From SVS to SSN - The Tejon Pass Claims Another Mach-E

[DevSecOps]

@DevSecOps Ultimately, this could have been worse, but I'm still frustrated for you. This experience sucks, and I agree, at least the GTs are all going to require the JB swap, because the recall fix is, indeed, crap. (Sounds like you just had the software fix).
We are early adopters all in all, and I'm glad that you have all of this truly valuable data to go along with the experience... Hoping that dealership doesn't stagnate with your car. Keep on top of them. I'm worried that small dealership will hold it hostage for too long while they give up on trying to do anything constructive with it.

I ended up getting COVID from my vacation/return trip as well and it's got me pretty f*cked up, so I'm in no hurry to get the car. I don't think the dealer will drag it's feet though.

They are actually working on it right now

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[Logal727]

I ended up getting COVID from my vacation/return trip as well and it's got me pretty f*cked up, so I'm in no hurry to get the car. I don't think the dealer will drag it's feet though.

They are actually working on it right now

How does that camera send video?

 

[SnBGC]

Could be worse... your car could burst into flames, ala Porsche. https://www.teslarati.com/porsche-whistleblower-taycan-battery-charger-fires-coverup/#:~:text="An all-electric Porsche Taycan,the car and the garage"

Not sure I would believe the 60% claim from that article. ?

That being said.....I think I have seen 2 Taycan's burned to the ground so far here in Phoenix. I say "think" because the only parts left that I could recognize were the wheels. One was a Porsche for sure because I got a real good look at the wheel. The 2nd burned car wasn't as clear. It looked a lot like the first one though.

I think performance oriented BEVs are going to need some major reinforcement in certain systems and components. Standard passenger car systems may not be able to handle the extra work load and duty cycle that a performance vehicle needs.

 

[DevSecOps]

How does that camera send video?

LTE. It has a SIM card and is on my Verizon plan for $10 a month for unlimited data.

 

[Dracarys]

Preface:

First of all let me say this - I'm safe at home, no one is hurt, I'm not mad (I was actually joking with people in DM's while this was happening), but I'm still disappointed at Ford and this recall.

TLDR: Software recall applied, received SVS climbing the Tejon Pass 343 miles from home. Continued my drive home. Received SSN 120 miles from home. Dealer had no loaner, Enterprise had no rentals. Had to ask family to come get me.

So here's my story ---

I went on vacation with family to Newport Beach. It's a beautiful location and while I was down there we went to Disneyland, a concert, the beach and more. It's a place I visit many times a year and I absolutely love it!

Getting there I had to go through the central valley in California and transverse the Tejon Pass in order to drop into Southern California. I got there without issue, the car performed flawlessly. While I was in SoCal everything was great. No issues whatsoever.

Coming home however, was almost as exciting as the Incredicoaster!

Pre-Return Trip Data Points:

• Last night I charged to 100% SOC at the resort L2 charger
• Last DCFC was Monday - 4 days prior
• 2 occupants in the vehicle with luggage (350lbs Max)
• Temperatures 80-105F
• 22S41 was applied via OTA 9 days prior

Service Vehicle Soon:

89.5 miles into my return trip, and after a stop at Starbucks for a Bacon Gouda and Late, I began my ascent into the notorious "Grapevine" (Tejon Pass). At an elevation of 1750' above sea level on a 6.8% grade, going 83 mph while overtaking a BMW that decided to cut me off, I experienced SVS. I might add that at the exact moment, I took a bite of my Bacon Gouda sandwich... this might have been the ultimate straw that broke the camels back.

This is where it happened. Don't mind the truck full of goats -

Red line was my approximate location:

Service Vehicle Soon Data Points:

• 89.5 miles into my drive
• 99F at time of failure
• 1750' elevation
• 6.8% uphill grade
• 83 mph
• No previous DCFC for 4 days
• 59% SOC
• 23k miles on the ODO

The drive continues:

I continued to go over the Tejon Pass like a Prius without any power. Going up that thing with full jail bars was not fun. I then went into Bakersfield for a DCFC top up.

