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

[Addos]

Yeah, expensive as hell. From @breeves002

"In case anyone is interested Ford paid $2188.83 for this claim on my car. $932.20 in labor $1256.63 for the part. 6.1 hours of labor billed. 286 claims according to the NHTSA doc means this has cost Ford $600k so far + a bunch of engineering and admin time."

Just wait it out and see what happens.

For me, I'd rather pay the money and have a known good part, than hope a software update maybe MAYBE prevents a faulty part from failing. But that is just me.

Sponsored

 

[Neil4Real]

For me, I'd rather pay the money and have a known good part, than hope a software update maybe MAYBE prevents a faulty part from failing. But that is just me.

The software update is to attempt to prevent it but also, hopefully, notify you if it is sending the part is starting to fail so you can get it in to service. At that point, it will reduce power, etc. to try and keep the part from fully failing so you can take it in, rather than full power loss randomly.

 

[P. T. Magoo]

Yeah, expensive as hell. From @breeves002

"In case anyone is interested Ford paid $2188.83 for this claim on my car. $932.20 in labor $1256.63 for the part. 6.1 hours of labor billed. 286 claims according to the NHTSA doc means this has cost Ford $600k so far + a bunch of engineering and admin time."

Just wait it out and see what happens.

See, there's the thing. It would be ruinous for Ford to pay this times however many MachEs they've built up to 6/15/22, so I can certainly see the logic of using a software patch to soften the blow, maybe forstall or prevent some failures.

But I forked over close to that same $2188.83 for an extended warranty because I tend to keep cars for a long time and a lot of miles, and I knew about this problem. Over the (hopefully long) life of the car, I'd gladly opt to upgrade the part for close to three grand (and pay for it by cancelling the extended warranty).

Another couple ways to look at it is that while waiting for the car, price protection saved me close to three kilobucks, or, it'd be less than 1/2 the tax incentive. Or, I paid more in freaking sales tax on the purchase than the upgraded part with installation would cost.

So yeah, I'd gladly hot rod this buggy with the upgraded part and its installation cost, if that were an option and I knew the upgraded part would protect me from bricking in the interesting neighborhoods through which medical professionals and musicians commute. Ever notice how hospitals and concert halls seem to end up in locations that, uh, used to be nice?

 

[Neil4Real]

See, there's the thing. It would be ruinous for Ford to pay this times however many MachEs they've built up to 6/15/22, so I can certainly see the logic of using a software patch to soften the blow, maybe forstall or prevent some failures.

But I forked over close to that same $2188.83 for an extended warranty because I tend to keep cars for a long time and a lot of miles, and I knew about this problem. Over the (hopefully long) life of the car, I'd gladly opt to upgrade the part for close to three grand (and pay for it by cancelling the extended warranty).

Another couple ways to look at it is that while waiting for the car, price protection saved me close to three kilobucks, or, it'd be less than 1/2 the tax incentive. Or, I paid more in freaking sales tax on the purchase than the upgraded part with installation would cost.

So yeah, I'd gladly hot rod this buggy with the upgraded part and its installation cost, if that were an option and I knew the upgraded part would protect me from bricking in the interesting neighborhoods through which medical professionals and musicians commute. Ever notice how hospitals and concert halls seem to end up in locations that, uh, used to be nice?

I'm not really following. You bought the extended warranty to protect your investment long term, but are saying you'd be open to a fully refund on that extended warranty to pay out of a pocket for a part that is covered under warranty if it fails? That's pretty, uh, odd.

Sure, my Volkswagen Atlas is known for blowing their water pump, should I just go buy a new one now even though it'll be covered under warranty should it fail?

I get the peace of mind, but your car can have a different issue that causes it to stall, if you hear about those are you going to just pay out of pocket for the fixes, too?

This is the whole point of the warranty. Just drive your car and let is play out. Take the advice in the first page of this thread that @DevSecOps listed and you'll be fine. The failure rate is very, very low and there are already tips on how to hopefully prevent it from happening.

 

[scoopman]

See, there's the thing. It would be ruinous for Ford to pay this times however many MachEs they've built up to 6/15/22, so I can certainly see the logic of using a software patch to soften the blow, maybe forstall or prevent some failures.

But I forked over close to that same $2188.83 for an extended warranty because I tend to keep cars for a long time and a lot of miles, and I knew about this problem. Over the (hopefully long) life of the car, I'd gladly opt to upgrade the part for close to three grand (and pay for it by cancelling the extended warranty).

Another couple ways to look at it is that while waiting for the car, price protection saved me close to three kilobucks, or, it'd be less than 1/2 the tax incentive. Or, I paid more in freaking sales tax on the purchase than the upgraded part with installation would cost.

