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

[DevSecOps]

PC power supply hacked to be on always has enough 12V amps to pop the frunk. Charging dead LVB before tow...

It's not really "hacking". For those of us who tinker in water cooling this is a common thing we do. They even have a tool for it called a "PSU Bridge".

Anyway... I hope you're not attempting to charge through the frunk access cables. Those don't actually charge the LVB.

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[jprot]

Very happy to report that the car is now fixed, exactly one week after placing that phonecall to Ford. I have not picked it up as I'm traveling but it's ready and charged waiting for me. I'm very grateful to this forum for the guidance.

Here is the work description and receipt.

 

[scoopman]

Add me to the list.
2021 GTPE. I bought it used with 5k miles. Had done some DC fast charging and just the night before some WOT driving while showing the vehicle to a friend. On 12/20 I stopped at a store, got out (noticed the radio still stayed on after opening my door...don't remember it normally doing that), and when I got back into the car I got the "Stop Safely Now" message and the car was bricked.

Looking back, about a week after buying the car (12/2) I did receive the "Service Soon" and "Powertrain Failure" messages one morning...they cleared themselves shortly thereafter. I didn't know it at the time but I guess those are the precursor messages to the HVBJB failure. (??)

Anyway, got towed to the service center and immediately filed a case with the BEV team. It's been there two weeks. They claim they were shipped the wrong part in the right box (riiiiiiight) at first but then they got the right part and now the repair is done but they need the painter to paint some trim (WHAT?!). Needless to say, this has not been a great experience.

I'm sketched out by the trim painting bit. I'm worried they damaged my paint and aren't being straightforward with me. This is not part of the repair, right?

No, respraying your car is not part of the HVBJB replacement....

 

[YellowItsMe]

No, respraying your car is not part of the HVBJB replacement....

Turns out that they broke off a trim piece near the wheel and scratched and cracked the black front fender thing "because it was really hard to get the battery out." Oh, and then I opened my Ford Pass app to find my car 20 miles away from the dealer at an auto body shop. Service advisor told me to call the body shop to find out more about what was being done and when my car would be done. Are you serious?!

This entire recall process has been an amateur hour joke.

 

[scoopman]

Turns out that they broke off a trim piece near the wheel and scratched and cracked the black front fender thing "because it was really hard to get the battery out." Oh, and then I opened my Ford Pass app to find my car 20 miles away from the dealer at an auto body shop. Service advisor told me to call the body shop to find out more about what was being done and when my car would be done. Are you serious?!

This entire recall process has been an amateur hour joke.

Oh what the F .... what dealer is this so we can all avoid them? Sounds like they broke your front splitter on your GTPE? that's nowhere near the battery. Did they fix your HVBJB at least?

 

[YellowItsMe]

Oh what the F .... what dealer is this so we can all avoid them? Sounds like they broke your front splitter on your GTPE? that's nowhere near the battery. Did they fix your HVBJB at least?

I'm going to wait until I get to the bottom of what's going on before totally putting them on blast. I've contacted my Ford BEV team contact who I expect to advocate for me and be able to see and get past the dealer's BS (what is the lay person supposed to know about a battery contactor recall repair and what it entails??).

They did fix the HVBJB since someone was able to drive the car 20 miles from the service center to the auto body shop. I mean, I guess they could have just shorted the battery to the motor with some 000 AWG wire, so I can't say for certain. I know they drove it because the battery % dropped a proportional amount as reported to me on my Ford Pass app.

 

[skuker]

I received this error on Christmas Day on my 21 GT 100 miles into a road trip turned around and made it home no issue. Called All American Ford in Old Bridge NJ got an appointment for Jan 2. They pulled it into the shop at 10 am yesterday and I got a call at 7:30 this morning it was done they stock the HVJB. A shockingly easy experience highly recommend them.

 

[gregorym]

I received this error on Christmas Day on my 21 GT 100 miles into a road trip turned around and made it home no issue. Called All American Ford in Old Bridge NJ got an appointment for Jan 2. They pulled it into the shop at 10 am yesterday and I got a call at 7:30 this morning it was done they stock the HVJB. A shockingly easy experience highly recommend them.

