First Edition #189

[tgdesrochers]

Hello people of Mach E forums, I have a fun and maybe unique issue for you. I purchased this car used after my first Mach E (gen 2) was involved in an accident which resulted in insurance totaling the vehicle. When I purchased this one, I saw that the carfax report showed the vehicle was titled to its first owner on Dec 02, 2022. I assumed it was a late model 21. Little did I know it was #198 off the line (I didn't know it was shown in the VIN, call me ignorant or dumb but I didn't know). Fast forward to now. My car has been in and out of the shop since March 2024 for blue cruise and update issues. My update screen shows update 4.2.5 while other gen 1's show current updates or at least not 4.x. Also my warranty went into service in August of 2020, when Carfax shows the first owner regestered in Dec 2022 with 10 miles on the car.

I have spoken to ford corporate, who admits it is strange, and the dealer I purchased it from (who says they have no idea why the warranty started 2 years and 4 months earlier than it was originally titled) who admit that something is off. I've also had it at 3 different ford repair shops in PA and MD with all of them telling me the car cannot be updated past 4.2.5.

I am hoping the good people of Mach E forums can help me figure out a few things:
How can I tell what happened between July 2020 when the car rolled off the factory floor and August 2020 when the car was "put in service" by ford. Then 2 years and 4 months go by with the car accruing 10 miles before it is leased in December of 2022. After 1 year and 4 months the car is then sold by ford at auction as a leased vehicle with 12,400ish miles on it. I purchased it from the dealer who bought it at auction.

I guess, I'm wondering what can be done and if anyone else has dealt with this. How can the car be so far behind and how can I convince the dealership that it needs to be updated, when they tell me everything they have shows it has all the updates it can receive.

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[tgdesrochers]

Edit: I meant 189 not 198. Sorry.

 

[RickMachE]

Hate to burst your bubble, but that is not what that means.

My 2021, made in May 2021, ended in 28XXX. My 2022, made in April 2022, ended in 01XXX.

My 2022 Lightning was one of the first 1,100 made. My VIN ends in 016XX.

Dealer demos, also called mannequins, have a start date for warranty and features (i.e. connected nav, blue cruise) of the date they start using it, even though they didn't title it. I bought my Lightning in May 2023 and lost a year of warranty and connected services.

 

[ChasingCoral]

It looks to me like yours was a pre-production or VERY early production model. Mine was built on December 9 and was VIN 3FMTK3SU2MMA05xxx. VINS were sequential on orders to the factory, not to production. Either way yours is a very early VIN.

However, your August build date seems off as they first started production in September 2020 and only 24 came off the line that month.

 

[ChasingCoral]

On updates, your aren’t the only one with a 2021 at 4.x software. Dealers can’t force software updates either. If yours has been sitting undriven, it would not be getting updates either.

 

[macchiaz-o]

Hate to burst your bubble, but that is not what that means.

My 2021, made in May 2021, ended in 28XXX. My 2022, made in April 2022, ended in 01XXX.

My 2022 Lightning was one of the first 1,100 made. My VIN ends in 016XX.

Dealer demos, also called mannequins, have a start date for warranty and features (i.e. connected nav, blue cruise) of the date they start using it, even though they didn't title it. I bought my Lightning in May 2023 and lost a year of warranty and connected services.

@tgdesrochers can in fact confirm the model year and factory order entry from the vin.

Digit 10 is the model year. For MY21, this digit is M.

The final digits 12-17 reveal the "sequential vehicle identifier." I believe @ChasingCoral is correct that this is the order submitted to the factory, not the order of final assembly. The first orders of the Mach-E started with letter A in digit 12, if I recall correctly.

Here's the decoder for MY21. I am curious to know if Tim can compare against his vin and let us know if it lines up!

 

[GatorGrowl]

You’ve likely got a mannequin car. These are built for display on the dealer showroom floor and cannot be sold until Ford releases them.
They are legally classified “new” in the sense they’ve never been sold, but for them to work correctly for demos they would have to activate the modem, which is what triggers the start of the “in service” period. Ford *should* honor the 3yr warranty, but that depends on your state’s laws on the subject.

 

[dbsb3233]

Reportedly, the very first MME sold to the public was Dec 30, 2020. So a warranty start date 4 months prior to that seems very weird. I don't remember dealers getting showroom cars THAT early. The first ones we saw in person were pre-production models that Ford was taking around the country on a dog&pony show. We went to the one in Longmont CO on Dec 8, 2020 and took some pics (below).

 

[macchiaz-o]

@tgdesrochers can in fact confirm the model year and factory order entry from the vin.

