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

[DevSecOps]

So here's my 1 week update for everyone:

General Comment:

I always assumed that if I had failure I would be up shit creek with a miniature paddle while I work my ass off to get others taken care of in days. While I know corporate has my back, the local dealer experience has been pretty bad so far. I was also told by a Ford employee when I had failure that all dealerships in a 500 mile radius were warned not to help me (obviously he was joking ... or was he?) ?

First call from dealership (Thursday 08/18):

My service advisor called me and wanted to know why my car was there. I responded with "are you serious"? To which he said, it looks like it's here for an electrical system drain warning. So after rolling my eyes I start explaining to him what is going on. He tells me that he thinks it's because there's an outstanding recall. I told him that the recall was already applied via OTA to which he said, Ford can't do recalls via OTA. Confidence inspiring for sure! So then I go into more detail and he tells me that he doesn't know what I'm talking about and that the technician will have to diagnose the car. He said that this would be done on Monday.

Diagnostics (Friday 08/19):

I get an alert from my camera that the car is in motion. Sure enough it's in a service bay. I'm actually happy, I think "Well that's cool they got it in a couple days early".

This was around 10am so I gave it until 3pm and I call the service advisor. The service advisor tells me that they wont take a look at the car until Monday. So I asked him if he's sure and I told him that the car is in the bay right now. He says "Oh well let me go ask the tech".

He comes back to the phone 10 minutes later and tells me that the tech has gone home for the day. I'm a bit confused by that being that the car accessory mode is still turned on (which I can also see by the camera). So I just chalk it up as a loss. About 30 minutes after my call, the car is turned off.

Diagnostic which hunt:

I decide to pull up FDRS to see what they are leaning towards since the experience, so far, is pretty bad. Well ... it looks like they are trouble shooting a display???

Wouldn't that be your logical first step if you saw these DTCs:

Edit: After further communication I found out it was an apprentice trying to help by running codes. We'll see on Monday how it goes.

COVID:

Last dose of Paxlovid was this morning. I'm finally feeling better today. I actually slept for more than 2 hours last night and I stopped taking all pain meds. Thank you all for your concern and thanks to the, literal, entire page of DM threads from y'all wishing me the best.

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[JohnFoxeSheets]

So here's my 1 week update for everyone:

General Comment:

I always assumed that if I had failure I would be up shit creek with a miniature paddle while I work my ass off to get others taken care of in days. While I know corporate has my back, the local dealer experience has been pretty bad so far. I was also told by a Ford employee when I had failure that all dealerships in a 500 mile radius were warned not to help me (obviously he was joking ... or was he?) ?

First call from dealership (Thursday 08/18):

My service advisor called me and wanted to know why my car was there. I responded with "are you serious"? To which he said, it looks like it's here for an electrical system drain warning. So after rolling my eyes I start explaining to him what is going on. He tells me that he thinks it's because there's an outstanding recall. I told him that the recall was already applied via OTA to which he said, Ford can't do recalls via OTA. Confidence inspiring for sure! So then I go into more detail and he tells me that he doesn't know what I'm talking about and that the technician will have to diagnose the car. He said that this would be done on Monday.

Diagnostics (Friday 08/19):

I get an alert from my camera that the car is in motion. Sure enough it's in a service bay. I'm actually happy, I think "Well that's cool they got it in a couple days early".

This was around 10am so I gave it until 3pm and I call the service advisor. The service advisor tells me that they wont take a look at the car until Monday. So I asked him if he's sure and I told him that the car is in the bay right now. He says "Oh well let me go ask the tech".

He comes back to the phone 10 minutes later and tells me that the tech has gone home for the day. I'm a bit confused by that being that the car accessory mode is still turned on (which I can also see by the camera). So I just chalk it up as a loss. About 30 minutes after my call, the car is turned off.

Diagnostic which hunt:

I decide to pull up FDRS to see what they are leaning towards since the experience, so far, is pretty bad. Well ... it looks like they are trouble shooting a display???

Wouldn't that be your logical first step if you saw these DTCs:

At least the guys in Los Banos were able to figure out what was wrong:

View attachment 76704

I have a gut feeling that this is going to be a fight until the end.

