Recall #25S65 - 12V battery discharge may cause door lock-out (Vehicle Entrapment Allegations). Stop Sales issued by Ford

[Star Lord]

Then explain how people can get trapped in the car if the door won’t close

All I can tell you is what happened to me. The battery discharged because 2 cells failed. Ford got a batch of bad batteries. I open the door from the inside. The door was unlocked. I get out. Then I close the door from the outside. The door won't close or lock because the latch mechanism is stuck open without power to reset it.

With an electronic latch of course people are going to be stuck outside if there is no power to activate the latch open mechanism. I think lock and unlock is separate from latch open and latch close.

Have you ever tried to shut the trunk on a Lincoln Town Car. They have motorized assisted soft open and close. If you lose power you can't open or close the trunk. Similar situation.

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[E90alex]

The door does not require power to close. It’s only released electronically (and the front can be also mechanically released from inside if power fails). The latching mechanism is purely mechanical.

 

[astrorob]

The door does not require power to close. It’s only released electronically (and the front can be also mechanically released from inside if power fails). The latching mechanism is purely mechanical.

most mach-es have a "door presenter" though that might get stuck in the deployed position. maybe that's what happened to @Star Lord .

 

[macchiaz-o]

The door does not require power to close. It’s only released electronically (and the front can be also mechanically released from inside if power fails). The latching mechanism is purely mechanical.

That's correct, unless the latch mechanism has failed. That's a different, purely mechanical problem, of course. It happened on my driver door.

most mach-es have a "door presenter" though that might get stuck in the deployed position. maybe that's what happened to @Star Lord .

Sure, although in this scenario you can force the presenter to retract. From outside, close the door up to where the presenter is blocking it from going further. Then press forcefully to make the presenter retract.

 

[Star Lord]

most mach-es have a "door presenter" though that might get stuck in the deployed position. maybe that's what happened to @Star Lord .

If you open it from the inside with no power?

 

[astrorob]

If you open it from the inside with no power?

i guess not, but i don't know exactly the sequence of events your car went thru.

 

[Star Lord]

i guess not, but i don't know exactly the sequence of events your car went thru.

Well if you ever get caught in that scenario you will realize just how badly they didn't really think this whole thing through at the Ford design table.

 

[astrorob]

Well if you ever get caught in that scenario you will realize just how badly they didn't really think this whole thing through at the Ford design table.

oh i'm with you. this whole copying tesla thing with the doors was stupid. all cars should have a mechanical lock and a key on at least one door.

 

[Star Lord]

oh i'm with you. this whole copying tesla thing with the doors was stupid. all cars should have a mechanical lock and a key on at least one door.

oh i'm with you. this whole copying tesla thing with the doors was stupid. all cars should have a mechanical lock and a key on at least one door.

The other stupid thing is that door handle. "Let's just stick an ugly piece of angle metal on the door to grab on to.". Everything else is nicely designed but that door handle sticks out like a sore thumb. Literally

 

[Tomm]

I knew the horse was dead, but I was mesmerized and read the whole thread.
I need to get a life.

 

[Mark813]

Just got to the end of this whole thread, thanks for all the info and I copied some of this down.

One part of the misunderstanding-

When the 12 volt battery dies and you open your driver door "you don't realize the battery died" even though you had to pull the lever further back than normal or double pull it and it didn't open the first time.

When you close the door now you're locked out from getting any door open

The Ford 12 minute fix is to help prevent kids pets elderly etc from being locked in. I'm good with this for now but would like a warning on screen or otherwise.

At least my old ice car would do the slow starter cranking sound warning - if it started I'd go to the auto zone for a battery test. May do the battery monitor app mentioned.

I have a window breaker and a lithium jump box in the car which will be no help when I come back from the Home Depot and find my 12-volt dead and the car locked

The obvious solution is to wear a fanny pack that carries your lithium jumper battery into home Depot or the grocery store with you.

You can thank those 20 somethings that have brought back the fanny pack into style although they sometimes wear it over their shoulder like a bandolero.

Final Question - is there a small enough form factor lithium jump box you could fit in the frunk access cable spot- enough to pop the frunk? Then I can leave my fanny pack jumper battery in the frunk and live my life.

Edit found a thread on this issue:
https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/battery-for-frunk-release-to-store-in-bumper.4443/

 

[Shayne]

You can close it. You just won’t be able to open it again from the outside.

So you can get back in the car and close it no problem. And use the manual release again to open it. Just have to be extra cognizant to not accidentally close it behind you when you get out.

The first time my 12V was sucked dry due to the HVJB contact stuck open I had left the door open as it was so weak I did not think I would get it open again. When service came they told me the reason the 12V is dead is because I left the door open. Quick software fix, sent on my way only for the 12V to get drained again.

 

[Gloff]

I am curious, what is the source reference to 8.4v? I don’t see that referred to in the notice on FordPass, Ford.com, or the NHTSA lookup page. (Although that doesn’t mean it’s not there; it may be simply I didn’t see it.)

“In all of the affected vehicles, in the event of unexpected 12V battery discharge below 8.4V at key-off, the front door electronic latches retain their last lock/unlock status.”

It's in the official FSA from Ford.

 

[Gloff]

The 12V battery may suddenly go completely dead while driving (such as going open circuit), this will create the lockout situation when the vehicle is switched off afterwards. In other words, it can suddenly happen to you with almost no warning. You would have to be observant and notice if the screens immediately shut off when you pressed the stop button, and remember to take action not to close the door after getting out.

Not minimizing the Recall, an open circuit is a rare event on any newer vehicle, isn't it?

 

[Mach-Lee]

Not minimizing the Recall, an open circuit is a rare event on any newer vehicle, isn't it?

Yes, it’s rare for a 12V battery to fail that way (probably 5% or less of all failures). A dead or shorted cell is more common. Likelihood increases the older the battery is.

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