Safety Recall 22S41 - 2021-2022 Mach E - HVBJB Recall [high voltage battery main contactors may overheat]

[MarkW.]

Hi,
New to this forum, new MME owner (premium). Appreciate the intel I've been getting on various topics. Our car falls within the dates of this battery snafu. Read all I can find about this, but have not found anything on whether it's dangerous to drive the car. The "and the vehicle will experience an immediate loss of motive power" particularly concerns me. Have y'all seen anything about what people who already have the car are supposed to do? Many thanks.
--Mark

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[macchiaz-o]

Hi,
New to this forum, new MME owner (premium). Appreciate the intel I've been getting on various topics. Our car falls within the dates of this battery snafu. Read all I can find about this, but have not found anything on whether it's dangerous to drive the car. The "and the vehicle will experience an immediate loss of motive power" particularly concerns me. Have y'all seen anything about what people who already have the car are supposed to do? Many thanks.
--Mark

None of my normal routines have changed as a result of this recall.

Enjoy your new vehicle!

 

[AKgrampy]

I also found this by searching for it by model instead of by VIN (which brings up the notice I quoted), but the dates are different from what you posted. It says planned notification to dealers is June 13 (so this has already happened), and letters sent to owners July 18-22. So this is only about the notifications of the recall to dealerships and customers. Nothing is said about the timing of the solution, which is only vaguely outlined in NHTSA and Ford's statements.

It does state that the software is being installed in post 5/25 builds and OTA is planned for July. Once again the OTA release timing may not be in stone but the software is complete and being installed in new builds unless the report by Ford to the NHTSA is false (which I doubt.)

 

[AKgrampy]

OK, I am not going to comment on any of the Ford corporate strategy or performance
degradation issues that have been beaten to death in the 93 pages and 1383 threads I have read...

Mine is more of a common sense line of thinking about the entire picture.

What I found interesting was back around page 75, where there was a link to another thread that had lots of pictures of the HVBJB. If you really look at those you can see fuses and contactors contained in that unit.

Fuses blow out and contactors wear out. That is a given. So how did anyone sign off on putting that component in a space that had no easy way to it to change those parts??? Shouldn't there have been an access panel on the top of the battery cover and another under the back seat to get to this?

I am no engineer, but I have had to fix lots of things. Those with good designs had thought about repairs in advance and made it easy to fix them.

Having to drop the entire battery module to swap out a contactor is just nuts! That is like putting your home electrical breaker panel underneath the septic tank. After all, how often does a breaker really trip?

Next item: The OTA implementations have not gone all that well, at least for me. I have yet to have a successful OTA installation go correctly. My car always ends up at the dealership at the request of a Ford tech calling me back on my case #. And then my car is gone for days at a time. So what makes all of you think the OTA will download and install perfectly this time?

One other thing: We were all given free kWh amounts for charging at EA DCFC stations. I have barely used any of mine, planning on using them on a trip we have planned later this year. Now we are told that DCFC charging is not recommended with high speed driving. Those free hours expire for me at the end of March, 2023. So if I have to rent another car for the trip, since the MME is not capable of safely making that trip and those free charging sessions expire, what a deal for Ford!!!

Just something else to think about while we are waiting for Ford to get this fixed!

JMHO

Jim

Just drive like normal. If worried give it a month or so for OTA and then drive like normal. I do not DCFC as all I need to do is charge at home but otherwise no driving changes.

 

[breeves002]

Does this then confirm that the new 25 May + builds are getting new hardware?

No, but my guess is yes.

 

[Logal727]

Hi,
New to this forum, new MME owner (premium). Appreciate the intel I've been getting on various topics. Our car falls within the dates of this battery snafu. Read all I can find about this, but have not found anything on whether it's dangerous to drive the car. The "and the vehicle will experience an immediate loss of motive power" particularly concerns me. Have y'all seen anything about what people who already have the car are supposed to do? Many thanks.
--Mark

It’s safe to drive

 

[Secret Sauce]

It does state that the software is being installed in post 5/25 builds and OTA is planned for July. Once again the OTA release timing may not be in stone but the software is complete and being installed in new builds unless the report by Ford to the NHTSA is false (which I doubt.)

None of these documents make the important distinction between cars already in the hands of customers and those on stop sale. Presumably the latter won’t be OTA updated, this will be done in dealership service departments. If you are already driving the car you probably don’t care very much about the timing of the update but if you’re waiting for a delivery you care a lot. Nothing Ford has said thus far helps us to know when we can take possession of the car we ordered.

 

[Regulus7]

If anyone gets a delivery in July from a post May 25 build and that delivery is not on the recall list and can be driven off the lot then we know Ford has a workable solution and if it’s truly just software then those of us with stop sale cars at dealerships could see our cars by end of July.

If however, post May 25 builds are not delivered or are included in the recall and stop sale then it’s likely the wait for the fix could be much longer maybe into late September assuming they can meet the Q3 target.

So for me a key data point will be if anyone gets a delivery from a post May 25 build in the next 4 weeks let’s say. This is what I will be watching for

 

[jonkMACHE]

One other thing: We were all given free kWh amounts for charging at EA DCFC stations. I have barely used any of mine, planning on using them on a trip we have planned later this year. Now we are told that DCFC charging is not recommended with high speed driving. Those free hours expire for me at the end of March, 2023. So if I have to rent another car for the trip, since the MME is not capable of safely making that trip and those free charging sessions expire, what a deal for Ford!!!

Just something else to think about while we are waiting for Ford to get this fixed!

