Stop Safely Now (HVBJB): Mach-E Owners Biggest Fear - Facts and Info Thread

[Shayne]

You will be fortunate if it's only a matter of days.

I know it's a bit of a gamble due to the unknowns, but it's probably best if you go home and get back to work, since the repair is more likely to be weeks than days. You could rent a car (or if you're very fortunate, the dealer will offer a loaner), or fly... Don't expect Ford to repay most of the expenses, though they may surprise you and repay some small amount.

Contact @Ford Motor Company customer relations on Monday morning, 800-392-3673. In some cases, but not always, this helps expedite the repairs. And you can ask them about how to get home and/or how to be reimbursed for your extra expenses. The dealer may also be helpful in these areas but experiences are wildly varied.

100's of miles away a year ago one of the time it happened to me. I stuck closer to home after that. The beat goes on and on. Starting to look like a trend Ford is onboard with. Do you know the number out of 150,000 units? 50,000 in NA but how many internationally I wonder? Half the 150?

They should not be so short sighted is my take. It could backfire on their reliability rating and go down hill from there. Wonder if there is a point where they will stand up and put their clients above their short term goals? So far these stories appear acceptable.

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[kennethjk]

one word, “unacceptable”, a real POS company to let these things happen without a proper replacement of an inferior part.

 

[scoopman]

100's of miles away a year ago one of the time it happened to me. I stuck closer to home after that. The beat goes on and on. Starting to look like a trend Ford is onboard with. Do you know the number out of 150,000 units? 50,000 in NA but how many internationally I wonder? Half the 150?

They should not be so short sighted is my take. It could backfire on their reliability rating and go down hill from there. Wonder if there is a point where they will stand up and put their clients above their short term goals? So far these stories appear acceptable.

Ford appears to be just fine with how it treats it’s early adopter customers. I wonder if they will look at any stats of how many stay in the brand for their next vehicle who have this Ford family experience.

As for @AI-E I would definitely get my car towed back locally, not worth the hassle of having to manage this repair for weeks from 800 mi away. At least with the car closer you have a better chance of controlling the service variable better. You’re going to be out of pocket plenty of money either way probably, with a hassle to get Ford to cover at least some of it.

 

[Ghost Ryder]

800 mile tow is awfully expensive, and I doubt Ford will cover. Even AAA premium will only cover 100 miles.

I'm really disappoint in Ford's lack of concern about their customers. These failures are not rare. It's abundantly clear now that the MME is a local car that can not be trusted to be taken on long trips from home.

I think that Ford needs more public pressure before they will address this problem correctly. Perhaps every time a HVBJB failure occur, we can post it on Ford's social media feed, twitter, Facebook, etc. with a link to a thread here. And keep posting updates on each failure until it gets fix.

 

[mkhuffman]

800 mile tow is awfully expensive, and I doubt Ford will cover. Even AAA premium will only cover 100 miles.

Yeah, that is much farther than I have ever attempted an insurance based tow. A cheaper option might be a car transport company, like those you can use when you buy a car that is in another state. Maybe a discussion with the Ford BEV team and a negotiation over the moving expenses is the first thing to try, because I agree it would be best to get the car moved back home.

 

[onepunch]

Same story with my GTPE. Fortunately I only got the "service soon" message and the car still operated in limp mode to make it home.

I was a bit annoyed initially at the dealership having no idea if the part would take a day, a week, or a month to arrive, but ultimately they got the part within about 10 days and then another 4-5 days to replace it. All in all it was roughly 3 weeks from start to finish.

 

[dbsb3233]

800 mile tow is awfully expensive, and I doubt Ford will cover. Even AAA premium will only cover 100 miles.

That's what I was figuring too. Mine failed on a road trip 1000 miles from home (in Reno). I left it with the dealer there for a month and they replaced the HVBJB (took a full month). Rented a car to get home, and Ford is doing a reimbursement. I'm waiting for the cash card in the mail now, but I think it's only gonna cover a small part of it. They told me they only cover a max of $40/day ($45/day if it's a Ford vehicle). The one-way rental (2 days) was $320 since it was city-to-city. I'm only expecting $80 even though I tried to explain the situation of needing a city-to-city rental just to get us home. Guess I'll see what shows up. I'm not terribly concerned about it either way, but it will be a tad annoying if they don't factor in the need to get home.

 

[dbsb3233]

Thanks all for the replies. It was towed smoothly to the nearest dealership about 5 miles way but I’m 800 miles from home so I’m sure that’s about all they could do. I will contact my car insurance and see what they say.

SVS popped up about 10 minutes before we pulled into EA to charge and as soon as we put it in park SSN popped up and the car wouldn’t turn off for about 15 mins.

I’m just at a loss because of the distance from home. For a known issue under warranty I’ll have to stay here for days, weeks? to wait for a part that may or may not be in stock? That’s the part I can’t wrap my head around.

I’ll know more Monday and will update. Thanks again.

I suspect you'll just need to leave the car at that dealership and have it fixed there, while you go home without it. Even if you do all the recommended steps to contact Ford to open a case and have them expedite the part, at best it's 1-2 weeks (if really lucky), and probably more like 3+.

If you hang around till Monday, the dealership there might give you a loaner. Just depends on what they have and how willing they are. The other option is renting a car yourself (there's an Enterprise Rental place a block from that Jones Ford dealership). Ford will reimburse some for it but probably only partial. They told me a max of $45/day for a Ford model ($40/day for a non-Ford). They didn't tell me if there's a max # of days for that.

Once you decide what dealership is going to do the repair, call Ford ASAP to open a case and expedite the part. That's the most important part, even if the dealership tells you they have it handled. Ford can pull some strings that the dealer can't.

