Mach-E stuck in snow, owners spend night in the car before they got help.

[dbsb3233]

While I wasn't out offroading, just regular street driving, we had between 8-12" of snow here, and the car didn't give one hint of an issue with the snow. even when it was deep enough the bottom of the car was dragging. I was very very impressed with it.

Probably a combination of better traction on a paved street vs a dirt road, and I'm guessing the snow on the street wasn't actually 8-12" deep. Usually that much "official" snow only translates to half that on paved streets as the first few inches melts before sticking. Plus there's usually more traffic that's pushes it around more and scrapes some off.

This picture tells the story for the OP. Clearly bottoming out across the entire car bottom for all 4 wheels. Usually on a paved street there's enough tracks to prevent 100% full snow contact holding the entire vehicle up.

Plus the "sled" shape of the undercarriage encourages the car to slide up on and compact snow. That picture also appears to show that the snow was more wet and heavy than powdery.

Bottom line -- that's just too much heavy, unplowed snow on a dirt road for any vehicle with <6" ground clearance.

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[kgautam28]

Good to know that the battery only drains 1% per hour using the seat warmer. Also appreciate the PSA to not drive off into the woods after heavy snow. How much snow did you say?

8 to 12 inches on center, about 2 inches below the tires.

 

[GoosePond08]

Should do a side by side video Ford. lol.

How they make it look...vs reality.

 

[Plutoman15]

Yes low ground clearance means, FE AWD all.sesson tires m+s can no longer drive where the Macan used to. A yearly once route for me, dint ever see snow here before at this time of the year, just as I decided to go back after 20ft of snow, Got beached in snow late evening, and had us stuck with no cell reception nearest population was 40miles away.. Had to spend the night in the car up in griffith pinchord national forest, luckily dint snow that night. Next day morning, Was able to walk 4 miles to call 911 get a tow trailer, only to learn that in tow mode you can only tow forwards. No tow hook at the back. Had to gently tug at the wheels, cleared snow with a shovel below the car before that and it came loose and drove back all fine like nothing happened.
Was a horrifying night in the cold, only could use seat warmer for heat, the battery drains if the heater is on 2% every 5minutes. With seat warmer it was draining 1% an hour.
Me and wife were in there for 14 hours before we got out, Ford's roadside assistance would answer the call and then cancel without saying a word. We really need wider tires, and better ground clearance.
Lesson: learn to measure snow height before going on and carry a shovel. Snow chains do not help either..

Yes yes I understand I shouldn't have gone there, but the only way was to go further and turn around or stop and go back. It's when I stopped when it got stuck. No.issues as long as it was moving.
I've done this same route multiple times in a lot of cars at same.time of year, so went on with that.

Thanks for sharing your story (knowing how many opinions and "suggestions" you would get)

What made you stop? was the car starting to struggle getting through the snow? I am amazed you got as far as you did if the snow was deeper than 6 inches on the road.

 

[CHeil402]

I'm with you on that

I often say that the key is being smart (NOT implying OP is not smart...)

A good snow tire will help you, an AWD will help you... But if you don't drive safely, smartly ir you go where you shouldn't be going or going too fast... You'll simply find yourself stuck further out of the road than you would without these features!!!



But I'm sure the OP will remember next time and will laugh about it in a few days...we all do after such events

Agreed that the key is knowing the limits of any vehicle. Another thing that stuck with me when I was learning to drive was that all cars have 4WD brakes. So if you're not able to stop properly, having 4WD/AWD power isn't going to improve over 2WD.

 

[SteelMach]

It's the reason I bought it! I didn't want a SUV, I wanted an electric Mustang. Definitely more on the "S" side of "SUV" which works for me

 

[sockmeister]

Should do a side by side video Ford. lol.

How they make it look...vs reality.

Lol, the instagram story was hardpacked snow that was basically slippery pavement. Absolutely any car could drive on that.

OP got stuck in what is very clearly a completely different scenario...

 

[agoldman]

This is not the first time we have heard ford roadside disconnected the call mid-stream.

 

[Maric]

Ooof. The MachE is marketed as a cross over SUV but it really isn't made for that kind of driving environment.

Glad everything turned out ok. That would be terrifying. Also, I would call Ford Corporate on getting hung up on. That's not in any way acceptable.

 

[waldo1949]

Probably a combination of better traction on a paved street vs a dirt road, and I'm guessing the snow on the street wasn't actually 8-12" deep. Usually that much "official" snow only translates to half that on paved streets as the first few inches melts before sticking. Plus there's usually more traffic that's pushes it around more and scrapes some off.

This picture tells the story for the OP. Clearly bottoming out across the entire car bottom for all 4 wheels. Usually on a paved street there's enough tracks to prevent 100% full snow contact holding the entire vehicle up.

Plus the "sled" shape of the undercarriage encourages the car to slide up on and compact snow. That picture also appears to show that the snow was more wet and heavy than powdery.

Bottom line -- that's just too much heavy, unplowed snow on a dirt road for any vehicle with <6" ground clearance.

I might try that road in a Jeep, but the MME is a low slung crossover, not an off-road vehicle.

 

[silverelan]

I have a GT reserved with just 5.3" of ground clearance. I like to go skiing and the Mach-E will be my only car.

Am I picking the wrong car or should I not worry about it?

 

[available_username2]

I'm surprised you made it out of there alive without your wife killing you

 

[Gimme_my_MME]

I have a GT reserved with just 5.3" of ground clearance. I like to go skiing and the Mach-E will be my only car.

Am I picking the wrong car or should I not worry about it?

Depends, do you want to go skiing in your Mach-E or do you want to go skiing IN your Mach-E?

 

[highland58]

I have a GT reserved with just 5.3" of ground clearance. I like to go skiing and the Mach-E will be my only car.

Am I picking the wrong car or should I not worry about it?

The roads to ski areas are maintained, forest service roads are not maintained. You should be fine. You may want to get some better tires.

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