My Mach-E is Bricked, left me stranded

[Ford Motor Company]

This happened to me today. 2022 Mach e Select AWD with less than 20k miles when I bought it. Unplugged it and turned the car off for 10 minutes. Didn't interact with it in any way during that time, including keeping the app on my phone closed and my phone far enough away that the digital key was out of range. Went back and the car started right up. I've had it 3 weeks and 1 day and it is a Ford Certified Used Car which is supposed to mean it was thoroughly inspected. This is the second major issue with the car in 3 weeks! Exactly two weeks after I bought it there was some other software error and a bunch of different dash warnings came on (too many to recall them all) and I was left in some sort of limp mode with RWD only. That went away on its own after about 18 hours. Dealership service appointment tomorrow was already scheduled because of the first issue. I hope they can figure out what is causing all these problems and come up with an actual solution. Resetting the car and telling me to bring it back if there are more problems won't work for me. I love having an electric car but it looks like I'm probably going to lose a lot of money trading this lemon in before my first payment is due. And the replacement won't be made by Ford Motor Company.

The "new car" excitement definitely shouldn't be replaced by anxiety.

I completely get the worry about them just resetting it and handing the keys back. Since it's already at the dealership, I’d like to keep an eye on the diagnosis from my side to make sure that doesn't happen.

Shoot me a DM with your VIN and the dealer name when you have a sec. I want to see if we can help the service team.

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[Ford Motor Company]

Im dealing with the same thing but on my 2025 MACH E and got the Pull Over Safely when trying to leave work this pasts Thursday. Had it towed to the dealer and had it back by Friday evening with a new 12V battery. I'm not sure what else was done.

I was going to get groceries on Sunday and the same thing. It's now bricked in my garage with the Pull Over Safely flashing. This time I will tell them to keep it a few days and test it each day. Towing this is such a pain in the ass I will always try, if possible, to park so the front of the car is accessible to the tow truck. It's gonna be a while before I trust this car again.

Send me a DM with your VIN and dealer info, I want to escalate this so we can work with your dealer to fix what is going on.

 

[o187emdk]

So, what was the final answer? Did the dealership fix the problem?

Dealer says car is ready for pick up. Looks like It was the 12v battery, not sure how it can go bad after 2 months. This was such a reliable car for the first 4 years of ownership but now i think I’ll be a little worried it will leave me stranded every time i drive it. Have a roadtrip planned to Universal Studios next month for my birthday but thinking maybe i should get a rental or fly just to be safe. Going to probably be getting another car soon but in the meantime i will definitely sign up for AAA just in case. Well off to grab another expensive Uber to pick it up.

 

[Ford_orr]

Another vote for proactive 12VB replacement!

Getting mine this Friday! Three years + 4 days from when I took delivery of my '23 Mach.

 

[Maquis]

Getting mine this Friday! Three years + 4 days from when I took delivery of my '23 Mach.

Mine made it 3 years and about 10 months. I was just fortunate it failed in my garage with the windows open!

 

[rzanzerkia]

My 4 years of trouble free days are over…
With the cold New England temps and car was not driven for the last 3-4 days.
So today my wife took the car to a store about 4-5 miles from the house.
After 2 hours when she tried to start the car she is getting all kinds of warning and can’t put the car in D.
So I went there with my other car, jumper box (Blue Fuel) and jumper cables.

Car locks and unlocks.
Pressing start gives all kinds of warnings (see pics).
Pressing off moves seat back.
I tried using a Jumpbox but no luck. (To the red post under the plastic cover on the driver side and negative terminal next to it, NOT on the battery itself).
I tried adding jump wires for good 20 minutes, no difference.
I locked up the car and left in the parking lot for the day.
I do have the Ford PremiumCare warranty ($50 72 months/60K, I am at around 24K miles.
I talked to local Ford dealer but too busy to let me talk with service adviser to see what is covered and what’s not.
If tow is covered I would have it towed to local Ford dealer.
Questions:
What should be my next steps to get the car at least home so I can trickle charge the battery?
Maybe use jump wires again tomorrow and charge for 1 hour or more?
Trying to avoid unnecessary two and potential damage to the car.
Clearly I am going to replace the battery (is it possible to DIY)?
Does PremiumCare cover tow and 12V battery replacement?
What about the diagnostics?