 

[dbsb3233]

Both sound like the exact problem that I had all last winter. SSN and a bunch of other messages. From December until April a 12V charger/conditioner keeping it above 13V worked. In April the HVJB was replaced. It worked, was home and it was used throughout the winter. Was easier than it sitting at a dealer waiting for the part. It was months back then. You mentioned pre-charge contact. That may make sense?

Some speculated pre-charge contactor, others a different component in there I don't recall. Either way it's a HVBJB replacement. There's like 4 contactors and a bunch of other stuff on that board. I was 1000 miles from home so really had no choice but to leave it after 3 days of it getting harder and harder to start. Was lucky it finally started on like the 10th attempt to avoid a tow the day I dropped it at the dealer there.

 

[dbsb3233]

100's of miles away a year ago one of the time it happened to me. I stuck closer to home after that.

The good news is (reportedly) the replacement HVBJB is a newer version that *shouldn't* have the same problem. So those of us with the replacement should be ok. Which could suck for those with the original part. Hopefully the % is small that fail, but it's still a bit disconcerting.

We road trip a lot (20k+ miles so far, 130+ DCFCs). But mine only failed on getting it started. Drove fine with no SVS messages and no power limitations.

With so much road tripping (much through the CO mountains) with no problem, I figured ours must have been a good HVBJB. Until it wasn't.

 

[Shayne]

Some speculated pre-charge contactor, others a different component in there I don't recall. Either way it's a HVBJB replacement. There's like 4 contactors and a bunch of other stuff on that board. I was 1000 miles from home so really had no choice but to leave it after 3 days of it getting harder and harder to start. Was lucky it finally started on like the 10th attempt to avoid a tow the day I dropped it at the dealer there.

Wonder if you had a 12V charger if it would have went smoother.

The good news is (reportedly) the replacement HVBJB is a newer version that *shouldn't* have the same problem. So those of us with the replacement should be ok. Which could suck for those with the original part. Hopefully the % is small that fail, but it's still a bit disconcerting.

We road trip a lot (20k+ miles so far, 130+ DCFCs). But mine only failed on getting it started. Drove fine with no SVS messages and no power limitations.

With so much road tripping (much through the CO mountains) with no problem, I figured ours must have been a good HVBJB. Until it wasn't.

The only problem with that for me is I got it replaced in April a month before the revision came out. Wait months for it and may have ended up with the final dump of originals so they could start putting the revised ones in for their new costumers. Just a car and will deal with whatever happens. I am not too worried about it but as many it is still in the back of my mind.

Some say here only 0.0005% are effected by the design error but no worries since variances in manufacturing may save some. Ford has been transparent with what the problem is and how they intend to address it.

 

[Ghost Ryder]

Some say here only 0.0005% are effected by the design error but no worries since variances in manufacturing may save some. Ford has been transparent with what the problem is and how they intend to address it.

If by Transparent, you mean that Ford acknowledged that HVBJB will leave you stranded and may take weeks or more to fix. And that they couldn't care less that it could cause owners time, inconveniences, money and possibly personal safety because they will only fix it after the car dies, then yeah, they're completely transparent.

 

[dbsb3233]

Wonder if you had a 12V charger if it would have went smoother.

I did. Even replaced the 12V battery. And monitored LVB voltage frequently with a cig lighter meter and Carscanner. One of the threads led me to believe that was the problem at first (my SSN's initially only happened when showing <12.2V). When it ticked up over 12.3, it would usually start.

But that turned out to be anecdotal. Or my HVBJB just continued to degrade until it didn't matter anymore. The day after I had them put a new 12V battery in (at my expense, hoping just to make it home), I also bought a charger and used that for hours. Was showing 12.6, but still got SSN. Even tried starting it many times with the charger on it, on tickle, then on 8A, then on 15A. Still no go, until about the 10th attempt when it magically started.

So the voltage either had nothing to do with it at all, or the contactor that was failing had such a weak connection that it was creating resistence and needed more power. Until it got so bad that more power would barely work either.

 

[silverelan]

The good news is (reportedly) the replacement HVBJB is a newer version that *shouldn't* have the same problem. So those of us with the replacement should be ok. Which could suck for those with the original part. Hopefully the % is small that fail, but it's still a bit disconcerting.

We road trip a lot (20k+ miles so far, 130+ DCFCs). But mine only failed on getting it started. Drove fine with no SVS messages and no power limitations.

With so much road tripping (much through the CO mountains) with no problem, I figured ours must have been a good HVBJB. Until it wasn't.

i think we’re all hosed on the HVBJB. I’m at 11k miles and have some genuine anxiety about road tripping next spring/summer into Eastern Oregon with my family in the car.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

Well, it finally happened to me. STRANDED in Arizona. We were driving home to Austin from San Diego when we pulled into charge at an EA at Walmart in Casa Grande and as soon as we pulled in boom, the dreaded Stop Safely Now followed by all the other warnings and lights.

Does anyone have any advice regarding being stranded? We don’t live here and need to work on Monday which obviously won’t happen because service doesn’t open until Monday.

But in terms of getting back home if the part/service will take days or weeks. Will Ford give me a car to get home? Do I leave my car here and have to come back and get it or will they ship it to me? Will I be reimbursed for Ubers and hotels? I am so disappointed and am already fearing an inadequate response. The fact service isn’t open on weekends or even just customer care is already a huge sore spot for me. Yeah, cars don’t break down on the weekend.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thankful for this forum and all the info compiled on the first page. At least I won’t be blind walking into the service station on Monday.

Read post #1.
Call Ford and ask to be connected with the BEV team. Open a case with them (get the case number).
The dealer needs to order the new part through COPIS.
Coordinate with Ford if the dealer your car is at cannot do this work.
Rent a car and go home. Be sure to leave the MME key with the dealer. Save all receipts.

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