HVBJB Issue -Am I being unreasonable?

[RosarioM]

Expecting them to cover anything happens is one thing, actually covering it is a complete different story, me dropping the car for them to fix something, I expect them to test drive the car after they finish to confirm the issue went away, I don't expect them to drive my faulty car from San Diego to Los Angeles so another dealer can fix it!

a test drive is completely different from an hour ride in faulty car to get it fixed somewhere else.

This is my point. I asked the manager today if he was aware of the gray bars along my power meter and that I could barely get over 50 on my drive to drop it off and that people online report getting the “stop safely now” soon after and that could have happened to the poor guy who’s job it was to drive my car. He acted surprised.

I guess that’s my main problem here. Why do I know more about my car than they do when they have a giant “EV Certified” sign in their waiting room?
Also as an aside, Ford Care has been pretty much useless. @Ford Motor Company has stopped replying to my messages or just says “your dealership has the latest details”. Ford care is who told me that the dealership was not equipped to service my car and they were supposed to call me back… nothing from them. And the Care representative just flat out refuses to reply to any of my emails.
One of the reasons I didn’t want a Tesla is because of the dealer network for a traditional car company.

The worst part though is that I really lils my car, I want it back That’s all i want. I just want to use what I paid for.

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[Mach-Lee]

So three weeks ago I had the dreaded service vehicle soon message. Of course it was the HVBJB issue and after going through all the steps the part finally arrived at the dealership last week. I expected to finally get my car back after three weeks only to find out that my dealership did not have the lift to service my car and that it had to go to another dealership an hour away. It was my understanding that it would be towed to the other dealership. Instead they drove it there.

I was pissed because 1) they told me it was being towed, 2) they should have had the proper equipment there to begin with and 3) what if they got the stop safely now message while driving it.

Either way it seems completely unprofessional to drive a customers car without telling them an hour away for it to be serviced.

Am I being unreasonable? Also as of now it’s STILL hasn’t been looked at.

[I'm assuming this is the dealer you bought he car from and is EV certified?]

100% agree, the EV-certified dealer should have the equipment to service EV's, if not they need to lose their EV certified title. A dealer should not sell a vehicle they can't service. These rules exist, but Ford does not enforce them hardly.

If you're motivated, call Ford and complain. See if you can get them to revoke that dealer's EV certification. Make the point they can't service what they sell.

 

[RosarioM]

100% agree, the EV-certified dealer should have the equipment to service EV's, if not they need to lose their EV certified title. A dealer should not sell a vehicle they can't service. These rules exist, but Ford does not enforce them hardly.

If you're motivated, call Ford and complain. See if you can get them to revoke that dealer's EV certification. Make the point they can't service what they sell.

I did. I asked to speak with my care persons managers manager to discuss the dealerships certification. I was livid with them and asked to get a call back as soon as possible…. Still waiting.

 

[HSVMWCS]

I didn’t provide all the details but I’ve been very patient with them when they couldn’t provide a loaner and I had to go rent a beat up Rav 4.........

Earlier this year, my Ford dealer refused to provide a loaner when my MME had its windshields/sunroof recalled. I called Ford's customer relationship (CR) immediately. My local dealer decided to retaliate by requesting me to pick up my loaner car at 7:00-7:15 am on a specific day. If I showed up late, even for one minute, I would lose my loaner car and have to wait for another 3-5 months for their service.

I showed up at 6:30 am that morning, got an ICE Mustang, and had my recall done in one week.

Sadly, my MME entered "turtle mode" in mid-August. Even worse, my local dealer refused to provide a loaner again, although its service advisor clearly knew the last MME with similar battery issues took them a few months.

I called Ford's CR again and was approved to rent a car during my MME's repair. Also, CR pushed the local dealer to provide a loaner..... sadly in late October. A few days ago, Ford's CR agent offered to pay for my car loan payments.

Long story short.... call Ford's customer service ^^.

While Ford's stealership cares nothing but profits, I believe Ford cares about its products, customers, and reputations.

 

[Up and Over]

This entire process would be avoidable if: 1) Ford did an actual recall and replaced everyone's HVBJB instead of the software update 2) Service departments were equipped to handle EVs. My guess is that they don't have the supplies or personnel for 1 and/or 2. The cynic in me also thinks that there is a cost/benefit analysis to all of this and it is not yet worth it to them to avoid these situations.

