Service - the big issue that's getting bigger

[Logal727]

Being EV certified makes sense if you are working on the HV powertrain... otherwise there little or no difference between ICE and EV... any tech that can follow directions would be qualified.

• Body/Mechanical? non drive train mechanicals are the same as ICE
• Software? FDRS works on ICE Fords
• Basics of EV safety handling can be trained quickly.

The concept of only EV certified techs working on EVs doesn't make sense unless you are dealing with the drivetrain.

And the Lightning is essentially the same truck they usually work on right? It's crazy the drivetrain is such a sticking point for servicing. Most of the stuff is just switching out modules or running FDRS, the same thing they do with all cars!

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[Logal727]

As the EV market grows there will be more businesses like Electrified Garage, 57 motors, Gruber motors, etc.

https://www.electrifiedgarage.com/

In the future, many of us will avoid dealership service departments except for basic EV work.

Mach-E owners think they have it bad but reading about other EV manufacturers and it’s just nightmare and nightmare.

Do they just do Teslas? Notice there is one in Ocala.

 

[heisnuts]

As the EV market grows there will be more businesses like Electrified Garage, 57 motors, Gruber motors, etc.

https://www.electrifiedgarage.com/

In the future, many of us will avoid dealership service departments except for basic EV work.

Mach-E owners think they have it bad but reading about other EV manufacturers and it’s just nightmare and nightmare.

That may be true, but any warranty & recall work would have to be done at a Ford dealer. With a lot of the EV components having an 8 year/100,000 mile warranty, that is a long time.

 

[HuntingPudel]

<SNIP>
The concept of only EV certified techs working on EVs doesn't make sense unless you are dealing with the drivetrain.

Agreed, but in practice many dealers won’t let their regular techs touch an MME or an F150 Lightning for a simple job like replacing the wiper blades or fixing a power seat. It’s aggravating, but that’s the reality. ?‍?

 

[spicy_taco]

On top of what was already said about scarcity issues, even EV certified techs can be hit or miss. So we are starting with overall small pool of EV certified techs, some of them being subpar, and we are left with bad customer experience.

I really would like to take my MME to my previous mechanic, who's been fixing my previous ICE cars for over a decade. But a combination of the shop not knowing anything about EVs, and my MME still being under warranty results in the necessity to play into the broken system.

 

[kennethjk]

I called my dealer (in NY) last Thursday because I could not open the trunk.

they had Wednesday (under a week, not bad, considering )available and I was told that there was a customer service program to update all modules for free. They also are fixing brake harness under recall 22P31

no complaints from my part, although they called and left a message at 3 pm on my home phone to call them but didn’t say if car was finished or there is an issue. Didn’t get home until 7:30.

will find out tomorrow.

I had some issues in Florida with the car and the dealership had 2 techs that could work in the MME. Pretty decent service by them also.

 

[DevSecOps]

That is how Ford operates period, even on ICE vehicles.

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough. My comment was meant to be about the abundance of ICE technicians in remote areas. Scarcity of technicians is not an issue with ICE vehicles because every dealership has technicians certified in different specialties, even in remote locations. EVs aren't there yet.

 

[YunniorO]

I wanted to comment that when I had my HVBJB replaced, I could have taken it to my local dealer that is literally 5 minutes from my home however, I didn't. They have only one EV tech and in the past couple of years of owning an MME, they never seemed to know much about the car so I didn't feel comfortable having them replace the board. I drove 2 1/2 hours to a dealer that has 3 EV certified techs, Serramonte Ford. I brought my car in and a few hours later, it was done.

I wish we would have sucked it up and went further. We’re going on almost two weeks just to have the vehicle diagnosed for what appears to be a failed HVBJB.

 

[21st Century Pony]

This is a good, informative thread.

 

[jeffMachE]

My opinions - worth what you pay for them:
The extreme delays in getting service on EV's from established dealerships are simply the end game of the dealer resistance to selling EV's. Dealerships make their profits on Service and Used Car sales. Since EV's represent a significantly reduced amount of service revenue, they are loathe to bring on or train EV techs because it will take a long time to get payback on that certification. There are plenty of legacy ICE vehicles to service, and if you are a dealership that employs 20 tech's, you make far more money by having all of them work on ICE vehicles rather than EV's.

This is a classic market imbalance that will correct itself (albeit slowly). Some dealerships will recognize that having a large number of EV techs will become a market advantage and they'll steal work away from the neanderthal dealerships. But those dealerships will be few and far between for quite some time. The world of dealerships moves very slowly.