I envy you. My GT has been in service since December 21, 2022, over 2 weeks. The service says it's just the LV battery, not the HVBJB, but they are supposed to update the firmware when they replace the LV.
Unfortunately, there is no suitable LV battery in stock in Europe. It is nowhere in stock and the service has still not received the battery and does not know when it will be available. Ford Poland is also unable to do anything, so it's not the fault of the service.

So I have a completely different opinion about Ford's BEV support
Despite everything, I miss driving my GT and hope that there will be no more problems.

 

[r5turbo2]

It's not really "hacking". For those of us who tinker in water cooling this is a common thing we do. They even have a tool for it called a "PSU Bridge".

Anyway... I hope you're not attempting to charge through the frunk access cables. Those don't actually charge the LVB.

Charging via the 'jump start' connectors. Had to use the frunk 12V cables as the LVB had discharged overnight and doors wouldn't open. Strangely the hatch has opened on its own a few times while on the charger.

Anyhow thanks again to the folks that created this post. It has been super helpful.

My only added step would be:
- get the car in a 'I can live with being locked out state' while the LVB is still working.

 

[ArminiusJ]

My first HVBJB failure occurred is September, it took three weeks to receive the new part number and replace it, it failed on me again after 2K miles on it last week, dropped it to the shop and waiting to fill my tax return and proceed to lemon it.

 

[kennethjk]

if that was the new HVJBC which is should be, I am now of the belief as someone mentioned before that Ford themselves are not really sure the new part is a real solution and that is why they are not proactively replacing the “old” part.

I would guess they are still doing testing and probably looking at something even better.

I mean, why replace 50k parts in US cars and then have to do it all over again, when the new part may be only marginally better .

boy I hope I am wrong.

My first HVBJB failure occurred is September, it took three weeks to receive the new part number and replace it, it failed on me again after 2K miles on it last week, dropped it to the shop and waiting to fill my tax return and proceed to lemon it.
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[scoopman]

My first HVBJB failure occurred is September, it took three weeks to receive the new part number and replace it, it failed on me again after 2K miles on it last week, dropped it to the shop and waiting to fill my tax return and proceed to lemon it.

So another revised part that failed?

 

[Mach-Lee]

Charging via the 'jump start' connectors. Had to use the frunk 12V cables as the LVB had discharged overnight and doors wouldn't open. Strangely the hatch has opened on its own a few times while on the charger.

Anyhow thanks again to the folks that created this post. It has been super helpful.

My only added step would be:
- get the car in a 'I can live with being locked out state' while the LVB is still working.

You do realize those wire leads in the bumper aren't hooked up to the 12V battery right? They only open the frunk, they do not charge the battery. You have to remove the frunk panels before you can charge the 12V battery. Also a 12V power supply isn't enough voltage to charge the battery. You need a battery charger that operates at 14-15V.

 

[ArminiusJ]

if that was the new HVJBC which is should be, I am now of the belief as someone mentioned before that Ford themselves are not really sure the new part is a real solution and that is why they are not proactively replacing the “old” part.

I would guess they are still doing testing and probably looking at something even better.

I mean, why replace 50k parts in US cars and then have to do it all over again, when the new part may be only marginally better .

boy I hope I am wrong.

I don’t think they have a clear idea what causes this but what I am sure is that replacing part is not a solution, I had only 2K on the second one and drove mostly light footed this time and barely did DC charge.

 

[gregorym]

I envy you. My GT has been in service since December 21, 2022, over 2 weeks. The service says it's just the LV battery, not the HVBJB, but they are supposed to update the firmware when they replace the LV.
Unfortunately, there is no suitable LV battery in stock in Europe. It is nowhere in stock and the service has still not received the battery and does not know when it will be available. Ford Poland is also unable to do anything, so it's not the fault of the service.

So I have a completely different opinion about Ford's BEV support
Despite everything, I miss driving my GT and hope that there will be no more problems.

On January 5, I picked up the car from the service, the battery arrived, it took 2 weeks. They replaced the LV battery, I've already driven 400 km and it's OK, so in my case it's not HVBJB.

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