Digit 10 is the model year. For MY21, this digit is M.

The final digits 12-17 reveal the "sequential vehicle identifier." I believe @ChasingCoral is correct that this is the order submitted to the factory, not the order of final assembly. The first orders of the Mach-E started with letter A in digit 12, if I recall correctly.

Here's the decoder for MY21. I am curious to know if Tim can compare against his vin and let us know if it lines up!

I looked for the OP's vin earlier and didn't see it... I looked again and realized I just missed it. Yes, that's definitely a very early MY21 vin.

Very strange that it ever entered the used market.

 

[tgdesrochers]

Hate to burst your bubble, but that is not what that means.

My 2021, made in May 2021, ended in 28XXX. My 2022, made in April 2022, ended in 01XXX.

My 2022 Lightning was one of the first 1,100 made. My VIN ends in 016XX.

Dealer demos, also called mannequins, have a start date for warranty and features (i.e. connected nav, blue cruise) of the date they start using it, even though they didn't title it. I bought my Lightning in May 2023 and lost a year of warranty and connected services.

Thank you for the info, I was going off what Ford told me and what the Dealership told me, my vehicle is number 189. He told me it was shown in the VIN and he also showed me the build date so I know the day It rolled off the factory floor. I attached the Oasis report hoping it could help someone determine any additional details.

Never heard of a mannequin. Do they just roll those around and not let people drive them. 10 miles in 2 years 4 months is not many.

 

[tgdesrochers]

@tgdesrochers can in fact confirm the model year and factory order entry from the vin.

Digit 10 is the model year. For MY21, this digit is M.

The final digits 12-17 reveal the "sequential vehicle identifier." I believe @ChasingCoral is correct that this is the order submitted to the factory, not the order of final assembly. The first orders of the Mach-E started with letter A in digit 12, if I recall correctly.

Here's the decoder for MY21. I am curious to know if Tim can compare against his vin and let us know if it lines up!

My VIN, digit 10 is M and 12-17 is A00189. Lines up with an early model First Edition. I'm guessing, as others have suggested, it was some dealer or Ford demo vehicle/show/"mannequin" and the services and warranty started even though there was no title or "owner". I'm wondering if Ford would be willing to retro the warranty to the First owner in 2022?? One can dream.

Any other early first editions stuck on update 4.2.5 and have a suggestion on how to get past it. 3 dealerships can't figure it out.

 

[RickMachE]

My VIN, digit 10 is M and 12-17 is A00189. Lines up with an early model First Edition. I'm guessing, as others have suggested, it was some dealer or Ford demo vehicle/show/"mannequin" and the services and warranty started even though there was no title or "owner". I'm wondering if Ford would be willing to retro the warranty to the First owner in 2022?? One can dream.

Any other early first editions stuck on update 4.2.5 and have a suggestion on how to get past it. 3 dealerships can't figure it out.

No, they won't do that. Everyone who buys a mannequin is in the same position as you.

 

[dbsb3233]

Just curious... does yours have the First Edition features?

• Red calipers on the wheels
• Red stitching on the dash, steering wheel, and seats
• "First Edition" badging on the door sill

 

[tgdesrochers]

No, which is why, not

Just curious... does yours have the First Edition features?

• Red calipers on the wheels
• Red stitching on the dash, steering wheel, and seats
• "First Edition" badging on the door sill

Nope, which is why I didn't realize it was such an early production model. It's currently at Koons Ford because of a multitude of errors with blue cruise, lane centering, driver camera, and more. Once I get it back I'll snap a pic of the door jamb, but no fun first edition features.

 

[dbsb3233]

No, which is why, not

Nope, which is why I didn't realize it was such an early production model. It's currently at Koons Ford because of a multitude of errors with blue cruise, lane centering, driver camera, and more. Once I get it back I'll snap a pic of the door jamb, but no fun first edition features.

OK, not a First Edition then. Only some of the cars in the first few months were FEs, so it doesn't prove it *not* an early car, but if it did have the features it would have proved that it was.

It's just not adding up to me. I don't see how an 8/31/2020 warranty start date is even possible, since NO dealers even got a car to sell until late Dec. As Mark noted, only a handful of production cars were even produced in Sept 2020. And I'd bet those were late Sept. Pretty likely not a single production car was produced in Aug. Leading me to think that date is somehow wrong. No clue how that could be though. (Or it's a pre-production accidentally made public?)

And 10 miles on the odometer for the first 28 months is a giant red flag. How is that even possible?

Something is very suspicious with the data on that car, like it's registered wrong in the Ford database or something. Or someone swapped VIN tags or something. I dunno, but it's just not adding up.

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