Mach-e doesn't like being in Whisper mode

[Doobster6]

MANY (sadly!) years ago, I wrote computer programs in various now antiquated languages, so I fully understand how easy it is to introduce a ‘fix’ that creates several other unforeseen problems. The more complex the program, the more likely that something unwanted is introduced or missed. In as much as these cars are rolling software platforms, companies that have serious software chops (which isn’t Ford, at least not yet anyway) will provide a better EV driving experience. All that said, I must say that my 2024 has been (save for this issue) entirely problem free during my first six months of ownership.

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[stangbat]

Mine drops from Unbridled to Engage every so often.

I had "Electrical System Drain" warnings last December and during this period it dropped out of Unbridled back to Engage a lot. Maybe every three times I drove it. I had the dealer investigate the drain warning and they claimed a failed "huge" software update was causing the error (no failures were ever reported by the car.) They updated everything, I got the car back on Dec 30th, and after that dropping out of Unbridled stopped. I thought I was done with random mode dropping, until last week. It has now dropped out of Unbridled twice in maybe five days.

So I had a good run of about three weeks where it stayed in Unbridled. I give up, I guess this is just something you deal with. ?‍

Last night it didn't charge at all during the scheduled hours. Between this and the drive mode changes, I'm hoping more gremlins aren't going to show up.

 

[Schmedlack]

I always use Wisper mode for my '21 Job 1. Infrequently it switchs to Engage mode, but easily switches back. I thought that this was the result of receiving a download from Ford which caused a the car to default to Engage.

I have never had the drive mode change while I am driving. Reading here, no car has switched from Unbridled to Wisper or vice-versa either. (Thus, Engage mode is the default).

Is this similar to what has happened for everyone else's car?

 

[Snakebitten]

The inconsistency between Mach-E's that do or don't experience the behavior is fascinating. I say that because there has to be an explanation, but after 4 years a definitive pattern has yet to emerge.

My 2023.5 GTPE self changed from Unbridled to Engaged a handful of times after I first acquired it. Then it just stopped happening. I haven't a clue what might have changed that halted the behavior.

 

[azerik]

This is an issue again? I thought it was solved as I had "Drive mode not available" Replaced with front camera fault a while back.

 

[tpsfoto]

My 2024 premium did the whisper to engage yesterday for the first time…… less than 500 miles on the car.

 

[JJR]

Had my Mach-e now for nearly a year and love it. But it has quirks. I like to drive it in Whisper mode, but I've noticed that several times a month it randomly switches to Engage. It doesn't appear to be related to anyone else using it and switching modes, because my wife rarely drives it. I've gotten to the point that I can feel the difference within couple of minutes of driving.

And now, today, it won't even let me switch back! I press whisper, and it greys out all the buttons for a couple of seconds then goes straight beck to Engage. Turned it off and on again, same thing.

I think my pony is trying to tell me something.

‘22 Premium and Whisper is all I drive because of the smooth roll. From the sound of things I wonder if the MME is a victim of RF transmissions or some other external influence.

 

[Tomatoboy]

Ours just randomly started doing this the other day. Every single start up it’s back to Engage on both keys. Only thing I can think of is that Ford had to disconnect the 12V troubleshooting a stuck module as the last update was on 1/3. It’s been annoying as we’ve been using Whisper for a reason, we’ve had snow recently and need the regen at minimum for a few drifted spots downhill. (Really wish the car had a slippery/snow mode option with zero regen for snow—would be doubly beneficial as a brake disc cleaner mode less silly than dropping to neutral lol)

 

[superdave80]

Mine use to give a 'drive mode unavailable' and switch out of whisper. In fact, I think it wouldn't let me select ANY mode (although it 'felt' like I was in 'engage' mode). It happened infrequently, and usually let me select whisper mode after 1-2 minutes. Now it just switches out of whisper with no error messages, but seems to happen way less often then before, so I'm assuming there was some OTA patch that helped this.

I guess those top-notch Ford programmers are slowly getting close to fixing this? I'm still baffled how a drive mode can be unavailable, isn't is just preference settings?

God, those software guys suck at their job.

 

[JJR]

‘22 Premium and Whisper is all I drive because of the smooth roll. From the sound of things I wonder if the MME is a victim of RF transmissions or some other external influence.

Found this via Google.
A touchscreen can technically "self-trigger" under certain conditions, usually due to external interference like static electricity, electromagnetic interference (EMI), or even a very sensitive touchscreen picking up stray signals from nearby conductive materials, but under normal usage, a touchscreen should not activate on its own without a physical touch.

 

[JJR]

Mine use to give a 'drive mode unavailable' and switch out of whisper. In fact, I think it wouldn't let me select ANY mode (although it 'felt' like I was in 'engage' mode). It happened infrequently, and usually let me select whisper mode after 1-2 minutes. Now it just switches out of whisper with no error messages, but seems to happen way less often then before, so I'm assuming there was some OTA patch that helped this.

I guess those top-notch Ford programmers are slowly getting close to fixing this? I'm still baffled how a drive mode can be unavailable, isn't is just preference settings?

God, those software guys suck at their job.

I spent a lot of years debugging both hardware and software problems and hardware debugging is minor league compared to software.
It’s not looking for the needle in the haystack, it’s looking for the out of place or missing atom.

 

[FSU77GT90]

My ‘23 RWD premium also does this. I just live with it.

 

[phil]

My car never, ever does this. It has been Unbridled for over 3 years. I was not aware this problem existed.

 

[JJR]

Had my Mach-e now for nearly a year and love it. But it has quirks. I like to drive it in Whisper mode, but I've noticed that several times a month it randomly switches to Engage. It doesn't appear to be related to anyone else using it and switching modes, because my wife rarely drives it. I've gotten to the point that I can feel the difference within couple of minutes of driving.

And now, today, it won't even let me switch back! I press whisper, and it greys out all the buttons for a couple of seconds then goes straight beck to Engage. Turned it off and on again, same thing.

I think my pony is trying to tell me something.

Another thing that may contribute to this is having a different driver profile selected without knowing.

 

[SteveE]

Another thing that may contribute to this is having a different driver profile selected without knowing.

Nope, not that. I've checked each time that I have the correct driver profile.

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