Dangerous System Failure - locked up on highway!

[Pitts2112]

Last week my Mach E suffered a complete system failure, locking the brakes at 70 mph and coming to a complete stop on the main freeway in Boston. A whole series of error codes came up on the driver display, the car locked itself in park and the gear knob wouldn't turn. It didn't respond to turning the car on and off and the touch screen was unresponsive. The car had to be transported off the middle of the highway to my nearest dealer. Eventually, the gear knob unlocked and the car would drive in forward and reverse but there were still major faults which could not be resolved from the car's controls. I was very lucky that I wasn't being tailgated so no accident occurred but it could have been very dangerous.

The error codes included "Service AdvanceTrac", "SHIFT SYSTEM FAULT - Service Required", "Pre-Collision Assist not available".

The dealer had it for three days, claimed to have updated 6 software modules (I'm certain the car was up to date on all software updates), test drove it and discovered 2 needed further updating. After that and 100 miles of test driving they released the car to me. All seemed OK but, this morning, all of our personal settings had been erased.

Here is the dealer's service report. I don't know what any of this means and I'm not convinced the dealer's technician really does either.

The main screen still displays this error symbol but I can't find it in the owner's manual. Does anyone know what it means?

Edit 1: The braking was more of an aggressive application of the brakes, not a full lock skid. Certainly more aggressive than just regenerative braking itself.

Edit 2: The blue cirlce/"x" icon is explained further in the thread - it's just a new "close window" icon added with a recent update.

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[txaggies07]

Last week my Mach E suffered a complete system failure, locking the brakes at 70 mph and coming to a complete stop on the main freeway in Boston. A whole series of error codes came up on the driver display, the car locked itself in park and the gear knob wouldn't turn. It didn't respond to turning the car on and off and the touch screen was unresponsive. The car had to be transported off the middle of the highway to my nearest dealer. Eventually, the gear knob unlocked and the car would drive in forward and reverse but there were still major faults which could not be resolved from the car's controls. I was very lucky that I wasn't being tailgated so no accident occurred but it could have been very dangerous.

The error codes included "Service AdvanceTrac", "SHIFT SYSTEM FAULT - Service Required", "Pre-Collision Assist not available".

The dealer had it for three days, claimed to have updated 6 software modules (I'm certain the car was up to date on all software updates), test drove it and discovered 2 needed further updating. After that and 100 miles of test driving they released the car to me. All seemed OK but, this morning, all of our personal settings had been erased.

Here is the dealer's service report. I don't know what any of this means and I'm not convinced the dealer's technician really does either.

The main screen still displays this error symbol but I can't find it in the owner's manual. Does anyone know what it means?

The blue X is not an error. It is a visual indicator that shows up with 1.7.1 to show that pushing that button will take you back.

Outside of that, no help. Doesnt sound like the dealer addressed the root cause. Sometimes a simple flash can solve these if it was a software bug.

 

[generaltso]

The dealer had it for three days, claimed to have updated 6 software modules (I'm certain the car was up to date on all software updates),

I'm sorry this happened to you, I'm sure it was scary. What makes you certain that the car was up to date with all software? Updates for different modules are coming out constantly, so I would be very surprised if all of your modules really were up to date. Since you didn't have the (completely normal) X icon in the corner before, I think it's safe to say that at least your Sync system wasn't up to date.

 

[Pitts2112]

The blue X is not an error. It is a visual indicator that shows up with 1.7.1 to show that pushing that button will take you back.

Take back where? I'm not sure what you mean.

Edit 1: Disregard. I get it now. Thanks!

 

[Pitts2112]

I'm sorry this happened to you, I'm sure it was scary. What makes you certain that the car was up to date with all software? Updates for different modules are coming out constantly, so I would be very surprised if all of your modules really were up to date. Since you didn't have the (completely normal) X icon in the corner before, I think it's safe to say that at least your Sync system wasn't up to date.

Well, only because I hadn't seem much email traffic about recent updates and there was no message on my app about anything recently.