DCFC Stats (Bakersfield, CA):

• Arrived 35% SOC
• Left 89% SOC

At the station in Bakersfield I made some phone calls, opened up a case, called my local dealer and prepared some people at Ford for my car next week. We leave the DCFC station in route to the next, and last DCFC before arriving at home. We get to the next station without any significant events and we charge without any issue, this was in the town of Los Banos, CA (yes that means the bathrooms in English).

Second DCFC Stats (Los Banos, CA):

• Arrived 19% SOC
• Left 75% SOC

Stop Safely Now:

Just when I thought I was home free, the plot thickens. As we continued the drive all of a sudden I got Stop Safely Now. I immediately pulled into a parking lot and made sure to leave the car running. I was in motion when I received SSN at about 10 mph and I happened to be right next to a parking lot.

I parked the car in a good spot for a tow, backed into a stall with an open exit lane in front of me for easy tow access. I contacted some people at Ford again to see what I should do at this point. I never turned off the car, because I knew that if I did it would be game over.

We weighed the pros and cons of driving the car further and ultimately after some very helpful people consulted with people in the "know" it was determined that driving it home the 120 miles would be too risky. As luck would have it, there was a dealership just 2 blocks away. So the compromise was to drive to the dealer instead. This is ultimately what I did.

SSN Data Points:

• Electrical Data:
  • Vehicle reported:
    • Negative Contactor: 655.35v
    • Positive Contactor: 5.1v
  • Nominal values:
    • Negative Contactor: 0-1v
    • Positive Contactor: ~365v
• Average Speed up until this point: 69mph

The car was reporting voltage shorts at this point.

The Dealership:

I arrived to the dealership at 4:45PM, just a few minutes before they closed. It's a small town, they are a farming town and the population is just 39k. I didn't have much faith going in.

I go to the service desk and it's one guy. I told him what happened and he said "Let me get my EV techs, they were just trained on this." So he calls up a couple guys and they ask what happened and I told them. The guy tells me "I just got through training on this and I haven't actually worked on an EV before. This will be my first, and quite frankly, I'm scared." He was a really nice guy, they were all really nice.

I drove the car around the to side, turned it off and it never came back to life after that. -Dead-

The one thing it did do, which was weird is that I got an error saying the car wasn't in park when it was. Don't know why this happened.

Unfortunately, since it's a small town they only have 1 loaner and it was out. There's a singular Enterprise rental car facility in the town and it only has 5 cars, all of which were out.

They told me that I could get a hotel and on Monday they would get me into a rental. I asked what other options I had and he shrugged his shoulders. Ford roadside was of no help either. They didn't know what to do.

Ultimately, I had to call family, who drove down 120 miles to come get us and bring us home.

My Take:

The recall is garbage. I've been avidly outspoken about it as most of you know and I continue to be. While it did alert me to the potential issue, it didn't get me home and still left me stranded 120 miles from my house with SSN. Yes, you could blame this on the terrain, the fact that I had to DCFC and more, but reality is that a 450 mile trip was unsuccessful. I had no choice but to take that route and I had no choice but to charge. Ultimately, it's not a fix and shouldn't be considered one.

Ford Roadside was a complete waste of time in my case. I'll be escalating my complaints in this department for sure because they didn't care one bit that I was stuck there. They told me they could only drive me 35 miles and if my house was further I would have to pay for it myself.

If you get SSN don't turn the car off until you are in a safe area. Attempt to get somewhere in short distance and slowly.

Data:

I had 3 cameras rolling the entire trip. I also had data logging via the OBDII. I have a lot of data points and video to go through which will take time. If anyone has any specific questions please feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer.

Conclusion:

I still have a journey left. The car is sitting, dead, at the dealer, 120 miles away. I have no rental and the HVBJB still has to be replaced. I will update this thread with additional information as it happens.

