I have a 2012 Ford Focus 4 door Sedan. I was driving around yesterday and stopped the car at one destination and car was fine. I drove 26 miles… When I came out to my car, there was a message saying low battery check handbook. I started the car fine and the message went away. I drove about 5 miles to another destination and turned off the car and the same message came up. Each destination I went to the light went off once I started the car and was driving, but when I would stop the car and turn it off, the message would come up and it had a green light.
The manual says that the message should come up when you start the car, or are driving and the light will be an amber color.
I went out to my car and I had another key so I used that to start the car and hit ok on the steering wheel buttons. I turned the key forward and did not start it and the message went away when I turned the key back and the message has not come up after that?
I wonder if it could be telling me that there is a low battery in the key itself, or if it is something to do with the car?
When you checked the handbook (owners manual) what did it say? If you still have the original battery I would plan on replacing it, at 5 years it has reached the end of it’s useful life.
This happens to me too. I replaced the battery two months ago, and two days ago I turned the key to start the radio and air, and “low battery Check handbook” information message came on with a yellow dot illuminating. Started the car and and the message goes away. Then after driving 45 mins to work I turned off the car and turned it back to accessory mode to see if the light would still show up. It did. So now I’ve purchased a NOCO G3500 smart battery charger and got it set up last night, battery terminals still connected and let it charge to almost 100%. Unplugged it and went to check this morning to see if the message would show up and it did. There’s got to be something draining my battery! I disconnected the battery this morning and got it to a full 100% charge according to the charger. I have errands to run so will test it again when I get home. Any suggestions on what the problem could be?
That message probably turns on if the battery measures below a certain voltage with the engine not running, probably if below 12.0 volts. Normal engine-off battery voltage is 12.6 volts or above. So the test to do is make sure the battery voltage is 12.6 volts or above and see if that message comes on. If it is, there’s something wrong with the gadget that does the check. Whatever does that check must use a precision voltage regulator, and that device may have failed.
The basic battery alternator voltage check is pretty easy to do also. Just requires a voltmeter connected to the battery posts: Before the first start of the day the battery should measure about 12.6 volts. Immediately after starting the engine, it should measure 13.5-15.5 volts. What do you get?