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I've found information alluding to the existence of a Battery Charging Monitor built into either the Body Control Module? or the Powertrain Control Module. True or false? I'm about to replace the original silver chloride battery in the TC, and again I've found articles alluding to needing to be reset from OLD to a new battery. I'm thinking of a battery with different chemistry i.e., lead chloride or AGM. The add on to that question is whether the Charging Monitor (if exists!) has to be notified that a battery with a different chemistry was installed. I've read in those allusions stated above that the Charging Monitor is rather basic. In 2013 Ford was in the process of including a more comprehensive full battery monitor in vehicles that changed that year. With the basic alleged Charging Monitor in the TC need not be reset via a scan tool with Ford plugins, but rather just disconnect the battery for some period of time to reset, in this case, all modules. Will the radio code be necessary after such reset?

Damn. Would have been perfect for the '13...

How else can government create jobs? And if the tax code wasn't so convoluted, think of all the accountants that would be out of work!

One man's distraction is another man's information... Just like shifting is a bother for some, but keeps me involved in the act of driving.

They can't replace those stupid "cigarette lighter" adapters fast enough for me. At least many vehicles are making USB ports available, which helps a bit - even if they are not in the 2amp family. As far as other devices, the manufacturer has to weigh the liability to the company vis a vis ease of access vs driver distraction.

Welcome to the present. ANY VEHICLE PURCHASED TODAY IS "What you get is what was in the vehicle when you drive it away." The TC is f a r from the being among the more advanced vehicles being sold today. The center "nav" screen/radio has become the de-facto access point to the on-board electronics and subsystems of the car. BMW primarily, but other high end marque owners have been the guinea pigs for the total electronic control of vehicles for the last 15 years - remember the initial offering of I-Drive from BMW? My 7-series BMW (pre-iDrive) nav system quit (due to a trunk leak) rendering my otherwise fully operational radio/CD system inoperative - it would play two minutes exactly and then shut off. Couldn't change the station, no CD, no screen at all. This was a 2001 - 15 years ago!! Had the nav system failed in the iDrive cars, I doubt the car would have driven at all - if lucky, limp mode. Yes indeedie, this is the near future for the "normal" cars. Many are already there. Thankfully, the cargo vans, like the TC, have lagged behind the passenger segment. Even base models are afflicted with this technology - and more to come - the lane assist, automatic braking (scares me TO DEATH) many mandated by the government. Not buying the TC would not have saved you unless you plan to keep your Frontier (think about the name and the advancing technology - almost a pun) until your death. ANY new vehicle will have at least the current level of intrusion. Funny, the two most maligned features that cause vehicles to fall in ownership polls - Infotainment systems, and automatic transmissions. By time the car is (re)designed, the electronics have to be at least five-years old to have been part of the testing cycles required to put one on the road. What did your 5-year-old phone look like? By time the vehicle reaches its design end-of-life, how antiquated are the electronics within? We live in a electronics age and are used to 6-12 month development cycles. Your vehicle, even the uber-expensive ones, with state of the art pieces are five-years old. How old are the designs that filter down to something like the TC? Even the reports of the MB Metris slam the "infotainment system" as being an "older generation". frank

Lucky Gen 2 owners. Probably a good default to reset to traction ON after restart. Then there's us Gen One owners... One problem with traction control is getting the vehicle to initially move - basically spin control. Then it is a problem keeping it moving while it plays with the brakes, and cuts power plowing through deep snow - spin control and stability control. There are times when I would want to temporarily disable traction control. But in most cases, once under way, on a normal, flat, slick, road not piled up to the yingyang with snow, I would want the traction control active. It would be great if one could press a button and disable traction control, then press it again to turn it back on. (like most normal vehicles) The current pull fuse 15, or interrupt power to the yaw control module gets half the job done - disabling - but requires a vehicle restart (a reboot of all the interconnected systems) to go back to normal. I'm thinking if one could spoof the analog signal voltage from the yaw sensor one might be able to use that to effectively switch on and off the traction control. I *believe* I have read somewhere the analog voltage varies between zero and five volts - the left and right lateral G maximums before going to the DAC for digitization and then onto the CAN bus. Driving while monitoring the voltage on that line may reveal a zero-G voltage value, which if fed to the circuit from a different source may be enough to spoof the system. One issue that may arise is that the system is smarter than just blindly accepting voltage as an input - but compares the steering angle sensor values with the output of the yaw sensor and "flag" when the data becomes nonsensical - i.e., throttle open, steering sensor maxed out left or right, speed sensor showing significant speed, yet the yaw sensor is happily showing no lateral forces. Just some idle thoughts...

