I doubt it, Ford seems to think treating thousands of customers to experiences as we've seen over and over on these forums as completely acceptable in the short term aim of saving money.
I'm glad you got home safely. Also very well written, very fun to read. Like you said is very disappointing that even with the recall you couldn't make it all the way home. I still have not received the OTA recall but I guess after this incident it does not matter that much. Hopefully Ford is reading this and taking measures to study further this phenomenon and find a solution once and for all and perhaps even consider the possibility to just replace the HVBJB to all affected VINs.Preface:
First of all let me say this - I'm safe at home, no one is hurt, I'm not mad (I was actually joking with people in DM's while this was happening), but I'm still disappointed at Ford and this recall.
TLDR: Software recall applied, received SVS climbing the Tejon Pass 343 miles from home. Continued my drive home. Received SSN 120 miles from home. Dealer had no loaner, Enterprise had no rentals. Had to ask family to come get me.
So here's my story ---
I went on vacation with family to Newport Beach. It's a beautiful location and while I was down there we went to Disneyland, a concert, the beach and more. It's a place I visit many times a year and I absolutely love it!
Getting there I had to go through the central valley in California and transverse the Tejon Pass in order to drop into Southern California. I got there without issue, the car performed flawlessly. While I was in SoCal everything was great. No issues whatsoever.
Coming home however, was almost as exciting as the Incredicoaster!
Pre-Return Trip Data Points:
Service Vehicle Soon:
- Last night I charged to 100% SOC at the resort L2 charger
- Last DCFC was Monday - 4 days prior
- 2 occupants in the vehicle with luggage (350lbs Max)
- Temperatures 80-105F
- 22S41 was applied via OTA 2 weeks prior
89.5 miles into my return trip, and after a stop at Starbucks for a Bacon Gouda and Late, I began my ascent into the notorious "Grapevine" (Tejon Pass). At an elevation of 1750' above sea level on a 6.8% grade, going 83 mph while overtaking a BMW that decided to cut me off, I experienced SVS. I might add that at the exact moment, I took a bite of my Bacon Gouda sandwich... this might have been the ultimate straw that broke the camels back.
This is where it happened. Don't mind the truck full of goats -
Red line was my approximate location:
Service Vehicle Soon Data Points:
- 89.5 miles into my drive
- 99F at time of failure
- 1750' elevation
- 6.8% uphill grade
- 83 mph
- No previous DCFC for 4 days
- 59% SOC
- 23k miles on the ODO
The drive continues:
I continued to go over the Tejon Pass like a Prius without any power. Going up that thing with full jail bars was not fun. I then went into Bakersfield for a DCFC top up.
DCFC Stats (Bakersfield, CA):
At the station in Bakersfield I made some phone calls, opened up a case, called my local dealer and prepared some people at Ford for my car next week. We leave the DCFC station in route to the next, and last DCFC before arriving at home. We get to the next station without any significant events and we charge without any issue, this was in the town of Los Banos, CA (yes that means the bathrooms in English).
- Arrived 35% SOC
- Left 89% SOC
Second DCFC Stats (Los Banos, CA):
Stop Safely Now:
- Arrived 19% SOC
- Left 75% SOC
Just when I thought I was home free, the plot thickens. As we continued the drive all of a sudden I got Stop Safely Now. I immediately pulled into a parking lot and made sure to leave the car running. I was in motion when I received SSN at about 10 mph and I happened to be right next to a parking lot.
I parked the car in a good spot for a tow, backed into a stall with an open exit lane in front of me for easy tow access. I contacted some people at Ford again to see what I should do at this point. I never turned off the car, because I knew that if I did it would be game over.
We weighed the pros and cons of driving the car further and ultimately after some very helpful people consulted with people in the "know" it was determined that driving it home the 120 miles would be too risky. As luck would have it, there was a dealership just 2 blocks away. So the compromise was to drive to the dealer instead. This is ultimately what I did.
SSN Data Points:
The car was reporting voltage shorts at this point.
- Electrical Data:
- Vehicle reported:
- Negative Contactor: 655.35v
- Positive Contactor: 5.1v
- Nominal values:
- Negative Contactor: 0-1v
- Positive Contactor: ~365v
- Average Speed up until this point: 69mph
The Dealership:
I arrived to the dealership at 4:45PM, just a few minutes before they closed. It's a small town, they are a farming town and the population is just 39k. I didn't have much faith going in.
