Drive mode unavailable, possibly battery temp related?

v8318cid

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So here's a weird one for everyone. I've noticed on several occasions that the car will randomly drop out of the selected drive mode (I use Unbridle[d] almost exclusively) and prevent selecting a different mode for a variable amount of time. Yesterday I noticed what I thought could be the cause, beyond the usual software gremlins at least. For the first few minutes I couldn't select any mode and the car image was mostly black (usually changes background color based on selected mode). After a few minutes of being stationary, I could reselect Unbridled, but it dropped back out almost immediately. Did this several times over the course of about 10 minutes. What finally stopped it was turning on the A/C. My suspicion is that the battery coolant loop helped lower the pack temps once the A/C was running (it had not come on previously; my A/C compressor is rather noisy and not easily ignored). For those who would ask, I was not driving aggressively (avg consumption was 4.1-4.7mi/kwh, well above my normal average) and the ambient outside temp was about 90F (still well below what it normally is around here this time of year).

Long story short, I wish Ford would add a battery temp gauge so I wouldn't have to guess about this.
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If you're able to wait a little bit and then change drive modes the way you want, without needing to turn the vehicle off and on, then you're experiencing a bug that many of us also experience. The fix is not available to owners, yet.

If drive modes lockout and you notice some loss of max power and less fan speed for cold air, that is the summer overheat concern. Very, very few people have shared this particular experience on the forum. It's happened to my car maybe a dozen times, only on super hot days here in Phoenix and only when my car was heat soaked in a large open parking lot.
 

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It happens to me regularly, I use unbridled as well nearly exclusively.
 

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I use whisper, barely push my engine/battery most days on my commute, and still get the 'drive mode unavailable' bug. Even in the morning when it is cool.
What finally stopped it was turning on the A/C. My suspicion is that the battery coolant loop helped lower the pack temps once the A/C was running
I really, really hope that Ford isn't relying on us to turn on our A/C to cool the battery pack...
 

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When I had my premium, I use to get this (drive mode not available) and I would reset Sync and it would become available immediately after Sync rebooted. So far, this has never happened to me in my GT
 


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Long story short, I wish Ford would add a battery temp gauge so I wouldn't have to guess about this.
You need to request a working temp gauge. My Lightning has a battery temp gauge. Stays right in the middle at all times. I can start the truck when it’s freezing cold, or baking in the hot sun….never moves. I set the display so it no longer appears.
 

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Carscanner reports the battery temp in multiple ways, and in theory could help to understand if it's temp related (with enough persistence and data points).

I sometimes get "drive mode not available" when I've been sitting in the car stationary after more than 30 minutes watching my kids' soccer practice in 50F weather, so I'd be surprised if it's temp related but who knows. Pretty annoying that we have zero feedback from Ford on this issue and we just have to sit here and wonder if it's be fixed next week, next month, next year, or ever.
 

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So here's a weird one for everyone. I've noticed on several occasions that the car will randomly drop out of the selected drive mode (I use Unbridle[d] almost exclusively) and prevent selecting a different mode for a variable amount of time. Yesterday I noticed what I thought could be the cause, beyond the usual software gremlins at least. For the first few minutes I couldn't select any mode and the car image was mostly black (usually changes background color based on selected mode). After a few minutes of being stationary, I could reselect Unbridled, but it dropped back out almost immediately. Did this several times over the course of about 10 minutes. What finally stopped it was turning on the A/C. My suspicion is that the battery coolant loop helped lower the pack temps once the A/C was running (it had not come on previously; my A/C compressor is rather noisy and not easily ignored). For those who would ask, I was not driving aggressively (avg consumption was 4.1-4.7mi/kwh, well above my normal average) and the ambient outside temp was about 90F (still well below what it normally is around here this time of year).

Long story short, I wish Ford would add a battery temp gauge so I wouldn't have to guess about this.
Wow, I am not alone. I just started to get this about a week ago and also keep it in Unbridled. I have seen it happen about 4 times now, usually when I am just driving normally on the freeway. After about 5 or 10 mins, it finally lets me select a drive mode again. But may eventrually revert back in a long enough trip. So annoying. I couldn't tell which mode it was defaulting too though but kind of reminded me of the middle mode. So is this some kind of bug that Ford can fix with an update???
 

Mr.GVAK

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This happens to me every now and then. I immediately select one of the other two driving modes (other than the one I had active) and then switch back to it. It worked every single time so far.
 
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Panzer948

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This happens to me every now and then. I immediately select one of the other two driving modes other than the one I had active and then switch back to it. It worked every single time so far.
No this isn't currently working for my case, and many others based on how they are describing it. Which is locking us out of any drive mode selection for at least 5 or 10 mins it seems. I can't really tell what mode it is in since it doesn't indicate. I know its not as aggressive as unbridled though
 

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It's a software bug. It has nothing to do with temps. We've seen this issue at start in very cold temps as well. It will always let you go back to whatever you want to select but it takes a few minutes before you can actually select it otherwise it will just throw the same error. You don't have to park or stop driving to select the mode again, you just have to give it time.

Ford has developed a fix for it but it hasn't been deployed yet.
 
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v8318cid

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I wouldn't say it has nothing to do with battery temperature, but in absence of any proof to back up my claim, I get where people are coming from. Just seems odd that it would refuse to stay in my preferred mode (when I could get it to switch) for more than a few seconds until I turned the A/C on. No biggie though. The car is still a hoot to drive (2+ years, 22k miles, no speeding tickets[yet]...) and mostly trouble free. Maybe when I feel like it, I'll pony up for another FDRS license and do some data logging (need to figure out how that recorder pendant thing that came with my VCM3 works anyway).
 

Panzer948

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I just hope Ford is working to fix it as it seems like a silly error. Mainely because I sometimes forget to put it back in the mode I wanted it in... Atleast have the car default back to the original mode automatically when it's available. Having to go back and forth to check is the most annoying part and only reminds us of the problem...
 

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I have the same thing. I noticed this started when the Alexa update was first put into Sync. I am not saying it is Alexa related, but it started right around when that downloaded to the car. I have a job 1 AWD/STD, 01/09/2021 build date.
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