🫣😱 Towing Tips & How NOT to Tow a Mach-E (with video 🍿)

[67 Stang Convertible]

I'm working on an extensive write up of my poor experience with towing and Ford Roadside.

In the meanwhile, I'm posting here some of the tips I learned from my "experience" today getting my Mach-E towed from my garage onto a flatbed and to my dealer.

And of course, the full tow on video! (I'm so happy I got my BlackVue DR950plus, special batteries for the cam, and a hotspot -- I downloaded all of this video while my car was sitting at the dealer today thru the clouds....)

• 12V: Having a functioning Tow Mode requires you to have enough charge in the LVB. If you have a battery charger or power supply, I would put your car on it ASAP so you have enough of a full LVB tomorrow to have max time for your tow.
• Figure out Tow Mode beforehand: Before your truck shows up, figure out how to get the car into tow mode. It's buried in the menus, and the user interface is really poor. It's wordy, and the instructions are in the IPA (instrument cluster). These instructions cycle very quickly with all the other critical messages you will have in your cluster, and they're easy to miss.
• Leave your front windows open. This will make it easy to hear your tow truck guy if you are in the car, and also will allow you to open the car if it self-locks or some other problem happens.
• Turn off "Walk-away Lock" if that is enabled. You do not want that on at any point when your car is getting on the truck, and/or when it gets to the dealer. That also is a buried menu item that is challenging to find when you are under stress.
• Print out the tow guide from this forum, as well as the Tow Manual from Ford. Know this yourself, because as I found out today, you never know what will show up. My lovely tow truck partner knew no English, didn't give a #^#$% about the manual (because he didn't read in English), and he had no idea of what he was doing. Tow Guide documents here.
• Get your FOB ready -- towing and dealers are incompatible with the world of PAAK. I am thinking I have to hide a key in my car in a metal bag somewhere accessible, because if I'm on a trip and something happens, really you are left giving the tow truck or the dealer your phone.
  
  and
  
  
• In thinking back, I will never get in my car to do a tow like this. It's up to the driver to do the tow and I put myself in danger and let the tow driver do something stupid. I'm sure the tow company's insurance and Ford's policies don't allow for customers to be doing what that guy had me do.

Well that was stressful. A quick video showing how to put the car in Tow Mode, may be a good compliment to this. I'm printing out the tow instructions now; just hoping I never need them!!!

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[thefallenbeloved]

I thought it was $28,000. You won't find someone who has experience unfortunately. Without going into details I had some escalations placed on my tow by kind people at Ford, and I still got this moron. It also took almost two hours before he showed up, without any text messages from Ford or him.

Another victim of a bad tow. Hooked right onto the battery rail and ripped a nice 6in tear.


Currently Ford is quoting me 38,000 for mine, plus the damage to the front bumper lip for a grand total of 46800. Agero finally approved and send me to the tow company insurance. We'll see how that goes.

 

[scoopman]

Another victim of a bad tow. Hooked right onto the battery rail and ripped a nice 6in tear.


Currently Ford is quoting me 38,000 for mine, plus the damage to the front bumper lip for a grand total of 46800. Agero finally approved and send me to the tow company insurance. We'll see how that goes.

OMFG

 

[macchiaz-o]

Well that was stressful. A quick video showing how to put the car in Tow Mode, may be a good compliment to this. I'm printing out the tow instructions now; just hoping I never need them!!!

Asked and answered!

Compliments of @Benjamin Kegele:

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/emergency-tow-mode-tutorial-video.13264/

 

[Benjamin Kegele]

Asked and answered!

Compliments of @Benjamin Kegele:

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/emergency-tow-mode-tutorial-video.13264/

Thanks for sharing. I am not joking when I say it helps to subscribe to the channel. Even myself keep watching my own videos as there is stuff I already forgot

 

[67 Stang Convertible]

Asked and answered!

Compliments of @Benjamin Kegele:

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/emergency-tow-mode-tutorial-video.13264/

I'll file this under "Ask and you shall receive"!!! Thanks

 

[LTC_HUGH]

You should cover your battery rails and get tow stickers. They really worked.

And learn how to do tow mode.

