Project Tow Hook ..... or mitigating a $28,000 worry

[scoopman]

It was a nice morning, and so the kids and I decided to implement Project Tow Hook, my solution to the problem caused by the various holes and lack of tow hook screw on the US-spec Mach-E. You've seen the rare horror stories of unfortunate owners who have called Ford for a tow, and have been left with a ruined battery pack and a $28,000 bill that various parties will argue over covering.

Now I know you folks could be saying that I'm over-thinking and over-worrying, or "who ever needs a tow?" That's cool, you don't need to do this to your Mach-E if you believe that. However, I would be kicking myself if I was left with a $28,000 bill and a dead car for months while on the middle of a road trip and I hadn't tried some simple things to prevent something I knew could happen.

I think I've mitigated this risk (even if I'm not around to ensure the tow truck operator makes the right connection) by the following super-high-tech simple mods.

Materials Needed:

• 2 x PVC Laminated Sticker Red Tow Arrow B 72 stickers $10.99
• Gorilla All Weather Outdoor Waterproof Duct Tape $6.07

Optional:

• One 7-year old interested in cars (not for sale)

We did the following:

1. If you send your 7-year old poking under the car on the sides (or you can stick your head under yourself....) you'll notice 7 holes in "rails" on the sides of the battery pack. These rails and the holes in them are there to provide a deformable crash structure that will weaken and absorb energy instead of crash forces transferring to the battery pack. These are the holes that are not made to hold the force needed to winch your car. We cut pieces of the Gorilla tape and covered each hole up. This tape is really sticky and I'm pretty confident it should hold up well enough to prevent the holes from being seen as a tempting tow point.

2. We took the awesome TOW stickers and put them under the front of the car just forward of the 2 winch points that Ford intends tow operators to use, and which might be less apparent if you're looking under the car. They are a bit "recessed" up from the plastic undertray in the front of the car.​

I feel these simple changes, which took us 15 minutes including talking about tow trucks with my kids (always a crowd pleaser!) will make it really obvious to anyone where they should winch.

I hope this will never have to be tested with Mach N Cheese!

 

[RickMachE]

This may work in the Bay State area, but in snow country none of that will hold up.

Also, for those of us that are retired / empty nesters, we aren't interested in buying the 7 year old... ? #GrandparentsGetToGiveThemBackWhenTheFunIsOver

 

[JohnnyForensic]

It was a nice morning, and so the kids and I decided to implement Project Tow Hook, my solution to the problem caused by the various holes and lack of tow hook screw on the US-spec Mach-E. You've seen the rare horror stories of unfortunate owners who have called Ford for a tow, and have been left with a ruined battery pack and a $28,000 bill that various parties will argue over covering.

Now I know you folks could be saying that I'm over-thinking and over-worrying, or "who ever needs a tow?" That's cool, you don't need to do this to your Mach-E if you believe that. However, I would be kicking myself if I was left with a $28,000 bill and a dead car for months while on the middle of a road trip and I hadn't tried some simple things to prevent something I knew could happen.

I think I've mitigated this risk (even if I'm not around to ensure the tow truck operator makes the right connection) by the following super-high-tech simple mods.

Materials Needed:

• 2 x PVC Laminated Sticker Red Tow Arrow B 72 stickers $10.99
• Gorilla All Weather Outdoor Waterproof Duct Tape $6.07

Optional:

• One 7-year old interested in cars (not for sale)

We did the following:

1. If you send your 7-year old poking under the car on the sides (or you can stick your head under yourself....) you'll notice 7 holes in "rails" on the sides of the battery pack. These rails and the holes in them are there to provide a deformable crash structure that will weaken and absorb energy instead of crash forces transferring to the battery pack. These are the holes that are not made to hold the force needed to winch your car. We cut pieces of the Gorilla tape and covered each hole up. This tape is really sticky and I'm pretty confident it should hold up well enough to prevent the holes from being seen as a tempting tow point.

2. We took the awesome TOW stickers and put them under the front of the car just forward of the 2 winch points that Ford intends tow operators to use, and which might be less apparent if you're looking under the car. They are a bit "recessed" up from the plastic undertray in the front of the car.​

I feel these simple changes, which took us 15 minutes including talking about tow trucks with my kids (always a crowd pleaser!) will make it really obvious to anyone where they should winch.