JMHO

Jim

Do not let this recall freak you out. I did a 2000 mile road trip DCFC'd all the way (except for one stop at my parents where I 240V charged it) in 90F heat going 80mph. No issues whatsoever. A lot of stars needs to align for your contactors to melt down.

 

[heisnuts]

Do not let this recall freak you out. I did a 2000 mile road trip DCFC'd all the way (except for one stop at my parents where I 240V charged it) in 90F heat going 80mph. No issues whatsoever. A lot of stars needs to align for your contractors to melt down.

and even if it does brick itself, Ford will fix it and you will be back on the road with the updated part at no charge to you.

 

[FLmac]

If anyone gets a delivery in July from a post May 25 build and that delivery is not on the recall list and can be driven off the lot then we know Ford has a workable solution and if it’s truly just software then those of us with stop sale cars at dealerships could see our cars by end of July.

If however, post May 25 builds are not delivered or are included in the recall and stop sale then it’s likely the wait for the fix could be much longer maybe into late September assuming they can meet the Q3 target.

So for me a key data point will be if anyone gets a delivery from a post May 25 build in the next 4 weeks let’s say. This is what I will be watching for

I have 2 cars on order. Long story. One was built the week of 5/16 and will be at the dealership probably next week. It is part of the recall. The other was scheduled the week of 5/23 and I saw no movement until this week when the modules came up and I got a build notice on 6/15. This car has shipped and is NOT listed on the NHTSA as part of the recall. I guess I won’t know for sure for about a month, but it looks clear.

As I read back, it seems Ford is saying notices will go out by mid July, but I haven’t seen anything official from Ford that the fix is coming mid July. I think I originally thought the notices going out meant the OTA, not a stupid letter saying I’m part of the recall.

 

[voxel]

If anyone gets a delivery in July from a post May 25 build and that delivery is not on the recall list and can be driven off the lot then we know Ford has a workable solution and if it’s truly just software then those of us with stop sale cars at dealerships could see our cars by end of July.

If however, post May 25 builds are not delivered or are included in the recall and stop sale then it’s likely the wait for the fix could be much longer maybe into late September assuming they can meet the Q3 target.

So for me a key data point will be if anyone gets a delivery from a post May 25 build in the next 4 weeks let’s say. This is what I will be watching for

This.

My 5/25 build is arriving between 6/27 and 7/3 but I hear it is already in Jacksonville so I suspect it will be at my dealer next weekend at the latest. My dealer thinks it needs to be held but none of us really knows until the car arrives.

 

[EVTRAVEL]

Yes they can run your VIN to see but no point calling them yet to see because parts aren't available. Lets try not to piss off dealers.

I ran my VIN today thru NHTSA, Shows un-repaired recall with the following statement:
RemedyFORD MOTOR COMPANY IS WORKING DILIGENTLY TO DEVELOP SOFTWARE FOR THIS REPAIR. WHEN SOFTWARE IS AVAILABLE, FORD MOTOR COMPANY WILL BEGIN DEPLOYMENT AS A FORD POWERUP SOFTWARE UPDATE AND WILL ALSO NOTIFY YOU VIA MAIL OF THE OPTION TO SCHEDULE A SERVICE APPOINTMENT WITH YOUR DEALER FOR REPAIRS TO BE COMPLETED FREE OF CHARGE PARTS AND LABOR. SOFTWARE IS ANTICIPATED TO BE AVAILABLE BY END OF Q3 2022.

 

[sotek2345]

and even if it does brick itself, Ford will fix it and you will be back on the road with the updated part at no charge to you.

Does anyone know how this works if you are out of the country? Our next planned trip is up into Canada. Still planning to Take the Mach-e, but if it does while we are North of the Border, I am not sure how Ford would handle that....

 

[FordMachEGo]

OK, I am not going to comment on any of the Ford corporate strategy or performance
degradation issues that have been beaten to death in the 93 pages and 1383 threads I have read...

Mine is more of a common sense line of thinking about the entire picture.

What I found interesting was back around page 75, where there was a link to another thread that had lots of pictures of the HVBJB. If you really look at those you can see fuses and contactors contained in that unit.

Fuses blow out and contactors wear out. That is a given. So how did anyone sign off on putting that component in a space that had no easy way to it to change those parts??? Shouldn't there have been an access panel on the top of the battery cover and another under the back seat to get to this?

I am no engineer, but I have had to fix lots of things. Those with good designs had thought about repairs in advance and made it easy to fix them.

Having to drop the entire battery module to swap out a contactor is just nuts! That is like putting your home electrical breaker panel underneath the septic tank. After all, how often does a breaker really trip?

Next item: The OTA implementations have not gone all that well, at least for me. I have yet to have a successful OTA installation go correctly. My car always ends up at the dealership at the request of a Ford tech calling me back on my case #. And then my car is gone for days at a time. So what makes all of you think the OTA will download and install perfectly this time?

One other thing: We were all given free kWh amounts for charging at EA DCFC stations. I have barely used any of mine, planning on using them on a trip we have planned later this year. Now we are told that DCFC charging is not recommended with high speed driving. Those free hours expire for me at the end of March, 2023. So if I have to rent another car for the trip, since the MME is not capable of safely making that trip and those free charging sessions expire, what a deal for Ford!!!

Just something else to think about while we are waiting for Ford to get this fixed!

JMHO

Jim

Not at all sure this is true, but from what I’ve read, those that had the HVBJB replaced reported that the dealer had to de-energize the HV battery prior to replacing the part. If that is a necessary prerequisite, it would appear that the battery has to be removed for this procedure to take place, so an easy access panel to the HVBJB may not help.

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