Safety Recall 22S41 - 2021-2022 Mach E - HVBJB Recall [high voltage battery main contactors may overheat]

[agoldman]

I thought it was only 50k cars. Most cars have been sold in the last year so yes I do expect more failures to happen.

I guess the problem may also be cumulative depending on wear of the contacts.

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[Secret Sauce]

I thought it was only 50k cars. Most cars have been sold in the last year so yes I do expect more failures to happen.

Good point, so it's arguably 0.6% for that population of cars, but we don't know why the other 50k cars don't have the issue. It's impossible for less failures to happen. The best Ford can work towards is not more.

 

[breeves002]

Sure you can. It was a recall for safety, and the failure was rare, and in the case of the Bolt battery, the issue was far more rare. But that didn't change the solution, because they had to fix it in any event. Also, it seems the HV failure on the MME occurs in driving conditions, so that sounds potentially serious to me. Still I understand the statistical likelihood of either. I don't wear an asteroid helmet when I go out so it wouldn't worry me.

I haven't heard of a single failure here in driving conditions, but I think they're saying that in case it does happen to someone. That would be more serious but you don't lose power brakes or power steering - just propulsion. Better than an ICE vehicles engine blowing up with hydraulic power steering and vacuum brake boosters...

Either way Fire = BAD. Coasting to the shoulder = annoying and slightly dangerous but not fire catastrophic.

I think we're on the same page really just slightly different mindset.

 

[kltye]

I haven't heard of a single failure here in driving conditions, but I think they're saying that in case it does happen to someone. That would be more serious but you don't lose power brakes or power steering - just propulsion. Better than an ICE vehicles engine blowing up with hydraulic power steering and vacuum brake boosters...

Either way Fire = BAD. Coasting to the shoulder = annoying and slightly dangerous but not fire catastrophic.

I think we're on the same page really just slightly different mindset.

I think there was a post on this forum with someone losing power on the highway. The failure includes contactors failing in an open condition as well. But either way, I think the Bolt issue is way more serious because lithium fires in a garage are very, very bad. (And this is coming from a person who's disappointed with the software-only fix for many reasons)

 

[generaltso]

we don't know why the other 50k cars don't have the issue.

People keep saying this. Nobody ever said the other 50k cars don't have the issue. They're not included in this NHTSA recall because they were sold outside of the USA and are therefore outside the scope of the NHTSA.

 

[sotek2345]

I also do not think the power reduction can be that great or it will cause other dangerous conditions. I once pulled out to past a transport in an old truck. Pulled out and hit the passing gear, half way by the transmission let go and started to spin, no power, brake and the transport brakes at the same time. Stuck out in the oncoming lane. I found out it is possible if everyone stays cool to have a transport beside you, one pass you on coming and you in a pickup sandwiched in the middle all on a 2way highway. All that is required is to clean your pants after it happens. Long story however if you pull out to pass and half way thru that pass you lose a great amount of power that is dangerous and can not be a solution in my opinion.

Well - one way to avoid that safety issue is to just reduce the power all the time so there is no chance of a power reduction while passing. By law you can't exceed the speed limit while passing anyways, so as long as you have enough power to get up to the speed limit, eventually, than no issue right......

 

[Secret Sauce]

People keep saying this. Nobody ever said the other 50k cars don't have the issue. They're not included in this NHTSA recall because they were sold outside of the USA and are therefore outside the scope of the NHTSA.

A fair point. We'll just have to wait and see if those cars are recalled by the safety authorities in other countries, or if Ford simply applies the update to them without a recall. Unlikely they will be allowed to do nothing with them or would do nothing even if they could get away with it.

 

[agoldman]

I haven't heard of a single failure here in driving conditions

There was at least one posted here a few weeks ago.

 

[kennethjk]

I haven't heard of a single failure here in driving conditions, but I think they're saying that in case it does happen to someone. That would be more serious but you don't lose power brakes or power steering - just propulsion. Better than an ICE vehicles engine blowing up with hydraulic power steering and vacuum brake boosters...

Either way Fire = BAD. Coasting to the shoulder = annoying and slightly dangerous but not fire catastrophic.

I think we're on the same page really just slightly different mindset.

Even if there were none on the highway, charging up at a Fast charger 2 am in the morning and then finding out your car is dead, isn’t pleasant and could be dangerous .

 

[Shayne]

You can't quite compare the two like that though in my opinion. Risk of fire and hundreds of thousands in property damage and potential loss of life is a lot more of a big deal. You have to prevent that at ALL costs because the liability is insane. Versus a car breaks in someones driveway or in the Walmart parking lot in a way that just renders it non-drivable isn't that big of a deal.

So why do you speculate this recall is a safety issue. If the contactor fries and it coast to a slow controlled stop I see no safety issue. We all agree to put up with the chance a tire blows. Something needs to happen when it happens "driving" that I am not aware of. Majority of cases I read here are while parked and no fire hazarded to date so not a safety issue just a PITA. I read no power steering but not that the brakes/steering locks up or anything of that nature?

No hard accelerations involved in this. But it was near 100F outside.
We had made our way from Yuma to El Centro, cruising at the speed limit 70MPH.
Pulled into Electrify America change station to top it off on our way home to San Diego (120 miles to go).
We got a charge fault while charging (less than a minute in). Got into the car to move it to a different charger, saw the issue on the screen, and was unable to take it out of Park, or turn it off.
Then it hit me, we were stranded.

Not exactly the same but sitting in someone's driveway 200 miles away so understand the concept of stranded by a MME. Positive contact sticking open here and kills the 12V. A 12V charger can bring it back from the dead for me (at least until the software fix ) . Best of luck moving forward.

 

[KyleCleave]

Where will the next update from Ford come from? Do they have a public feed of service bulletins or updates?

 

[WSoxFan22]

As someone whose car was built may 23rd, the incredibly frustrating thing to me is that they knew about the issue and had a fix in mind to avoid recall, but kept building cars with the issue knowing they wouldn't be deliverable. It's absurd that if my car was built two days later, it would have been fine and deliverable. Why would they continue building cars incorrectly knowing they had a fix two days or even a couple of weeks out? To me, it's inexcusable. Especially with things like the tax rebate on these cars.

Let's say there's a delay in the fix. Now orders after mine could in theory get a full tax rebate but mine won't (I know this is unlikely.) This will be my first ford, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't shopping around for other options because of this. I hope it's resolved in mid July but it's infuriating they'd continue building cars that need a recall with a fix a couple days or weeks down the road.

 

[generaltso]

it's infuriating they'd continue building cars that need a recall with a fix a couple days or weeks down the road.

If they had stopped building cars a couple of weeks earlier, then the people who just missed that group would say they should have done it earlier than that. They had to draw the line somewhere.

 

[WSoxFan22]

If they had stopped building cars a couple of weeks earlier, then the people who just missed that group would say they should have done it earlier than that. They had to draw the line somewhere.

They didn't draw the line anywhere. My car was built 2 days before the fixed vehicles. Your argument makes very little sense. They had a fix two days away. It's inexcusable to build my car, ship it and then say they don't know when I can actually pick it up.

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