Great. More power for an already overpowered car that needs driver aids to drive.

(sigh) (drool) Wish WE could get these drivetrain options. Thanks EPA. Thanks DOT.

We call it the nickle-bag tax. I guess yours is a dime-bag tax.

Merci!

Which BT adapter are you using? I'm using ODBlink LX which works with my Samsung Galaxy 5 Active, but not to my LG tablet. I'm not sure whether it is the adapter or the tablet, or Android version.

Mrtn, Thanks for the tip on Brodit mounts. Very cool for GPS and phone (and running TORQUE PRO) to monitor systems. On my short list for all my three vehicles with move adapters. Too bad my wife and I use different phones... May just be time to upgrade mine!

Hi, Luddite here. Thanks mrtn and 103west43rd for your responses. I'm a point-and-click guy. My voice and any voice-recognition system have n e v e r gotten along well, whether it be (any) cell phone, phone voice response systems, etc. The first and most useful command I learned was "CANCEL". I can't be bothered. That, and I have lots of other "customers" for my patience. Inanimate objects kicking my a$$? I don't think so. Given the call functions and other voice controls are pretty much useless to me (or I useless to them), I'll just ignore Sync. That I use the phone so very little, probably a tempest in a teapot. I can at least listen to news radio and maybe receive a call. That is, if anybody ever calls. Which is another story altogether. 103west43ed, thanks for the list of modules on the CANBUS. Just having that information goes a long way to understanding the vehicle well beyond my original question. Thanks! frank

In my new (to me) 2013 Transit Connect LXT Premium with Sync, I just got the iPhone connected, and... well... I'm a bit underwhelmed. Audio, for me, is fine. I don't need much. Display is horrid, leaving me with voice commands which are worse, IMO. I don't use the phone much, but as hands-free is mandated by law here in Maryland, I guess I may as well get on board. I also have a 2014 Jetta, and it's phone functions are intuitive, straight forward, and readable; none of which applies to the SYNC system in the TC. Silly me, I thought the phone display functions would have been routed to the central LCD display ala VW. Little did I know, that display was unchanging, basically unprogramable. I know as the cars progress through the years, the radio/nav is becoming the access point computer for the user driver experience, and more and more functions are contained within, (much like BMW's IDrive monstrosity) So the question is How much of the TCs system does SYNC have its grubby little fingers into? The eventual question is, if I get rid of the head unit, and replace with another, what functions will be lost? Of course, radio, CD will be replaced in their entirety. Telephone functions will be replaced. Will I be able to use the already built-in microphone with the new system? (Analog?) Some new heads integrate with the steering wheel controls (as rudimentary as they are... Volume, input and phone is about it.) As I understand it, the factory backup camera/mirror/display are integrated with SYNC? True or False? Is the factory backup camera signal analog over coax to RCA plug, or CANBUS multiplexed? (or is there a third option, I hadn't even counted upon...? I had read that an Ford upgrade mirror with rear-view w/temp and compass could be fit EXCEPT on SYNC equipped vehicles. True or false? Is the CANBUS network feeding the mirror/rearview display? Switching of reverse cam based on gear selection is controlled - how? (CANBUS? Analog switch?) No drivability or environmental controls are controlled in this early SYNC system, right? How about the rear parking sensors? A separate system, independent of both the backup camera and SYNC? How is SYNC integrated into the CANBUS architecture? As for things I could potentially gain or lose based on head choice, that is controlled. One thing. Nav. I'm not enamored with built-in nav. At least the factory ones are slow, clunky, and always out of date. Software in them is always 3-4 years behind what you can get in this year's Garmin or TomTom. But, they're there. Aftermarket built-in? I'm not sure of continuing map support. Even Garmin and TomTom have screwed that pooch. Any insight into how this is all connected would be appreciated. frank

(drool) And stick-shifts, too. US has almost achieved their goal on completely non-interesting, non-fun vehicles in the (ahem) affordable sector. Funny though, can't get the Cadillac Sport Wagon in the US any more.

Anything you recommend other than the Ford flaps?

Been reading up - this forum for the last month or so. Thanks for all you've shared!