On that note, the Ford app showed the car was fine throughout all of this.

 

[breeves002]

Why are you certain that it was up to date before going to the dealer? PM me your VIN I want to look at the codes and updates available…

Keep in mind that just because it hasn’t come through over the air doesn’t mean updates aren’t available. Actually several MMEs have 13+ available updates that have not come through over the air.

 

[generaltso]

Well, only because I hadn't seem much email traffic about recent updates and there was no message on my app about anything recently.

Most module updates are not currently being delivered OTA, and unless there's a recall, you wouldn't get a notice about them.

 

[GadgetTech]

Take back where? I'm not sure what you mean.

It will take you back to the "Home Screen" where the Nav app and media apps live. You should only see the X when you in a settings menu area or another sub menu.

 

[Davedough]

Locked up on the freeway? That's absolutely frightening! I'm glad it didn't cause an accident, though I have nothing new to add that others haven't already said. wow

 

[WJKramer]

Why is the X so confusing for people?

 

[txaggies07]

Why is the X so confusing for people?

No idea, thought it was quite intuitive. Maybe he didn't see it appear.

For those that don't know....

Touch the picture of the car and it will take you to settings. When it does this the car changes orientation a bit and the x shows up. Then you push the logo of the car with the x to go back to main Home Screen. It is quite obvious I think if you are watching the animation to get there.

My guess is the OP was focused on other things and just saw the X at some point and wasn't sure why it was there. Coming off the major problems he had I can understand that. For a normal user who sits down and then pushes the button to get to settings they should see the animation and it should make sense.

 

[DevSecOps]

The PCM update and it's sub modules will reset various driver functions. That's expected, but I also wouldn't put it past the dealer to factory reset everything in an attempt to start fresh. I think there's maybe 5 people on this forum that have fully up to date MMEs and based on your service report there were updates.

Question about locking up the brakes however. I've always had concern about the MME having a drive failure and 1 pedal causing the vehicle to stop on a freeway without being given sufficient time to get to a shoulder. In testing I discovered shifting into N in an event like this disables the regen and would give sufficient time to coast to a shoulder. So my question is do you think is was regen or brakes that slowed you?

 

[SnBGC]

The PCM update and it's sub modules will reset various driver functions. That's expected, but I also wouldn't put it past the dealer to factory reset everything in an attempt to start fresh. I think there's maybe 5 people on this forum that have fully up to date MMEs and based on your service report there were updates.

Question about locking up the brakes however. I've always had concern about the MME having a drive failure and 1 pedal causing the vehicle to stop on a freeway without being given sufficient time to get to a shoulder. In testing I discovered shifting into N in an event like this disables the regen and would give sufficient time to coast to a shoulder. So my question is do you think is was regen or brakes that slowed you?

I had the same question but I presume since the OP said the brakes locked up then the wheels suddenly stopped turning and the vehicle went into a full skid to a stop. Very lucky the OP was able to maintain control of a 4 wheel skid at freeway speeds.

If that happened to me, I would make the dealer replace all 4 tires since they will have a major flat spot.

 

[skeighle]

I had the same question but I presume since the OP said the brakes locked up then the wheels suddenly stopped turning and the vehicle went into a full skid to a stop. Very lucky the OP was able to maintain control of a 4 wheel skid at freeway speeds.

If that happened to me, I would make the dealer replace all 4 tires since they will have a major flat spot.

If this happened to me it would be the last straw to sell. Too scary. I wonder if this is related to the shift knob update... others noted strange behavior around that update.

 

[DevSecOps]

I also wonder if the OP experienced forward collision emergency braking on error and hasn't previously experienced that. It will sometimes falsely trigger on semi truck shadows.

I wonder if this is related to the shift knob update... others noted strange behavior around that update.

That was my thread and many of us performed the update without issue. This was also just released on Saturday and the OP wouldn't have had that update installed. We have no documentation on what the GSM update does at this point.

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