12 VOLTS BATTERY DIED WITHOUT WARNING!!

[Eagertrader]

This past Friday at 7 am I had to run an errand for about 20 minutes. Came back and parked my MME GT in my garage. At 8:30 am had to go out again, pressed the “start” button but both screen were dead, the brake pedal locked, and the mode dial unresponsive. Plugged in the charger and a loud repeating thumping sound popped up. Went to the bumper to get the”jumping” cables from the port and plugged those to a 12v battery but still no power. Called Ford Road Service which sent two different trucks, and each try to jump start with their batteries to no avail. The car got towed to the dealer, who told me that their efforts to jumpstart it failed as well.
The short of it is that my 12v battery was dead as a doornail and the dealer replaced it with a new one. Luckily for me they replaced it without charge for the battery and tow. The car was 12 days and 5,000 miles away from the end of the three year warranty thus I really lucked out.
Guys and Gals as you get close to 3 years replace the battery, don’t wait. 12v battery death comes without any warning. Even with me paying for it, if I knew what I know now I would have gladly preemptively replaced the battery rather than risking it dying on me in the middle of the night in sub freezing temperatures in the middle of nowhere.
You can bet that I have on my calendar to replace the new battery October of 2027!

DON’T SAY I DIDN’T WARN YOU!!

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[AhardFSU]

I'm coming up on 3 years in March of 2025. And I'd like to not have to pay out of pocket, but after seeing the OP's post and other posts regarding the 3 year period, I'll definitely get mine replaced ahead of the 3 year date.

 

[Sikkun]

Every car battery I have ever had died without warning.

Most of them even tested “fine” after taking it to buy a new one…only to die again shortly.

 

[AhardFSU]

Yeah I've definitely had car batteries die without warning. That happened to me in 2020. But fortunately, I was working from home and a neighbor was able give a jump start.

 

[ipca204]

This past Friday at 7 am I had to run an errand for about 20 minutes. Came back and parked my MME GT in my garage. At 8:30 am had to go out again, pressed the “start” button but both screen were dead, the brake pedal locked, and the mode dial unresponsive. Plugged in the charger and a loud repeating thumping sound popped up. Went to the bumper to get the”jumping” cables from the port and plugged those to a 12v battery but still no power. Called Ford Road Service which sent two different trucks, and each try to jump start with their batteries to no avail. The car got towed to the dealer, who told me that their efforts to jumpstart it failed as well.
The short of it is that my 12v battery was dead as a doornail and the dealer replaced it with a new one. Luckily for me they replaced it without charge for the battery and tow. The car was 12 days and 5,000 miles away from the end of the three year warranty thus I really lucked out.
Guys and Gals as you get close to 3 years replace the battery, don’t wait. 12v battery death comes without any warning. Even with me paying for it, if I knew what I know now I would have gladly preemptively replaced the battery rather than risking it dying on me in the middle of the night in sub freezing temperatures in the middle of nowhere.
You can bet that I have on my calendar to replace the new battery October of 2027!

DON’T SAY I DIDN’T WARN YOU!!

You ABSOLUTELY had plenty of warning! You belong to the forum and i am SURE have read about the 12v "problem"....lol

 

[Snakebitten]

It's true that it can die without warning fairly easy in an EV, since you won't ever experience a weak sounding high amperage/load start.

But if you were diligently monitoring it's static voltage during ownership, you would very likely witness the degradation of the AGM.

These modern never-completely-asleep vehicles have me spooked enough to install Bluetooth voltmeters on the AGM. And I can personally vouch for the AGM in my F150 Powerboost as resting at a considerably lower voltage/SOC than it did 2.5 years ago. Watching it like a hawk too. In an effort to get 1000 days of service out of it, I occasionally have intervened with a small charger/maintainer if I let it sit too many days.

 

[Tbird]

I have 49 months on my LVB and it is still going strong. I check it regularly to avoid an unexpected failure. I am expecting failure sometime soon but no signs of that yet.

 

[hybrid2bev]

This past Friday at 7 am I had to run an errand for about 20 minutes. Came back and parked my MME GT in my garage. At 8:30 am had to go out again, pressed the “start” button but both screen were dead, the brake pedal locked, and the mode dial unresponsive. Plugged in the charger and a loud repeating thumping sound popped up. Went to the bumper to get the”jumping” cables from the port and plugged those to a 12v battery but still no power. Called Ford Road Service which sent two different trucks, and each try to jump start with their batteries to no avail. The car got towed to the dealer, who told me that their efforts to jumpstart it failed as well.
The short of it is that my 12v battery was dead as a doornail and the dealer replaced it with a new one. Luckily for me they replaced it without charge for the battery and tow. The car was 12 days and 5,000 miles away from the end of the three year warranty thus I really lucked out.
Guys and Gals as you get close to 3 years replace the battery, don’t wait. 12v battery death comes without any warning. Even with me paying for it, if I knew what I know now I would have gladly preemptively replaced the battery rather than risking it dying on me in the middle of the night in sub freezing temperatures in the middle of nowhere.
You can bet that I have on my calendar to replace the new battery October of 2027!

DON’T SAY I DIDN’T WARN YOU!!

Glad you got it resolved!

BTW the loud repeating thumping sound is normal in cold temperatures when the HVBJB contactors try to close. It’s a de-icing process.

