Anyone else have HVJBC anxiety?

[BigMach-E]

I've had a private conversation with another member who has had the HVJB and BECM replacement (same as me). The fact that having the parts replaced (with presumptively the same parts that failed) brings less than no confidence that getting stranded again isn't in our future. @Ford Motor Company, do you hear this? What's being done to actually resolve the issue, throwing replacement parts at the problem, the same parts that failed, effectively bricking the car, isn't enough. The fact that others have had this repair, only to have the parts fail again, isn't confidence inspiring. It brings new meaning to the acronym Found On Road Dead.

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[heisnuts]

Speaking as one who just went through this, I am cautiously optimistic that Ford has figured this out.

My HVBJB went out earlier this month and part of the repair was working with engineering to update the software. I have a feeling this software is going to be a OTA update and I would have to believe those who have the failure before the update will have the update done as part of the replacement of the HVBJB.

I look at it like life. I know several people who have died from cancer and other health failures, but it doesn’t make me terrified I am going to have the same failure in the near future. If I did, it wouldn’t make for a good life. Fortunately this is not happening to a majority of the MMEs out there and like I said I am pretty sure there will be an OTA coming soon that will hopefully help prevent the failure from happening in the future.

Time will tell if Ford is on the right track, but it is not going to prevent me from taking it on a 400 mile trip we have coming up which will require charging at a few EA stations along the way. Maybe I have been drinking too much of the Ford cool aid, but I find I love the way the car performs and handles too much to let this issue prevent me from enjoying it.

 

[dmastro]

I’d be terrified if only I knew what those acronyms mean.

 

[DR.J56]

No. Odds are in my favor that this will not happen to me so I don’t worry about it.

 

[mkhuffman]

There are multiple threads in the forum about this issue, and lots of people are worried. I am worried, but I agree with @heisnuts. There are lots of things to worry about, and if you let worry stop you from enjoying life, you will have a crappy life.

The possibility of this failure is probably lower than the possibility of getting in a car accident, so unless you refuse to travel because you might be in an accident, you should not let this stop you either. Hopefully the fact you own (or will own) a MME means you plan to drive it even though you could get in an accident.

There are only two things that will stop me from taking the MME on a long trip: DCFC congestion (if it becomes a problem) and my wife (she prefers her ICE car).

 

[Deleted member 3569]

There are only two things that will stop me from taking the MME on a long trip: DCFC congestion (if it becomes a problem) and my wife (she prefers her ICE car).

So far on my third trip back up to NJ we did not see any congestion at all on any of EA's dcFC along I-95 corridor. This Memorial week end we went to a one day road trip to Jupiter Lighthouse and on way back we took long way via Vero Beach... we seen couple of Hyundai Ionq5 and ID.4 at PtStlLucie EA but it was manageable... so far no congestion here in FL yet.

 

[jason330i]

I’ll admit it, I am a little worried. Gonna try to be as prepared as possible and hope it never happens.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I have zero concern about it.

We do both around-town driving and long-distance trips. We've put 5,000 miles on our Mustang in a little more than three months; less than some, more than others. We sometimes go together and sometimes my not-a-techie partner goes without me. She's not concerned about it and neither am I.

As a scientist/engineer/mathematician, I've taken what's known about the issue and thrown it into my own risk analysis graph and determined that while the consequence of a failure would be moderately (or even potentially major, but almost certainly not catastrophically) bad, the likelihood of it happening is very, very low.

As far as we can tell, it's far less likely to happen than other things I do on a daily or regular basis that also have a low likelihood happening and a much greater chance of having a major or catastrophic outcome. I ride my bicycle in my bicycle-unfriendly town; I ride a motorcycle; I hike the Grand Canyon a couple times a year; I go rock climbing; I do field work on active volcanoes; I drink the tap water when I travel to new places...

But, I also don't spend much of my life thinking about the worst things that can happen to me or mine. I instead think about the joyful things that I get from (for example) the Mustang that I haven't gotten from any other vehicle.

But, I don't judge people who have a different risk analysis. My risk analysis is based on my risk tolerance and is mine alone.

