How to enter if battery is dead

[macgyver60]

So I was watching the Ford video explaining the e-latch system and only now realized that if the battery is dead you can’t get into this car. I don’t anticipate that happening but there could be emergency situations where that is a danger. It looks like the only solution is to use the emergency port on the front of the car to attach jumper cables and then pop the frunk and charge the battery through connections in there with the jumper cables. Is that a different battery than the main battery? And doesn’t it seem like a poor choice to not have a non electrical option like the hidden physicial key most cars have these days

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[TheVirtualTim]

There are lots of redundancies to keep this from ever happening. Unfortunately there was one bug that prevented the 12v battery from recharging if the car was left plugged in ... but that has long since been fixed.

These days the 12v battery is maintained correctly whether the car is plugged in or not. When it is plugged in, it maintains the 12v battery via the charger. When it is not plugged in it will maintain the 12v battery using using the high-voltage battery.

So really the only way to kill the 12v battery is for the high-voltage battery to be completely drained *and* not plugged in to a charger ... and it would still take several days left in that state before the 12v gets low enough.

There was a bit of a scare because the cars with the software bug were having 12v battery eventually dying and that left us wondering how to get into our cars. But with that software bug fixed ... it is highly unlikely to ever be an issue again.

 

[BMT1071]

So I was watching the Ford video explaining the e-latch system and only now realized that if the battery is dead you can’t get into this car. I don’t anticipate that happening but there could be emergency situations where that is a danger. It looks like the only solution is to use the emergency port on the front of the car to attach jumper cables and then pop the frunk and charge the battery through connections in there with the jumper cables. Is that a different battery than the main battery? And doesn’t it seem like a poor choice to not have a non electrical option like the hidden physicial key most cars have these days

There have been posts here indicating that the front door latches have super capacitors to allow for entry if the LVB is low/dead.

 

[macgyver60]

There are lots of redundancies to keep this from ever happening. Unfortunately there was one bug that prevented the 12v battery from recharging if the car was left plugged in ... but that has long since been fixed.

These days the 12v battery is maintained correctly whether the car is plugged in or not. When it is plugged in, it maintains the 12v battery via the charger. When it is not plugged in it will maintain the 12v battery using using the high-voltage battery.

So really the only way to kill the 12v battery is for the high-voltage battery to be completely drained *and* not plugged in to a charger ... and it would still take several days left in that state before the 12v gets low enough.

There was a bit of a scare because the cars with the software bug were having 12v battery eventually dying and that left us wondering how to get into our cars. But with that software bug fixed ... it is highly unlikely to ever be an issue again.

Thanks for the explanation. The fact that there is a separate 12v battery powering the locks obviously reduces the risk greatly. That wasn’t explained in the brief video bit I had a feeling it might be the case since it made no sense to try and charge the main battery with jumper cables connected to another car.

 

[timbop]

yes to all of that. The car has a 12 volt batter to power the electronics, lights, cumputers, and accessories. The high voltage battery drives the motor and keeps the 12 volt battery charged. OK, there was an early bug wherein the 12 volt batter wasn't being charged - it got fixed in late february.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

There are a few very old threads if you want to read through the angst and solutions.

 

[Jimrpa]

I’m pretty sure the manual has a recommendation for a rock, although I suspect a brick will also work, if a rock is unavailable ?

 

[Jimrpa]

yes to all of that. The car has a 12 volt batter to power the electronics, lights, cumputers, and accessories. The high voltage battery drives the motor and keeps the 12 volt battery charged. OK, there was an early bug wherein the 12 volt batter wasn't being charged - it got fixed in late february.

How do we know if it was fixed? I never got a recall notice?

 

[TheVirtualTim]

How do we know if it was fixed? I never got a recall notice?

Did your car get an Over the Air update? It may have been included.

 

[Jimrpa]

Did your car get an Over the Air update? It may have been included.

Lol, apparently you don’t spend much time here ? if I whine about OTA any more, I’ll probably be permanently banned ???

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