COVID:

Last dose of Paxlovid was this morning. I'm finally feeling better today. I actually slept for more than 2 hours last night and I stopped taking all pain meds. Thank you all for your concern and thanks to the, literal, entire page of DM threads from y'all wishing me the best.

OMFingG, when the dust settles, please name and shame the service advisor so we know to avoid him. Damn that sucks. I sure hope things improve next week.

Glad you're finally feeling less crappy. Did you by chance get Paxlovid mouth? Oh, and did your pillow ever get sorted out?

 

[scoopman]

1 out of 3 is me because I drive like a grandma to prevent failure and most of my drives are short 3 mile drop offs.
Ford's stance is simply disappointing. I am trying to find a replacement and I doubt I will buy another Ford. I had a reservation for an incoming Volvo XC60 Recharge Extended range to replace my MME but unfortunately the Volvo no longer qualifies for the federal tax credit simce last Monday so I canceled the reservation and I am back to searching for a plug in hybrid or EV replacement.

Chris, now that you're back, we can take a drive together in your car. I can bring my "special" music, and a special route, and we can get you the recall you deserve from Ford in no time!

The new box is working great for me, no "Driving Miss Daisy" mode here -- putting Ford's lack of proper customer orientation aside, if you had the new part, would you keep your car?

 

[scoopman]

I test drove an i4 40e and it handled beautifully. Long wait though even to be able to put an order in. That may change now though with it losing the fed tax credit.

If I got that car, I'd have to only approach it from the rear. That ? is not an $80k-looking snout.

 

[scoopman]

Well I was thinking about suggesting a meet up but... ?

We could -- followed by a slow drive at 30% power with Service Vehicle Soon! I am only 10 minutes away from Sunnyvale Ford, which was a great HVBJB service experience.

 

[DevSecOps]

OMFingG, when the dust settles, please name and shame the service advisor so we know to avoid him. Damn that sucks. I sure hope things improve next week.

Not my style to shame people. I know I'm more informed than 99% of the people they deal with. I attribute most of the issues thus far to a lack of communication, which I don't necessarily believe falls on the shoulders of one man.

Glad you're finally feeling less crappy. Did you by chance get Paxlovid mouth? Oh, and did your pillow ever get sorted out?

Yes I did get Paxlovid mouth and the pillow people told me I ordered the wrong one and I'm screwed on the $106.

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

Not my style to shame people. I know I'm more informed than 99% of the people they deal with. I attribute most of the issues thus far to a lack of communication, which I don't necessarily believe falls on the shoulders of one man.

Yeah, I get it.

Yes I did get Paxlovid mouth and the pillow people told me I ordered the wrong one and I'm screwed on the $106.

Damn...

 

[scoopman]

Yes I am over my MME because I want to be able to drive from SF to LA (and other long trips) with my young kid and I don't want to get stranded with high probability.
For context I replaced my 10 month Taycan 4S with the MME because I had experienced the automotive power loss issue that the Taycan had and it was not fun. Porsche recalled the Taycan with a software update but mine died again even after the recall update. I heard they updated the same module again recently..
I understand that cars have problems but I expect manufacturers to address known safety issues properly.

I'd also say that Todd's experience isn't the norm post-recall when there's a failure. Generally the car is still drivable. If I knew then what the recall failure mode was for the Service Vehicle Soon DTC, I would not have been as paniced. Yes it is a pain in the butt, and it is a worry on a road trip, but the prices of cars are so insane today (and for cars that are also relatively new with teething issues) that it might make more sense to try and make it fail to get the replacement. Or drive it like you should and know that it's probably not going to be as bad an outcome if you do suffer a failure.

 

[markboris]

Chris, now that you're back, we can take a drive together in your car. I can bring my "special" music, and a special route, and we can get you the recall you deserve from Ford in no time!

Hey Andy, what about me? I want to get the new box too! Since the recall update, I've put almost 2000 miles on the car driving it all over NorCal and taken it up some fairly high grades (8500 feet) but haven't been passing people at 80 or I guess listening to "special" music. ? Maybe you can get it to fail???

