Corsair Dead Battery Syndrome

[Peedue]

For the past 15 months I've read where many Corsair owners were plagued with dead batteries, multiple situations. I felt this was strange, especially concerning something so basic, so fundamental. Today I visited a Lincoln dealer in metro Atlanta, Ga. to test drive a brand new 2020 Reserve model, 2.3 engine, a car made in August 2020.....not that old. It wouldn't turn over, battery completely dead. Wonderful way to start a test drive. They jump started it I test drove it approx. 20 miles, plenty to recharge the battery we thought. Got back to the dealership, turned off the ignition, tried to re-start..........battery completely dead.
Question : How does the Lincoln Div. allow this to continue ??? Lincoln, trying to re-establish itself as a SERIOUS brand. A division of Ford, who builds more cars and trucks than I could keep track of. Is this problem with the Corsair with EVERY Corsair built ?? How can they survive ?? Needless to say the car is terrific in all ways..........except when you go to start it up. What the heck is going on ???

 

[bbf2530]

For the past 15 months I've read where many Corsair owners were plagued with dead batteries, multiple situations. I felt this was strange, especially concerning something so basic, so fundamental. Today I visited a Lincoln dealer in metro Atlanta, Ga. to test drive a brand new 2020 Reserve model, 2.3 engine, a car made in August 2020.....not that old. It wouldn't turn over, battery completely dead. Wonderful way to start a test drive. They jump started it I test drove it approx. 20 miles, plenty to recharge the battery we thought. Got back to the dealership, turned off the ignition, tried to re-start..........battery completely dead.
Question : How does the Lincoln Div. allow this to continue ??? Lincoln, trying to re-establish itself as a SERIOUS brand. A division of Ford, who builds more cars and trucks than I could keep track of. Is this problem with the Corsair with EVERY Corsair built ?? How can they survive ?? Needless to say the car is terrific in all ways..........except when you go to start it up. What the heck is going on ???

Hi Peedue and welcome to the Lincoln Forums.. My opinion: It would not be unusual for the battery to die in a vehicle that has been sitting for ~5 months, and which has most likely been driven very little, if at all. Especially with the pandemic going on. And even if the battery had not been completely killed by the ~5 months lack of use, a 20 mile drive may not be enough to sufficiently recharge it.

Ideally, should a Dealer try to mitigate these situations from happening? Ideally, yes. But it is not an ideal world. Especially nowadays. And the Service Department is not going to go out every day to check all the batteries in all the cars in the lot, charge weak ones, replace dead ones etc, until it is necessary. It is a lot of work for a lot full of cars. And they would not be reimbursed by Lincoln/Ford for warranty costs until the vehicle is purchased.

A better idea, would be to do what most Dealers in my area seem to do. They would send out an employee to bring the car to the door of the showroom for you. If it does not start, they immediately jump it in the lot, out of sight of the customer (in most cases anyway). In this way, the customer is not awkwardly trying to start a dead car.

I am not minimizing your concerns, and I realize it will put a bad taste in the mouth of some buyers. But Lincoln is not the only manufacturer having these issues nowadays. So I am simply pointing out a different perspective.

Good luck with your shopping.

 

[Peedue]

Hi Peedue and welcome to the Lincoln Forums.. My opinion: It would not be unusual for the battery to die in a vehicle that has been sitting for ~5 months, and which has most likely been driven very little, if at all. Especially with the pandemic going on. And even if the battery had not been completely killed by the ~5 months lack of use, a 20 mile drive may not be enough to sufficiently recharge it.

Ideally, should a Dealer try to mitigate these situations from happening? Ideally, yes. But it is not an ideal world. Especially nowadays. And the Service Department is not going to go out every day to check all the batteries in all the cars in the lot, charge weak ones, replace dead ones etc, until it is necessary. It is a lot of work for a lot full of cars. And they would not be reimbursed by Lincoln/Ford for warranty costs until the vehicle is purchased.

A better idea, would be to do what most Dealers in my area seem to do. They would send out an employee to bring the car to the door of the showroom for you. If it does not start, they immediately jump it in the lot, out of sight of the customer (in most cases anyway). In this way, the customer is not awkwardly trying to start a dead car.

I am not minimizing your concerns, and I realize it will put a bad taste in the mouth of some buyers. But Lincoln is not the only manufacturer having these issues nowadays. So I am simply pointing out a different perspective.

Good luck with your shopping.

Thanks for your input. Driving the Reserve was a treat. A beautiful machine, the battery situation was not ideal but did not kill my interest.

 

[HotrodLinkin]

if you do buy a Corsair, the best care for the battery when not tasked with a load is to put a low charge on it for several hours. I say don't let this gremlin get in the way of a purchase.

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[Corsart]

How did you like the car?

I bought mine in Nov., late Sept. build, and drive it infrequently bc of working from home. No battery problems. Actually, unlike some reports of earlier builds, my car is beautifully finished and assembled, no issues, and I am very critical. It's unfortunate your test car did this, but I do not think it's necessarily indicative of a chronic problem.