 

[dtbaker61]

I've had a private conversation with another member who has had the HVJB and BECM replacement (same as me). The fact that having the parts replaced (with presumptively the same parts that failed) brings less than no confidence that getting stranded again isn't in our future. @Ford Motor Company, do you hear this? What's being done to actually resolve the issue, throwing replacement parts at the problem, the same parts that failed, effectively bricking the car, isn't enough. The fact that others have had this repair, only to have the parts fail again, isn't confidence inspiring. It brings new meaning to the acronym Found On Road Dead.

I have very little anxiety about the HVBJB failure issue..... I figure that if my habits and driving style haven't killed it by now, my risk is low.

What I am super curious to hear more about is if there are any significant differences between my environmental stresses on heating/cooling, parking inside/outside, charging while inside/outside, DCFC on a regular basis and driving off right away..... or WHAT is pushing this particular system over the cliff with a few people when it seems to be fine for the vast majority.

so.... if you and your fellow HVBJB-replacement crowd are willing to be grilled, it would be great if we could find a common thread that leads to the circumstances prior to when failure was noticed.

- whats the weather like where the car was in the weeks prior to failure? Where you at home the whole time, or on a long trip with DCFC sessions with quick charging and back in the car for more miles?

-were you commonly using A/C, heat, seat heat, steering wheel heat ?

- is your car using in a garage while charging, or often outside in heat/cold while charging?

....what I am interested in is any specific patterns of use that might create excessive heat in the battery pack.... or certain loads or 'start' habits that might create a different sequence of energizing the major components that draw juice thru the HV contactors.

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

Yes I have th anxiety.

However, thanks to spending WAY TOO MUCH time here in the forum, I feel equipped to deal with it when it happens. I know how to get into tow mode before I turn the car off and can’t restart. I know how to ensure the tow truck doesn’t damage the car. I know what to tell the dealer when it arrives. And I’ve forged a relationship with my dealer so they’ll listen to me. They have a battery lift in the corner so they’re ready. Ford seems to be getting new HVJB’s to dealer’s pretty quickly at this point.

So like a good Boy Scout (or nurse) I am prepared for the eventually, which helps manage the anxiety. And after 20 years in medicine, I know being prepared for the worst is the best way to ward off the evil spirits and keep it from happening.

 

[RMoore]

I have zero concern about it.

We do both around-town driving and long-distance trips. We've put 5,000 miles on our Mustang in a little more than three months; less than some, more than others. We sometimes go together and sometimes my not-a-techie partner goes without me. She's not concerned about it and neither am I.

As a scientist/engineer/mathematician, I've taken what's known about the issue and thrown it into my own risk analysis graph and determined that while the consequence of a failure would be moderately (or even potentially major, but almost certainly not catastrophically) bad, the likelihood of it happening is very, very low.

As far as we can tell, it's far less likely to happen than other things I do on a daily or regular basis that have a similar statistical likelihood of happening and a much greater chance of having a major or catastrophic outcome. I ride my bicycle in my bicycle-unfriendly town; I ride a motorcycle; I hike the Grand Canyon a couple times a year; I go rock climbing; I do field work on active volcanoes; I drink the tap water when I travel to new places...

But, I also don't spend much of my life thinking about the worst things that can happen to me or mine. I instead think about the joyful things that I get from (for example) the Mustang that I haven't gotten from any other vehicle.

But, I don't judge people who have a different risk analysis. My risk analysis is based on my risk tolerance and is mine alone.

This is certainly a thoughtful analysis but I have a somewhat different view of the risk and my approach to it. I agree that I won’t stop doing many of the things you highlight but when it comes to taking a car on a vacation or if I can’t afford to get stranded on a particular outing I have another option: I’ll use a different car. Of course I’m lucky in that regard since I have that option but I also have a different interpretation of the risk. I don’t see it as very, very low and since you are a math person I’m curious about your estimate of the likelihood. I would put it at higher than 1/100. One can get fancy modeling this using different distributions but a quick back of the envelope calculation suggests that it is much more common than 1/1000 given that about 40,000 MMEs have been sold and we know just from this forum from @Mach-Lee that around 40 have had this failure and at least three have had more than one failure. It may be incorrect to assume that those were independent events (I.e. there is nothing about their cars or the way they were driven that predisposes them to multiple failures) but if they are, then with a probability of a single failure at 1/100 one would expect the probability that someone would experience two failures to be 1/10,000. We should then only see a handful of people with two failures among all MME owners but we see 3 just from the thread that @Mach-Lee started and that’s among at most 12,000 forum members (I suspect the denominator is far smaller). So I’m going with a probability higher than 1/100 and I don’t think of that as all that unlikely.

