Stop Safely Now (HVBJB): Mach-E Owners Biggest Fear - Facts and Info Thread

[Nickp8500]

You're getting the full Ford family experience! Sorry this is happening to you, I would start the buyback process and get a ? lawyer or BBB involved. Doesn't sound like you have a good dealer here, you should disclose who they are.

Dealer is in Key West. I told Ford if there is no demonstration of progress by end of day Monday, I’m planning on starting the buyback/lemon process.

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[ponEpwr]

Mine failed with SVS and HVB warning PWTRN Malfunction a few days after my software recall update. It took me about a week of pushing back to both ford corporate case manager and dealership to finally get the rental. I had the rental with full gas reimbursement for 2 weeks. Case manager was able to approve gas reimbursement up to 200$, mine was 182$. Anything greater than 200 would've had to get next level approval. TOtal process took about 3.5 weeks. Goodluck

Just a quick update. Received a call thursday that they identified the issue as the HVJB and have it on order and it should be arriving Monday or Tuesday this coming week. They got me set up with a Ford explorer rental when I got back in town. I'm happy so far. Hope to get my mach e back this next week. Hopefully they really do get the part as expected.

 

[Rrknight]

6 months after my HVJBF repair and now this just popped up. Now the car in limb mode. FORD sucks!

 

[ayeaye2013]

Hello!

So I had the stop safely now issue pop up out of nowhere yesterday afternoon while the car was unfortunately parked on the street without access to a charger.

From the sounds of things I suspect it is the HVBJB since I got it in April 2021.

Some issues I've already run into:
1) The car would not go into Tow/Neutral mode (the gear shifter would not change at all and the Emergency Tow button on the touchscreen was disabled regardless of how long I pressed it for) - it seemed like the error messages were overriding the ability to put it in neutral mode as there was one time I was able to get it into the mode and then the car just shut itself off. I tried a few more times after that but then the 12V battery I think drained so we were out of luck.

2) I called Ford Corporate (Canada) using the number listed and they told me that I am ineligible for a rental until after the Ford dealership diagnoses the vehicle (fair I suppose) but also that there is no such thing as a BEV team and that I have no reason to be starting a case.

Any suggestions regarding either of those two issues (not sure if anyone else's Mach-E has refused to go into Tow mode - thankfully with all the snow here in Calgary it was slippery enough to get the car onto a flatbed without much trouble - sigh)

 

[scoopman]

Just leaving this hear for y'all to watch as you wait for your HVBJBs to arrive at the dealership .... or for your Junction Box to fail. (just kidding, but I did try to explain my experience with this defect, and what the defect actually is)

 

[Nickp8500]

My saga with the car has been an absolute nightmare. Multiple failures from both Ford corporate and the dealership at ever step of the way.

