Self-StartingOne of the newer and now widely adopted car features is remote starting, or self-starting. Automakers have slowly added this to most new cars, giving owners the option to start the car with a key or an app without being in the vehicle. Part of the reason why it exists is to pre-cool the vehicle on a hot day or pre-heat it on colder days.This feature relies heavily on the owner to engage the system; any unwanted or random self-starting would be suspicious. Apparently, that isn't as random as you think, with a few car owners claiming their cars start on their own at random times.Phantom StartingFirst on The Drive is an article saying some Ford Maverick owners are experiencing an issue where their Mavericks start on their own without any prompt from the owners. One owner raised the issue in a thread on the private Ford Maverick Facebook group; surprisingly, he wasn't the only one to experience it. One owner even claimed that the issue has happened a "dozen times" over the 4 years he's owned the car.These owners haven't given explanations yet, but we can assume there are logical reasons for this. Let's circle back to remote starting. For the Maverick, the feature comes in 2 forms: the FordPass app, which lets you start the truck from your phone and even schedule it to start daily. Next is the remote start function on the key fob, available only on the higher-end variants.Activating the key fob remote start isn't as simple as pressing the button once; you have to press it in a sequence to actually start the vehicle. That means accidentally doing so is highly unlikely if your key gets "jammed" in your pocket with other items. A likely culprit could be the FordPass system, which doesn't have additional security measures before it lets you start the car through the app, meaning anyone with access to your phone could start it by accident (or on purpose) without you really knowing.John Beltz SnyderOther Causes?The report also proposes different causes for the random self-starting, which is due to the Maverick's hybrid system. Apparently, there's a built-in software program that's supposed to turn the car on if the hybrid battery pack's state of charge runs too low. While that sounds possible, the findings suggest owners are confused about the PHEV system.In the PHEV, the engine sometimes turns on to circulate lubricants and prevent sediment buildup in the fuel lines. However, this only happens when the car is being driven, not when it's stationary, because of obvious safety concerns. Funnily enough, the final proposed cause is that some people are probably just forgetting to turn off their cars. We've all been there; with modern cars now whisper-quiet when parked, in our rushing, absent-minded moments, we forget that the car is still on.In any case, we've reached out to Ford for clarification on the issue, and we'll update this article once we get feedback from the car maker.Ford
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