Instrument Panel Display Question - Car w/2 Arrows

[phevin]

Hi all,

I'm happy to say that I am finally the proud owner of a new 2016 Fusion Energi (after waiting 4.5 months for delivery)!

So far I have one question about the instrumemt display panel; I haven't been able to find a reference in the Owners Manual. Can anyone tell me what the picture of the car, with two arrows pointing left & right below it (in green, in the bottom right) refers to?

 

Edit:  Sorry for the multiple posts; was using my my phone and it didn't seem to do anything when I submitted the post...

Edited April 6, 2016 at 01:14 AM by phevin

[murphy]

It means the car is on and ready to drive.

 

I took care of the duplicate threads.

Edited April 6, 2016 at 09:43 AM by murphy

[flyingcheesehead]

It means the car is on and ready to drive.

 

 

This. Since there's no engine to hear starting, and no tachometer, there's no other way to tell whether the car has actually been "started". Well, OK, I don't think you can shift out of park and you certainly can't get the car to move without it on, but you'll do that a few times by accident and it'd be even more frustrating if you couldn't tell why your car "wasn't working" when in reality you just hadn't turned it on yet.

 

Most frequently, this happens to me because I'm in a hurry and I don't get the brake pedal far enough down before I push the start button.

[phevin]

Thanks for the replies (and for deleting the multiple posts!). That makes sense, though there is already a notification on the left when you turn the key indicating the car is ready to drive; it seems odd to me that there is constantly the other one on the right that stays lit at all times, even after you've been driving for a while. Anyway, thanks for clearing that up!

Edited April 7, 2016 at 02:20 AM by phevin

[JATR4]

This. Since there's no engine to hear starting, and no tachometer, there's no other way to tell whether the car has actually been "started". Well, OK, I don't think you can shift out of park and you certainly can't get the car to move without it on, but you'll do that a few times by accident and it'd be even more frustrating if you couldn't tell why your car "wasn't working" when in reality you just hadn't turned it on yet.

 

Most frequently, this happens to me because I'm in a hurry and I don't get the brake pedal far enough down before I push the start button.

Not exactly true.  This is one of the most important steps in driving an Energi.  On a push-button start Energi you need to step on the brake before pushing the start button--something we all know.  But if you push the start button first and then step on the brake the electronics will start and you can be fooled into thinking the car has started.  If you push on the brake after the electronics have started, the car gearshift can be moved to any position and yet the car has not started.

 

If you are on an incline and the parking brake is off, the car will roll forward or backward and the brakes won't work--unless great force is applied--because the car has not started.  The only way to start the car now is to move the gearshift to neutral or park, push on the brake, and then push the start button with the brake depressed.

 

A few months back someone on this forum did the steps out of sequence and rolled into the wall of a parking garage since he had no brakes and the car had not started.  He had pushed on the brake AFTER pushing the start button and put the car in reverse.  He was unaware that the car had not started and the car rolled forward.  He blamed the car when the problem was he did not completly understand the start sequence and the ramifications of not starting the vehicle properly.

 

I consider how the start system works on this vehicle to be very important.  It is very easy to do the steps out of sequence and not start the car.  I have done it on multiple occasions but I have been able to recover without a mishap.

Edited April 7, 2016 at 06:12 PM by JATR4

[Doug0716]

For what it's worth, the start system on this vehicle is consistent with the other Keyless vehicles I have had (06 Mercedes and 12 Kia) and I have not had any issues with it.