HUGE Safety Issue - 1PD - "Drive Mode Not Available"

[DevSecOps]

I have been meaning to get this checked out at the Ford of Kirkland, but it seems like an issue that won't replicate when in the shop, unless there are fault codes logged when it happens.

Yeah taking it in is a waste of time. It doesn't throw codes, it's 100% a bug introduced in a prior software update and Ford has confirmed that it's a bug. They have also said there's a fix, but in typical Ford fashion, it'll be 2 years before we see the fix and they'll introduce 30 more bugs in the mean time.

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[EELinneman]

I understand your concern. My MME jerked forward after a complete stop. @Ford Motor Company reached out to me. I replied then I was told to go to the dealer since the car has not been inspected by the dealer in the past 30 days. I was also told.

"Your dealership will have the resources needed to have your vehicle's driving performance issues diagnosed and can also discuss what coverage options are available for you."

This is new. I think the rules have changed. The car is less than 1 year old and less than 5,000 miles.

Is there some special coverage we need to buy to have safe 1 pedal driving? Funny, that's not in the owners manual or any of the sales collateral. Come on Ford, you have to do better.

 

[spicy_taco]

Is there some special coverage we need to buy to have safe 1 pedal driving? Funny, that's not in the owners manual or any of the sales collateral. Come on Ford, you have to do better.

It'll cost you an additional $800 per year, in addition to the BC fee....

But in all seriousness, tagging FMC is pointless. It's a social media person who will just regurgitate the default generic message. This needs to be reported to NHTSA en-masse.

 

[JLee]

I’ve experienced this for the very first time late last week. Was driving on the highway, the “ drive mode not avail” msg popped up then I noticed 1PD regen stopped working when I let go of the gas paddle. Had to apply breaks manually as I was preparing to switch lane. Was in Whisper mode, so toggled the 1PD option off/on while driving. 1PD worked again - all took placed in less than a couple of minutes. Haven’t experienced it since. Not sure if this is a new bug introduced as a result of 6.4.0 OTA.

 

[Monke]

Is there some special coverage we need to buy to have safe 1 pedal driving? Funny, that's not in the owners manual or any of the sales collateral. Come on Ford, you have to do better.

I was not happy to see the message neither. May be the dealer might talk about lemon law and buyback options.

 

[that_macheguy]

Mine did this once after I first got it two years ago. It really scared me. The car accelerated on its own, hard too. If let off the brake and it would quickly get going and would even fight me when I pushed the brakes.

 

[Say Watt]

This has happened a couple of times before... but today's instance was scary and the car could have wrecked itself.

I have had instances when I'm driving, I will get a notification saying "Drive Mode Not Available". Ok whatever. The problem is, when this happens to me, the 1PD turns off by itself and can't be re-engaged without power cycling the car. If I'm driving along on a road and I see that, I know what to expect. HOWEVER, 10 min ago, I was pulling into a parking spot with concrete posts around it. This time, it happened as I was turning into the spot. I was in Whisper mode this time. I noticed the car SPED UP a bit as I was letting my foot off the accelerator, and I had to slam on the brakes. Sure enough, "Drive Mode Not Available" was up on the screen. I was about 1 inch away from this concrete post.

Has this happened to anyone else? I can't be the only one...

@Ford Motor Company ya'll need to weigh-in here. This needs to be fixed.

Plug in a scanner and check the codes.

 

[67 Stang Convertible]

Wow, sounds scary. I have had the car 29 months and just like most of you have experienced "Drive Mode Not Available" a handful of times; BUT I have never had my 1PD not work. I drive exclusively in Unbridled & 1 PD on.

 

[Mike G]

Plug in a scanner and check the codes.

It doesn't throw a DTC when this happens. So you're not gonna see anything.

 

[Monke]

It doesn't throw a DTC when this happens. So you're not gonna see anything.

I'm not surprised. For the screen freeze issue showing an image with no car from back up camera but there were car behind me, it did not throw any code. These no code throwing practices are good for car manufacturer but not for the customers if there are accidents because of car malfunctions.

 

[daath]

I use 1PD, I was in Untamed/Unbridle and had the "Drive mode not available" come up and it went to "Active" and turned off 1PD - I was shocked. I don't remember if "Active" had 1PD set at the time - maybe if I had 1PD "on" in Active it wouldn't have deactivated 1PD?
Regardless, I was shocked, but in no immediate danger.

 

[Guss-E 2021]

I drive in Unbridled with 1PD off. Find the amount of regen in Unbridled to be enough. I know I've had DMNA pop up at least once but I don't recall it creating an unsafe event (like unintended acceleration). I use ACC all the time so I wonder if that workd as a mitigation.

The term "mode" denotes this is a software issue. Someone mentioned Ford admitting to having a fix. Seems profoundly stupid to wait until someone is hurt or killed by this before addressing it.

 

[RKinWA]

This has happened a couple of times before... but today's instance was scary and the car could have wrecked itself.

I have had instances when I'm driving, I will get a notification saying "Drive Mode Not Available". Ok whatever. The problem is, when this happens to me, the 1PD turns off by itself and can't be re-engaged without power cycling the car. If I'm driving along on a road and I see that, I know what to expect. HOWEVER, 10 min ago, I was pulling into a parking spot with concrete posts around it. This time, it happened as I was turning into the spot. I was in Whisper mode this time. I noticed the car SPED UP a bit as I was letting my foot off the accelerator, and I had to slam on the brakes. Sure enough, "Drive Mode Not Available" was up on the screen. I was about 1 inch away from this concrete post.

Has this happened to anyone else? I can't be the only one...

@Ford Motor Company ya'll need to weigh-in here. This needs to be fixed.

Yeah that's definitely not good! I have 1PD on only in my profile. When I am in a parking spot ready to pull out, I put it into gear and wait for cross traffic/people to go by before pulling out. Occasionally it won't use my profile (have to power cycle to get it back) and as a result 1PD is off, and when I put it into R, it starts moving, and I have to quickly brake before realizing what happened.

 

[Mike G]

I drive in Unbridled with 1PD off. Find the amount of regen in Unbridled to be enough. I know I've had DMNA pop up at least once but I don't recall it creating an unsafe event (like unintended acceleration). I use ACC all the time so I wonder if that workd as a mitigation.

The term "mode" denotes this is a software issue. Someone mentioned Ford admitting to having a fix. Seems profoundly stupid to wait until someone is hurt or killed by this before addressing it.

I'm the same, Unbridle with no 1PD.

My '21 model used to drop out of Unbridle quite often, and my '23 model has done it twice in the 6 months I've owned it. But the last time it did it was a couple of months ago. I rather had the impression that the promised OTA fix had already been applied, and thought that's why it wasn't happening anymore. But since I don't know which of the OTAs I got had the fix...or if any of them did, I don't know whether my car is now fixed or I've just been lucky lately.

It's not like they put "Fixed a bug where 'Drive Mode Unavailable' could be displayed with an accompanying uncommanded shift to a different drive mode and disengagement of 1PD" in the OTA release notes.

 

[dtbaker61]

I've been saying it's a safety issue since this first showed up as a bug. This can happen when regen changes while you're braking. Expecting the car to stop via your set and accustom regen and then it changes during "drive mode not available" makes the regen change as well which, if using unbridled like I do, makes the car lunge forward with less regenerative baking.

so...... is this throwing any DTC ?
has there been a TSB/CSR/recall to address it?

I'm wondering if this is a software issue, a bad wiring harness, failing accelerator position sensor ?

I haven't noticed an Alert about drive mode, but I have had a couple times when I thought regen/hold was suddenly less effective.

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