MY WORST FEAR. '23 MACH-e TURNED OFF WHILE DRIVING!

[McQueen]

On my way to an urgent medical appointment yesterday, I'd driven maybe 1/2 mile at around 45 mph when the dash board alert advised the car had powered off. Despite my relative familiarity with Mach-e issues thanks to this community, I panicked (and didn't take a photo of the alert). The car coasted to an exit lane and I braked to a stop safely (almost no traffic, phew!). Then the car locked-up. Couldn't dial it in to Park, and just sat there. After sweating in the car for a few minutes (I didn't check doors, windows, etc., but just stared at that alert), I was able to dial it into Park (unsure how I did it), press the start button and continued to the doctor's office 11 miles away. All electrical came back, too (a/c, radio, etc.). After 3 hours at the MD's office, I got back in the car and drove home (actually stopping to shop at a couple places before returning home and putting it back in the garage). And, as always, after letting it "cool down" in the garage for 2 hours (it's been 90 degrees in there, and the temperature reading on the touch screen has reached "116 degrees" when its been outside!).

Car facts: It's a '23 Premium AWD (built in "11/23);" it has only 5,600 miles (bought June 28, 2024); it has never been L2 or fast-charged since I bought it; it's only been charged in my garage at 120 volts (to 90% and 100% once/month as Ford advises); and, in the two days before the failure, I got charging "error" messages twice on my app while it was plugged-in at home. But when I went into the garage both times, it all appeared to be working (i.e., the blue oval was blinking in the quadrant being charged); so, I unplugged, turned off the Ford mobile charger that came with the car (unplugged it from the outlet, waited a minute and then re-plugged everything) and there appeared to be no problem until I exited my community, got up to 45 mph and the motor(s) shut down.

It's our only vehicle now, and I don't trust it. I'm trying to get through to the dealership's service department now....

Anybody experience this?

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[4sallypat]

If you have a Ford mobile app notification / message, save it for Ford to take a look at.

'23 Job 1 with 32,000 miles and never had an issue like this.

Maybe you need to charge the car with L2 or DCFC to see if your charging setup is the issue ?

I always charge mine to 100% on L2 at home on the weekends and 100% on DCFC (Tesla Supercharger) 5-6 times a month.

Glad you got it started again.

 

[Mike G]

If you have a Ford mobile app notification / message, save it for Ford to take a look at.

'23 Job 1 with 32,000 miles and never had an issue like this.

Maybe you need to charge the car with L2 or DCFC to see if your charging setup is the issue ?

I always charge mine to 100% on L2 at home on the weekends and 100% on DCFC (Tesla Supercharger) 5-6 times a month.

Glad you got it started again.

Things are a little different on a 2023.5 model with a LFP battery. This is not the first time somebody posted about their LFP equipped car suddenly running completely out of battery. There might be an error that is keeping the car from completely charging. If the poster called their service advisor and asked them to take a look a the vehicle's "Connected Vehicle" screen (in the Ford PTS system) there might be a clue in what the car is reporting to the cloud.

 

[McQueen]

Thanks for the replies. Interestingly, my Ford App "Alerts" "history" only shows the "Tire Pressure Monitor System" warnings I've gotten. Nothing showing the calamitous (for me) failure yesterday at around 10:15 a.m. after taking it out of my garage and driving it a 1/2 mile or so.
Interesting(?): When I got home I asked the auto chat AI about Mach-e motors shutting down while driving, and it referenced a "help article" I couldn't access/open about a "Deep Sleep mode" to "turn off," etc. I had the presence of mind to screen-shot it, but haven't gone back into the car to do it (and can't know if this even is the issue). Still waiting for the dealership service dept. to call back, and wondering if this is a 12 volt battery issue?

 

[dalola]

Maybe hit the start/stop button by accident? This one sounds a lot like driver error.

 

[bdeweese]

Maybe hit the start/stop button by accident? This one sounds a lot like driver error.

Can you actually turn the car off while driving/moving? Would seem like that shouldn’t be possible, or at least a big warning should flash up requiring you to hit the button a 2nd time. I’ve never tried it.

 

[McQueen]

I don’t think I hit the Start/Stop button accidentally, but certainly would prefer the issue to me, rather than the car…. And the battery showed “89%” when it shut off.

 

[RyZt]

Can you actually turn the car off while driving/moving? Would seem like that shouldn’t be possible, or at least a big warning should flash up requiring you to hit the button a 2nd time.

With most brands, it’s 3 seconds or 3 presses. Don’t remember which one Ford is.

 

[dan_meh]

I wonder what the car thought its SOC was at the moment when the car shut off. SOC is a calculated number based on voltage. LFP voltage doesn’t change much in the middle of the SOC percentage. That’s a reason why you periodically charge LFP to 100%.

It would be interesting to OBD the car to see if SOC in the driver display is the same across all cells. And to see if one cell has a weird voltage reading.

 

[dalola]

Can you actually turn the car off while driving/moving? Would seem like that shouldn’t be possible, or at least a big warning should flash up requiring you to hit the button a 2nd time. I’ve never tried it.

No idea, I'm guessing yes. Hold my beer..... ?

 

[Mach-Lee]

I don’t think I hit the Start/Stop button accidentally, but certainly would prefer the issue to me, rather than the car…. And the battery showed “89%” when it shut off.

Did that battery reading fluctuate at all when this happened?

 

[McQueen]

Did that battery reading fluctuate at all when this happened?

Not that I saw. It was at 90% when I pulled it out of the garage, and had dropped (as it has before) only to 89% as I came up to 45 mph. HEAT has been bad. Worse than I can recall here in South Florida; and it's only June.... As I'd posted, the temp reading inside the car has gotten up to 116 degrees!

 

[jmcbrew]

I would get the 12V battery checked. Do t just check the voltage. Get a load test or internal resistance check done on it. Most auto parts stores will do this for free. The Mach-E has a TINY 12V battery, and if you are o my plugging the car in once a month, it might not be in the best health. Also, it is not uncommon for car batteries to fail after 2-3 years. The 12V battery in my dad’s Bolt EV failed after about 13 months.

I make it a point to charge up all of our vehicle 12V batteries at least once every 6 months with my 10 amp battery charger/conditioner.

 

[devmach-e]

Can you actually turn the car off while driving/moving? Would seem like that shouldn’t be possible, or at least a big warning should flash up requiring you to hit the button a 2nd time. I’ve never tried it.

All cars with a push button start, regardless of powertrain (ICE, hybrid, electric-only), will shut the car off if the start/stop is pressed for a certain amount of time. It is the equivalent of turning the ignition key off in a traditional car. I test it at least once in every car I own to make sure it works.

 

[Ravensfan1996]

Thanks for the replies. Interestingly, my Ford App "Alerts" "history" only shows the "Tire Pressure Monitor System" warnings I've gotten. Nothing showing the calamitous (for me) failure yesterday at around 10:15 a.m. after taking it out of my garage and driving it a 1/2 mile or so.
Interesting(?): When I got home I asked the auto chat AI about Mach-e motors shutting down while driving, and it referenced a "help article" I couldn't access/open about a "Deep Sleep mode" to "turn off," etc. I had the presence of mind to screen-shot it, but haven't gone back into the car to do it (and can't know if this even is the issue). Still waiting for the dealership service dept. to call back, and wondering if this is a 12 volt battery issue?

You can’t turn off deep sleep mode, that happens when the car has been sitting awhile and the 12v is drained/low it shuts down a lot of things and sometimes can’t be started. It will show on the screen when you first start the car.

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