• April 27, 2022 - Car had a battery failure - issue with producing low voltage. Dealership replaced the battery with a Toyota model, saying all the Ford batteries were on backorder. Said they put in an order for a replacement, and will call when they receive it. Never got a call back.
• October 5, 2022 - Car died again - screen said “Full accessory power active” and “Stop safely now”. Battery power worked but the engine would not start. Towed to the Key West Ford dealership. Service advisor informed us that she didn’t know when they could look at it, but would do so as soon as possible. We asked about a rental or loaner car, and they said they did not provide those.
• October 6, 2022 - Dealer called and said they just ordered the new battery (which they said they did in April, but never did). Informed us that our battery would be given an emergency status since we’ve already had issues with the car.
• October 17, 2022 - We were informed that they couldn’t do any work on the car until their new EV tech started on this date. Diagnostics revealed the issue was related to the High Voltage Junction Box (HVJB) causing failure. Was told again at this time that the dealership does not provide loaner cars. They ordered a replacement junction box, and informed me they are on backorder, but 30 of them have been released and shipped to dealerships, but couldn’t tell me if we specifically would be allocated one. At this point, we rented a car at our own expense at a rate of $78/day, until October 21, 2022.
• October 19, 2022 - Dealer called to say that the new battery was put in, but the tester failed and they needed to order a new one.
• October 20, 2022 - Called dealership to follow up, left message, no response.
• October 21, 2022 - Called dealership to follow up. Was informed there was no update and they still would not provide a rental car.
• October 25, 2022 - We reached out to a close family friend who is employed by Ford Corporate to see if he had any insight, and he escalated it to the appropriate internal people.
• October 26, 2022 - Spoke to our contact at Ford Corporate who confirmed our case had entered internal escalation. They confirmed the part was being prioritized to be sent to the dealership. Customer care team was reaching out to the dealership to secure a loaner or rental car. I called dealership to follow up, left message, no response.
• October 27, 2022 - Received a voicemail from dealer. She said the parts department spoke with Ford this morning, they did a COPIS case, which puts an emergency order on it and pushes it through. Ford Corporate told them once they do that, the part will come in much quicker, and anticipate the part within the next few days.
• October 28, 2022 - Called dealership to follow up, no response. Dealer eventually called back at 5:00pm to inform me that the part had shipped, but didn’t have any tracking information. Asked again about loaner/rental, and that I was told by Ford that they are supposed to supply us with a vehicle. She denied this, and told me Ford denied her request for rental reimbursement for me.
• November 1, 2022 - Received word from Ford Corporate that they directed the dealership to approve a rental car. Confirmed 100% that the dealership was contacted by Ford Corporate and directed to provide a rental. Our case was going to be brought up the next day in an executive review of open cases. Case manager from Ford Corporate reached out and said she was going to call the dealership to get their side of the story, and she would call us back within the hour. She was never able to reach the dealership.
• November 2, 2022 - We followed up with Ford Corporate, and another case manager was able to talk to the dealership. She informed us that the dealership just tried plugging in the tracking information for then HVJB, and determined that it was NOT, in fact, shipped, and was waiting at the parts depot for a shipping label. In order to get the part expedited, the case manager directed the dealership to call the depot. Dealer then called, and informed me that the parts department at the dealership called to change our HVJB order to a COPIS order (which they claimed to do on October 27), but were unable to do so since a label had already been created. Reiterated that we were not allocated for a car loaner/rental. Received an email from Ford corporate that she would follow up tomorrow about the rental.
• November 3, 2022 - Went to the dealership and spoke with Alan, the service manager. First thing he said was that he had a loaner car for us. They actually have 4 loaners. The service advisor apparently lied about not having loaners through the dealership. The manager looked into the ordering of the part. Apparently it WAS ordered as COPIS, but not the correct type. It should have been ordered as “off the road”, and Ford would not allow them to change it. Later that afternoon, case manager from Ford emailed to tell me that there is now no documented tracking info from the shipper. Dealership now has to reorder the part.

I did not come across this thread until later on in this process. If I had sooner, I would have gotten Ford involved at the very beginning, although I’m not entirely sure it would have helped much. I have been caught in between the dealer and Ford playing “he said, she said”, and there is a new excuse every time. Each side blames the other for each failure. It is actually quite impressive just how dysfunctional the dealer and Ford have been. Truly the absolute worst customer service experience I’ve ever dealt with. I have zero confidence in getting the car back anytime soon. Strongly considering starting the Lemon Law process at this point.

Update as of today (11/7/22):
Spoke with my assigned Ford BEV specialist. States she has no new info about ordering the part, and dealership needs to submit a claim for the missing part before they can order a new one. She was waiting to hear back from dealer. Dealer then emailed me, stating they were waiting to hear back from Ford because apparently its past due to file a claim. I connected the dealer and Ford through email, and Ford is now telling the dealer to consult with their “dealer specialist” through the dealer help desk. Said that is essentially the extent of how she can help.

Car has been at the dealer since 10/5/22, and Ford still can’t figure out a way to get the part shipped. I’m convinced this is all some elaborate practical joke. It’s the only way I can legitimately explain it.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Some issues I've already run into:
1) The car would not go into Tow/Neutral mode (the gear shifter would not change at all and the Emergency Tow button on the touchscreen was disabled regardless of how long I pressed it for) - it seemed like the error messages were overriding the ability to put it in neutral mode as there was one time I was able to get it into the mode and then the car just shut itself off. I tried a few more times after that but then the 12V battery I think drained so we were out of luck.

2) I called Ford Corporate (Canada) using the number listed and they told me that I am ineligible for a rental until after the Ford dealership diagnoses the vehicle (fair I suppose) but also that there is no such thing as a BEV team and that I have no reason to be starting a case.

Any suggestions regarding either of those two issues (not sure if anyone else's Mach-E has refused to go into Tow mode - thankfully with all the snow here in Calgary it was slippery enough to get the car onto a flatbed without much trouble - sigh)

1) If the 12V battery is too dead it won't have enough power to go into emergency tow mode. Jump the 12V battery and then try again. If it was grayed out, it may have already been in emergency tow mode, did you try pushing the vehicle? The parking brake also has to be turned off separately before the car will roll.

2) Try messaging "Ford of Canada" on here.

Update as of today (11/7/22):
Spoke with my assigned Ford BEV specialist. States she has no new info about ordering the part, and dealership needs to submit a claim for the missing part before they can order a new one. She was waiting to hear back from dealer. Dealer then emailed me, stating they were waiting to hear back from Ford because apparently its past due to file a claim. I connected the dealer and Ford through email, and Ford is now telling the dealer to consult with their “dealer specialist” through the dealer help desk. Said that is essentially the extent of how she can help.

