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

[Logal727]

Isn’t this a bit different? Ford knows all 50k cars have an inferior part? In the Hyundai case the number was unknown.

am I correct?

No they knew what engines that would be affected. They sent out letter that basically said we know about it and extended the warranty. It wasn’t until maybe a year or two later they did the software thing to identify the timing

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[Shayne]

Here's the thing: a single data point does not a trend make. That goes for those of us whose cars have so far been great, as well as those of us like @scoopman who've had serious problems.

The data Ford has released so far suggests it is a few hundred cars out of 50 thousand sold in the US. While that is a relatively small percentage, it is high enough that over 5 years of ownership of these cars 5% or more of us will probably experience the problem without real intervention. While that doesn't seem like a lot, far more than 5% of us will not trust Ford if they don't do the right thing - and we will be more than happy to communicate that mistrust to whoever asks. Recommendations good and bad have a significant impact, and the bean counters often don't seem to take that into account. I for one feel like I've been an ambassador for Ford: whenever anyone asks about my Mach-E I say "I love it" without hesitation, and extoll all of its positive attributes and how great it is to take on a road trip. That response will be far different if I can't trust my car to be DCFC'd or have to drive it gingerly for the rest of my ownership experience.

For now we have to be open minded and hope that ford learned from the DS6 transmission fiasco and will properly address this issue. Otherwise far more than 5% of us will not trust our cars, and rather than brand ambassadors we will drive potential Ford buyers elsewhere.

It states a part is Not Robust due to the design and variation in manufacturing. Forget the percentage at that point. Hoping this is not some sharpen your pencil and change the batteries in your calculator type of fix. Maybe you could just to see what type of driver is riding the good side of the cutting edge of being not robust enough. It is what it states. Not good but take it for face value. Forget the percentage of parts that were not made in accordance with the design error they would be random and minuscule. The only ones that know the extent of the design error right now is Ford. What we know is it is inherent in all of them. They say via DCFC and WOT events we know not only those. Who knows you can be taking a leisurely trip with your family and it could happen.

 

[KevinS]

Long story short, the "fix" allows it to fail more gracefully. That's about it.

At this point I'm expecting part replacements will happen when enough stink is made in the media and the legal profession.

They can take it out of their marketing budget and it'll be the cheaper route than a PR disaster for their fledgling EV business.

 

[rcechinel]

Here’s one thing I worry about. Let’s say that today Ford makes the decision to replace all of the HVBJB’s in the 50K MMEs sold in the US. My dealer has sold a pretty good amount of these relative to others in the area (I think in the few hundred range from what they said). How many can they realistically fix a day? 1-2 maybe at first, perhaps a few more per day once they get the hang of it? It will take many many months for them to fix all of the ones they have sold. I would guess replacing all 50K parts will take over a year. Yikes.

I.DON'T.CARE.

 

[newmme]

At this point I'm expecting part replacements will happen when enough stink is made in the media and the legal profession.

They can take it out of their marketing budget and it'll be the cheaper route than a PR disaster for their fledgling EV business.

This is the problem though. There is/will not be a stink by the media. Tesla gets tons of bad press over anything small or large, front page news. But for Ford/MME it will be crickets. I have not seen any mention of this issue on the EV blog sites. No one cares unless it's Tesla. Not saying I agree, just that is the state of affairs currently.

Case in point, right now on insideevs is a Tesla built quality article, how long in the tooth is that narrative? Years old. Nothing on Ford or MME anywhere.

 

[kennethjk]

This is the problem though. There is/will not be a stink by the media. Tesla gets tons of bad press over anything small or large, front page news. But for Ford/MME it will be crickets. I have not seen any mention of this issue on the EV blog sites. No one cares unless it's Tesla. Not saying I agree, just that is the state of affairs currently.

Case in point, right now on insideevs is a Tesla built quality article, how long in the tooth is that narrative? Years old. Nothing on Ford or MME anywhere.

you might be right but everyone I know has told me about the recall. Granted most of my friends are car people. They are getting the news from somewhere.

 

[alangant]

Isn’t this a bit different? Ford knows all 50k cars have an inferior part? In the Hyundai case the number was unknown.

am I correct?

Ford may (or may not) know how many of the 50k cars are at risk. One key word in the official statements was variability. Perhaps only a portion of the parts are likely to fail? Perhaps all of them?

I tend to think if it was all of them, there would have been many more than 286 failures. We have seen failures in 20,000 miles and failures in only a few thousand miles. We've seen failures in forum members that never DCFC and drive easy, and no failures in members that DCFC a lot and WOT a lot. Perhaps the specific parts that are failing are outliers of production?

 

[strangeengine]

Here’s one thing I worry about. Let’s say that today Ford makes the decision to replace all of the HVBJB’s in the 50K MMEs sold in the US. My dealer has sold a pretty good amount of these relative to others in the area (I think in the few hundred range from what they said). How many can they realistically fix a day? 1-2 maybe at first, perhaps a few more per day once they get the hang of it? It will take many many months for them to fix all of the ones they have sold. I would guess replacing all 50K parts will take over a year. Yikes.

