😭😭😭 POST BATTERY CONTACTOR RECALL -- FIRST JUNCTION BOX FAILURE 😭😭😭😭

[ARK]

The 0.5% (less than 1%) doesn't entirely mesh well with a second failure to the same person. Either he needs lottery tickets or there are still non-understood issues at play here.

Agreed, he may not drive aggressively, but there may be something else unknown about certain vehicles contributing to the problem aside from the HVBJB.

On the other hand, it’s harder to gauge how far we are pushing the Mach-E because motors are silent and we have no tachometer, though I suppose GTs do have the power meter.

Climbing the Grapevine at highway speeds with multiple people in the car and a trunk full of luggage would definitely be taxing, even without exceeding the speed limit. Many people drop down to 40ish on that climb.

Definitely not faulting scoopman, but just saying how even when driving reasonably and safely, the vehicle might still be experiencing a high-stress event for the powertrain.

I’ve done the Grapevine in my 2006 Mustang GT with four people in the car and maintaining highway speeds on that climb really pushes the engine. I’ve done the same alone in my prior 2013 Equinox, and it was close to redline the whole way up.

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[scoopman]

86 miles of range in 48% battery?! What’s that about?

Mountains.

 

[scoopman]

Yours is the fully cynical take. I.e., that Ford is cynically stringing along both customers and regulators with half-truths for its own convenience and cost avoidance.

But it is true.

 

[scoopman]

Agreed, he may not drive aggressively, but there may be something else unknown about certain vehicles contributing to the problem aside from the HVBJB.

On the other hand, it’s harder to gauge how far we are pushing the Mach-E because motors are silent and we have no tachometer, though I suppose GTs do have the power meter.

Climbing the Grapevine at highway speeds with multiple people in the car and a trunk full of luggage would definitely be taxing, even without exceeding the speed limit. Many people drop down to 40ish on that climb.

Definitely not faulting scoopman, but just saying how even when driving reasonably and safely, the vehicle might still be experiencing a high-stress event for the powertrain.

I’ve done the Grapevine in my 2006 Mustang GT with four people in the car and maintaining highway speeds on that climb really pushes the engine. I’ve done the same alone in my prior 2013 Equinox, and it was close to redline the whole way up.

Folks, everyone on the road around me was doing 80+ mph. This was a car that was not being tracked and should be considered by Ford to be operating within the absolute typical parameters that their product was intended to be operated at.

Not to diss your 2006 Mustang or your 2013 Equinox, but this is a $70k premium vehicle, and it shouldn't be failing like this.

 

[lyyq]

I guess I am the 2nd unlucky one! My car bricked on Jun 14, they said they installed the recall update on Jun 28 and returned the car back to my on Jun 29. on Jun 30, it bricked again on the road, I am not able to continue to drive, loss power immediately and had to urgent pull over. Just posted my experience and timeline in a new post.

 

[scoopman]

The 0.5% (less than 1%) doesn't entirely mesh well with a second failure to the same person. Either he needs lottery tickets or there are still non-understood issues at play here.

I'm getting some lottery tickets today.

But seriously, I agree that there might be other factors in my pack at play here -- or Ford just hasn't done a good enough job understanding and modeling the problem.

Or, they know this is going to fail on many more cars, and they just want to spend less money doing costly hardware repairs until it fails. Honestly Ford might not give a crap if I'm inconvenienced here if it saves them money in warranty repairs for the HVB and satisfies NHTSA's inquiry.

 

[scoopman]

I guess I am the 2nd unlucky one! My car bricked on Jun 14, they said they installed the recall update on Jun 28 and returned the car back to my on Jun 29. on Jun 30, it bricked again on the road, I am not able to continue to drive, loss power immediately and had to urgent pull over. Just posted my experience and timeline in a new post.

so that recall software worked great for you too, eh? So sorry this happened!

 

[KevinS]

Or, they know this is going to fail on many more cars, and they just want to spend less money doing costly hardware repairs until it fails. Honestly Ford might not give a crap if I'm inconvenienced here if it saves them money in warranty repairs for the HVB and satisfies NHTSA's inquiry.

From the movie Fight Club:

Narrator : A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 mph. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.

Woman on Plane : Are there a lot of these kinds of accidents?

Narrator : You wouldn't believe.

Woman on Plane : Which car company do you work for?

Narrator : A major one.

 

[ARK]

Folks, everyone on the road around me was doing 80+ mph. This was a car that was not being tracked and should be considered by Ford to be operating within the absolute typical parameters that their product was intended to be operated at.

Not to diss your 2006 Mustang or your 2013 Equinox, but this is a $70k premium vehicle, and it shouldn't be failing like this.

No I completely agree with that, my point is even if someone is not doing things like gunning it at a stop light in a 25mph zone, rocketing to 50mph+ in a residential area, but doing so for only a few seconds, for the vehicle, it may be a much bigger thing to hold it at 80%+ power for several minutes as someone climbs the Grapevine.

 

[lyyq]

so that recall software worked great for you too, eh? So sorry this happened!

According to them, yes, the software was installed, but I am not sure if I can trust them after they "fixed" my car twice...

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

What is going on with your range? That’s insane!

He went up the Tejon Pass (i.e. Grapevine) and was going down from the summit when this happened. Going up it you chew threw the battery like a fat kid with a twinkie. Going down he likely gained most back. So the range numbers aren't likely problematic, just a result of the terrain.

What Todd said. It's not related to the HVBJB contactor failure other than it's a result of driving the car. Around here, I use 7% of my ER battery going the 6 miles to the cross-island highway, and coming from the grocery store? I burn through 10% driving the last 8 miles home. On the bright side, the 45-mile drive to Kona takes a total of 7% soc. Mountains eat electrons. It also throws off the GOM big time. Mine shows no more than 202 miles at 100%, even though I've driven much further with that charge.

 

[EELinneman]

From the movie Fight Club:

Narrator : A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 mph. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.

Woman on Plane : Are there a lot of these kinds of accidents?

Narrator : You wouldn't believe.

Woman on Plane : Which car company do you work for?

Narrator : A major one.

First rule of Fight Club........

 

[heisnuts]

Wow, I am away from the forum for less than 24 hours and come back to over 11 pages to catch up on.

@scoopman, I am so sorry this happened to you, and on your trip no less. I remember your thread where you contemplated taking a rental car on this trip for exactly this possibility.

On the bright side, you will be getting the new part you were hoping for in the first place. As you may remember mine failed on me too and Ford replaced it with the updated part. I have put almost 4,000 miles on the new part with no problems and I did not modify my driving habits after the repair. I actually have my 10,000 mile service this weekend, so we will see if they even bring up the recall or not when it is in.

 

[Blue highway]

Do we definitively know that the car wouldn't restart after the "Service vehicle soon" warning? I've not seen anything to indicate that is actually the case.


Based on Andy's experience/writeup, I guess that "Service vehicle soon" = likely failing HVBJB. While obviously that's far from ideal, we don't know that it actually failed. In fact it might even be that the updated s/w is too twitchy and the contactors are actually ok. At this point, I don't think we know.

But if I've missed something, please by all means elucidate me!

Voltage drop across the relays is what the sw measures... anything above a tiny amount is never ok.

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