Car has been at the dealer since 10/5/22, and Ford still can’t figure out a way to get the part shipped. I’m convinced this is all some elaborate practical joke. It’s the only way I can legitimately explain it.

Your dealer sucks, they didn't know how to order the part correctly and then lied to you about it (and loners). Only one HVBJB is authorized per VIN, so if your dealer ordered it wrong they will have to work with Ford to claim the first allocated part missing so they can order another one for your VIN. It's the dealers' responsibility to learn how to do these things correctly as part of their job. Ford will help them, but they have to recognize there's an issue and be willing to ask for help. If the dealer doesn't hear back from Ford, then they need to call again or check their email.

 

[bncwhite]

@scoopman @pr3dict

I just got my reimbursement card and it says no ATM Access at the bottom of the "welcome letter".

Do you know if I can I take the prepaid card to my bank (Chase) and have the funds be taken off the card and immediately deposited into my bank account?

 

[scoopman]

@scoopman @pr3dict

I just got my reimbursement card and it says no ATM Access at the bottom of the "welcome letter".

Do you know if I can I take the prepaid card to my bank (Chase) and have the funds be taken off the card and immediately deposited into my bank account?

I don't know, we used it anywhere plastic is accepted instead of our usual credit cards. I'm not sure you can cash it out, this might be an anti fraud measure on these cards.

 

[bncwhite]

Thanks for the quick update. In this situation, my car was out of service for 10 weeks for a non-HVBJB issue that my prepaid card has a LARGE amount on it. I need to get the funds off the card so I can pay the credit cards off that have the big rental fees on them. I don't want to spend up to 6 months finding spots to use the card before it expires.

 

[scoopman]

Thanks for the quick update. In this situation, my car was out of service for 10 weeks for a non-HVBJB issue that my prepaid card has a LARGE amount on it. I need to get the funds off the card so I can pay the credit cards off that have the big rental fees on them. I don't want to spend up to 6 months finding spots to use the card before it expires.

Oh that really sucks. I only had about $200 on mine that the dealer didn't cover.

 

[macchiaz-o]

Thanks for the quick update. In this situation, my car was out of service for 10 weeks for a non-HVBJB issue that my prepaid card has a LARGE amount on it. I need to get the funds off the card so I can pay the credit cards off that have the big rental fees on them. I don't want to spend up to 6 months finding spots to use the card before it expires.

A great place to use prepaid cards is with your recurring bills. I use them to pay for my phone and Internet bills, for instance.

 

[scoopman]

Thanks for the quick update. In this situation, my car was out of service for 10 weeks for a non-HVBJB issue that my prepaid card has a LARGE amount on it. I need to get the funds off the card so I can pay the credit cards off that have the big rental fees on them. I don't want to spend up to 6 months finding spots to use the card before it expires.

Google sent me here which might help. If you cannot do this directly there are third parties that will happily be in the middle and transfer the money. Of course everyone takes a fee to do this. https://www.creditcards.com/credit-management/transfer-money-prepaid-card-to-bank-account/

 

[Rrknight]

Just leaving this hear for y'all to watch as you wait for your HVBJBs to arrive at the dealership .... or for your Junction Box to fail. (just kidding, but I did try to explain my experience with this defect, and what the defect actually is)

This is a great video! Thank you for doing this! I sent this to my dealer who is fixing my Mache GT performance. I'm in the exact same situation as you where they put in thebold defective part and now need the new updated HVBJB.

 

[ayeaye2013]

1) If the 12V battery is too dead it won't have enough power to go into emergency tow mode. Jump the 12V battery and then try again. If it was grayed out, it may have already been in emergency tow mode, did you try pushing the vehicle? The parking brake also has to be turned off separately before the car will roll.

2) Try messaging "Ford of Canada" on here.



Your dealer sucks, they didn't know how to order the part correctly and then lied to you about it (and loners). Only one HVBJB is authorized per VIN, so if your dealer ordered it wrong they will have to work with Ford to claim the first allocated part missing so they can order another one for your VIN. It's the dealers' responsibility to learn how to do these things correctly as part of their job. Ford will help them, but they have to recognize there's an issue and be willing to ask for help. If the dealer doesn't hear back from Ford, then they need to call again or check their email.

Thanks!! We tried for about 90 min to get the car into Neutral/Tow mode before the 12V died . Definitely did try pushing it and it wasn't in neutral haha. But in the end the ice helped significantly...

Was definitely a good idea to talk with Ford on here - although everyone I've talked to is still quite adamant that there are no BEV specialists that I'd be able to talk with. They've confirmed it is the HVBJB issue so now I'm joining the queue for the part...also hoping they'll get the rental paperwork sorted soon here.

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