I hope this will never have to be tested with Mach N Cheese!

I'm in for a set of the TOW stickers. Only 6 (now 5) left at Amazon when I purchased a minute ago. $10 to potentially save $28,000 is better than the extended warranty return rate I paid for, so this is a no-brainer.

 

[Jimrpa]

Sheer genius ?

 

[DevSecOps]

I also grabbed a couple of these while I was ordering the tow arrow:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JETXS5M?psc=1&smid=AYMFFYIXFBU6Y&ref_=chk_typ_imgToDp

Since I routinely swap summer and winter tires at Les Schwab (it's a tire place) I want to make sure they don't lift in the wrong spot and damage anything. Haven't heard of that happening yet, but I'd prefer to error on the safe side.

Only thing I'm missing is the optional kid to crawl under there and Amazon was sold out ?‍

 

[Jbkimmel]

What a fun project, and hey, nobody cut off a finger! ? I also already have a laminated copy of the @Mach-Lee towing guide in my glovebox.

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/mach-e-winch-recovery-tow-points.13553/page-3#post-329022

Of course, I had to have my MME winched onto a flatbed after 1 week of ownership and before I even knew the battery rails could be wrecked. Now THAT would have been a huge bummer…

 

[Jbkimmel]

I also grabbed a couple of these while I was ordering the tow arrow:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JETXS5M?psc=1&smid=AYMFFYIXFBU6Y&ref_=chk_typ_imgToDp

Since I routinely swap summer and winter tires at Les Schwab (it's a tire place) I want to make sure they don't lift in the wrong spot and damage anything. Haven't heard of that happening yet, but I'd prefer to error on the safe side.

Good idea. I’m addition to those, I think I’m going to plaster these all over mine…

 

[Jbkimmel]

I'm in for a set of the TOW stickers. Only 6 (now 5) left at Amazon when I purchased a minute ago. $10 to potentially save $28,000 is better than the extended warranty return rate I paid for, so this is a no-brainer.

The computers running the purchase algorithms at Amazon will surely flag this sudden run on TOW and LIFT HERE stickers….

 

[KevinS]

The computers running the purchase algorithms at Amazon will surely flag this sudden run on TOW and LIFT HERE stickers….

Naw, it'll now just show me every tow sticker on Amazon for the next 3 months in case I want to buy more.

 

[ReelSweet]

This may work in the Bay State, but in snow country none of that will hold up.

Also, for those of us that are retired / empty nesters, we aren't interested in buying the 7 year old... ? #GrandparentsGetToGiveThemBackWhenTheFunIsOver

Ahhh..the Bay State is actually Massachusetts ...just as much wintery fun as you get.

Retired, I thought you were a full time MME forum poster ?

 

[veronicablack]

I also grabbed a couple of these while I was ordering the tow arrow:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JETXS5M?psc=1&smid=AYMFFYIXFBU6Y&ref_=chk_typ_imgToDp

Since I routinely swap summer and winter tires at Les Schwab (it's a tire place) I want to make sure they don't lift in the wrong spot and damage anything. Haven't heard of that happening yet, but I'd prefer to error on the safe side.

Only thing I'm missing is the optional kid to crawl under there and Amazon was sold out ?‍

This has been something I've been considering doing too but I also have this irrational fear that I'll put the sticker on in the wrong place and then not only will my car get f'ed up, but it'll be my fault.

 

[Stang68]

I will have to point this out to whomever from Vroom picks up my Mach E Premium next week now that I have a GT. I assume they’ll be flatbedding it, so that diagram posted here last week will come in handy.

 

[generaltso]

I will have to point this out to whomever from Vroom picks up my Mach E Premium next week now that I have a GT. I assume they’ll be flatbedding it, so that diagram posted here last week will come in handy.

The cars that Vroom picked up from me were just driven onto the trailers.

 

[Stang68]

The cars that Vroom picked up from me were just driven onto the trailers.

Phew, very happy to hear that.

 

[scoopman]

If they do need to winch it, remember you also have to first put it in "Tow Mode" to unlock the wheels which you get to from Settings > General with the car in ACC mode.

Sponsored