towing an automatic car

willald wrote:

paulcardoza wrote:
Let's assume that you have done your homework and confirmed that the 2013 Fiesta, with Auto trans is indeed towable.

If the instructions tell you to disconnect the battery, it's ONLY because with the ignition set to ACC (to unlock the steering wheel), there will be significant battery drain present....

Not necessarily true. There are some vehicles, specifically the Ford Focus, where disconnecting the battery is done for a much more important reason than battery drain.

The transmission on them is electronically controlled, and not disconnecting the battery can cause the transmission to shift itself out of neutral, resulting in major damage to the transmission. Its actually happened to a few folks on here.

Not sure if the Fiesta has the same or a similar tranny as the Focus, but if the manual says to disconnect the battery, you'd best be disconnecting it one way or another.

This is actually one of the reasons I chose our Ford Fusion over the Focus - no need to disconnect the battery like you do with the Focus.

If the owner's manual specifically says to disconnect the battery, I'd be very, very hesitant to leave it connected, charge line or not.

The Fiesta does use the same 6 speed dual clutch "automatic manual" transmission that is used in the Focus. As Will states, not removing the battery cable could cause the electronically controlled transmission to shift out of Neutral causing transmission damage.