Stuck in a railyard

[norwin37]

I'm hoping for some advice. My 2021 Mach E is sitting in my local railyard with a dead 12v battery. The railyard can't get it loaded on a carrier to the dealer so it's just sitting. My dealership has been in contact with them somewhat regularly and they apparently have a service call out for it but no movement. I've called Ford Customer Service and Ford Marketing to see if we can get some help getting it done but their tracking system shows that it was delivered to the dealership on April 5 so they refuse to do anything because the system couldn't possibly be wrong, it must be at the dealer. This seems like such an infuriatingly simple problem but I can't seem to get any traction on solving it. Any one have any suggestions?

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[agoldman]

geeze these 12V battery failures are happening way too often... Sorry to hear that it got you too.

 

[HuntingPudel]

Yeah, I remember there was a rash of cars in rail yards with discharged 12V batteries last year when my car was in production. Sucks if it’s happening again. ?

 

[newmme]

Tweet at Daren Palmer. He is the one that said MME will not have 12 volt battery issues ?. Kind of ironic. Sorry you are dealing with this!

His quote "the days of surprise flat 12 volt batteries are consigned to history"

 

[HuntingPudel]

Heh, the 12V battery that was chosen for the MME has been demonstrated to be insufficient based on the number of cars that were stuck in rail yards last year. There was a software fix that was supposed to address the deep sleep non-charging issue. It seemed that the spate of 12V battery discharges subsided. Bue now we are hearing about it again. ??

 

[norwin37]

To be fair, it's an old car. Probably manufactured before they fixed any of the software. Shockingly, I don't feel any better about it but, there it is.

 

[HuntingPudel]

To be fair, it's an old car. Probably manufactured before they fixed any of the software. Shockingly, I don't feel any better about it but, there it is.

Ah, I should read and comprehend. I missed that it was a 2021. I would still be in the same boat as you in not feeling good bout it. You would think that the rail yard would let your dealer come and charge the 12V just so the car would not be taking up their valuable space any more. ?‍??

 

[EELinneman]

I'm hoping for some advice. My 2021 Mach E is sitting in my local railyard with a dead 12v battery. The railyard can't get it loaded on a carrier to the dealer so it's just sitting. My dealership has been in contact with them somewhat regularly and they apparently have a service call out for it but no movement. I've called Ford Customer Service and Ford Marketing to see if we can get some help getting it done but their tracking system shows that it was delivered to the dealership on April 5 so they refuse to do anything because the system couldn't possibly be wrong, it must be at the dealer. This seems like such an infuriatingly simple problem but I can't seem to get any traction on solving it. Any one have any suggestions?

I went through the exact sequence that you are facing. Lean very heavy on your dealer and offer to escalate to Ford. In my case it took a week to get resolved. My dealer replaced the 12v battery if this is is of any help to you. The tow truck operators may or may not be able to use the port in the bumper to open the frunk. For mine, they just put it on a flatbed and shipped it to the dealer.

 

[RickMachE]

This is insane. @Ford Motor Company should be able to get the location verified, then get a tow truck there to charge the battery and get it running so it can be driven to the dealership and get a new battery.

 

[EELinneman]

Heh, the 12V battery that was chosen for the MME has been demonstrated to be insufficient based on the number of cars that were stuck in rail yards last year. There was a software fix that was supposed to address the deep sleep non-charging issue. It seemed that the spate of 12V battery discharges subsided. Bue now we are hearing about it again. ??

Steve,

I suspect that the combination of 6 to 8 weeks sunning themselves in Mexico while waiting on chips, the choo choo ride and sitting in a train yard is bad juju for these undersized batteries. Tesla has switched to lithium 12v batteries and I remember reading elsewhere that VW I could be wrong on this) is doing that too. With that said, you are spot on that this is happening way too often for Ford to ignore.

 

[dtbaker61]

To be fair, it's an old car. Probably manufactured before they fixed any of the software. Shockingly, I don't feel any better about it but, there it is.

- pop frunk via front bumper access jumpers if 12v is too dead to open cabin
- pull back and driver's side 'beauty cover' to access 12v 'connection points'
- slap a charger on the connection points, set to AGM, and give it time to charge up 12v

...should be good to go for enough to get it to a Dealership for software updates.

 

[HuntingPudel]

- pop frunk via front bumper access jumpers if 12v is too dead to open cabin
- pull back and driver's side 'beauty cover' to access 12v 'connection points'
- slap a charger on the connection points, set to AGM, and give it time to charge up 12v

...should be good to go for enough to get it to a Dealership for software updates.

Heh, I can see the dealer’s tech out there with a genny and a battery charger. ??

 

[norwin37]

- pop frunk via front bumper access jumpers if 12v is too dead to open cabin
- pull back and driver's side 'beauty cover' to access 12v 'connection points'
- slap a charger on the connection points, set to AGM, and give it time to charge up 12v

...should be good to go for enough to get it to a Dealership for software updates.

If it wasn't in a locked railyard, that would be so easy.

Heh, I can see the dealer’s tech out there with a genny and a battery charger. ??

It really seems like they should be able to do that. Hell, I'll do it. I'd be happy to. I'll take time off work for it!

 

[moparguy]

Tweet at Daren Palmer. He is the one that said MME will not have 12 volt battery issues ?. Kind of ironic. Sorry you are dealing with this!

His quote "the days of surprise flat 12 volt batteries are consigned to history"

Who the hell carrys 12V battery on his ice car!
This guy is a total bs.

 

[HuntingPudel]

Who the hell carrys 12V battery on his ice car!
This guy is a total bs.

Lots of people carry a 12V “jump box.” ??

Darren Palmer is in charge of the Mach-E program, so… ?‍??

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