 

[DamDoc]

Not being unreasonable. But i would have rather they drove it than tow it…. Based on your relating the situation, they might not have found the tow points, and then you might really have had a snafu…

 

[heisnuts]

Having just gone through my second HVBJB failure and replacement, I completely understand your frustration. The first failure was in May just before the updated part became available and I just picked up the car from the second failure this week. The first repair took 10 days and the second repair took 31 days.

Your story really shows the limitations when it comes to repairs on the EVs. Most dealers who are EV certified only have one or two techs who can replace a HVBJB and it looks like right now those techs have no shortage of work to pick from. With my latest repair the part got there within a week or two, but it was another two and a half weeks before the tech actually replaced the part. Considering there are currently less than 4,000 certified EV techs in the US for all brands, I have a feeling this problem is going to get worse before it gets better.

I suspect some of the problem is that almost all of the EV repairs right now are warranty work, and the tech gets paid less hours for warranty work vs customer pay work. So I suspect a lot of the warranty work gets put on the back burner so that the tech can make a lot of customer pay hours before taking the hit on a warranty job. The dealership has to keep that tech happy because they know if they don’t that tech will go down the street to a dealership who will because there is such a demand for techs. That demand is even higher for EV techs since there are so few with the training required before tackling jobs like replacing a HVBJB.

 

[HSVMWCS]

Having just gone through my second HVBJB failure and replacement, I completely understand your frustration. The first failure was in May just before the updated part became available and I just picked up the car from the second failure this week. The first repair took 10 days and the second repair took 31 days.

Your story really shows the limitations when it comes to repairs on the EVs. Most dealers who are EV certified only have one or two techs who can replace a HVBJB and it looks like right now those techs have no shortage of work to pick from. With my latest repair the part got there within a week or two, but it was another two and a half weeks before the tech actually replaced the part. Considering there are currently less than 4,000 certified EV techs in the US for all brands, I have a feeling this problem is going to get worse before it gets better.

I suspect some of the problem is that almost all of the EV repairs right now are warranty work, and the tech gets paid less hours for warranty work vs customer pay work. So I suspect a lot of the warranty work gets put on the back burner so that the tech can make a lot of customer pay hours before taking the hit on a warranty job. The dealership has to keep that tech happy because they know if they don’t that tech will go down the street to a dealership who will because there is such a demand for techs. That demand is even higher for EV techs since there are so few with the training required before tackling jobs like replacing a HVBJB.

I agree 100% because that's what I have experienced. When Ford issued the windshield/moonroof recall last year, my local dealer requested me to wait 3-5 months and refused to provide a loaner car. I contacted Ford immediately. I was then suggested to go to another Ford dealership nearby. Sadly, their technician was not certified to perform this recall. I had to go back to my local dealership and continue wrestling with them.

My 2021 Premium MME has only 8K miles on it but has been out-of-service for more than a month. I will sell it as soon as it gets repaired and get a Corsair or NX450h, because I expect the shortage of EV technicians and sub-par service quality of Ford's dealership to last several more years.

I quit being a Guinea pig~~~

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

Write the Customer Experience officers at Ford. Explain things calmly and clearly.

https://www.elliott.org/company-contacts/ford/

 

[Mach1E]

What if a rock hits his windshield or bumper? what if someone rear-ends the car?
Driving a customer's car for an hour is a lot! lots of things can go wrong, I expect them to ask me first!

Personally, with all the towing horror stories here, I would much rather them drive it.

So would I be annoyed they drove it? Definitely not.

I would be mad they wasted 3 weeks though.

 

[jay1122]

This entire process would be avoidable if: 1) Ford did an actual recall and replaced everyone's HVBJB instead of the software update 2) Service departments were equipped to handle EVs. My guess is that they don't have the supplies or personnel for 1 and/or 2. The cynic in me also thinks that there is a cost/benefit analysis to all of this and it is not yet worth it to them to avoid these situations.

I thought Ford should replace all HVBJB too. That is until I ran the rough calculation myself. The work is about 7 billable hours, the part is $750 from what I read somewhere in the forum. I would give each car a bill of $1500. MME total sold with the old HVBJB probably is in 80-90K. If we use $1500x80,000=$120,000,000. Hmm 120M, Yeah I won't do it if I am ford. It takes a lot of business to make back that 120M.

Honestly, if it happens to me. As long as I get a loaner or rental I will be fine.

 

[Up and Over]

I thought Ford should replace all HVBJB too. That is until I ran the rough calculation myself. The work is about 7 billable hours, the part is $750 from what I read somewhere in the forum. I would give each car a bill of $1500. MME total sold with bad parts probably 80-90K. If we use $1500x80,000=$120,000,00. Hmm 120M, Yeah I won't do it if I am ford. It takes a lot of business to make back that 120M.

