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

[Kamuelaflyer]

Todd, it's not just your dealer who has very poor communications.

The issue @DevSecOps and others have had with communication is not just an isolated dealer or 666, it's industry-wide and not just Ford. It's one of the many reasons I'm not fond of the current incarnation of the dealer system. As an example, related to this topic only by the fact both Todd and I have Mach-es, I'm currently on month 6+ waiting for the glass recalls to be scheduled. I know why the dealer is not scheduling them (although they don't know that I know). There's been zero communication, however, from them on the issue they're having. For a safety recall. I'd hate to see what happens when/if my premium awd er bonks because of the consistent semi-freeway speed climbs up the Daniel k Inouye Highway (average slope over 6% on the section I drive). None of this is very reassuring. We shouldn't have to get contacts at Ford involved for the cars to be properly handled and fixed. We shouldn't have to tweet Mike Levine or Jim Farley or drop emails to the customer satisfaction directors at Ford.

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[RMoore]

I'm sure their investors, along with Ford Corp, want them to keep it as under the rug as possible and spend as little money as possible.

Not sure I agree. Investors are interested in both short and long term factors and how they impact the value of their shares. The Wall St analysts are typically the ones asking questions and they want as much info as possible for developing their models that they hope predict stock price. What I don’t have a feel for is how much an issue this is and if it moves the needle for them. If it did they would ask about it.

 

[scoopman]

They also need to be accountable to shareholders. I don’t listen to their quarterly earnings call and investor Q&A portion but I would love for someone to bring this up at that venue. I just don’t have a feel for how big an issue this would be to the investor community. On the one hand Ford is dealing with millions of recalls on other models, but the Mach e (and certainly the Lightening) are important to them. The Mach e since it is their first foray into EVs and the Lightening since it is the electric version of their big cash cow. I wonder if they get questions from the major auto journalists about this. Would be great to see Ford corporate be pushed to speak publicly about how they plan to deal with the HVBJB issue (apart from the software recall). I’d love for someone whom they can’t ignore to force them to say why they think it’s ok to not replace everyone’s HVBJB if that’s their stance.

They are raising prices considerably, and many folks won't be eligible for the Federal Tax Credit starting next year, and they'll have no problem selling every single one for higher prices.

How they are handling this recall is so small potatoes in terms of numbers that I doubt it would come up.

The hidden problem Ford has is that it's traditional customer segments are just fine with this kind of discount treatment (bad towing reps, poor CS, high recall rate/lower quality, and poor dealer service and standards) -- but the customer segments they are reaching into with the Mach-E generally do not find this acceptable.

The Mach-E GT Performance is a great car, but I can separate my enjoyment of the car with my lack of satisfaction with Ford as a brand and company.

I would have to see a large change in Ford's Model E group and its dealers are operating when my Ford Options is up to make me get another Ford.

 

[scoopman]

Today, after some back and forth on DTCs with Corporate and the Dealership I got the car back with a brand new HVBJB. In my car they put in a LK9Z-10C666-B. "B" is not the same part listed in the TSB, so we'll see how this experiment goes. There was some concern about some DTCs presenting themselves after the replacement of the HVBJB, which I'll continue to keep an eye on.

There's also some other parts that the car might be back into the shop for, unrelated to the HVBJB, but we'll cross that road when we get there.

As for the dealership, the service manager told me today that I was one of the easiest customers to deal with. He praised my understanding of the issue and patience with them since they have a backlog. I am grateful to have the car back, but there are 3 issues that I'll address if I bring the car back to them for any reason.

• Their communication with the customer is bad. They wouldn't return emails and in general didn't keep me in the loop. There wasn't the communication that I would expect - "this is what we intend to do to resolve x, y and z."
• They covered my dashcam, which I'm not happy about. If you don't have anything to hide a camera should be the least of your concerns. Additionally, they covered it for many days, including while it was parked in the parking lot. If someone would have damaged the car at night I wouldn't have any proof of it. I was really disappointed by this behavior. Additionally, since he used a large towel it bent my dashcam at an angle. They also messed with my radar detector for some strange reason (maybe they thought it was a camera?).
• Service repair order says that the modules were reprogrammed and tested. They didn't road test the car at all and, per the logs, they didn't reprogram anything. They just cleared codes. While this could be standard, boilerplate, language it's just something that I noticed as not being accurate.

