theorizes that the 12V battery was drained during tow, which caused the car to fall out of neutral tow and to stop circulating transmission coolant. The transmission then overheated which caused the coolant return line to shear off. This can make sense to except I’m left with the question of how the battery drained.

— Did the charge line from the motor home fail? The manufacturer of the motor home confirmed correct power output at the 7-way plug after this failure occurred. Without the two vehicles in the same location yet, I am unable to confirm the correct charge delivery to the battery. I will do this when I fat the car back later this week.
— Does the car in neutral tow consume power faster than can be replenished via the charge circuit? I have been unable to learn the power draw during neutral tow mode.

What to do now to have confidence in this vehicle as a TOAD? Opinions, please! Do I need to replace the stock 12V battery with one that has more capacity? Anything else?
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Old 11-14-2021, 07:16 PM   #23
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We have a 2020 Escape Hybrid and have no issues when towing. We have the RVi brake and towed battery charger and can see the battery is indeed being charged. We start the ENGINE and run it at days end and again in the morning before towing. Staring the ENGINE requires putting a foot on the gas pedal. Don't really know if this is critical.

How is the OP verifying the battery is actually being charged? If the installed charge wasn't hooked up correctly, that could have played a major role in the problem. Running the ENGINE isn't done to charge the battery. It's to circulate fluid in the transmission. It's possible a larger battery could have prevented the problem.
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