So yeah, I'd gladly hot rod this buggy with the upgraded part and its installation cost, if that were an option and I knew the upgraded part would protect me from bricking in the interesting neighborhoods through which medical professionals and musicians commute. Ever notice how hospitals and concert halls seem to end up in locations that, uh, used to be nice?

They have basically telegraphed how to make the part fail. Just my experience back in late March … My failure happened a week and only a few miles of driving after I shot a video on the new charge curve where I ran the car down to 0% soc then charged right away to 100%, then drove it home on the highway not thinking about how gently or hard I needed to drive it.

So before the software recall update it should be pretty easy for you to get the updated part for much less than $2k…

 

[Blue highway]

well that’s the fun way to get the redesigned part!

I suspect more than a few have been thinking of this.

 

[rcechinel]

The software update is to attempt to prevent it but also, hopefully, notify you if it is sending the part is starting to fail so you can get it in to service. At that point, it will reduce power, etc. to try and keep the part from fully failing so you can take it in, rather than full power loss randomly.

That sounds like wishful thinking to me

 

[Fixbear]

@DevSecOps If you had an educated guess, do you think this issue could be solved with a software update?

They may try to us software to start and delay failures, But that means scaling back output. Which would not make customers happy and eventually some seeking lawyers. Any electrical current carrier that experiences a overload will no longer carry the same current as designed. I worked in industrial plant electrically for many years. The component experiences oxidation from the heat. This in turn creates more resistance with less current flow. Most conductors of electricity are also excellent conductors of heat. So when a conductor/connector get's a high resistance to failure, You often have to replace wires back several feet.

 

[newmme]

The fact still remains, how can Ford consider the problem part "within spec". Shouldn't a badly designed part be replaced and not considered it "within spec"? I get it might cost them to replace bad parts, but why gamble with people's safety?

 

[buzznwood]

The fact still remains, how can Ford consider the problem part "within spec". Shouldn't a badly designed part be replaced and not considered it "within spec"? I get it might cost them to replace bad parts, but why gamble with people's safety?

We are talking about Ford here, there is a cooperate culture at Ford that just exacerbates these problems and everyitme you think they have made progress towards fixing the issue it always seem to end up bubbling back up to the surface again.

Just look at the powershift debacle for a recent example.

Detriot Free Press, Ford knew of the PowerShift transmission's inherent problems before production started but went ahead with it, telling dealers "to tell customers that the cars operated normally" when it knew they were problematic. The paper published an email sent in August 2010 by a product development engineer to his supervisors and colleagues in which he said that testers could not "achieve a drivable calibration that will get us to production. The clutch torque delivery MUST BE IMPROVED!" That was six months before the 2012 Focus went on the market, the paper noted

I have owned numerous Fords over the years with fond memories of plenty of them as when they get it right there is much to recommend, but when they fumble the ball it normally ends up in a massive own goal.

 

[mmap]

The fact still remains, how can Ford consider the problem part "within spec". Shouldn't a badly designed part be replaced and not considered it "within spec"? I get it might cost them to replace bad parts, but why gamble with people's safety?

It is "within spec" because the part, as delivered from the supplier, meets what Ford designers asked for. Even accounting for variability in quality from the supplier (because no 2 things are ever exactly alike) everything was still to spec.

What this means is "this wasn't a supplier problem, this was a design flaw." Everything meets the spec, but it still has a problem? Then the spec is wrong.

This is actually the opposite of weasel words from Ford. They are owning up to a design error here by saying (in the NHTSA filing), "The design and part-to-part variation of the high voltage battery main contactor is not robust to the heat generated ... "

 

[mkhuffman]

They may try to us software to start and delay failures, But that means scaling back output. Which would not make customers happy and eventually some seeking lawyers. Any electrical current carrier that experiences a overload will no longer carry the same current as designed. I worked in industrial plant electrically for many years. The component experiences oxidation from the heat. This in turn creates more resistance with less current flow. Most conductors of electricity are also excellent conductors of heat. So when a conductor/connector get's a high resistance to failure, You often have to replace wires back several feet.

How many WOTs does it to take to kill a HVBJB?

 

[Electric Goat]

How many WOTs does it to take to kill a HVBJB?

Your comment, for some reason, reminded me of those old Tootsie Pop commercials from my 80s childhood.

 

[Socalsp3]

I had some more WOT fun today. I pulled up next to a Porsche and he was 100 feet behind me before he cleared the intersection. I guess he wasn't expecting my foolishness.

Enjoy your car and stop worrying so much!

Well if the mme is your only car risking being without a car for months for repairs wouldn't be good. If you have a second car then have at it and make Ford replace the part if it comes to that. I'm in the latter boat.

 

[Neil4Real]

Well if the mme is your only car risking being without a car for months for repairs wouldn't be good. If you have a second car then have at it and make Ford replace the part if it comes to that. I'm in the latter boat.

You’d get a loaner/rental.

Sponsored