Are Ford dealers really this bad about the Mach-E

[Mirak]

There is some truth to the frustrations in the video.

First, PAAK is getting worse for me. So I have no reason to doubt their experiences.

Second, Ford and the Dealerships are NOT on the same page about this particular update. When I scheduled mine based on the notice, the appointment was cancelled a few days later because they only have one tech who is certified to do the updates and we wasn’t available for three weeks, and they recommended waiting for this update to come OTA. I dropped it at that point because PAAK was working well at the time. Now I may push the issue.

I think the stuff about the update bricking the car is total bullshit, but that’s a problem in and of itself: the service center spouting bullshit.

So my biggest criticism of this video is it was three times longer than it needed to be. And it is probably an extreme case. But there is TRUTH to these frustrations.

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[BadgerGreg]

I took my MME to the dealership a week ago, and they performed the update in 30 minutes without a problem. They had a tech trained on the MME, and although he said my car was the first one he worked on, he followed the instructions and everything worked just fine.

I'm SURE there are dealerships out there that are upset with the additional investment required to service EVs; that's probably reflected in their attitude towards MME owners. They'll have to adapt, but it will be a bit painful along the way.

 

[Pushrods&Capacitors]

More typical YouTube clickbait bs. PAAK has been flawed for sure, however, banners titled “Unfixable” slapped across the screen tell me all I need to know when browsing YouTube for useful Mach E or other content.

 

[BMT1071]

I took my MME to the dealership a week ago, and they performed the update in 30 minutes without a problem. They had a tech trained on the MME, and although he said my car was the first one he worked on, he followed the instructions and everything worked just fine.

I'm SURE there are dealerships out there that are upset with the additional investment required to service EVs; that's probably reflected in their attitude towards MME owners. They'll have to adapt, but it will be a bit painful along the way.

I'm pretty sure becoming an EV certified dealer is optional so I don't see why they would be salty about the investment.

 

[Scrannel]

IMHO, this is where the tug of war begins. Dealers of course make their primary money on service, though naturally, dealers have been the way auto makers sell cars. Over generations the dealers became essentially autonomous, because they were 100% necessary. Now, the obvious problem: how do dealers make money on vehicles that barely need service? And, how does Ford market a really great car like the Mach E with the Homer Simpson dealers screwing everything up? Or at best, providing hit-and-miss service? Most economists believe dealers, in their current form, are on their way to extinction. Will some adapt? I think the real answer is: who cares?

 

[mr_raider]

Yeah my Paak is working ok now so I'm in zero hurry to get the field service action done. Let other people be guinea pigs. Well sort this out in a month or two.

 

[ManInBlack]

My dealer did just fine with the PAAK update and now is really reliable. It took them 2 hours, but I schedule it and just worked from the dealer waiting room. My dealer has 4 certified techs (what they told me while I was waiting) but no real practical experience. So it took them a little longer thank they thought but they got it done.
I think Ford and their dealers have gotten a bad wrap with the Mach E roll out. My dealer was great, MSPR and no up selling of stuff I didn’t need. I asked for specific Ford financing and signed the papers. Pretty easy and no funny business.
As for the car itself, I can’t say enough good things. It’s been awesome and the forum complaints are not indicative of the majority of experiences.

 

[Jim D]

I have never had a need for service on my Mach E, but I will gripe about the sales staff. The sales guy didn't know anything about the Mach E, I bought it because I wanted a clean vehicle and it was something of an impulse buy. I originally was looking to upgrade from a 2WD truck to a 4WD truck, but the cost drove me up into the EV price range and as I don't really need a truck I looked at the Mach E.

So I bought it. When I was picking it up the sales person had someone else instruct me to download Fordpass and he configured it, leaving out little things like asking me to put my credit card information in so I could use the charging stations and not doing anything for plug & charge. I did eventually figure things out and tested charging once, all other charging has been at home. Overall I was not impressed with the dealer and gave them a neutral 3 out 5 stars when surveyed and that was mostly because I liked the car, not the dealership.

I should have researched the car more before buying, the lack of roof rack options and Ford's insistence that the US vehicle can't tow irritate me. Another nit I can pick is the support for playing music off of a USB drive, I really like this feature but my 2017 Chevy Colorado had a much better implementation, they at least had the function to browse the USB drive and select where you wanted to start playing. I generally can't be bother to listen to the idiots on the radio stations and the USB drive option saves me from that. They could really use some improvement on the whole GUI interface.

Having said all that, I do love the car and it is the nicest car I've ever purchased.

 

[Scooby24]

Are these updates required at the dealership instead of OTA? What's the point of OTA updates if you have to bring in the car for some updates?

 

[theo1000]

I should have researched the car more before buying, the lack of roof rack options and Ford's insistence that the US vehicle can't tow irritate me. Another nit I can pick is the support for playing music off of a USB drive, I really like this feature but my 2017 Chevy Colorado had a much better implementation, they at least had the function to browse the USB drive and select where you wanted to start playing. I generally can't be bother to listen to the idiots on the radio stations and the USB drive option saves me from that. They could really use some improvement on the whole GUI interface.

Man I loved this USB player on my Chevy Volt. Sometimes I still take it on long drives and love the USB player. I really disliked it when I got my Etron and discovered that this USB player had been removed for phone blue tooth everything. Seems to be a trend. But then I hated it when CD players were phased out.

I've kinda adapted to the Mach-E Blue Tooth player but use FXsound bare bones player to boost the MP3 audio. Comes off very tinny otherwise to my ears.

 

[JohnnyForensic]

Completely the dealers fault. I sent Shannon a DM because the dealer probably bricked a couple of cars because they didn't follow Ford's instructions properly.

I do wonder about this though, and I'm also concerned. I know the dealer she uses; it's one of the biggest in Virginia. If they aren't confident in doing something, that really does make me think.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

Are these updates required at the dealership instead of OTA? What's the point of OTA updates if you have to bring in the car for some updates?

The FSA is for those who are having moderate to serious disconnect/PAAK issues. For those who do not have those issues, or don't care because they prefer using a fob, they can wait for the FSA changed to be put into an OTA update later this year,

 

[RSH]

I do wonder about this though, and I'm also concerned. I know the dealer she uses; it's one of the biggest in Virginia. If they aren't confident in doing something, that really does make me think.

I'm in Virginia and got my MME fixed without a problem. They assured me they had a specially trained technician who would do the work. If the dealership you referenced is so large, seems they would have trained techs as well. But this dealership has other issues since they didn't even seem to have the car scheduled for the work. It will be interesting if Ford Corp. sees this video, which they probably will since they stepped in due to other videos made by this same person.

 

[praxiscat]

I do wonder about this though, and I'm also concerned. I know the dealer she uses; it's one of the biggest in Virginia. If they aren't confident in doing something, that really does make me think.

If it is who I think it is, that dealer has come off as nothing but slimey to me over the phone (really all the NoVA dealers have).
I am in DC, so I have been reaching out to MD and VA dealers. The MD dealers have largely been pretty good, very professional. But the VA dealers seriously made me so frustrated it made me have second thoughts of getting the MME. Thankfully, I am closer to MD, and found a really good dealer that seems pretty serious about selling these cars.

 

[Blackbluff]

https://owner.ford.com/tools/accoun...html?year=2021&make=Ford&model=Mustang Mach-E

This is the online owners manual for the Mach E. Scroll down the list of subjects and you will find the maintenance schedule and items the dealer should cover at the appropriate interval. There is a lot more than just rotating tires.

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