 

[Mach-Lee]

My 4 years of trouble free days are over…
With the cold New England temps and car was not driven for the last 3-4 days.
So today my wife took the car to a store about 4-5 miles from the house.
After 2 hours when she tried to start the car she is getting all kinds of warning and can’t put the car in D.
So I went there with my other car, jumper box (Blue Fuel) and jumper cables.

Car locks and unlocks.
Pressing start gives all kinds of warnings (see pics).
Pressing off moves seat back.
I tried using a Jumpbox but no luck. (To the red post under the plastic cover on the driver side and negative terminal next to it, NOT on the battery itself).
I tried adding jump wires for good 20 minutes, no difference.
I locked up the car and left in the parking lot for the day.
I do have the Ford PremiumCare warranty ($50 72 months/60K, I am at around 24K miles.
I talked to local Ford dealer but too busy to let me talk with service adviser to see what is covered and what’s not.
If tow is covered I would have it towed to local Ford dealer.
Questions:
What should be my next steps to get the car at least home so I can trickle charge the battery?
Maybe use jump wires again tomorrow and charge for 1 hour or more?
Trying to avoid unnecessary two and potential damage to the car.
Clearly I am going to replace the battery (is it possible to DIY)?
Does PremiumCare cover tow and 12V battery replacement?
What about the diagnostics?

Important - Are you using the override or boost function on your jump pack? Does your jump pack even have that feature? If so, do you know how to use it?

You must use the override button or it won't work. Not all lithium jump packs have it. Otherwise use traditional jumper cables off another car battery, that will always work as expected.

Again, the lithium jump pack will be worthless to you if it doesn't have an override button. An override button is required for jumping EVs since they do not produce a voltage drop from cranking an engine to trigger the automatic boost. There is also no voltage on the frunk leads, so the override function is needed to open the frunk as well.

In your first picture, it looks like the car is in accessory mode?

Keep an open mind, it's still entirely possibly the 12V battery is fine and you have a different failure (such as the HVBJB).

 

[superdave80]

I chalk the poor towing experience up to the general decline in customer service across most industries these days.

Amen. Customer service is dead.

 

[o187emdk]

Last night went to dinner for my wife’s birthday. Got back to car and it wouldn’t shift into drive. Message on dash said to pull over safely even though car was parked. Battery icon showed on dash. I assumed my 12 volt had died so called ford roadside for a jump. Jump didn’t fix the issue so had to call back for a tow. The jump cost me $96 and the tow $169 to get it to the closest Ford dealership because to get it to my local dealer would have been $450. Waited 3 hours for tow truck only for them to say they couldn’t load it because they needed a dolly since car couldn’t be put in neutral. I told Ford roadside that the car would not shift into neutral so don’t know why they wouldn’t have requested one with the right equipment. Ford roadside wanted me to pay another $169 for second tow. I disputed this as it was not my fault, had to escalate to a manager to get them to waive the fee, this really upset me. Waited another hour only for second tow truck to cancel before even arriving. We finally decided to just go home as it was already 3 am and they had no idea when tow would arrive. Paid $70.00 more for Uber. I’ve had no major issues with my car for 4 years until now. Finally got a call at 10am from tow company letting me know they had arrived to pick up car. I know dealership is closed today so not sure where they’re going to leave the car but frankly I’m so upset I don’t even care anymore.

2021 Extended Range RWD

Update got these alerts this morning probably after Service shop started looking at it

Update 2: Just got off the phone with advisor. Tech says it’s the 12 volt battery. I told him it was just replaced 2 months ago, he said if I emailed him receipt they could warranty replace the battery. Also said tech wants to keep it overnight to see if there’s some phantom 12 volt drain. Asked me about my dash cam, how long I’ve had it, maybe it’s draining battery. I’ve had that dashcam since June 2022, also let him know camera shuts off when car is turned off, I actually used to have a power bank to power the camera while off because it got no juice from car when off but I got rid of the power bank because it was recalled. So I guess I’ll see tomorrow what they say.

Update 3: Dealer says car is ready for pick up. Looks like It was the 12v battery, not sure how it can go bad after 2 months. This was such a reliable car for the first 4 years of ownership but now i think I’ll be a little worried it will leave me stranded every time i drive it. Have a roadtrip planned to Universal Studios next month for my birthday but thinking maybe i should get a rental or fly just to be safe. Going to probably be getting another car soon but in the meantime i will definitely sign up for AAA just in case. Well off to grab another expensive Uber to pick it up.

