Stranded in Wisconsin: Mach E road trip fail

[BadgerGreg]

Just curious, did you plug your car into a dryer outlet and what was the breaker amperage? Also, when you plugged it back in on the first charge fault, I assume the blue ring segments never showed up?

It was just a 120V outlet. When I plugged back in, the blue segments showed up for a couple of seconds and then turned red. I tried it a few times with the same outcome.

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[BadgerGreg]

Welcome to the "stop safely now" club. Mine is only 3 months old and I've been without my Mach-E for most of the month because parts are on back order. It's just been sitting at the dealer collecting snow. I'm told that I can expect the needed parts to arrive sometime next month.

Did you get any special dispensation in terms of a long term rental or loaner car? I’m worried that I’ll be stuck with a rental for a few weeks at least, and $30/day doesn’t come anywhere close to covering rental costs. I initially thought this was a low percentage problem, but seeing all the posts about it (and it happening to me), this seems to be a bigger issue than I had originally assumed.

 

[JSeis]

It was just a 120V outlet. When I plugged back in, the blue segments showed up for a couple of seconds and then turned red. I tried it a few times with the same outcome.

When my 240v 30 amp breaker tripped (cause the Ford charger draws 32 amps) the rings glowed orange. I swapped it for the 40 amp breaker and that issue went away.

One other question: When you hooked up to 120 V, do you recall the % level of the Mach E’s battery? I’ve never charged with 120V and I was curious if 120V in really cold weather has any issues.

 

[AllenXS]

I used 120v for eight months with no issues other than speed.

 

[BadgerGreg]

One other question: When you hooked up to 120 V, do you recall the % level of the Mach E’s battery? I’ve never charged with 120V and I was curious if 120V in really cold weather has any issues.

I had the MME plugged in to the same wall outlet from Friday afternoon (when I was at 7% SOC) through Saturday afternoon, with a few errands in between (and some Level 2 opportunity charging while out and about). I had basically kept the battery warm through constant driving and charging, bouncing between 20% and 35% SOC through Saturday afternoon. The charging fault and Stop Safely Now error happened after dinner on Saturday. No good reason for the timing; temp wasn’t very low and the car had been on a 4.5 kW Level 2 charger while at dinner.

 

[Electric Goat]

Did you get any special dispensation in terms of a long term rental or loaner car? I’m worried that I’ll be stuck with a rental for a few weeks at least, and $30/day doesn’t come anywhere close to covering rental costs. I initially thought this was a low percentage problem, but seeing all the posts about it (and it happening to me), this seems to be a bigger issue than I had originally assumed.

Fortunately, yes. I was able to secure a long term loaner simply out of sheer luck. Someone happened to be returning their loaner at the same moment that my Mach-E arrived at the dealer.

 

[Electric Goat]

Don't forget the BECM. I'm very dismayed that this seems to be happening a great deal with Job 1 vehicles (including mine). I hope everyone who gets this work done has their repair hold.

This is affecting Job 1 and Job 2. There have been quite a few GTs and GTPEs. I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up hitting some early 2022 builds also.

 

[BigMach-E]

This issue is not limited to Job 1 vehicles.

Wasn't suggesting it was. It just seems to be plaguing Job 1, because they are coming up on similar milage range. Could be happening to all Mach-Es, when they get to a certain milage. Only time will tell.

 

[clhardy5]

Welcome to the "stop safely now" club. Mine is only 3 months old and I've been without my Mach-E for most of the month because parts are on back order. It's just been sitting at the dealer collecting snow. I'm told that I can expect the needed parts to arrive sometime next month.

Is Ford making your car payment? Mine was out of commission for 6 weeks (bad drive motor)- I contacted the Ford rep here....and they turned me over to a customer support specialist. I just received a car payment - complements of Ford.

