'Powertrain Malfunction/Reduced Power' followed by 'Service Vehicle Soon' alert displayed

cdr_taggart

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Got a call this afternoon from the dealership. They said they have master reset every component, tested the components, ground, and everything and said they are not seeing any error codes. They THINK the problem is solved, and Ford told them that maybe I was charging at a non dedicated 15A breaker 120V outlet. Ford said you need to charge at a dedicated 20A breaker outlet.
I haven’t measured the amperage yet, but I know for sure it wasn’t a dedicated breaker for the outlet I was using. I was using an 120V, until I got the 240V installed.
I might have the car back tomorrow. Let’s see how it goes.

@SAVAGE, is your car still showing any message?
FWIW I got this same error the day I got the car. It went away after I turned it off/on again and hasn't come back since. Good to hear they couldn't find anything actually wrong with it.
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0CO2

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I've had the same issue with my MME FE with just over 200 miles on it. It isn't all that cold here - generally in the 40's to low 50's - western Oregon. FordPass sent me the following diag (see below). The dealer threw a scanner on the OBD yesterday, but it produced no codes. Also yesterday my collision avoidance system failed while I was driving - with nothing in front of me. So now its back at the dealer's getting serviced. I told them if this requires a visit from a Ford engineer and it was just going to sit there for days waiting for that, I'll take the car back until we know when the engineer will be available. I haven't noticed ANY difference in acceleration or evidence that it is running only on e.g. RWD instead of AWD. Also I've been using 30 kW charger that came with the car (my other Juicebox charger is used by our 2020 Chevy Bolt). It's plugged into a dedicated 240 V 50-A (or is it 60 A.... need to check) circuit - so inadequate power supply isn't an issue in this case.

We've definitely got a lot of software glitches at this early stage. On the positive side I was FINALLY able to get my car registered for the FordPass Charging Network - until yesterday no connected services were available, but they magically appeared yesterday afternoon.

Ford Mustang Mach-E 'Powertrain Malfunction/Reduced Power' followed by 'Service Vehicle Soon' alert displayed IMG_7485
 

machefan

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15 days to be more exact. The week of Feb 15 was when the storm hit and they only got back to work on it on Thursday Feb 18.
Still, time enough I would say. :-(

Should be back today. waiting.
I am on day 9, waiting to hear as well.
 

machefan

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I've had the same issue with my MME FE with just over 200 miles on it. It isn't all that cold here - generally in the 40's to low 50's - western Oregon. FordPass sent me the following diag (see below). The dealer threw a scanner on the OBD yesterday, but it produced no codes. Also yesterday my collision avoidance system failed while I was driving - with nothing in front of me. So now its back at the dealer's getting serviced. I told them if this requires a visit from a Ford engineer and it was just going to sit there for days waiting for that, I'll take the car back until we know when the engineer will be available. I haven't noticed ANY difference in acceleration or evidence that it is running only on e.g. RWD instead of AWD. Also I've been using 30 kW charger that came with the car (my other Juicebox charger is used by our 2020 Chevy Bolt). It's plugged into a dedicated 240 V 50-A (or is it 60 A.... need to check) circuit - so inadequate power supply isn't an issue in this case.

We've definitely got a lot of software glitches at this early stage. On the positive side I was FINALLY able to get my car registered for the FordPass Charging Network - until yesterday no connected services were available, but they magically appeared yesterday afternoon.

Ford Mustang Mach-E 'Powertrain Malfunction/Reduced Power' followed by 'Service Vehicle Soon' alert displayed IMG_7485
Just note you don't have a 30kW charger at home, rather 7.2kW if you are using the Ford 32A with the NEMA 14-50 plug. When did the error occur? The powertrain message applies to a many possible errors, some are cosmetic. Do you have a service soon message on the dash? In the lower part a wrench with a symbol next to it?
 


machefan

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Are you waiting on the same Powertrain Malfunction message?
Actually after following up again, they just informed me it's ready for pickup later today.

The powertrain message applies to many possible issues, its very generic in the Ford application. When Ford looks up the errors with their scan tool, they will see all of the error codes which can differ greatly between cars with the same message we see.
 

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Just note you don't have a 30kW charger at home, rather 7.2kW if you are using the Ford 32A with the NEMA 14-50 plug. When did the error occur? The powertrain message applies to a many possible errors, some are cosmetic. Do you have a service soon message on the dash? In the lower part a wrench with a symbol next to it?
You are correct - typed in haste. Using Ford 32A @ 240 V = 7.68 kW in theory, but through the NEMA 14-50.

Also the FordPass error message I included was also associated with the steering wheel console screen yellow wrench symbol and message to service vehicle soon.