When I got home I was looking forward to my new pillow that was ordered and delivered while I was on vacation. I thought, well at least there's light at the end of my tunnel for today. Gleefully, I open the box only to find the wrong pillow. I thought, well that sucks, and where's the other box that I was expecting ... hmmm I can't find it...

This car is a curse!!!

I have 2 2021 MME’s. I have driven mine for 13,000 miles with multiple DC charges, road trips driving over mountain passes several times with somewhat general fast driving and my car has had no issues. My husband’s has never been DC charged and just been driven around town with 4500 miles. He just got the SVS warning on his way to work this morning in 65 degree weather. Seriously, no way to predict when or if it will happen. I would have bet on my car first….

 

[K2H]

I’m heading to Colorado from the Midwest next week - over 900 miles. 2022 GTPE delivered in May. Recall software installed by dealer. Nervous about it, but not nervous enough to drive something else. Fingers crossed!

 

[Jimrpa]

@BadgerGreg's car failed in SE Michigan. California can be blamed for many things, but causation of contactor failure is not one of them.

Well , there goes my theory. And I was hoping I was safe.
let’s continue down the fault tree then:
How about DCFC? Has this failure happened to people who infrequently DCFC? For example, I haven’t used a DCFC in about 10 months?

 

[DevSecOps]

Well , there goes my theory. And I was hoping I was safe.
let’s continue down the fault tree then:
How about DCFC? Has this failure happened to people who infrequently DCFC? For example, I haven’t used a DCFC in about 10 months?

There's been plenty of failures on vehicles that have never used DCFC once. Including the post just 2 above your question.

 

[Jimrpa]

I have 2 2021 MME’s. I have driven mine for 13,000 miles with multiple DC charges, road trips driving over mountain passes several times with somewhat general fast driving and my car has had no issues. My husband’s has never been DC charged and just been driven around town with 4500 miles. He just got the SVS warning on his way to work this morning in 65 degree weather. Seriously, no way to predict when or if it will happen. I would have bet on my car first….

Well, aren’t you just a bundle of joyful news ? sigh… every one of my theories is being dashed. Seems like my car could be chosen by the giant claw as easily as any other ?

 

[Mme4me]

I ended up getting COVID from my vacation/return trip as well and it's got me pretty f*cked up, so I'm in no hurry to get the car. I don't think the dealer will drag it's feet though.

They are actually working on it right now

Ok, you have already impressed me with you skills and knowledge, but this is Batman level cool! Sorry to hear about getting covid. I hope you get your car back soon with little additional hassle.

 

[JMCH]

Todd has helped literally hundreds of people on this forum. If he blocked you, you should look in the mirror for why.

Definitely!! Jamelski, if you’re casting aspersions on Todd, you’re the problem.

 

[PA Bob]

Preface:

First of all let me say this - I'm safe at home, no one is hurt, I'm not mad (I was actually joking with people in DM's while this was happening), but I'm still disappointed at Ford and this recall.

TLDR: Software recall applied, received SVS climbing the Tejon Pass 343 miles from home. Continued my drive home. Received SSN 120 miles from home. Dealer had no loaner, Enterprise had no rentals. Had to ask family to come get me.

So here's my story ---

I went on vacation with family to Newport Beach. It's a beautiful location and while I was down there we went to Disneyland, a concert, the beach and more. It's a place I visit many times a year and I absolutely love it!

Getting there I had to go through the central valley in California and transverse the Tejon Pass in order to drop into Southern California. I got there without issue, the car performed flawlessly. While I was in SoCal everything was great. No issues whatsoever.

Coming home however, was almost as exciting as the Incredicoaster!

Pre-Return Trip Data Points:

• Last night I charged to 100% SOC at the resort L2 charger
• Last DCFC was Monday - 4 days prior
• 2 occupants in the vehicle with luggage (350lbs Max)
• Temperatures 80-105F
• 22S41 was applied via OTA 9 days prior

Service Vehicle Soon:

89.5 miles into my return trip, and after a stop at Starbucks for a Bacon Gouda and Late, I began my ascent into the notorious "Grapevine" (Tejon Pass). At an elevation of 1750' above sea level on a 6.8% grade, going 83 mph while overtaking a BMW that decided to cut me off, I experienced SVS. I might add that at the exact moment, I took a bite of my Bacon Gouda sandwich... this might have been the ultimate straw that broke the camels back.