I would have been so screwed if I didn't know so much from this forum and preparing.

What are tow stickers and why cover the battery rails. Sorry for the question if its been answered.

 

[scoopman]

What are tow stickers and why cover the battery rails. Sorry for the question if its been answered.

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/project-tow-hook-or-mitigating-a-28-000-worry.13910/

 

[Lunytaz]

Yes I should have. However, the amount of time for me to assess competence before my car was in the street was very short. I assumed the guy had an idea when he started pushing of what he wanted to do and that it wasn't to try and roll the car into the busy street and hope for the best.

But miraculously no damage! My tow stickers really were key.

What do you mean “tow stickers”? did I miss something in the video?

 

[scoopman]

What do you mean “tow stickers”? did I miss something in the video?

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/project-tow-hook-or-mitigating-a-28-000-worry.13910/

 

[Motomax]

It was a solid plan just no one communicated. Tow trucks don’t like to use peoples driveways because they don’t want to damage it with the lift or the weight. Plus there’s no official winch point from the rear.
Should have just asked where do you want the car then roll it back with enough speed to get it where you need it. If you were worried about traffic just have him position the tow truck to block the one lane.

 

[scoopman]

It was a solid plan just no one communicated. Tow trucks don’t like to use peoples driveways because they don’t want to damage it with the lift or the weight. Plus there’s no official winch point from the rear.
Should have just asked where do you want the car then roll it back with enough speed to get it where you need it. If you were worried about traffic just have him position the tow truck to block the one lane.

Yeah, next time I don't use Ford's service to dispatch a non-English speaking tow truck driver.

 

[machetrackingmachine]

I'm working on an extensive write up of my poor experience with towing and Ford Roadside.

In the meanwhile, I'm posting here some of the tips I learned from my "experience" today getting my Mach-E towed from my garage onto a flatbed and to my dealer.

And of course, the full tow on video! (I'm so happy I got my BlackVue DR950plus, special batteries for the cam, and a hotspot -- I downloaded all of this video while my car was sitting at the dealer today thru the clouds....)

• 12V: Having a functioning Tow Mode requires you to have enough charge in the LVB. If you have a battery charger or power supply, I would put your car on it ASAP so you have enough of a full LVB tomorrow to have max time for your tow.
• Figure out Tow Mode beforehand: Before your truck shows up, figure out how to get the car into tow mode. It's buried in the menus, and the user interface is really poor. It's wordy, and the instructions are in the IPA (instrument cluster). These instructions cycle very quickly with all the other critical messages you will have in your cluster, and they're easy to miss.
• Leave your front windows open. This will make it easy to hear your tow truck guy if you are in the car, and also will allow you to open the car if it self-locks or some other problem happens.
• Turn off "Walk-away Lock" if that is enabled. You do not want that on at any point when your car is getting on the truck, and/or when it gets to the dealer. That also is a buried menu item that is challenging to find when you are under stress.
• Print out the tow guide from this forum, as well as the Tow Manual from Ford. Know this yourself, because as I found out today, you never know what will show up. My lovely tow truck partner knew no English, didn't give a #^#$% about the manual (because he didn't read in English), and he had no idea of what he was doing. Tow Guide documents here.
• Get your FOB ready -- towing and dealers are incompatible with the world of PAAK. I am thinking I have to hide a key in my car in a metal bag somewhere accessible, because if I'm on a trip and something happens, really you are left giving the tow truck or the dealer your phone.
  
  and
  
  
• In thinking back, I will never get in my car to do a tow like this. It's up to the driver to do the tow and I put myself in danger and let the tow driver do something stupid. I'm sure the tow company's insurance and Ford's policies don't allow for customers to be doing what that guy had me do.

Could you detail a bit more about what happens if somebody tow your car with a lift truck and your backwheels are drag along the ground?

I am wondering what if I parked illegally and got towed. Happened to my older car once, dont even know I cannot park there...

Thanks for sharing your painful and yet important towing experience with MachE

 

[Behoff]

”tow stickers” were mentioned a couple of times. What are they?

 

[Mach-Lee]

”tow stickers” were mentioned a couple of times. What are they?

Why don't you click on the links he posted twice after two other people asked the same question?

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