NHTSA Complaint #10895852 — 2010 FORD FUSION HYBRID

JULY 29, 2016 DRIVING HOME FROM WORK I WAS DRIVING UPHILL WHEN I NOTICED THE CAR LOSING POWER, NO AMOUNT OF PUSHING DOWN ON THE ACCELERATOR MADE A DIFFERENCE. THE CAR DID NOT STALL BUT IT COULD NOT GAIN MOMENTUM. THE SERVICE ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON. I HAD TO STOP IN THE RIGHT LANE BECAUSE THERE WAS NO SHOULDER AND THE ENGINE HAD STARTED MAKING A VERY LOUD/ROUGH SOUND. I WAITED 5 MIN AND STARTED THE CAR AGAIN. EVERYTHING LOOKED FINE, THE INDICATOR LIGHT HAD CLEARED AND ENGINE SOUNDED NORMAL. I DROVE THE REST OF THE WAY HOME WITHOUT INCIDENT. OVER THE WEEKEND THE CAR OPERATED NORMALLY. ON MONDAY 8/1/2016 ON MY WAY TO WORK THE PROBLEM STARTED AGAIN. THE CAR REMAINED OPERATIONAL BUT COULDN'T GO MORE THAN 20-30 MPH. THE HYBRID BATTERY WOULD DRAIN VERY QUICKLY AND THE REGENERATION MOTOR RAN CONSTANTLY AND SOMETIME VERY ROUGH. I MANAGED TO DRIVE IT TO MY MECHANIC. HIS DIAGNOSTIC REPORT SHOWED A P2112 CODE (THROTTLE BODY STUCK CLOSED). HE PROPOSED CLEANING THE VALVE AS A FIRST STEP BUT HE DIDN'T THINK THAT WOULD FIX THE PROBLEM. WE TRIED THAT BUT TWO DAYS LATER THE PROBLEM CAME BACK. MY MECHANIC ADVISED THAT WHILE HE COULD REPLACE THE ETB, HE WAS NOT EQUIPPED TO CALIBRATE IT AND THAT ONLY FORD COULD DO THIS WORK. HE ALSO TOLD ME THAT WHILE RESEARCHING THE PROBLEM HE'D COME ACROSS INFORMATION THAT MY PROBLEM MIGHT BE COVERED BY AN EXTENDED WARRANTY. I CALLED FORD ABOUT THE EXTENDED WARRANTY AND THEY TOLD ME THAT HYBRIDS ARE NOT COVERED BY THE WARRANTY. IT SEEMS TO ME THAT NHTSA DROPPED THE BALL ON THIS IF THE SAME PROBLEM IS HAPPENING TO HYBRID OWNERS AS IS TO NON-HYBRID OWNERS FOR VEHICLE MODELS OF THE SAME YEARS. MY VEHICLE HAD ABOUT 58,700 MILES WHEN TROUBLE STARTED. NO ONE I SPOKE TO AT FORD COULD TELL ME WHY HYBRIDS ARE NOT COVERED BY THE ETB EXTENDED WARRANTY. SEEMS TO ME NHTSA NEEDS TO RE-OPEN THEIR INVESTIGATION ON THIS ISSUE!