Dumbest fuse box design ever (rant mode)

[MattG]

Whoever designed the fuse boxes for this car should be fired. It’s by far the most inaccessible, stupidest design I’ve ever had to deal with.

So today my car starting emitting a horrible crackling noise through the speakers…sync reset wouldn’t fix it, nor would power cycling the entire car. I drove it home, not easy with loud crackling the whole way, and decided the only solution at this point was to pull fuses to kill the sound. My daughter is studying for her learners’ permit, so i thought it’d be a great chance to teach her a bit about cars. Instead i think she just learned some new cuss words. After not locating any fuse boxes visually, she googled and found out about the one up front. We broke a couple clips to finally get to that one, only to discover you can’t actually get to any fuses without removing the entire frunk!!!! Wow. F that. Back to google. found out about the one in the passenger footwell. Couldn’t get the top clip to disengage but the rest pulled out enough that I could remove fuse #23 and at least kill the crackling noise ( the sound returned when I reinstalled the fuse, so this is not fixed yet!). Of course, I had to first get needle nose pliers from the garage to pull the fuse since there was no fuse puller tool evident in there.

after this debacle, I opened up our Subaru and proceeded to show her how fuse panels SHOULD be designed. It took seconds to locate and open the fuse panels, and I showed her the handy guide on the covers as well as the fuse puller tools Subaru locates for this purpose.

Ford….what the heck were you thinking?!

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[Murse-In-Airy]

The FordPass app has one version of the manual is searchable text. This would have pointed out right away that there are 2 fuse boxes, only one of which is really end user accessible. I’ve accessed mine a few times.
Ford hasn’t ever supplied a fuse puller with any of my vehicles. I wish they did, but I have them in my toolbox at this point. Ford probably assumes anyone accessing a fuse box has a fuse puller.

 

[RickMachE]

The right kickplate location is common among Ford vehicles at least.

 

[CHeil402]

This would have pointed out right away that there are 2 fuse boxes, only one of which is really end user accessible.

This is a pretty common design, there is typically a separate set of fuses in the engine compartment for ICE cars to protect engine components.

 

[louibluey]

There are some strange tabs that have to be disengaged to fully remove the cover in the footwell interior box: https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...-dashcam-and-radar-detector.5542/#post-166512 "Study the pictures, because it is important to realize that the back of the fuse cover does not unsnap from the panel above, rather those long tabs slide through the rectangular openings. Trying to force the fuse cover down would break the rectangular hooks."

Agree that most ICE cars have a fuse box forward in the engine compartment, but I think there is a much higher number of small fuses up front in MME, than the typical split, on the Honda, Chevy, Subarus that I've had. This is my first Ford though.

 

[dtbaker61]

Whoever designed the fuse boxes for this car should be fired. It’s by far the most inaccessible, stupidest design I’ve ever had to deal with.

So today my car starting emitting a horrible crackling noise through the speakers…

Ford….what the heck were you thinking?!

I totally agree that making fuses, 12v connection points, and any other 'maintenance points' so inaccessible is inexcusable... I'll probably add some pop-off or hinged covers so I can get to stuff without the pain of removing side covers and Frunk.

You static problem sounds bad... maybe your original 'power drain' problem was due to a short or loose connection ? It might be worth checking your LVB connections and main disconnect to make sure that the Dealership tightened everything back up after dealing with your original problem.

 

[breeves002]

The only Ford I've had a fuse puller in is my 1997 Mercury Grand marquis. Even had spare fuses in the cover.

As cars get more complicated and people want cars with interiors that you can't see anything that isn't perfectly finished......You get stuff like this where it is hard to get to fuse boxes.

Just be happy you don't own a Tesla. They don't have fuses. All computer controlled FETs.

 

[voxel]

Whoever designed the fuse boxes for this car should be fired. It’s by far the most inaccessible, stupidest design I’ve ever had to deal with.

So today my car starting emitting a horrible crackling noise through the speakers…sync reset wouldn’t fix it, nor would power cycling the entire car. I drove it home, not easy with loud crackling the whole way, and decided the only solution at this point was to pull fuses to kill the sound. My daughter is studying for her learners’ permit, so i thought it’d be a great chance to teach her a bit about cars. Instead i think she just learned some new cuss words. After not locating any fuse boxes visually, she googled and found out about the one up front. We broke a couple clips to finally get to that one, only to discover you can’t actually get to any fuses without removing the entire frunk!!!! Wow. F that. Back to google. found out about the one in the passenger footwell. Couldn’t get the top clip to disengage but the rest pulled out enough that I could remove fuse #23 and at least kill the crackling noise ( the sound returned when I reinstalled the fuse, so this is not fixed yet!). Of course, I had to first get needle nose pliers from the garage to pull the fuse since there was no fuse puller tool evident in there.

after this debacle, I opened up our Subaru and proceeded to show her how fuse panels SHOULD be designed. It took seconds to locate and open the fuse panels, and I showed her the handy guide on the covers as well as the fuse puller tools Subaru locates for this purpose.

