"Check 12-Volt Battery" alert in FordPass now enabled

[Snakebitten]

So I just sent a text to the EV Advisor asking them to check the soc on my 12v They text back that the soc is 61% and voltage is 12.4 volts. I have 2023 that I bought used in March and it currently has 18,500 miles. It has been parked since 10 this morning. Do I need to get it replaced?

While it's true that a single snapshot view of the SOC/resting-voltage of your AGM isn't enough data to determine whether or not you should replace the battery, in my opinion someone COULD use that snapshot data as a prudent attempt to preemptively replace a battery nearing end-of-life.

But I think you would need a lot of snapshots, to give any ONE snapshot the necessary context.

In other words, if 12.4V is where you normally see your battery voltage at after the car has sat undisturbed for x-hours, and it's been that way for many weeks/months, then you shouldn't sweat that particular SOC/Voltage state.

But it's very likely that the rash of 3 year old batteries on the 2021 cars that suddenly "failed" or triggered various alerts/errors, ALSO would have shown lower SOC/V(resting)

Basically, I'm just making the case that if you do have a method for tracking/monitoring the 12V battery's SOC/resting-voltage, you are very unlikely to experience a surprise battery failure. (exceptions exist for a defect in battery manufacturering or assembly)

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[bs1055]

Just got this alert on job 2 2021. 25k miles

Update: Ford dealership said no replacement needed, was just a 12v battery recall software update. To believe or not to believe

 

[Tomm]

Confused here, is this now in ford pass but I won’t know I have it until I am alerted?

 

[phil]

Confused here, is this now in ford pass but I won’t know I have it until I am alerted?

It sounds like we may not know much even after we are alerted. We get advised to visit a dealer, who may tell us our battery has lost capacity. But they might also tell us the battery is fine, or just needs a charge. We could visit a dealer tomorrow and request similar information.

I suppose we will learn over time how useful these warning messages will turn out to be.

 

[DYohn]

So people were complaining about no battery state warnings, and now are complaining about getting a warning? Welcome to the Internet, I guess.

 

[Mach1E]

So people were complaining about no battery state warnings, and now are complaining about getting a warning? Welcome to the Internet, I guess.

Because they didn’t give us what we want. We didn’t ask for a generic warning with no details, we want monitoring.

If an alert popped up on your phone that said “there could be a tornado!!” Is that enough information?

 

[DYohn]

Because they didn’t give us what we want. We didn’t ask for a generic warning with no details, we want monitoring.

If an alert popped up on your phone that said “there could be a tornado!!” Is that enough information?

Some warning is better than no warning, in my opinion. And as a long-term member of this forum you should know that the answer to "but it's not everything I want!" is "soon."

And get off my lawn.

 

[Mach1E]

Some warning is better than no warning, in my opinion. And as a long-term member of this forum you should know that the answer to "but it's not everything I want!" is "soon."

And get off my lawn.

Oh I’ve definitely gotten used to expecting to be disappointed.

Was just pointing out how a vague warning can be worse than none if it’s crying wolf.

So far not enough data (or info). Just the one person who got the warning, went to the dealer and the battery was fine.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Update: Ford dealership said no replacement needed, was just a 12v battery recall software update. To believe or not to believe

Sounds like there was a miscommunication. Did they actually test your 12V battery or not? If so, what were the results? If you got the warning message posted here, it is NOT just a recall notification.

Again, because you live in a hot climate and your battery is more than 3 years old, I would strongly recommend replacing it regardless of what they say.

 

[Bobcat17]

You can use Ford Pass points (if u still have them) to pay for new battery.

 

[Meljfry]

I messaged my Ford advisor in the app yesterday and asked about my 12V battery stats. I got a response very quickly and was told my 12v SOC was 98%. Nice to know you can get this information easily without going to the dealership.

 

[HuntingPudel]

I messaged my Ford advisor in the app yesterday and asked about my 12V battery stats. I got a response very quickly and was told my 12v SOC was 98%. Nice to know you can get this information easily without going to the dealership.

As @Mach-Lee pointed put, the State of Charge is not necessarily indicative of battery health. Load performance is a better indicator, which would require someone to physically test the battery. ?‍?

 

[Mach1E]

As @Mach-Lee pointed put, the State of Charge is not necessarily indicative of battery health. Load performance is a better indicator, which would require someone to physically test the battery. ?‍?

Does Ford’s internal software in our cars have this capability?

If so, then that’s the data we want. Whatever is triggering the alert.

But based on the wording of the alert, I think not. (Since one of the suggestions is to charge your battery).

 

[Mach-Lee]

Please note, battery state of health (SoH) is different than state of charge (SoC). When you call Ford or talk to your dealer, they can only see the SoC value, not SoH.

If you have a bad battery, it’s possible for it to show 90%+ SoC even when it needs replacement. For example, you can have a battery at 90% SoC and 50% SoH. Therefore, you can’t just call your dealer or Ford to check if your battery is good or bad (that is a false sense of security). The battery must be physically tested with a professional battery tester, or you replace it based on getting the “check 12V battery” alert.

What I want to avoid is someone getting this alert, checking the SoC and seeing it is at 80+%, and believing that their battery is totally fine. That could be a mistake when it ends up dying a short time later.

But based on the wording of the alert, I think not. (Since one of the suggestions is to charge your battery).

I have asked, and am awaiting clarification on what exactly triggers the alert (we’ll see). The BMS tracks SoH/full charge capacity internally and reports to the cloud, but we can’t see it. SoH is the best metric to use for a replacement threshold. Charging the battery will raise SoC obviously, but it can also improve SoH slightly. If you are testing a battery, you always want to fully charge it first for an accurate reading.

 

[Meljfry]

Please note, battery state of health (SoH) is different than state of charge (SoC). When you call Ford or talk to your dealer, they can only see the SoC value, not SoH.

If you have a bad battery, it’s possible for it to show 90%+ SoC even when it needs replacement. For example, you can have a battery at 90% SoC and 50% SoH. Therefore, you can’t just call your dealer or Ford to check if your battery is good or bad (that is a false sense of security). The battery must be physically tested with a professional battery tester, or you replace it based on getting the “check 12V battery” alert.

What I want to avoid is someone getting this alert, checking the SoC and seeing it is at 80+%, and believing that their battery is totally fine. That could be a mistake when it ends up dying a short time later.



I have asked, and am awaiting clarification on what exactly triggers the alert (we’ll see). The BMS tracks SoH/full charge capacity internally and reports to the cloud, but we can’t see it. SoH is the best metric to use for a replacement threshold. Charging the battery will raise SoC obviously, but it can also improve SoH slightly. If you are testing a battery, you always want to fully charge it first for an accurate reading.

So I have a question then: When I contacted the Ford Advisor, this is what he said:
"Your 2024 Mustang Mach-E 12V Battery State of Charge is at 98%.
The high Voltage Battery State of Charge is at 90% and the State of Health is at 97%."

Is there something additional that needs to be checked?

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