But you prioritize them by the odds of that model having the issue. So you start with GTs, then do Premium AWDs, etc. Ford has all the data to arrange this.

 

[SnBGC]

Can you imagine when those police MME GTs start having this problem?

Yes I can.
I still remember when Ford thought they could build a better heavy duty diesel engine and strong armed Navistar into producing the 6.0 liter to their spec. Then they started failing catastrophically and people were dying in the ambulance while it was stranded on the side of the road.

Trucks with that engine (if there are any still running) are practically worthless now because nobody wants them at any price. Luckily we only had two of those in our fleet. After replacing engines 3 times in each truck, we auctioned them off and said good riddance.

That is when Ford and Navistar started their very messy divorce. I wonder who makes the HVBJB for this car?

 

[KevinS]

This is the problem though. There is/will not be a stink by the media. Tesla gets tons of bad press over anything small or large, front page news. But for Ford/MME it will be crickets. I have not seen any mention of this issue on the EV blog sites. No one cares unless it's Tesla. Not saying I agree, just that is the state of affairs currently.

Case in point, right now on insideevs is a Tesla built quality article, how long in the tooth is that narrative? Years old. Nothing on Ford or MME anywhere.

The recall was picked up in the mainstream media. This failure that @scoopman encountered just happened before a holiday weekend.

I think it could become as significant of a story as the GM recall if it's conveyed that the recall "fix" that was promised doesn't actually fix the problem. It will become, "well, they tried to fix it in software but now they have to replace the part." That's not a complete disaster for Ford if they resolve it quickly.

But it's really easy for the media to relay that "the fix they promised didn't fix the problem."

 

[MustThee?]

Rather then paying incompetent dealers for 8+ hours of labor for complementary install of BlueCruise (21G01), I would rather have Ford spend the money on getting the new hardware on to all sold cars. We need to be able to drive without worrying about a known issue happening to us. I said known issue as I am well aware that other things can happen as well.

 

[Oldbutalive]

There maybe a technology fix. Today there are coatings applied to a wide range of products to transfer or minimize heat. Most cars especially EVs already use them.

Which maybe one of the points of failure on the recall. If so the fix long term maybe easier . Upgraded formula easily distribute.

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As the automotive market accelerates the development of next-generation vehicles, the sustainability and efficiency of production materials become increasingly crucial. Solvay's extensive portfolio of automotive solutions impart key performance and processing benefits—such as lightweighting and enhanced safety—to a wide range of applications. Our broad portfolio of high-performance automotive materials drives innovation in e-mobility, tires, body and chassis, internal combustion engines (ICE), transmission, thermal management and motorsport manufacturing.

The most memorable example of a coating to transfer heat.
NASA’s use on the heat shields on All capsule Reentry vehicles.

 

[buzznwood]

Interesting, I didn’t know that. But just to be clear, when you say disables brake regen, you mean lifting off the accelerator doesn’t cause any regen AND pressing the brake pedal doesn’t also doesn’t trigger some regen?

Because otherwise with say Whisper, where there is no/very little accelerator lift-off regen, you still get regen when you press the brake pedal. Ditto for Engage and Unbridled (except of course those two modes have increasing amounts of accelerator lift-off regen).

Yes it disables lift off regen and brake regen or rather that was my recolection of what I saw on the power meter I have only turned it on once when I got the vehicle and it was probably pure luck that I could as you only have to look at the button funny for it to be grayed out ? I left foot brake so there could be some lift off regen in that mode, but I tried it out down a twisty back road so wasn't really doing much in the way any lifting off it was all brake and go .

In neutral there is of course no lift off regen but also no regen when you apply the brakes. A power meter is an important as the rev counter on an ICE, so for the power meter to not be standard across all mach-e trims is really stupid as it very useful to see how much regen is going on.

 

[jonkMACHE]

Precisely this. I've had quite a few random people (at least a dozen) stop and ask me about my car and if I love it. I tell them that it's a blast to drive and EVs are the future but that my car is plagued with software and engineering bugs and I don't recommend that they buy one right now.

My answer every single time is, "wait a few years".

To be fair, it seems like the problems are with the GTs specifically. 5000 miles into my 4X premium, and I've had zero software/engineering bugs.

 

[VegStang]

I've been willing so far to give Ford the benefit of the doubt, but with my dealer damaging the car while it's in for the new HVBJB, trying to hide it, along with the other job 1 defects, and cosmetic issues, it's like death by a thousand cuts. Not sure what I'll decide after pickup, but with the EV6 as my only other option (very specific criteria) I'd probably want to try to switch to another MME once the post May 25th cars make it to the dealers. I guess I like punishment

This is, after all, the most expensive car I have bought in my lifetime.

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