It will be interesting to see if independents can get the necessary certifications to do warranty work, and whether the OEM's will work with independents. There are franchise laws that will have to be navigated, but the system will hit a breaking point over the next couple of years. The OEMs motivation is to sell EV's, while the dealerships motivation is to remain ICE. Something will give.

 

[hprose]

So, 2 years in on EVs with Ford, and the service picture isn't getting any better. At first, I attributed it to the pandemic. Now, I'm not so sure.

This isn't a parts availability issue, it's a trained technician issue. I bought my MachEs from a dealer that provided me with relatively prompt service, but always had a queue and has been saying for 2 years now that they have 1 fully trained EV tech. They also said when I was considering buying a Lightning that they would not service it, and are standing behind that.

So, Lightning needs service. Made a bad decision to go with a close dealer that is small, instead of a bigger dealer that is 20 miles away. Bad move. The small dealer also has one EV tech, and he was out for 2 days. They might have me bring it back (I picked it up yesterday when he didn't come in again) tomorrow, if he finishes last week's job that they didn't know he had in his queue...

Calls to other dealerships, even from the BEV team, yield waits of 3 weeks or even 5 weeks, for an available tech.

It's not getting better, and it needs to. I don't know if Ford needs more classes, or needs to light the flame under the dealers butts, but as sales keep increasing this is going to get worse. Not optimistic right now.

I also have a 250. I called to make an appointment for an oil change and tire rotation - 17 days. Good part was it was done in 4 hours. Had emails ahead of time and a call from the service rep to tell to pick it up. He called the next day to find out if all was ok. Only service I’ve had on the MME was to repair a nail hole in a tire. For that the same rep told me to come in early AM - in and out min 45 minutes. Not the dealer that sold me either vehicle. When I had a Fusion Energi with a battery problem my original dealer’s service rep and mechanic had their eyes glaze over when I started discussing KWs. They knew less than nothing. Entirely different skill sets.

 

[Mustang-Mach-G]

My 2022 Mach E Premium passenger day time running light was going on/off for a month.
Wouldn't pass inspection with it out
Was at the dealer for 28 days.
They were pretty good about it with a loaner

Said Ford didn't have any replacement/spare processors and had to wait for 2 weeks
Ended up replacing 2 processors and the headlight.

If i didn't have the loaner 28 days without a car would have been a real struggle

 

[BigMach-E]

I wish we would have sucked it up and went further. We’re going on almost two weeks just to have the vehicle diagnosed for what appears to be a failed HVBJB.

My experience is somewhere between the two, but actually quite good considering that it’s a low volume dealership, a quarter of the size of Serramonte. Serramonte is huge in comparison, in S.F. My first HVJB failure took almost a month to get replaced, but it was early days of the problem cropping up. My second was a car drop off with no real warning, day after SVS happened. Took two weeks. Mark’s experience at Serramonte is highly unusual. Driving the car to a bigger dealership might not have gotten the same results he had.

 

[YunniorO]

My experience is somewhere between the two, but actually quite good considering that it’s a low volume dealership, a quarter of the size of Serramonte. Serramonte is huge in comparison, in S.F. My first HVJB failure took almost a month to get replaced, but it was early days of the problem cropping up. My second was a car drop off with no real warning, day after SVS happened. Took two weeks. Mark’s experience at Serramonte is highly unusual. Driving the car to a bigger dealership might not have gotten the same results he had.

That’s fair. I think the dealership I’m at might be the best we’ve got in the area for what it’s worth.

Unfortunately, we just found out yesterday the whole battery unit is getting replaced in ours so I guess we’re the lucky “one in a million”. I’m just glad we at-least have a diagnoses and I suppose all we can do is wait from here ?

 

[thekat03]

My 2022 Mach E Premium passenger day time running light was going on/off for a month.
Wouldn't pass inspection with it out
Was at the dealer for 28 days.
They were pretty good about it with a loaner

Said Ford didn't have any replacement/spare processors and had to wait for 2 weeks
Ended up replacing 2 processors and the headlight.

If i didn't have the loaner 28 days without a car would have been a real struggle

This issue isn't confined to just Ford. Here in central Maine, my local Toyota dealership had to fix the leaky head gasket on my then 12 old Prius, because I couldn't get into a new car that I wanted for at least a few more months. That took over a month and pulling the engine out 3-4 times to fully fix, in part due to staff shortages (because everyone here in central Maine is short on staff, regardless of type of work). They gave me a loaner (well, rented at low cost), so that helped, but it certainly was a pain to not have my own car for that long.

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