Ford….what the heck were you thinking?!

Folks poo-poo ID.4 for the lack of a frunk but VW placed the air filter and fuse box there instead. Accessing those two takes 5 seconds! Instead, Tesla and Ford buried these things into the dashboard or under/behind the frunk.

I know some folks here love the frunk, but to me it is a gimmick.

 

[Neil4Real]

Folks poo-poo ID.4 for the lack of a frunk but VW placed the air filter and fuse box there instead. Accessing those two takes 5 seconds! Instead, Tesla and Ford buried these things into the dashboard or under/behind the frunk.

I know some folks here love the frunk, but to me it is a gimmick.

It is just one of those things you have to get used to. Its definitely handy, especially with the open trunk into the cabin, you can put like gym clothes and stuff in the frunk and not stink up your interior! I think the average person would certainly use the frunk more than needing access to their fuse box...

 

[RickMachE]

think the average person would certainly use the frunk more than needing access to their fuse box...

I bet that 90%+ of car owners never access their fuses. Maybe 99%+.

 

[sockmeister]

Whoever designed the fuse boxes for this car should be fired. It’s by far the most inaccessible, stupidest design I’ve ever had to deal with.

So today my car starting emitting a horrible crackling noise through the speakers…sync reset wouldn’t fix it, nor would power cycling the entire car. I drove it home, not easy with loud crackling the whole way, and decided the only solution at this point was to pull fuses to kill the sound. My daughter is studying for her learners’ permit, so i thought it’d be a great chance to teach her a bit about cars. Instead i think she just learned some new cuss words. After not locating any fuse boxes visually, she googled and found out about the one up front. We broke a couple clips to finally get to that one, only to discover you can’t actually get to any fuses without removing the entire frunk!!!! Wow. F that. Back to google. found out about the one in the passenger footwell. Couldn’t get the top clip to disengage but the rest pulled out enough that I could remove fuse #23 and at least kill the crackling noise ( the sound returned when I reinstalled the fuse, so this is not fixed yet!). Of course, I had to first get needle nose pliers from the garage to pull the fuse since there was no fuse puller tool evident in there.

after this debacle, I opened up our Subaru and proceeded to show her how fuse panels SHOULD be designed. It took seconds to locate and open the fuse panels, and I showed her the handy guide on the covers as well as the fuse puller tools Subaru locates for this purpose.

Ford….what the heck were you thinking?!

About the speaker crackling issue... that sounds like one of the symptoms that those with the 12v battery issues way back in February of '21 had. Either that, or a bad amplifier. Warranty replacement fix.

 

[Jimrpa]

The only Ford I've had a fuse puller in is my 1997 Mercury Grand marquis. Even had spare fuses in the cover.

As cars get more complicated and people want cars with interiors that you can't see anything that isn't perfectly finished......You get stuff like this where it is hard to get to fuse boxes.

Just be happy you don't own a Tesla. They don't have fuses. All computer controlled FETs.

Are you serious? Absolutely NO fuses? Not even circuit breakers? Wow, that’s … interesting.

 

[Jimrpa]

Folks poo-poo ID.4 for the lack of a frunk but VW placed the air filter and fuse box there instead. Accessing those two takes 5 seconds! Instead, Tesla and Ford buried these things into the dashboard or under/behind the frunk.

I know some folks here love the frunk, but to me it is a gimmick.

You know, with some clever design, you could have your front trunk and access to your fuses too! ???

 

[MattG]

You static problem sounds bad... maybe your original 'power drain' problem was due to a short or loose connection ? It might be worth checking your LVB connections and main disconnect to make sure that the Dealership tightened everything back up after dealing with your original problem.

Interesting thought. I actually never took it in to the dealer for that 12V issue, it was too much of a hassle due to where I live and the car was otherwise fine. An OTA update appeared to fix it. I’ll check those LVB connections…I’m planning to pull those this weekend to totally power cycle the car and see if that fixes the stereo. On the plus side, the car is working fine with that fuse pulled…no other issues. And it’s the first major issue in 17k miles of driving.

 

[voxel]

You know, with some clever design, you could have your front trunk and access to your fuses too! ???

Given how modern companies are marketing-controlled and obsessed with USP (unique selling points)... inertia rules. They won't change anything unless they can sell it as a feature to the customer: Easy to change air filter! Accessible fuses! No fuss 12V battery access!

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