 

[Logal727]

So here's my 1 week update for everyone:

General Comment:

I always assumed that if I had failure I would be up shit creek with a miniature paddle while I work my ass off to get others taken care of in days. While I know corporate has my back, the local dealer experience has been pretty bad so far. I was also told by a Ford employee when I had failure that all dealerships in a 500 mile radius were warned not to help me (obviously he was joking ... or was he?) ?

First call from dealership (Thursday 08/18):

My service advisor called me and wanted to know why my car was there. I responded with "are you serious"? To which he said, it looks like it's here for an electrical system drain warning. So after rolling my eyes I start explaining to him what is going on. He tells me that he thinks it's because there's an outstanding recall. I told him that the recall was already applied via OTA to which he said, Ford can't do recalls via OTA. Confidence inspiring for sure! So then I go into more detail and he tells me that he doesn't know what I'm talking about and that the technician will have to diagnose the car. He said that this would be done on Monday.

Diagnostics (Friday 08/19):

I get an alert from my camera that the car is in motion. Sure enough it's in a service bay. I'm actually happy, I think "Well that's cool they got it in a couple days early".

This was around 10am so I gave it until 3pm and I call the service advisor. The service advisor tells me that they wont take a look at the car until Monday. So I asked him if he's sure and I told him that the car is in the bay right now. He says "Oh well let me go ask the tech".

He comes back to the phone 10 minutes later and tells me that the tech has gone home for the day. I'm a bit confused by that being that the car accessory mode is still turned on (which I can also see by the camera). So I just chalk it up as a loss. About 30 minutes after my call, the car is turned off.

Diagnostic which hunt:

I decide to pull up FDRS to see what they are leaning towards since the experience, so far, is pretty bad. Well ... it looks like they are trouble shooting a display???

Wouldn't that be your logical first step if you saw these DTCs:

At least the guys in Los Banos were able to figure out what was wrong:

View attachment 76704

I have a gut feeling that this is going to be a fight until the end.

COVID:

Last dose of Paxlovid was this morning. I'm finally feeling better today. I actually slept for more than 2 hours last night and I stopped taking all pain meds. Thank you all for your concern and thanks to the, literal, entire page of DM threads from y'all wishing me the best.

I don’t understand why you didn’t get assistance from Ford like everyone else to let the dealer know what’s wrong?

 

[Neil4Real]

Just so I know my eyes aren’t broken - this is your LOCAL dealer that your car just got towed to?!? One of the dealers Ford corp wanted to tow it to, instead of trying to get Los Banos up to speed? Holy moth balls, Batman.

 

[Mach-Lee]

This was around 10am so I gave it until 3pm and I call the service advisor. The service advisor tells me that they wont take a look at the car until Monday. So I asked him if he's sure and I told him that the car is in the bay right now. He says "Oh well let me go ask the tech".

He comes back to the phone 10 minutes later and tells me that the tech has gone home for the day. I'm a bit confused by that being that the car accessory mode is still turned on (which I can also see by the camera).

Your fancy remote monitoring must have spooked him. ?

 

[Howard]

So sorry to hear about your experience so far.

 

[scoopman]

Just so I know my eyes aren’t broken - this is your LOCAL dealer that your car just got towed to?!? One of the dealers Ford corp wanted to tow it to, instead of trying to get Los Banos up to speed? Holy moth balls, Batman.

Yeah any vetting of these guys before your car showed up? Doesn't seem confidence inspiring...

 

[mwtechy]

Ford could easily hire 3 interns to drive this route 24/7 till they have enough data and test all versions of the part and software. If the lawsuits ever get anywhere before settlement, discovery I'm assuming would crack open how ford could miss a design flaw vs a defect. It's truly unlikely the same people could reproduce the problem if it's just a mf defect unless poor design or software was responsible for the original problem. So to those saying a hardware recall will never happen, it's cheaper than what would happen if this was intentional. Hey maybe it's their version of planned obsolescence lol. We're only good little consumers if we pay our rent...or the fords version of bmw heated seats.

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