If you like the car, get it. Anything you get from any manufacturer will have some issue at some point. If you really like a car..whatever brand....it's easier to tolerate than an issue from a car you bought as a compromise.

 

[Peedue]

How did you like the car?

I bought mine in Nov., late Sept. build, and drive it infrequently bc of working from home. No battery problems. Actually, unlike some reports of earlier builds, my car is beautifully finished and assembled, no issues, and I am very critical. It's unfortunate your test car did this, but I do not think it's necessarily indicative of a chronic problem.

If you like the car, get it. Anything you get from any manufacturer will have some issue at some point. If you really like a car..whatever brand....it's easier to tolerate than an issue from a car you bought as a compromise.

Oh, I like the reserve model, I loved this car I test drove. Really nice. I just need to feel confident that it will be reliable, start when needed. The longest it would probably sit in the garage at any one time is probably 3 days.
Thanks for your input, I appreciate it.

 

[2DS]

I have the same issue unfortunately. My corsair is a computer nightmare. Maybe lincoln will come up with a fix.

 

[afh3]

For mine, it was all about the replacement of the body-control module. Only took 6 weeks in the shop to do so, but it resolved the entire electrical/electronic suite of issues (and there were MANY) my Corsair was experiencing. -- completely.

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[2DS]

Hill assist fail, pre collision fail, service advance trac, touch screen blanks out. Whole lower control cluster blanks out. Battery replaced, acm replaced, total software reprogram from lincoln. All with less than 5000 miles. I wish it wasn't so

 

[ForgedCrank]

For the past 15 months I've read where many Corsair owners were plagued with dead batteries, multiple situations. I felt this was strange, especially concerning something so basic, so fundamental. Today I visited a Lincoln dealer in metro Atlanta, Ga. to test drive a brand new 2020 Reserve model, 2.3 engine, a car made in August 2020.....not that old. It wouldn't turn over, battery completely dead. Wonderful way to start a test drive. They jump started it I test drove it approx. 20 miles, plenty to recharge the battery we thought. Got back to the dealership, turned off the ignition, tried to re-start..........battery completely dead.
Question : How does the Lincoln Div. allow this to continue ??? Lincoln, trying to re-establish itself as a SERIOUS brand. A division of Ford, who builds more cars and trucks than I could keep track of. Is this problem with the Corsair with EVERY Corsair built ?? How can they survive ?? Needless to say the car is terrific in all ways..........except when you go to start it up. What the heck is going on ???

I think it also needs to be said that driving 20 miles after a jump is not even close to enough to recharge the battery.
These things have all sorts of stuff going on, even when sitting idle. I can go out in the garage at night to get a coke and just walking past the thing triggers all sorts of stuff to start clicking and clacking.
Any vehicle with a dead battery needs to be put on a charger ASAP, the load is very hard on the charging system in this state, and it takes a LOT longer to fully charge a battery than most people think. It's best to use a low current charge when possible, like 2A max.
Our cars frequently sit idle in the garage for days, sometimes up to a couple of weeks, so I keep them on a battery tender most of the time. It's a PITA, but that is the standard for pretty much all new cars at this point... they are all alive most of the time, slowly draining the battery. After a couple of weeks not driven, the battery will start getting too low for comfort, and it will start causing all sorts of gremlins if the voltage isn't at desired levels.

 

[Peedue]

I think it also needs to be said that driving 20 miles after a jump is not even close to enough to recharge the battery.
These things have all sorts of stuff going on, even when sitting idle. I can go out in the garage at night to get a coke and just walking past the thing triggers all sorts of stuff to start clicking and clacking.
Any vehicle with a dead battery needs to be put on a charger ASAP, the load is very hard on the charging system in this state, and it takes a LOT longer to fully charge a battery than most people think. It's best to use a low current charge when possible, like 2A max.
Our cars frequently sit idle in the garage for days, sometimes up to a couple of weeks, so I keep them on a battery tender most of the time. It's a PITA, but that is the standard for pretty much all new cars at this point... they are all alive most of the time, slowly draining the battery. After a couple of weeks not driven, the battery will start getting too low for comfort, and it will start causing all sorts of gremlins if the voltage isn't at desired levels.

I'm just not up to date with all the new hi tech stuff in cars today, I guess. My wife's car is a 10 yr. old GMC Acadia, seldom sits more than 3 days without driving it somewhere. Never a dead battery. I drive a 10 yr. old Audi S5 Cabriolet..........bought it new.........32,000 mi. on it. It will sit 4-5 weeks often without driving it, never a dead battery. I guess I'm blessed with two trouble free cars. The only reason I was looking at the Corsair Reserve was to "downsize" from the GMC Acadia, it's big, we no longer need that size. The Corsair Reserve is a perfect size for us now.........and the quality and comfort is A-1.
Thanks for your input.