Honestly, if it happens to me. As long as I get a loaner or rental I will be fine.

I agree that Ford has likely done the calculation and is willing to take a chance on it not needing to be a universal recall/replacement of the part. While I appreciate the magnitude of the expense, as a consumer it is frustrating to deal with the hassle of an unscheduled/unexpected repair.

There are a couple of issues that make this more of a headache than it needs to be when it comes time to have the part replaced.

1) The part is not kept in stock and takes at best a few days to get to the dealership (they say it is on "indefinite backorder" but people here on the forum have correctly said it arrives in <1 week).

2) There is likely only one service technician at the dealership who handles EV repairs so the timing of the repair once the part comes in is based on that technician's availability.

3) Not every dealer has a loaner available. If you have to get a rental, you have to get reimbursed through Ford.

4)There is a general lack of knowledge at dealers around EVs and the associated issues.

 

[PalsyWalsy]

Earlier this year, my Ford dealer refused to provide a loaner when my MME had its windshields/sunroof recalled. I called Ford's customer relationship (CR) immediately. My local dealer decided to retaliate by requesting me to pick up my loaner car at 7:00-7:15 am on a specific day. If I showed up late, even for one minute, I would lose my loaner car and have to wait for another 3-5 months for their service.

I showed up at 6:30 am that morning, got an ICE Mustang, and had my recall done in one week.

Sadly, my MME entered "turtle mode" in mid-August. Even worse, my local dealer refused to provide a loaner again, although its service advisor clearly knew the last MME with similar battery issues took them a few months.

I called Ford's CR again and was approved to rent a car during my MME's repair. Also, CR pushed the local dealer to provide a loaner..... sadly in late October. A few days ago, Ford's CR agent offered to pay for my car loan payments.

Long story short.... call Ford's customer service ^^.

While Ford's stealership cares nothing but profits, I believe Ford cares about its products, customers, and reputations.

This almost mirrors my experience. I had a very good experience with the CR team who go the part expedited and a car payment reimbursed for what turned out to be 17 day process. I was patient and clam with the CR team and they helped everything along and checked in every 3-4 days to ensure it was happening (by both phone calls and emails).

 

[breeves002]

This almost mirrors my experience. I had a very good experience with the CR team who go the part expedited and a car payment reimbursed for what turned out to be 17 day process. I was patient and clam with the CR team and they helped everything along and checked in every 3-4 days to ensure it was happening (by both phone calls and emails).

Impressive. It took me a month to get my rental car reimbursed and my CSR just wouldn't reply to me and finally after escalating on the phone with 3 different CSRs and sending a few emails I got someone else to send me the reimbursement.

As to OP I would have been pissed too. Why does an EV certified dealer not have the equipment to fix the car? Why would they drive it an hour without asking? I would have been livid. I would also take every single paint chip on the front end of the car and blame it on them. I don't know why it is so difficult to just have some basic customer service.

 

[jay1122]

I agree that Ford has likely done the calculation and is willing to take a chance on it not needing to be a universal recall/replacement of the part. While I appreciate the magnitude of the expense, as a consumer it is frustrating to deal with the hassle of an unscheduled/unexpected repair.

There are a couple of issues that make this more of a headache than it needs to be when it comes time to have the part replaced.

1) The part is not kept in stock and takes at best a few days to get to the dealership (they say it is on "indefinite backorder" but people here on the forum have correctly said it arrives in <1 week).

2) There is likely only one service technician at the dealership who handles EV repairs so the timing of the repair once the part comes in is based on that technician's availability.

3) Not every dealer has a loaner available. If you have to get a rental, you have to get reimbursed through Ford.

4)There is a general lack of knowledge at dealers around EVs and the associated issues.

What I think Ford can improve on is the availability of parts. Each dealer should have 1-2 in stock. I don't believe these parts are that difficult to produce. I am tired of the COVID supply issue excuses. I bet it is more with supplier contract agreement and internal bureaucracy . Or trying to incorporate that lean inventory management strategy to reduce cost.

Another improvement can be having some sort of dealer priority fix agreement. Like give some incentives for completing warranty work within one week of drop off. People with HVBJB issues jump to the front of the line to repair. People with non critical issues should be pushed further back.

If parts are in the dealer's inventory and the repair work gets queued immediately. The fix should be done in as little as 2 days. I am sure there will be very few disgruntled owners.

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