This is where it happened. Don't mind the truck full of goats -

Red line was my approximate location:

Service Vehicle Soon Data Points:

• 89.5 miles into my drive
• 99F at time of failure
• 1750' elevation
• 6.8% uphill grade
• 83 mph
• No previous DCFC for 4 days
• 59% SOC
• 23k miles on the ODO

The drive continues:

I continued to go over the Tejon Pass like a Prius without any power. Going up that thing with full jail bars was not fun. I then went into Bakersfield for a DCFC top up.

DCFC Stats (Bakersfield, CA):

• Arrived 35% SOC
• Left 89% SOC

At the station in Bakersfield I made some phone calls, opened up a case, called my local dealer and prepared some people at Ford for my car next week. We leave the DCFC station in route to the next, and last DCFC before arriving at home. We get to the next station without any significant events and we charge without any issue, this was in the town of Los Banos, CA (yes that means the bathrooms in English).

Second DCFC Stats (Los Banos, CA):

• Arrived 19% SOC
• Left 75% SOC

Stop Safely Now:

Just when I thought I was home free, the plot thickens. As we continued the drive all of a sudden I got Stop Safely Now. I immediately pulled into a parking lot and made sure to leave the car running. I was in motion when I received SSN at about 10 mph and I happened to be right next to a parking lot.

I parked the car in a good spot for a tow, backed into a stall with an open exit lane in front of me for easy tow access. I contacted some people at Ford again to see what I should do at this point. I never turned off the car, because I knew that if I did it would be game over.

We weighed the pros and cons of driving the car further and ultimately after some very helpful people consulted with people in the "know" it was determined that driving it home the 120 miles would be too risky. As luck would have it, there was a dealership just 2 blocks away. So the compromise was to drive to the dealer instead. This is ultimately what I did.

SSN Data Points:

• Electrical Data:
  • Vehicle reported:
    • Negative Contactor: 655.35v
    • Positive Contactor: 5.1v
  • Nominal values:
    • Negative Contactor: 0-1v
    • Positive Contactor: ~365v
• Average Speed up until this point: 69mph

The car was reporting voltage shorts at this point.

The Dealership:

I arrived to the dealership at 4:45PM, just a few minutes before they closed. It's a small town, they are a farming town and the population is just 39k. I didn't have much faith going in.

I go to the service desk and it's one guy. I told him what happened and he said "Let me get my EV techs, they were just trained on this." So he calls up a couple guys and they ask what happened and I told them. The guy tells me "I just got through training on this and I haven't actually worked on an EV before. This will be my first, and quite frankly, I'm scared." He was a really nice guy, they were all really nice.

I drove the car around the to side, turned it off and it never came back to life after that. -Dead-

The one thing it did do, which was weird is that I got an error saying the car wasn't in park when it was. Don't know why this happened.

Unfortunately, since it's a small town they only have 1 loaner and it was out. There's a singular Enterprise rental car facility in the town and it only has 5 cars, all of which were out.

They told me that I could get a hotel and on Monday they would get me into a rental. I asked what other options I had and he shrugged his shoulders. Ford roadside was of no help either. They didn't know what to do.

Ultimately, I had to call family, who drove down 120 miles to come get us and bring us home.

My Take:

The recall is garbage. I've been avidly outspoken about it as most of you know and I continue to be. While it did alert me to the potential issue, it didn't get me home and still left me stranded 120 miles from my house with SSN. Yes, you could blame this on the terrain, the fact that I had to DCFC and more, but reality is that a 450 mile trip was unsuccessful. I had no choice but to take that route and I had no choice but to charge. Ultimately, it's not a fix and shouldn't be considered one.

