Vehicle Master Reset on its Own

[NewGuy]

This morning the car was sitting in my driveway and I got two notifications from FordPass as well as two emails at the same time. One says that a master reset had been performed on the vehicle and the other says that my PAAK access (and door cord and backup start password) was removed.

I checked my App and the vehicle wasn't there, nor was it in my ford.com account. I changed my Ford.com password, just to be safe. When I called Ford they have no clue why this happened. In fact, they said a master reset can't happen without initiating it from within the car. It's bean two weeks since my last software update, so I doubt it's related to that. Super weird.

Luckily, I was just at home, but I use PAAK all the time. This definitely would've stranded me if I was out and about.

Note that I did have my Telematics Control Unit (TCU) replaced recently, and as part of that the dealer had to do a master reset, but the car has been back in my possession and fine for the last five weeks.

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[Ford Motor Company]

Man, that is incredibly strange. I completely get why you are spooked by this.

I want to get this straight over to our engineering Task Force so they can look at the backend data and figure out exactly what triggered the ghost reset.

I know we all hate the classic "DM me your VIN" reply. I really do need your VIN and the name of your dealership to get the right eyes on this, though. Send that over in a private message when you have a second.

I will track this down with the team and we will look into what happened.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Yes, please share your VIN with Brian there so they can make sure that doesn't happen again.

 

[NewGuy]

Man, that is incredibly strange. I completely get why you are spooked by this.

I want to get this straight over to our engineering Task Force so they can look at the backend data and figure out exactly what triggered the ghost reset.

I know we all hate the classic "DM me your VIN" reply. I really do need your VIN and the name of your dealership to get the right eyes on this, though. Send that over in a private message when you have a second.

I will track this down with the team and we will look into what happened.

Yes, please share your VIN with Brian there so they can make sure that doesn't happen again.

Yup, sent the VIN over to Brian yesterday. I also had a friendly neighborhood board member look into my VIN, but he couldn’t see anything that could’ve caused this.

 

[NewGuy]

Man, that is incredibly strange. I completely get why you are spooked by this.

I want to get this straight over to our engineering Task Force so they can look at the backend data and figure out exactly what triggered the ghost reset.

I know we all hate the classic "DM me your VIN" reply. I really do need your VIN and the name of your dealership to get the right eyes on this, though. Send that over in a private message when you have a second.

I will track this down with the team and we will look into what happened.

At 6:00am today it happened again. I received two emails and two FordPass notifications that my vehicle had a master reset and PAAK and all backup passcodes associated with my PAAK stopped working.

Last week when this happened I sent Brian from Ford my VIN in less than an hour from him asking for it. I also called and talked to Ford BEV team who was supposed to call me back that day. Neither one reached back out to me. Super frustrating.

 

[NewGuy]

At 6:00am today it happened again. I received two emails and two FordPass notifications that my vehicle had a master reset and PAAK and all backup passcodes associated with my PAAK stopped working.

Last week when this happened I sent Brian from Ford my VIN in less than an hour from him asking for it. I also called and talked to Ford BEV team who was supposed to call me back that day. Neither one reached back out to me. Super frustrating.

Oddly they only know my name in one of the emails.


Subject - Update your Phone as a Key

Subject - A Master Reset has deactivated your vehicle's modem

 

[Ford Motor Company]

At 6:00am today it happened again. I received two emails and two FordPass notifications that my vehicle had a master reset and PAAK and all backup passcodes associated with my PAAK stopped working.

Last week when this happened I sent Brian from Ford my VIN in less than an hour from him asking for it. I also called and talked to Ford BEV team who was supposed to call me back that day. Neither one reached back out to me. Super frustrating.

Hello,

First off, I owe you a huge apology. You did exactly what I asked by sending your VIN over so quickly last week, and then I went totally radio silent. I ended up out sick for a few days, but I know that doesn't make dealing with these vehicle resets any less infuriating.

Having your Mach-E randomly perform a master reset and wipe your Phone As A Key and backup passcodes twice in a week is a massive headache. You have every right to be frustrated, especially when you were promised a callback from the BEV team that never happened.

I want to reassure you that your VIN didn't just disappear into the void. I escalated your details to our software engineering team right before I went offline, and they are actively looking at your vehicle's logs to figure out exactly what is triggering these unprompted resets.

I am also tracking down the BEV team right now to find out why that callback slipped through the cracks. I am going to stay on top of this and will circle back with you as soon as I have a real update from the engineers on what is going on.

Thanks for your patience while I catch back up, and for hanging in there.

 

[NewGuy]

Hello,

First off, I owe you a huge apology. You did exactly what I asked by sending your VIN over so quickly last week, and then I went totally radio silent. I ended up out sick for a few days, but I know that doesn't make dealing with these vehicle resets any less infuriating.

Having your Mach-E randomly perform a master reset and wipe your Phone As A Key and backup passcodes twice in a week is a massive headache. You have every right to be frustrated, especially when you were promised a callback from the BEV team that never happened.

I want to reassure you that your VIN didn't just disappear into the void. I escalated your details to our software engineering team right before I went offline, and they are actively looking at your vehicle's logs to figure out exactly what is triggering these unprompted resets.