My friend, Greg, had one of these - not in this good condition, however. The first clutch I ever put in. The rolled-on Lucite puke-green housepaint paint-job - an improvement over when he got it! And the price was right, what with gas over $0.20 a gallon! I started out with a Dodge Tradesman van - in orange! 318 and 3 on-the-tree. Amazing what some 8" rims and some radials did for that beast. Eventually had a Yellow VW Microbus - Westfalia camper version. As for wagons, I currently have two: a VW Jetta Sportwagen TDI (which I will be keeping), and a BMW 528it. Great vehicles. Now I add a TC to the stable. I lament that Volvo, BMW, Audi and the now defunct Saab don't bring wagons in anymore. (sigh) Wagons and Minivans suffered the same problem: Marketing. Sensible vehicles that did not have "sport" in the name, so they got relegated to soccer moms and (gasp) families. The Minivan actually is one of the most practical vehicles on the market as far as interior space is concerned. SUVs are big on the outside, surprisingly tiny capacity for their external mass, and everyone has to have one. They're sporty. Yup. Thanks CAFE and EPA for making such monsters. And they all friggin' look alike. Ugh.

You have to look at where the power is made - the 1.6 Ecoboost has torque down to your socks - the NA engine makes its power at 3.5-4k rpm. You want to pull trailers or otherwise haul freight, the 1.6 is the way to go. Of course, IF the 2liter Ecoboost were available over here... even if they de-tuned it down to - say - 180hp? And the torque. I was thinking, the VW TDI and DSG would be a great transplant. (no dieselgate jokes, please)

Test drove a Gen 2 SWB and thought it really nice. Cargo in the SWB is not enough if I carry two passengers. LWB passenger, the seats and the awkward two-step liftover onto the folded seats and the loss of height made that a non-starter. As much lifting in and out, that additional stretch would have me renting a room at my Chiropractor. Ideally, a LWB, 5-seater, tumble second row, no third row and the 1.6 turbo engine would be just about perfect. I hear fleet ops will be offered the 5-seater option in 2017. As it is, I like the look of the old one better - the new ones are more refined looking, the old ones cuter, and more utilitarian looking. Like the original Scion Xb, it was so ugly, it was cute. They "fixed" the styling, and now it's just boring and ugly. No distinction. I'll definitely be fitting some Ford flaps before the weather turns...

Well, pulled the trigger on a 2013 XLT Premium (wagon) yesterday (9/22/16), flew down to Atlanta to take possession and drove it back to DC same day. 15,900 miles as it sits. Drivability is surprisingly good - much better than I expected, actually. Over the two full tanks I ran through with the cruise set at 70, I ended up 25.7 mpg. Not a big fan of automatics, but this behaved remarkably well, with the occasional "forced" downshift if I pushed the go pedal a bit too far. Handling, it felt very planted. Less roll than I was anticipating. Still sorting out the Sync system - Let's just say it's not how I would have written the documentation, but... Overall, I'm quite pleased. First vehicle bought online, sight unseen. Ford Certified, used. How bad could it be? No problem with MD inspection. Rearview camera is cool, mirrors are more than acceptable, but I do miss an outdoor temp gauge. (sigh) Add a couple cargo restraint points, and a "torpedo net" and I'll be good to go.

Seems to be independent of manufacturer, the towing capacity in Europe appears to always be at least double that in the US/Canada for the "same" vehicle. It seems it really is a difference between DOT specs vs Euro specs versus what the vehicle can actually do. I believe all Euro trailers need to be equipped with trailer brakes, where DOT does not have those requirements until one exceeds a certain load capacity - I'm sure that figures in... The standard hitch in Europe for VW and BMW is Westfalia or Bosal, with their 50mm ball on swan neck. These do not carry the DOT approval for whatever reason. (50mm ball, and no square receiver withstanding) They are rated at over 2000kg. Nothing is available in the states over class 1, per the manufacturer recommendation. I'd say, part DOT rules, part EPA rules, part warranty issues, part liability. For example, VWs DSG transmission (their dual-clutch automatic) won awards in Europe for towing ability, where VWNA tells US no towing whatsoever for the DSG - do not even install a hitch to carry bicycles. That has to be a warranty question. Once towing, the additional loading now runs afoul of EPA emissions issues. (no VW diesel jokes here, please) So given all that, the different US vs Euro engine/transmissions availability, differing liability concerns to the manufacturers, yada yada, all add to Ford's de-rating of the Connect for towing. An interesting liability situation comes up when the manufacturer says no towing, the hitch company offers a class 3, and an accident involving towing comes up. Would your insurance company cover the driver's liability when violating Ford's written recommendation? Could the hitch maker become liable?