Ford Roadside was a complete waste of time in my case. I'll be escalating my complaints in this department for sure because they didn't care one bit that I was stuck there. They told me they could only drive me 35 miles and if my house was further I would have to pay for it myself.

If you get SSN don't turn the car off until you are in a safe area. Attempt to get somewhere in short distance and slowly.

Data:

I had 3 cameras rolling the entire trip. I also had data logging via the OBDII. I have a lot of data points and video to go through which will take time. If anyone has any specific questions please feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer.

Conclusion:

I still have a journey left. The car is sitting, dead, at the dealer, 120 miles away. I have no rental and the HVBJB still has to be replaced. I will update this thread with additional information as it happens.

When I got home I was looking forward to my new pillow that was ordered and delivered while I was on vacation. I thought, well at least there's light at the end of my tunnel for today. Gleefully, I open the box only to find the wrong pillow. I thought, well that sucks, and where's the other box that I was expecting ... hmmm I can't find it...

This car is a curse!!!

First of all, i enjoy a suspenseful story so I would not have led with "I'm ok." Otherwise a great story. That really stinks that it happened to you - whether pre or post vacation.

I believe it's time to roll out the old joke about Ford.
F - Found
O - on the
R- Roadside
D - Dead

I new it was a gamble to buy a new model with so much innovative software and drivetrain. I read that Ford was staking the reputation of the whole company on this Mach e. It made me believe that if something like this happened, Ford would bend over backwards to fix it. I do love my car, but I would not buy it today knowing what i know now. Not just that the car fails, but that Ford is not stepping up to do what's right. I don't make any long trips with this car right now.

Has this happened to any RWD SB models? Can it be that this model won't encounter the SVS because we don't draw the power of GT or AWD?

 

[Addos]

First of all, i enjoy a suspenseful story so I would not have led with "I'm ok." Otherwise a great story. That really stinks that it happened to you - whether pre or post vacation.

I believe it's time to roll out the old joke about Ford.
F - Found
O - on the
R- Roadside
D - Dead

I new it was a gamble to buy a new model with so much innovative software and drivetrain. I read that Ford was staking the reputation of the whole company on this Mach e. It made me believe that if something like this happened, Ford would bend over backwards to fix it. I do love my car, but I would not buy it today knowing what i know now. Not just that the car fails, but that Ford is not stepping up to do what's right. I don't make any long trips with this car right now.

Has this happened to any RWD SB models? Can it be that this model won't encounter the SVS because we don't draw the power of GT or AWD?

That is what is so sad. I bought this wanting to believe that as an early adopter, Ford would have our backs. But it sure AF doesn't feel that way, with the way things have been going with my SSN on my Mach E.

 

[Dracarys]

Well, aren’t you just a bundle of joyful news ? sigh… every one of my theories is being dashed. Seems like my car could be chosen by the giant claw as easily as any other ?

Sorry, but it would seem so. I literally have identical MME’s, even same color (beggers can’t be choosers). FYI… I had mine wrapped, because having his and hers matching cars is way too much… I am a little envious he gets a new HVBJB!

 

[HuntingPudel]

<SNIP>

I new it was a gamble to buy a new model with so much innovative software and drivetrain. I read that Ford was staking the reputation of the whole company on this Mach e. It made me believe that if something like this happened, Ford would bend over backwards to fix it. I do love my car, but I would not buy it today knowing what i know now. Not just that the car fails, but that Ford is not stepping up to do what's right. I don't make any long trips with this car right now.

Has this happened to any RWD SB models? Can it be that this model won't encounter the SVS because we don't draw the power of GT or AWD?

There was a lot of stuff we heard or saw prior to purchase that led us to believe a lot of positive things about this car (GT-PE cutting up the race track with ”repeatable performance” anyone?). Unfortunately, some if that stuff just isn’t true. Like you, I was one of the people who took a chance on Ford betting the farm on this car. ??

I recall seeing a post a week or so ago about a 2WD MME with a failed HVBJB. I cannot remember if it was extended battery or standard battery. ??

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