Deep Sleep Mode - 12v battery drained dead [update: Mach-E jump started]

[timbop]

Wow. I hope Ford is following this. I'm not going to pay $55k for a car that goes into 'brick' mode in 27F degree weather. We easily get waaay below that in NJ in a bad winter (like this one).

If I don't see some good answers from Ford I'm out.

I've owned ICE cars my entire life and jumped one exactly twice (in 40 years) and it was easy - pop the hood (manually), connect the charger, start...

I hope you're not suggesting Ford isn't fixing this now, or would not fix it?

Come on, lets give them some credit unless they prove otherwise

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[dbsb3233]

Makes one think about cutting a couple of circular holes in the cover above the battery for access, then figure out a way to fill the hole with something easily removed. Especially if this is going to be a thing for a while......sounds like removing the two internal covers to get at the 12V battery will get old fast, especially if anywhere other than inside your garage.

I had that same thought. Two little 4x4" access doors. Ford should have done that already. I doubt I'd do it myself as I don't expect to be in there, well, EVER. Hopefully this doesn't become a regular thing.

Some of us were talking about it elsewhere and decided to get our own little cigarette plug voltage meters just to keep an eye on the 12v battery voltage. They're around 10 bucks on Amazon. Some even have USB ports built in.

 

[DaveRuns]

Wow. I hope Ford is following this. I'm not going to pay $55k for a car that goes into 'brick' mode in 27F degree weather. We easily get waaay below that in NJ in a bad winter (like this one).

If I don't see some good answers from Ford I'm out.

I've owned ICE cars my entire life and jumped one exactly twice (in 40 years) and it was easy - pop the hood (manually), connect the charger, start...

Remember all those winter-testing videos that Ford released? Hard to believe this never came up.

 

[machefan]

Ford's confidence in there "never being a need to charge the low voltage battery" reminds me a bit about how the designers of the M-16 didn't engineer in a way to clear a jam because "the design never gets jammed". The only way to clear a jam was to field strip the M-16. It turned out that the M-16 actually could jam in real combat, to the horror of GIs under fire.

I just canceled my Amazon order for a jump pack. Making light of the situation but something is up. List is growing but each issue is slightly different. They just all get the same powertrain message. Like Ford figured few errors happen so just label them all under the same message for the consumer to save time. The car logs everything individually which we don’t have basic access to.

 

[sockmeister]

Back to the frunk popping issue, can somebody with a dead 12v test whether it'll pop if you just hook up a 9V battery? I'd like to know if this works next time. There's a chance it will!

 

[dbsb3233]

I hope you're not suggesting Ford isn't fixing this now, or would not fix it?

Come on, lets give them some credit unless they prove otherwise

And with a brand new 12V battery in there, this is surely a problem that's going to need servicing anyway. This can't be the "normal" condition, even in the very cold. Either the brand new battery is bad, or the car isn't charging it like it should. Either way, it's a warranty service trip.

 

[SoriceConsulting]

I hope you're not suggesting Ford isn't fixing this now, or would not fix it?

Come on, lets give them some credit unless they prove otherwise

timbop,
I'm hoping they would promptly address/fix, but the M16 mindset that you referenced seems to be in play here ('We're not going to worry about that because it will never happen') - and that is very concerning.

Why would they not have an easy way to access and jump (even REPLACE) the 12V battery - just in case...
Batteries do fail/die - pretty routinely.

Again, we're not talking about a cheap thingy here. This is a major purchase for all and I don't want to be sitting in my driveway calling Ford to come and tow my brand new $55k car because I can't even get into it.

 

[machefan]

timbop,
I'm hoping they would promptly address/fix, but the M16 mindset that you referenced seems to be in play here ('We're not going to worry about that because it will never happen') - and that is very concerning.

Why would they not have an easy way to access and jump (even REPLACE) the 12V battery - just in case...
Batteries do fail/die - pretty routinely.

Again, we're not talking about a cheap thingy here. This is a major purchase for all and I don't want to be sitting in my driveway calling Ford to come and tow my brand new $55k car because I can't even get into it.

My Nissan Leaf has the same access panel, never had to use it and paid half of what I paid for the MME. However the first year leafs had issues too. Any first run EV needs time to bake. It’s nothing anyone should be surprised about. Yes we are paying good money but you can’t duplicate real word issues without many testers. I’m very confident Ford will address these and we all will be feeling good about our purchase later. The list is growing but so is the happy as a clam badge. Many new owners are loving and enjoying the MME.

 

[timbop]

And with a brand new 12V battery in there, this is surely a problem that's going to need servicing anyway. This can't be the "normal" condition, even in the very cold. Either the brand new battery is bad, or the car isn't charging it like it should. Either way, it's a warranty service trip.

Exactly. Either way Ford will make it right.

timbop,
I'm hoping they would promptly address/fix, but the M16 mindset that you referenced seems to be in play here ('We're not going to worry about that because it will never happen') - and that is very concerning.

Why would they not have an easy way to access and jump (even REPLACE) the 12V battery - just in case...
Batteries do fail/die - pretty routinely.

Again, we're not talking about a cheap thingy here. This is a major purchase for all and I don't want to be sitting in my driveway calling Ford to come and tow my brand new $55k car because I can't even get into it.

As @dbsb3233 said, either way Ford will fix the problem with the batteries dying so quickly. But long term I expect them to change the design, just like the M-16 was. Unfortunately for 2021's we'll just have to do the harder song and dance to get to the LVB in 4-6 years.

Although, some very expensive ICE cars have much harder to get to 12v batteries, spark plugs, etc. Some models of Durango require you to take the bumper off to replace light bulbs.

 

[timbop]

Remember all those winter-testing videos that Ford released? Hard to believe this never came up.

which is why I suspect a bad batch of LVBs or some other component that charges it, or even a firmware bug.

 

[tomterky]

What baffles me is that when it starts charging it says charging 12v battery and then goes to the main. And the entire time the car was plugged in to the charger. How and why did the 12v die....

 

[DaveRuns]

which is why I suspect a bad batch of LVBs or some other component that charges it, or even a firmware bug.

Hopefully it’s a software issue that can be updated OTA.

 

[JamieGeek]

What baffles me is that when it starts charging it says charging 12v battery and then goes to the main. And the entire time the car was plugged in to the charger. How and why did the 12v die....

Good question. I happen to have one of those 12V meters Tim posted about above and plugged it into my Mach-E:

• Start up Mach-E: 15V
• Steady state (I'm guessing after it determines that the 12V battery is full): 13.5V (float charge to keep the 12V battery full)
• Off: Off
• Plug in to charge: 15V
• Charging: 13.5V
• After charging complete: Off

 

[Stang68]

As someone who hasn't ordered just yet this is...troubling.
I hope it's just those "early bugs" for Ford and the Mach E and I hope everyone who has a problem gets it solved.

 

[Garbone]

Hope this is resolved and I do not need to have a Battery Tender like the one I have on the Harley I never ride.

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