I just talked to the service department. While they've had the car for the entire day they haven't actually looked at it yet. Not good. I dropped it off at 8:30 am and it is now 4:30 pm. Since I had them on the line I had them pull some diagnostics they were able to get online that I don't have access to. It indicated there was a communication failure between a number of subsystems related to the drivetrain and to the front camera (which could also explain why my collision avoidance system bugged out yesterday). I'm waiting for a callback for more info now that they are finally plugging a scanner into the car. So not a great response from the dealer's service department and a pretty sobering bit of information about the significant problems in basic subsystem reliability. I expected some glitches but this is rapidly becoming worst-case. If I had to do it all over again, I don't think I'd proceed with the purchase of a MME at this time. Maybe in a year. I always thought I'd end up being a beta tester being an early adopter, but this feels more like being an alpha tester. For $60k no less. For a car that is rapidly depreciating and that I can't drive. For a FE that I paid $3,700 more for than an identically equipped non-FE Premium extended range AWD that was released ahead of the FE. Caveat emptor.
 

0CO2

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You are correct - typed in haste. Using Ford 32A @ 240 V = 7.68 kW in theory, but through the NEMA 14-50.

Also the FordPass error message I included was also associated with the steering wheel console screen yellow wrench symbol and message to service vehicle soon.

I just talked to the service department. While they've had the car for the entire day they haven't actually looked at it yet. Not good. I dropped it off at 8:30 am and it is now 4:30 pm. Since I had them on the line I had them pull some diagnostics they were able to get online that I don't have access to. It indicated there was a communication failure between a number of subsystems related to the drivetrain and to the front camera (which could also explain why my collision avoidance system bugged out yesterday). I'm waiting for a callback for more info now that they are finally plugging a scanner into the car. So not a great response from the dealer's service department and a pretty sobering bit of information about the significant problems in basic subsystem reliability. I expected some glitches but this is rapidly becoming worst-case. If I had to do it all over again, I don't think I'd proceed with the purchase of a MME at this time. Maybe in a year. I always thought I'd end up being a beta tester being an early adopter, but this feels more like being an alpha tester. For $60k no less. For a car that is rapidly depreciating and that I can't drive. For a FE that I paid $3,700 more for than an identically equipped non-FE Premium extended range AWD that was released ahead of the FE. Caveat emptor.

New update just now. The issue will apparently be resolved with a software update that Ford will release in May. I have been advised that Ford says that until then the car will be drivable. So I'm heading out to the dealer to reclaim my misbehaving alpha test car...
 

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New update just now. The issue will apparently be resolved with a software update that Ford will release in May. I have been advised that Ford says that until then the car will be drivable. So I'm heading out to the dealer to reclaim my misbehaving alpha test car...
Lots of updates coming, no doubt. I think after a few months the MME will be solid. Stick with it, most issues are cosmetic, still an awesome car.
 

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Got 3 of those messages since I took possession of my MME. Everything seems normal though. But the first message I got was the day I got it. So maybe the reduced power was allways there... or not... Can't tell. Glad to see there should be a fix in may.
 

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Got 3 of those messages since I took possession of my MME. Everything seems normal though. But the first message I got was the day I got it. So maybe the reduced power was allways there... or not... Can't tell. Glad to see there should be a fix in may.
Word is that it should be within a few weeks for most of the reported issues.
 

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Just an update on my issue. Every since Ford came and performed the software flashes to certain "modules" everything appears to be fine. No sign of additional warnings or alerts.
Great to hear. Did they tell you which they did?
 

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Yet another problem - potentially related - is my FE cannot communicate with Electrify America chargers. When physically hooked up to an EA charger, the car reports a charger fault and the session won't initiate. It only works if you phone EA and they manually intervene to start the session. This might also be related - or have a common cause with - the FordPass app's inability to register for plug & charge. I've spent hours in the phone with EA and Ford on this where they keep passing the buck between EA, FordPass support, and FordPass Charging Network Support. This happens even if I don't use FordPass - just connecting an EA charger to the MME FE generates a failure to connect, and the EA app also is unable to start a charging session. In addition the failure of the FordPass app to enable Plug & Charge happens both under iOS and Android.

Then there's the problems with Amazon Music under ApplePlay freezing both ApplePlay and my phone when streaming fir a while. The phone so overheats. That's just another of the so many software/firmware issues that are making my owner experience pretty miserable.

If we had a lemon law in our state, If return the MME for a refund and get a Model Y. Sorry to say that what Ford sold me was not yet ready for public release. There are just too many failures with key functions of this vehicle and at this stage I question its safety. I've had multiple collision avoidance system failures while driving, presumably because the front camera drops its connection with the relevant processing unit, etc etc.

No one at Ford has offered to flash any of my car's modules, and I'm supposed to wait until May?
 
 




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