NHTSA investigating 2022 Mach-E HVBJB recall (high voltage battery main contactors)

The NHTSA is investigating the Ford "fix" for the under-engineered high voltage battery main contactors, after complaints that refusing to replace them is unsafe. Could the HVBJB someday get a hardware recall?

Ford recall investigated as unsafe

This is good news. Let's hope that if a hardware recall is mandated, that Ford first creates a third version of the HVBJB that is even more robust and less susceptible to failure than the current revision.

Perhaps some of the additional logging they are doing with permission from forum members like @heisnuts will help them pinpoint why the second revision continues to fail in certain scenarios.

Weird that it is 22's. 21's have the same issue. I suspect that if the HVBJB was more easily accessed, it would have been recalled a long time ago.

Blue highway said:

Weird that it is 22's. 21's have the same issue. I suspect that if the HVBJB was more easily accessed, it would have been recalled a long time ago.

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It's worded strange. They are referring to the '22 recall, not the model year.

I heard after your third HVBJB you get a free sub, now that's government at work

DevSecOps said:

It's worded strange. They are referring to the '22 recall, not the model year.

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ah yes... I'll need to brush up on my government speak. Only a regulator would think in terms of the year a recall was issued... sheesh.

I guess as a person who owns a GT and whose HVBJB has not failed I would say what good is a hardware change out if the new part is also failing? Now if this new investigation shows that the new part is not failing except for a small percentage and it also forces Ford to change out HVBJB’s in vehicles that have not failed yet then that would be a good thing. If it results in Ford somehow reducing the power output of GT’s then I find that a bad thing. It will be interesting to see what develops. I realize a HVBJB failure could happen at some point but I do not worry about it and just go about driving as normal; however, I would take advantage of a recall of the part if it were too ever occur but I am not holding my breath!

If nothing else, this investigation should hopefully quantify the failure rates.

More information straight from NHTSA:

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/inv/2023/INOA-RQ23004-4752.PDF

I for one am actually quite pleased to hear of this, because this is the one aspect of the vehicles reliability that really bothers me. Of all the issues and recalls, with the Mach-E, this is the only one that actually concerns me. And as a Canadian who spent $83k (all in) on a "high end vehicle" I should not have to be worried about my vehicles reliability, and the very real potential for it to suddenly stall or go into limp mode when entering the highway, or when attempting to overtake and pass another vehicle, particularly when this is my daily driver and I have a wife and two kids in the car with me!

This is a MAJOR safety concern, and to be quite honest Ford is lucky that no one has yet been killed by this and that's not hyperbole. This type of failure certainly has the potential for such an outcome, and a software "fix" to limit the power output is completely unacceptable.

First of all if I bought a vehicle with an advertised power output of 346 hp, I don't want the manufacturer de-rating that hp because they realized after the fact that components would fail. If someome buys an ICE mustang that is supposed to give you 500hp, and after visiting the dealer they install a governer that limits power to 300hp to prevent the engine from blowing up because of a known engine design flaw, would that be acceptable? Obviously not! It's no different for an EV either!

The same goes for fast charging. 150kw fast charging is what was advertised (and is even considered on the slow end) these days, however if the electrical components cannot sustain that power without melting, this is obviously a big problem!

As a paying customer a "software fix" is only acceptable in my eyes for the SHORT TERM in addition to a hardware recall to ensure you limit the amount of failures while the manufacturer replaces affected parts. It is by no means an acceptable permanent fix to a very obvious and glaring hardware design problem.

While I feel bad that a hardware recall would cost Ford a boat load of money that they can't afford to lose right now, at the same time this is the cost of entry into a brand new EV market where the learning curve on a completely brand new architecture and design are quite steep. I for one want to see Ford stick around for years to come, it's why I bought the MME and not a Tesla, but at the same time they need to do right by the customer, particularly when the cost to consumers to buy the product are so incredibly steep!

Cool! I bet we’ll get a real fix at some point. Although I have no idea if my First Edition needs it.

Screw it, I filed a complaint due to my already replaced HVBJB failing again a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully they're forced to actually fix the part. What a joke.

...and it appears the new HVBJBs are failing too. Since this is only for 21-22's, those of us with '23s or those who already got the new part, will he SOL on this technicality, unless Ford steps up and replaces them ALL. I realize we don't have % of the new ones failing yet.

The software fix limits the hp so drivers can limp back to the dealer. Seems like cutting power isn’t a safe solution in the eyes of the NHTSA. To top it off, we’re seeing revised HVBJBs failing too. @heisnuts collected failed HVBJBs like Pokémon cards.

Just Lurking said:

This is good news. Let's hope that if a hardware recall is mandated, that Ford first creates a third version of the HVBJB that is even more robust and less susceptible to failure than the current revision.

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I think from what has been posted with part numbers that we’re already on a third version of the HVBJB.