And the cables in the front bumper are not connected to the 12v battery system. They only pop open the frunk if the 12v is dead. So connecting power to those bumper cables would not be expected to provide power to jump start the car.

 

[Eagertrader]

You ABSOLUTELY had plenty of warning! You belong to the forum and i am SURE have read about the 12v "problem"....lol

You’re absolutely right, I had plenty warning from the forum, anf was already looking into replacement, except I thought that a “smart car” like this would give you some hint that the battery is weak, and not drop you out cold. My iphone that costs 1/65th of my MME already does it.
I’m not looking for sympathy, I just want to emphasize to others that like myself were waiting for the three years being up, or to get any warning, DON’T!

 

[Eagertrader]

I have 49 months on my LVB and it is still going strong. I check it regularly to avoid an unexpected failure. I am expecting failure sometime soon but no signs of that yet.

Lucky you! In my case, for almost three years zero issues. Drove it for 20 minutes, no problems. An hour later the car was dead!

 

[Eagertrader]

I'm coming up on 3 years in March of 2025. And I'd like to not have to pay out of pocket, but after seeing the OP's post and other posts regarding the 3 year period, I'll definitely get mine replaced ahead of the 3 year date.

If I had a crystal ball I would have gladly replaced the battery out of pocket rather than risking being left out in the cold. You’re doing the right thing.

 

[4sallypat]

If I had a crystal ball I would have gladly replaced the battery out of pocket rather than risking being left out in the cold. You’re doing the right thing.

My wife's PHEV 12V battery is 6 years old - original OEM.

Still going strong!

 

[67 Stang Convertible]

Interestingly, my battery did give me warning before it's eminent demise. The car was fully operational but kept failing an OTA (like 20X). So, took it into the dealer and they said it was 12V, even though the car was functioning normally. They replaced the battery under warranty (just shy of 3 years) and the OTA went through 1st attempt post battery swap.

But, going forward since it appears the 2021's won't be getting any OTAs, I guess my "early warning system" won't work......

*Not to Hijack the thread, but when was the last time any model year received an OTA. Just thinking it's been a minute since I read a Forum post about new OTAs. Are the '22's still getting 1.3?

 

[SonicBlue]

It's true that it can die without warning fairly easy in an EV, since you won't ever experience a weak sounding high amperage/load start.

But if you were diligently monitoring it's static voltage during ownership, you would very likely witness the degradation of the AGM.

These modern never-completely-asleep vehicles have me spooked enough to install Bluetooth voltmeters on the AGM. And I can personally vouch for the AGM in my F150 Powerboost as resting at a considerably lower voltage/SOC than it did 2.5 years ago. Watching it like a hawk too. In an effort to get 1000 days of service out of it, I occasionally have intervened with a small charger/maintainer if I let it sit too many days.

You kind of come across as scolding this guy for not doing something that nobody should have to do.

 

[Jerrytball]

This past Friday at 7 am I had to run an errand for about 20 minutes. Came back and parked my MME GT in my garage. At 8:30 am had to go out again, pressed the “start” button but both screen were dead, the brake pedal locked, and the mode dial unresponsive. Plugged in the charger and a loud repeating thumping sound popped up. Went to the bumper to get the”jumping” cables from the port and plugged those to a 12v battery but still no power. Called Ford Road Service which sent two different trucks, and each try to jump start with their batteries to no avail. The car got towed to the dealer, who told me that their efforts to jumpstart it failed as well.
The short of it is that my 12v battery was dead as a doornail and the dealer replaced it with a new one. Luckily for me they replaced it without charge for the battery and tow. The car was 12 days and 5,000 miles away from the end of the three year warranty thus I really lucked out.
Guys and Gals as you get close to 3 years replace the battery, don’t wait. 12v battery death comes without any warning. Even with me paying for it, if I knew what I know now I would have gladly preemptively replaced the battery rather than risking it dying on me in the middle of the night in sub freezing temperatures in the middle of nowhere.
You can bet that I have on my calendar to replace the new battery October of 2027!

DON’T SAY I DIDN’T WARN YOU!!

…….And because of this type situation I’ve always been mindful of that happening, it was one thing that made me worry, but of course I loved my GT but I went back to ICE car,

You’re absolutely right, I had plenty warning from the forum, anf was already looking into replacement, except I thought that a “smart car” like this would give you some hint that the battery is weak, and not drop you out cold. My iphone that costs 1/65th of my MME already does it.
I’m not looking for sympathy, I just want to emphasize to others that like myself were waiting for the three years being up, or to get any warning, DON’T!

…….And because of this type situation I’ve always been mindful of that happening, it was one thing that made me worry, but of course I loved my GT but I went back to ICE car The other day and the fact that Carvana gave me 10,000 more than what the dealer would, of course the battery can die in those, but at least you could take the battery out and replace it and your 99% of the time back on the road there’s not really many underlying circumstances after a dead battery and I can honestly say I have never been on the side of the road other than a flat tire. Like I said, there were other circumstances that changed my mind. Where I live, there’s one technician that can work on hybrids and electrics, and even owning a hybrid from talking to my friends that have hybrids say they are out of a vehicle for a while when they have to put it in the shop and I did not realize that. Down here in south if you own a Tesla or a jaguar, you’re driving to another state to get it serviced. And there’s a lot of Teslas around here but pretty much three mustangs..

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