I go to the service desk and it's one guy. I told him what happened and he said "Let me get my EV techs, they were just trained on this." So he calls up a couple guys and they ask what happened and I told them. The guy tells me "I just got through training on this and I haven't actually worked on an EV before. This will be my first, and quite frankly, I'm scared." He was a really nice guy, they were all really nice.
I drove the car around the to side, turned it off and it never came back to life after that. -Dead-
The one thing it did do, which was weird is that I got an error saying the car wasn't in park when it was. Don't know why this happened.
Unfortunately, since it's a small town they only have 1 loaner and it was out. There's a singular Enterprise rental car facility in the town and it only has 5 cars, all of which were out.
They told me that I could get a hotel and on Monday they would get me into a rental. I asked what other options I had and he shrugged his shoulders. Ford roadside was of no help either. They didn't know what to do.
Ultimately, I had to call family, who drove down 120 miles to come get us and bring us home.
My Take:
The recall is garbage. I've been avidly outspoken about it as most of you know and I continue to be. While it did alert me to the potential issue, it didn't get me home and still left me stranded 120 miles from my house with SSN. Yes, you could blame this on the terrain, the fact that I had to DCFC and more, but reality is that a 450 mile trip was unsuccessful. I had no choice but to take that route and I had no choice but to charge. Ultimately, it's not a fix and shouldn't be considered one.
Ford Roadside was a complete waste of time in my case. I'll be escalating my complaints in this department for sure because they didn't care one bit that I was stuck there. They told me they could only drive me 35 miles and if my house was further I would have to pay for it myself.
If you get SSN don't turn the car off until you are in a safe area. Attempt to get somewhere in short distance and slowly.
Data:
I had 3 cameras rolling the entire trip. I also had data logging via the OBDII. I have a lot of data points and video to go through which will take time. If anyone has any specific questions please feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer.
Conclusion:
I still have a journey left. The car is sitting, dead, at the dealer, 120 miles away. I have no rental and the HVBJB still has to be replaced. I will update this thread with additional information as it happens.
When I got home I was looking forward to my new pillow that was ordered and delivered while I was on vacation. I thought, well at least there's light at the end of my tunnel for today. Gleefully, I open the box only to find the wrong pillow. I thought, well that sucks, and where's the other box that I was expecting ... hmmm I can't find it...
This car is a curse!!!
I will confirm that Todd did indeed make a full-throated goat
noise just before the incident. Check the logs this could have put the car over the edge. Along with passing that 3 series.
The recall software does give you some warning which is better than no warning.
If they’ve been trained on it, I wouldn’t be too worried. I saw John Kelly from Weber Auto do the whole thing mostly by himself and he’s in a motorized wheelchair.
My understanding from DM conversations is that both techs had both virtual and hands on training. I don’t know about others but I will take the humble techs who are more likely to follow procedures very carefully and lean on Ford for assistance than the vast number of overconfident techs we hear about in the forums that can’t even follow simple TSB’s.
I hadn't thought that a Twinkie was in any food group
Off topic, but glad to learn about Philz Coffee. I see that there are two in DC and one in northern Virginia.
@RMoore ... As Wyld mentioned I was fortunate enough to have someone look at the dealership technician training records and yes they have 2 technicians that are trained. I could tell in the demeanor of the technician that he was excited to have the opportunity to work on the car. While experience is obviously something lacking, I felt that the drive, dedication and eagerness was present. I have hired a number of software developers over the years and let me tell you - the worst are those who went to college for it just because they couldn't decide on what they wanted to do. The best were those fresh out of HS who had the drive and motivation to learn. I feel good about those techs.
I wasn't going to but I was told that I would be in trouble if I didn't. Also it was a pending OTA for me a couple weeks ago. I held off for a long time, but ultimately there's some risk involved when they have queued up a recall on your vehicle. If I would have knowingly ignored the recall I might have been liable for damages. It was something I weighed heavily.
Consider a new thread on this? I would but don't yet have our Premium AWD.
so what you are saying is if we all learn how to make that goat sound when the car is listening, it will fail? A secret audio Konami Code. Todd please do an audio clip and share, you could help expedite our replacement!!I will confirm that Todd did indeed make a full-throated goat
Have fun at Safari West! If you're spending the night, the tent cabins up on the hill should be quieter than the ones down by all the animals (humans and otherwise). Say hi to the baby giraffe (it was born last Oct on the day we arrived).
