Mach-E stranded on a 3,000+ mile road trip due to faulty HV battery module. Full battery swap required.

[barryvo]

We have a MME on order but plan on using it strictly as a commuter car for the first year or two. Maybe a few quick trips where the down and back van be done on the same charge. I just read it has problems going downhill so we will try to stay away from elevation changes.

I expect Ford will continue improving the MME but it could be 3 to 5 years to work the kinks out. I think it is a great commuter or second car for the time being.

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[Scrannel]

Guaranteed Ford is taking these issues very, very seriously. We live in a bubble in the US, but the electric car "issue" is a very serious component in every can company's survival. This is an example of what's going on in the rest of planet earth.

https://reut.rs/3zgKg0M

 

[AZBill]

It looks likes folks need to be careful in temps over 110 f and long drives with mountains for now. Just avoid that drive profile for now folks. Just my thoughts...

Same thing happened with the Etron where certain drive combinations caused problems, esp with the front motors. And my Volt also had issues with temperatures knocking out battery modules and relays. It all got fixed but took a while. My I3 would throw error codes in high humidity!

I live in Phoenix and have a 2017 Bolt. Never had an issue with high temps at all. About a year ago I was getting Unable to Charge warnings intermittently. Turned out the 12V battery (AGM) needed replacing. Those 12V batteries also tend to last only 3 years on ICE vehicles as well in the heat.

 

[phil]

We have a MME on order but plan on using it strictly as a commuter car for the first year or two. Maybe a few quick trips where the down and back van be done on the same charge. I just read it has problems going downhill so we will try to stay away from elevation changes.

I expect Ford will continue improving the MME but it could be 3 to 5 years to work the kinks out. I think it is a great commuter or second car for the time being.

Same. I'll keep mine close to home for the first 10 or 20 years.

EVs are great city cars. Taking them long distance is just asking for trouble.

 

[JoeDimwit]

Im beginning to feel like Ford is going to need to set up some sort of level 2 EV service centers on a regional basis. Where your primary contact is still your local dealership service department, but once a threshold is met, it triggers your car being shipped to the level 2 shop where all they do is work on EV’s. This would lead (theoretically) to technicians having greater levels of experience and knowledge, thereby reducing repair times.

It would also save Ford on sending engineers to every small town dealership to deal with high level issues. They could more easily send engineering teams to these hub centers and have the problems come to them in one spot.

I know that sounds more than a little bit like the [competitor name redacted] way of doing things, but I think that especially right now, local dealerships feel overwhelmed with the need to learn about a completely different powertrain architecture. Especially one that is unlikely to supply them with a steady stream of income the way ICE does.

 

[snikt]

Same. I'll keep mine close to home for the first 10 or 20 years.

EVs are great city cars. Taking them long distance is just asking for trouble.

I think that's a big dramatic? Seriously, close to home for 10-20 years?

They were city cars maybe in the last decade mostly but not anymore

 

[Scarpia]

I think that's a big dramatic? Seriously, close to home for 10-20 years?

They were city cars maybe in the last decade mostly but not anymore

With the millions of EVs out there, performing daily without problems, it's easy to overreact to reports like this. Unfortunate to be sure, but in the grand scheme, a pretty tiny percentage.

 

[snikt]

With the millions of EVs out there, performing daily without problems, it's easy to overreact to reports like this. Unfortunate to be sure, but in the grand scheme, a pretty tiny percentage.

Yeah, you're going to see more issues on a car forum for sure. I think the MME does seem to have some issues, but that's to be expected with the first year of a vehicle and such a new product also.

Hopefully Ford can figure all this out and fix with software, the more EVs that are successful are better for everyone.

 

[Accord07]

For sure. At the end of the day there's an 8 year, 100k mile warranty on the battery. The issues will be resolved. But no one wants to have to deal with this scenario or the paranoia of this happening to them.

There is always the risk of running into this kind of situation, plus the aggravation of supply chain constraints: warranty coverage is great, when it doesn't take months to get the spare parts. I certainly hope availability of parts will improve substantially.

 

[phil]

I think that's a big dramatic? Seriously, close to home for 10-20 years?

They were city cars maybe in the last decade mostly but not anymore

Electric for local, gas for distance. No drama.

 

[Accord07]

Same. I'll keep mine close to home for the first 10 or 20 years.

EVs are great city cars. Taking them long distance is just asking for trouble.

That sounds extreme, I think you are reading too much into problems in a first model year build of a brand new platform. I do hope, however, that Ford will improve the lead time on parts availability substantially. Among all the vehicles I have driven, only one left me stranded over the years, for just one night.

 

[theo1000]

Electric for local, gas for distance. No drama.

To be clear these issues are only being reported in the Western Mountains.

East of the Rockies there don't seem to be any systematic issues. I just did a 600 mile run though the hills of Missouri in about 95f for 4 days with zero issues. High temps and 30 minute downhills seem to do it.

I certainly plan to continue driving long distances. 2 day trips to Las Vegas however are out for now ....

 

[dtbaker61]

TLDR: Stranded on a 3000 mile road trip less than 290 miles from home, Ford isn't very helpful in reimbursing or prioritizing broken down/stranded service appointments. Root cause is faulty HV battery module that requires a full battery swap and timeframe is unknown.

entertaining write-up; but a disturbing topic...

I'm really wondering how a 'module failure' occurred... presumably in a place that *should* have been temperature controlled. If it was temperature related we may see a pattern of failure in super hot places like AZ ?

This is sort of like the 'console going black' problem that was temp related. The chips inside apparently are 'supposed to' handle up to about 160 deg F, but some don't. This happened with my MME when I parked facing south and the back of the console got up to 150 deg or so, and Ford replaced the center console and the problem has not recurred.

I'm even more concerned that a module failure requires replacing the whole HV pack... and not just a reset of some sensor buried inside to get you back on the road.

If it is NOT temperature related, it may be a bad batch of modules/chips I guess, which would almost be better since they could schedule swaps of chips and not entire HV battery packs, unless they are buried so deeply inside the HV pack they have to remove/replace to get to them.

My takeaway on this is that after a long hot drive, it might be best to leave the MME 'on' until the heat pumps stop running... indicating the battery pack internal temp is down to the point it won't cook the modules. Sure would be nice if the instrument panel displayed some more actual info interactively like motor temp, battery temp, and actual kW in/out.

It is sounding like there are a couple parts that Ford might consider sending to Dealership Service departments proactively: center consoles, and HV battery packs

Having at least one of each on hand would be an excellent service strategy, and a pretty cool thing to have on showroom display! Maybe save floor space and have a vertical rack against a wall ....

 

[FPLiptak]

Electric for local, gas for distance. No drama.

Electric for Local, Hybrid/PHEV for distance. I have been doing that for the last 3 years when I bought my Bolt.

 

[snikt]

entertaining write-up; but a disturbing topic...

My takeaway on this is that after a long hot drive, it might be best to leave the MME 'on' until the heat pumps stop running... indicating the battery pack internal temp is down to the point it won't cook the modules. Sure would be nice if the instrument panel displayed some more actual info interactively like motor temp, battery temp, and actual kW in/out.

Doesn't it do that automatically? With my M3 when I park in the garage or something I can hear it "doing stuff", I assume it's some coolant pump running to bring things down to temperature. Sometimes even 10-20+ minutes after I've parked

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