 

[Logal727]

I’ve only got anxiety about taking it out of town next week for our vacation in Orlando, about 90 miles away. It’s one we had to cancel 2 years ago. But I know the chance of anything happening is very very low. I’m glad it’s not too far away. I plan to drive without turning the car off before we get there just in case lol.

 

[buzznwood]

My fear is getting stuck at work. NOW I park in their multi-floor garage clearance 6'-7" to get in and out through a spiral ramp. It gets me away from the sun and not many people park there because it's far from the main office buildings. My favorite spot 3rd level.

However, there is ramp that is normally closed but only leads to the second floor??? I think (I only started parking in our garage when I got the car) I suppose that is for emergency vehicles like tow trucks. I think I should start parking on the second level.

Anyone have a solution for getting towed out of garages?

A vehicle can be towed with a wheel lift and dollies setup out of a multi-story garage.

 

[scoopman]

As someone who has had this happen (and was very fortunate to be back on the road within 5 days) -- and now knows there seem to now not be any more HVBJB parts Ford is shipping to fix cars that are now broken -- I've taken steps to minimize my risk until someone has a fix of some type for me.

1. I'm not driving my car very hard like I used to do in a spirited manner

2. When the car is cold in the morning, I'm letting it warm up a little bit in the garage before driving it at speed. I'm also letting it cool down for a couple of minutes before turning it off if I've been driving it with some speed/power, such as on the highway

3. I'm also setting and using departure times to precondition the battery, as it seems temperature warming or cooling might have something to do with the problem perhaps

4. I've set my charging times for home to only allow for charging from 12 midnight to 8am. I've done this because some of the faults occur when the car is plugged in to charge immediately, and potentially components are hot or cold. I'm thinking a delay in charging start is a good idea

5. I'm minimizing any DCFC for the summer

Crazy? Maybe, but I'd like to minimize the risk before hopefully there's a fix. Another failure right now probably means I have a rental car for a month or two at best. That's not going to work for me.

Finally, we decided to drive our ID.4 (which has been solid for 12,000+ miles so far) on our upcoming road trip vacation to LA (6 hrs, 2 DCFC stops). We're very fortunate that Mach N Cheese is not our only EV.

The calculus for us is a bit different, as it would be super non-ideal for a HVBJB to fail far from home at a random EA station with my two little kids in the car. I am not convinced this is such a teenchy tiny risk, and I don't have any problem modifying my behavior to some degree to minimize risk.

I certainly don't obsess over my car's health, but I also don't trust it right now nowhere near as much as I used to, especially when I have my family in the car. Or I'm far away from home and multiple tow truck options and a competent Ford dealer.

I gotta think what's clearly a design defect will be addressed soon. It better be, as my eyes are already wandering towards other EVs if I'm heading into the fall without this design defect addressed.

I do intend to enjoy my summer, and to drive my car around locally. Totally understand those who might not have other transportation options, and I salute others who have different risk profiles.

This is where my brain is at, your mileage and opnions may vary...

 

[scoopman]

My fear is getting stuck at work. NOW I park in their multi-floor garage clearance 6'-7" to get in and out through a spiral ramp. It gets me away from the sun and not many people park there because it's far from the main office buildings. My favorite spot 3rd level.

However, there is ramp that is normally closed but only leads to the second floor??? I think (I only started parking in our garage when I got the car) I suppose that is for emergency vehicles like tow trucks. I think I should start parking on the second level.

Anyone have a solution for getting towed out of garages?

You can't park on a bottom level or outside the garage? I'm not going near my parking garage at work, and I'm parking nose out for easy winching

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