Thanks all, for the replies. mrtn - 103West- stated tires within the correct load range is of limited choice - which is pretty much what I found looking at TireRack. I read here resetting TPMS was akin to a voodoo ritual - known only by the high-priests at some dealerships - devices/magnets/three-times around the car with the back doors open to Jupiter but only under a new moon. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. but not Beep-Beep. This will be my second vehicle with TPMS. In contrast to what I've read about resetting the TC TPMS system after say - tire rotation, the VW counts tire rotations using the ABS sensors - no devices/transmitters/batteries in the tires, (low pressure in tire makes tire rotate faster at same road speed) and reset is pressing the button in the glove box at pressures you and your tire manufacturer choose for the tire/rim/loading situation - not a fixed PSI baked into the computer. Seems if non-stock rims on the TC with +1 or +2 tire set, one is asking for the TPMS light to be on most of the time. The last time I ran auto manufacturer's pressures on new tires, I almost made it out of the parking lot before returning and asking the manager WTF is with these tires? Stock pressures. Oh? Run what the TIRE manufacturer recommends. Oh. That solved that. Don't mind me, I just dislike "nanny" devices that take my well thought out decisions out of my hands. Not sure where I heard of trans problems - good to put that at rest - I'm not too hard on the vehicles - though I do carry nearly 1K lbs around with me all the time. Got something now running well with 250k miles and original clutch. I've owned two auto trans cars, and the trans was the first thing to go - and both forced me to sell off the cars. So I'm not looking forward to the auto - but if it is reliable, all will be well. No mud-flaps=less rust? Did I read that right, mrtn? Now that Labor Day is over, I can start getting to the bottom of my targeted 2012 passenger van. thanks again frank

Been hemming and hawing a while, need a small van. Gen 2 vehicles are not for me. - SWB has no cargo room with seats up - 18" from rear setback to door. - LWB cannot get config I "need" - seats 4/5, tumble seats, windows all around. The three-row seating like the Titanium "fold flat" kill any load height, and I can't see them supporting large, dense things I will need to carry. 2017 says LWB w/two row seating will be available to fleet only. Ecoboost is a thing of the past. - That and I'd like the Ecoboost engine. All in all, the options matrix has no matches for my uses. Enter the search for a good used Gen 1 TC... Needs: - Glass all round - (what is that called, anyway? The best search match I get is "XLT Premium", though that misses some, and adds some that are panel, not glass). The wife WILL NOT drive ANYthing with "poor rear visibility". No glass, no go. Simple. - Engine and trans are an easy choice - only one e/t imported. A bit underpowered, and short a couple gears. Facts I cannot change. Information needed. - Heard "stories" of a higher-than-usual auto trans failure rate. Well... - Primary areas of rust concern. Most auto-auctions in my area get cars from PA auctions. Lower edge of the rust belt. Where do the TC vehicles give up to the rust monster first? The MB/Freightliner/Dodge Sprinter vans (and variants) look great, but are rust buckets. Am I going to lose the body before engine/transmission go? - What are the "problem areas" in the vehicle? Heard TPMS is a real PITA, and a VERY limited choice of tires and pressures. I know Ford Rangers are "constantly" setting off CEL with a reported gas-cap leak. No one can ever find the emissions leak... - What else has been problematic with these vehicles? Separation of cargo and people... Not needed if one is not planning any emergencies. (meant to be a joke...) A solid bulkhead is not useful for my needs. Normally, I would travel with 2, 3, or 4 people total - driver included. Sometimes the work will require the load to utilize some of the space required when one side, or the other, or both of the rear seats tumbled. My thought is to use flexible aircraft-type nylon webbing as the separator - with two rows of top-mounted attachment points, (behind front seats, behind rear seats) two sets of floor attachments, and a top and bottom attachment set that would run between the split rear seat, so I could use either the wide or narrow section of rear seat. That would give me flexibility to use all, part of the rear seat, or tumble both rear seat sections. I currently have a 2012 in my sights - XLT Premium with backup sensors. We'll see... frank