I checked the underside of the car for signs of obvious damage since the car was towed while I wasn't present and everything looks good.

I'd never go back to that dealer.

 

[kennethjk]

Investors would love to know if there are problems since it is their money at stake. unfortunately for us these recalls seem to be pretty standard for Ford so it might not move the needle much.

 

[mkhuffman]

Not sure I agree. Investors are interested in both short and long term factors and how they impact the value of their shares. The Wall St analysts are typically the ones asking questions and they want as much info as possible for developing their models that they hope predict stock price. What I don’t have a feel for is how much an issue this is and if it moves the needle for them. If it did they would ask about it.

The bottom line is, are they profitable and growing? If they can't sell cars because of quality issues, shareholders will care. If they are not profitable and can't pay dividends (wait, they are not paying dividends! Stupid COVID shutdowns.) then investors will care.

Right now, they are selling cars like hotcakes (hotcakes sell?) and they are profitable. Maybe if they replace the HVBJB on every MME they won't be. Anyway, there are consequences but right now they are not serious enough to impact results.

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

I'd hate to see what happens when/if my premium awd er bonks because of the consistent semi-freeway speed climbs up the Daniel k Inouye Highway (average slope over 6% on the section I drive).

I totally get it, but dang, what an amazing regular drive! While I sorta/kinda miss the Old Saddle Road, wow, the new one is spectacular!!

 

[heisnuts]

Today, after some back and forth on DTCs with Corporate and the Dealership I got the car back with a brand new HVBJB. In my car they put in a LK9Z-10C666-B. "B" is not the same part listed in the TSB, so we'll see how this experiment goes. There was some concern about some DTCs presenting themselves after the replacement of the HVBJB, which I'll continue to keep an eye on.

There's also some other parts that the car might be back into the shop for, unrelated to the HVBJB, but we'll cross that road when we get there.

As for the dealership, the service manager told me today that I was one of the easiest customers to deal with. He praised my understanding of the issue and patience with them since they have a backlog. I am grateful to have the car back, but there are 3 issues that I'll address if I bring the car back to them for any reason.

• Their communication with the customer is bad. They wouldn't return emails and in general didn't keep me in the loop. There wasn't the communication that I would expect - "this is what we intend to do to resolve x, y and z."
• They covered my dashcam, which I'm not happy about. If you don't have anything to hide a camera should be the least of your concerns. Additionally, they covered it for many days, including while it was parked in the parking lot. If someone would have damaged the car at night I wouldn't have any proof of it. I was really disappointed by this behavior. Additionally, since he used a large towel it bent my dashcam at an angle. They also messed with my radar detector for some strange reason (maybe they thought it was a camera?).
• Service repair order says that the modules were reprogrammed and tested. They didn't road test the car at all and, per the logs, they didn't reprogram anything. They just cleared codes. While this could be standard, boilerplate, language it's just something that I noticed as not being accurate.

I checked the underside of the car for signs of obvious damage since the car was towed while I wasn't present and everything looks good.

I am glad to hear you have your GT back and can continue testing the HVBJB for Ford. Sadly, I am not surprised by your experience. It is not just with Ford unfortunately, but a lot of dealers across all brands. If the car is in for only a day or two it is usually not a problem. However, if the car has to sit for parts or tech availability, then there is usually radio silence until it is done. The same thing can be said about updating software. As you may remember from my first failure the dealer said they updated all the modules in the system and after getting the car back you ran my VIN and saw more un-updated modules than you usually see for a job 2 2001 car.

I am curious if you brought up your concerns about the camera and radar detector with the service manager. Like you said, it's one thing to unplug it when working on the car, but to put something over it with weight and let it sit outside in the baking sun for several days is quite another.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

I totally get it, but dang, what an amazing regular drive! While I sorta/kinda miss the Old Saddle Road, wow, the new one is spectacular!!