 

[Electric Goat]

Is Ford making your car payment? Mine was out of commission for 6 weeks (bad drive motor)- I contacted the Ford rep here....and they turned me over to a customer support specialist. I just received a car payment - complements of Ford.

Not at the moment but I'm definitely looking into it! ?

 

[bellyer]

As someone who drives up into rural Wisconsin, well north of any Ford dealers that could provide much help with the Mach-E, and as someone whose MME is starting to get up there in mileage (nearing 13,000), I do get worried that this is going to happen to me and my family when we are kind of in the middle of nowhere. @BadgerGreg , out of curiosity, is your MME up to date on all available updates, including 21P22? I am crossing my fingers that there has maybe been an update along the way that may help to prevent this kind of issue. I am really sorry that this happened to you. It seems like a truly stressful experience and a major inconvenience.

 

[BadgerGreg]

As someone who drives up into rural Wisconsin, well north of any Ford dealers that could provide much help with the Mach-E, and as someone whose MME is starting to get up there in mileage (nearing 13,000), I do get worried that this is going to happen to me and my family when we are kind of in the middle of nowhere. @BadgerGreg , out of curiosity, is your MME up to date on all available updates, including 21P22? I am crossing my fingers that there has maybe been an update along the way that may help to prevent this kind of issue. I am really sorry that this happened to you. It seems like a truly stressful experience and a major inconvenience.

Yes, I got the 21P22 in December, and the latest OTA a week or two ago. I'm about as current as you can get on software. I have a relatively early build (VIN = 21XXX), but not extraordinarily early. My vehicle is not in the grouping of early cars that had the 12V battery issue. Based on what I've read, my guess is that it might be the High Voltage Junction Box and/or the Battery Energy Control Module. These appear to be failing on quite a few cars, regardless of build date. Let's hope they've resolved the design issues related to this part, because these are parts that simply should not fail.

 

[cjrodriguez31]

I took my kids to Madison Wisconsin (from metro Detroit) on a weekend trip to see family. The trip out on Friday was fantastic; easy charging and enjoyable trip. Efficiency was manageable and the EA charging stations were reliable and fast.

I kept the car plugged in at my sister's home on Level 1 charging. Temps were ranging from the mid teens to mid 30s (cold, but not absurdly cold). On Saturday night, got a charge fault error while at 33% SOC. Went to try unplugging and plugging in again, and had a red ring at the charge port indicator. Got in the car and started it up. The "Stop Safely Now" message popped up and the car wouldn't engage (I couldn't get it out of Park). I went to bed hoping that the car would reset itself overnight.

I got in the car this morning and the same problem persisted. I was supposed to drive back to Michigan today, so instead I'm having the car towed to a local (Madison, WI) dealership, spending $600 to rent a car to get back to Michigan (lowest available rental cost), and wondering how long it will take to get it back. Hopefully, Ford will have the decency to transport my car back to Michigan when the service is completed, because I don't want to spend the time and money to get back to Madison to pick it up.

@Ford Motor Company - I've been a cheerleader for this car for my first 20,000 miles, but it's hard to be a cheerleader today. Very disappointed for a car that is not yet one year old.

Unfortunately buckle up.
My car had the same issue and has been waiting for the replacement part since February 2nd with no ETA. Seems like its going to be a recall because everyday this happens to someone. Best of luck to you.

 

[thefallenbeloved]

Welcome to the "stop safely now" club. Mine is only 3 months old and I've been without my Mach-E for most of the month because parts are on back order. It's just been sitting at the dealer collecting snow. I'm told that I can expect the needed parts to arrive sometime next month.

do we have an official support group for this? I just joined last friday when mine went Stop Safely now. Yes dealership says HVJB or BCM is the problem.

 

[Dhruval Shah]

do we have an official support group for this? I just joined last friday when mine went Stop Safely now. Yes dealership says HVJB or BCM is the problem.

Mine is at the dealership and its been more than a month. Waiting for HVJB and BECM replacement which seems to be working for other people so far.

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