Update 4: well the saga continues. I was on my way to dealer to pick up the car and I get a call from the service advisor. He said someone from Fords Electric division just called him and asked him to keep the car at the shop a bit longer. Apparently their engineers are reviewing some of my cars data. She didn’t know what they had found and told him she would call him back tomorrow. I let him know I was on my way there in an Uber, so he said they would give me a loner when I got there and then would drop off my car and pick theirs up after it was all done. So I’m driving back home in a white ecobost Mustang.

 

[o187emdk]

My 4 years of trouble free days are over…
With the cold New England temps and car was not driven for the last 3-4 days.
So today my wife took the car to a store about 4-5 miles from the house.
After 2 hours when she tried to start the car she is getting all kinds of warning and can’t put the car in D.
So I went there with my other car, jumper box (Blue Fuel) and jumper cables.

Car locks and unlocks.
Pressing start gives all kinds of warnings (see pics).
Pressing off moves seat back.
I tried using a Jumpbox but no luck. (To the red post under the plastic cover on the driver side and negative terminal next to it, NOT on the battery itself).
I tried adding jump wires for good 20 minutes, no difference.
I locked up the car and left in the parking lot for the day.
I do have the Ford PremiumCare warranty ($50 72 months/60K, I am at around 24K miles.
I talked to local Ford dealer but too busy to let me talk with service adviser to see what is covered and what’s not.
If tow is covered I would have it towed to local Ford dealer.
Questions:
What should be my next steps to get the car at least home so I can trickle charge the battery?
Maybe use jump wires again tomorrow and charge for 1 hour or more?
Trying to avoid unnecessary two and potential damage to the car.
Clearly I am going to replace the battery (is it possible to DIY)?
Does PremiumCare cover tow and 12V battery replacement?
What about the diagnostics?

Wow so many failures was there a recent update or something causing this.

 

[SonicBlue]

Wow so many failures was there a recent update or something causing this.

I suspect the super cold weather. Ironic that deep cold is the kryptonite for cars that were invented to help with “climate change” lol. Even though here it’s probably just the cold impact on 12v. When the 12v gets low or dies, it causes MAJOR havoc with the Mach E.

 

[o187emdk]

I suspect the super cold weather. Ironic that deep cold is the kryptonite for cars that were invented to help with “climate change” lol. Even though here it’s probably just the cold impact on 12v. When the 12v gets low or dies, it causes MAJOR havoc with the Mach E.

Interesting, I was up in Northern Arizona for a couple night before my car died but the coldest it got was 26F overnight.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Update 4: well the saga continues. I was on my way to dealer to pick up the car and I get a call from the service advisor. He said someone from Fords Electric division just called him and asked him to keep the car at the shop a bit longer. Apparently their engineers are reviewing some of my cars data. She didn’t know what they had found and told him she would call him back tomorrow. I let him know I was on my way there in an Uber, so he said they would give me a loner when I got there and then would drop off my car and pick theirs up after it was all done. So I’m driving back home in a white ecobost Mustang.

See, you're getting results à la Brian.

 

[rzanzerkia]

Important - Are you using the override or boost function on your jump pack? Does your jump pack even have that feature? If so, do you know how to use it?

You must use the override button or it won't work. Not all lithium jump packs have it. Otherwise use traditional jumper cables off another car battery, that will always work as expected.

Again, the lithium jump pack will be worthless to you if it doesn't have an override button. An override button is required for jumping EVs since they do not produce a voltage drop from cranking an engine to trigger the automatic boost. There is also no voltage on the frunk leads, so the override function is needed to open the frunk as well.

In your first picture, it looks like the car is in accessory mode?

Keep an open mind, it's still entirely possibly the 12V battery is fine and you have a different failure (such as the HVBJB).

My jump pack doesn’t have the override option. However why didn’t the regular jumper cables work? I’m starting to wonder too that 12v is okay because it goes in accessory mode etc. One time I did get a message on main screen turning option OFF to preserve battery. I do have electric tester so going to check battery voltage and amps today.

 

[rzanzerkia]

Wow so many failures was there a recent update or something causing this.

I doubt it’s the update because she drove fine from home to store without any warning or issues.

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