The county can’t do without it due to cross island access problems, but I certainly can. 7 day a week 15 to 25 mph military convoys coupled with 35 mph commercial traffic. Makes driving on it an “experience.” Old Saddle road is worse now as people don’t drive it much so they just go bombing through the one lane bridges regardless of the yield signs. Probably a fender bende a week on it now, and a multiple fatality accident about 3 weeks ago

 

[minders]

@DevSecOps Out of curiosity, which radar detector do you have? Hubs has the Valentine One (gen 1) and it's AMAZING. Trying to get him to upgrade so I can have his old one. Looking for other options in the meantime in case he says no.

Glad you finally have your vehicle back. Sorry to hear it was such a long process!

 

[DevSecOps]

@DevSecOps Out of curiosity, which radar detector do you have? Hubs has the Valentine One (gen 1) and it's AMAZING. Trying to get him to upgrade so I can have his old one. Looking for other options in the meantime in case he says no.

Glad you finally have your vehicle back. Sorry to hear it was such a long process!

All of my accessories can be found here.

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/accessories-from-must-have-to-optional.19670/post-466788

Important to note about radar detectors. They have to go at the very top of the windshield in the black dot area otherwise they won't work well due to the IRR windshield. I designed a custom mount, also on the accessory page to accommodate this detector

 

[scoopman]

@DevSecOps Out of curiosity, which radar detector do you have? Hubs has the Valentine One (gen 1) and it's AMAZING. Trying to get him to upgrade so I can have his old one. Looking for other options in the meantime in case he says no.

Glad you finally have your vehicle back. Sorry to hear it was such a long process!

If you're looking for an alternative suggestion to the V1 or the Escort, I have the new Uniden R8.

It fits out of the box with their mount on the black part of the windshield, and it is spectacular if you're going to upgrade your radar detector. The R8 (and the slightly older R7) get great reviews. See here: https://www.vortexradar.com/2022/03/uniden-r8-review/

 

[EELinneman]

@DevSecOps Out of curiosity, which radar detector do you have? Hubs has the Valentine One (gen 1) and it's AMAZING. Trying to get him to upgrade so I can have his old one. Looking for other options in the meantime in case he says no.

Glad you finally have your vehicle back. Sorry to hear it was such a long process!

I have a Valentine 1 Gen 2. I use the mount on my sun visor to get signal through the black dots as Todd mentioned. I've had V1 detectors since 1998 and they have saved me a boatload of money in both tickets, stupidity and insurance. Regardless of having a radar detector, you need to drive smartly. One thing to consider is that there usually is that one person who will get the ticket. Don't be that guy. Learn where you can exceed the speed limits and where you cannot.

I'm on my 3rd V1 in 24 years. One fried in 2002 due to a close lightning strike. The folks at Valentine wanted it back for a post mortem, so I got a new one free. I upgraded to this one about a year ago and handed my still working V1 G1 to my son. The nice part of the G2 is over the air updates via the phone.

 

[DevSecOps]

The nice part of the G2 is over the air updates via the phone.

The nice part about the newer escorts is that they connect to the wifi on the car, update automatically and there's social radar detection. If my detector gets a KA band hit, it publishes that to a database and any other detectors coming within the area will alert to my detector detecting the KA band within a time frame.

 

[minders]

@EELinneman

Do you use it with JBV1? We have an extra (older) phone dedicated to running that with a BT dongle since it's the older model. Hubby thinks it's way better than the Valentine app since it ties into Waze. We get alerts for speed limit changes, speed traps, broken down cars, trash in the road, etc and can report things as we come upon them. It's a pretty sweet set up. He's been thinking about upgrading to the gen 2 for a while, but can't convince himself to pull the trigger since the gen 1 is still working great.

I'm the slower and more cautious driver of us two and am definitely not that guy. We've learned what we can get away with in our normal driving area without being obnoxious and try to fly more than taking road trips since he works for an airline. He has a 60 mile round trip commute to work, so it's nice to have the peace of mind. The V1 has been a great "investment" so far and has also saved us a boatload over the years.

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