"Stop Safely Now" warning & start failure caused by charging system fault

[Electric Goat]

This is absolutely infuriating. My Mach-E GT has exactly 18,888 miles on it and it's essentially a sitting brick in my garage AGAIN... for the third time.

I received a charge fault notification this evening via Ford Pass and it instructed me to unplug and replug in the car and immediately my heart sank... I knew exactly what I was going to see if I attempted to start the car again. Stop Safely Now.

My last HVBJB was replaced almost exactly a year ago under the exact same circumstances.

It's official. I can't trust the car at all to safely transport my family anywhere. It's strictly been an around town cruiser for the past 8 months.

@Ford Motor Company your beefier junction box is not any better and the recall software didn't give me any advanced warning. There seriously need to be a stop sale on all of these cars. Getting stranded roughly every 6000 miles is not acceptable.

?

Edit: Updated thread title for accuracy

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[kennethjk]

They have no idea how to fix this

 

[mwtechy]

Has your BECM ever been replaced?

 

[thekat03]

Ouch. Ford needs to stick extra monitoring software (with consent) in all the cars that have more than one HVBJB failure. There is something about your cars or driving style that Ford is missing, that may help clue them into why these HVBJBs are failing, so they can fix the cars and let people drive them properly without worrying when they may brick.

 

[BigMach-E]

I have a sneaking suspicion that Ford might not know how to fix this. The fact that they are apparently now putting in reman HVJB in cars is concerning. The fact that the redesigned HVJBs are starting to fail is concerning.

 

[Electric Goat]

Has your BECM ever been replaced?

I'm not 100% sure. I'll have to dig up my original service records to verify but I think that it was replaced in February of 2022 as part of the repair for my first failure when Ford had less of an idea of what was going on. Why do you ask? Is the BECM supposed to be replaced also?

 

[Electric Goat]

Ouch. Ford needs to stick extra monitoring software (with consent) in all the cars that have more than one HVBJB failure. There is something about your cars or driving style that Ford is missing, that may help clue them into why these HVBJBs are failing, so they can fix the cars and let people drive them properly without worrying when they may brick.

Agreed... because essentially all that I own right now is a $60k neighborhood-only golf cart. My car has not left the city since last year and 75% of my driving lately has been under 30 MPH. 100% of it under 75 MPH.

 

[Electric Goat]

I have a sneaking suspicion that Ford might not know how to fix this. The fact that they are apparently now putting in reman HVJB in cars is concerning. The fact that the redesigned HVJBs are starting to fail is concerning.

I bet that they know how to fix it but the true fix/retrofit won't be cheap.... but this car has been out for almost 3 years now and there's no acceptable excuse... it's truly sad that 2023's are still rolling off of the assembly line and this issue hasn't been fixed.

 

[Jferrari427]

This is absolutely infuriating. My Mach-E GT has exactly 18,888 miles on it and it's essentially a sitting brick in my garage AGAIN... for the third time.

I received a charge fault notification this evening via Ford Pass and it instructed me to unplug and replug in the car and immediately my heart sank... I knew exactly what I was going to see if I attempted to start the car again. Stop Safely Now.

My last HVBJB was replaced almost exactly a year ago under the exact same circumstances.

It's official. I can't trust the car at all to safely transport my family anywhere. It's strictly been an around town cruiser for the past 8 months.

@Ford Motor Company your beefier junction box is not any better and the recall software didn't give me any advanced warning. There seriously need to be a stop sale on all of these cars. Getting stranded roughly every 6000 miles is not acceptable.

?

If that was me I’d demand a buy back from Ford for a brand new car or pay out. Consider hiring an attorney and check your local lemon laws.

 

[kennethjk]

I have a sneaking suspicion that Ford might not know how to fix this. The fact that they are apparently now putting in reman HVJB in cars is concerning. The fact that the redesigned HVJBs are starting to fail is concerning.

It’s no sneaking suspicion. It’s seems to be a fact otherwise they would have done so. And if they do know and won’t tell us it’s malpractice.

 

[Electric Goat]

It’s no sneaking suspicion. It’s seems to be a fact otherwise they would have done so. And if they do know and won’t tell us it’s malpractice.

Good point. ?

 

[mwtechy]

I'm not 100% sure. I'll have to dig up my original service records to verify but I think that it was replaced in February of 2022 as part of the repair for my first failure when Ford had less of an idea of what was going on. Why do you ask? Is the BECM supposed to be replaced also?

Not according to Ford. Mine was replaced when my 12v died and the guy on this forum looking into these things really thought I'd see a HVBJB failure or get one soon after but that was a while ago now. They replaced the 12v, the BECM, and discharged the HVB to inspect two cells that had an odd charge but did not replace the HVBJB. My theory completely based on nothing was that bad wiring or a bad sensor with the BECM caused chattering (described by others on this forum with high voltage connectors) which eventually causes the failure but only in those that have repeat issues with this. If you've already had the BECM replaced then that rules that out obviously. I haven't had my HVBJB replaced but getting ready for another road trip adding another 3k miles in hot summer desert heat so I've been trying to keep tabs on this to see if it's still happening.

 

[KevinS]

This is absolutely infuriating. My Mach-E GT has exactly 18,888 miles on it and it's essentially a sitting brick in my garage AGAIN... for the third time.

I received a charge fault notification this evening via Ford Pass and it instructed me to unplug and replug in the car and immediately my heart sank... I knew exactly what I was going to see if I attempted to start the car again. Stop Safely Now.

Sorry to hear you're going through this... have you been able to pull any codes from the OBD port for what's going on?

 

[kennethjk]

I am really sorry you are going thru this. Should not have to be.

although I haven’t had a failure yet I wonder when it will come. hasn’t stopped me from taking road trips of 250 miles each way but if it happens with my wife in the car it could be my last trip in that car or at least it will be expensive.

I have yet to WOT the car, not afraid of damaging the HVBJB but concerned about weakening it so when I am on a trip it will fail. I can handle failing locally not some far away area that may not know how to handle the car. Also every time I pass a car I wonder if ai will lose 50% of power.

I was trying to talk my wife into driving the car to Florida this winter. After reading about more failures I might pass and just have the car shipped down.

again, best of luck

 

[RickMachE]

To each their own, but living in fear is ridiculous to me. We took a 2,950 mile drive with the 2022 Mach-E (made before the new HVBJB) in February. The previous May we took it on a 1,045 mile trip, and in August on a 625 mile trip, followed by a 555 mile trip. I have stomped on the pedal more times than I can count.

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