I am also tracking down the BEV team right now to find out why that callback slipped through the cracks. I am going to stay on top of this and will circle back with you as soon as I have a real update from the engineers on what is going on.

Thanks for your patience while I catch back up, and for hanging in there.

I called the BEV team this morning and just spent 57 minutes total on the phone. Here’s my experience -

The first person I spoke to said I need to speak to someone on the In-Vehicle Technology team or the Connected Services team. She leaves it up to me to decide which team I talk to. Last week I spoke to Connected Services and it didn’t go anywhere. I told the rep it shouldn’t be up to me to determine which team to speak to and asked her to choose. She sent me to In-Vehicle Technology. I spoke to someone there who determined I need to speak to the BEV team. She sent me back there to the original rep I had spoken to. She determined at this point it has to go to the dealership.

I’m dubious that the dealership will be able to do anything at this point. Additionally I need a vehicle to drive and one dealership got rid of their loaner cars and another dealership won’t give me one because I didn’t buy my vehicle from them. Ford has a rental car reimbursement program with criteria so strict it makes it impossible to actually use. They will only reimburse $40 per day and the vehicle must be a Ford. My car was in the dealership for the entire month of February and I can’t tell you how many hours I devoted to finding a Ford rental vehicle; easily over 15 hours. Rental agency websites don’t tell you what vehicles are on lots, and calling a local rental agency is challenging because the calls route to a national call center who also doesn’t know what vehicles are on the lot. The only Ford I could find was an 18 passenger van. It was considerably more than $40 a day. I didn’t rent it. Ford leaves all of this up to you to do on your own.

I get it, car parts break; it happens. But how a manufacturer reacts when something breaks is important. I’ve been an active member of this community as well as Mach E communities on Reddit and Facebook for over four years now. I’ve convinced numerous friends and family members to get a Mach E (even offering test drives of my personal vehicle), and countless others online. That said, I can no longer recommend buying a Ford. This is less to do with my experience with the Mach E, which I still very much enjoy, and more to do with my experience with Ford.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

I called the BEV team this morning and just spent 57 minutes total on the phone. Here’s my experience -

The first person I spoke to said I need to speak to someone on the In-Vehicle Technology team or the Connected Services team. She leaves it up to me to decide which team I talk to. Last week I spoke to Connected Services and it didn’t go anywhere. I told the rep it shouldn’t be up to me to determine which team to speak to and asked her to choose. She sent me to In-Vehicle Technology. I spoke to someone there who determined I need to speak to the BEV team. She sent me back there to the original rep I had spoken to. She determined at this point it has to go to the dealership.

I’m dubious that the dealership will be able to do anything at this point. Additionally I need a vehicle to drive and one dealership got rid of their loaner cars and another dealership won’t give me one because I didn’t buy my vehicle from them. Ford has a rental car reimbursement program with criteria so strict it makes it impossible to actually use. They will only reimburse $40 per day and the vehicle must be a Ford. My car was in the dealership for the entire month of February and I can’t tell you how many hours I devoted to finding a Ford rental vehicle; easily over 15 hours. Rental agency websites don’t tell you what vehicles are on lots, and calling a local rental agency is challenging because the calls route to a national call center who also doesn’t know what vehicles are on the lot. The only Ford I could find was an 18 passenger van. It was considerably more than $40 a day. I didn’t rent it. Ford leaves all of this up to you to do on your own.

I get it, car parts break; it happens. But how a manufacturer reacts when something breaks is important. I’ve been an active member of this community as well as Mach E communities on Reddit and Facebook for over four years now. I’ve convinced numerous friends and family members to get a Mach E (even offering test drives of my personal vehicle), and countless others online. That said, I can no longer recommend buying a Ford. This is less to do with my experience with the Mach E, which I still very much enjoy, and more to do with my experience with Ford.

Hello,

I read through your entire post, and honestly, I don't blame you for feeling this way.

Spending an hour getting bounced between three different departments just to end up exactly where you started is incredibly frustrating. Add in the rental car nightmare you described... spending 15 hours hunting for a $40-a-day Ford rental that practically doesn't exist just defeats the whole purpose of having a reimbursement program.

You hit the nail on the head. Building a great vehicle is only half the job. How we support you when things go wrong is what actually builds or breaks trust. We clearly broke it here. Losing an advocate who has literally handed over their personal keys for test drives is a massive failure on our end.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the team is currently investigating what has taken place with your vehicle but I wanted to share that I did take your update directly to our customer experience team. We are actively looking at how to fix these exact support loops and the strict rental constraints. Your detailed breakdown is exactly the kind of real world evidence I need to show the team where our processes are failing owners.

Thank you for all you have done for the Mach-E community over the last four years. I am truly sorry we let you down.

 

[NewGuy]

Hello,

I read through your entire post, and honestly, I don't blame you for feeling this way.

Spending an hour getting bounced between three different departments just to end up exactly where you started is incredibly frustrating. Add in the rental car nightmare you described... spending 15 hours hunting for a $40-a-day Ford rental that practically doesn't exist just defeats the whole purpose of having a reimbursement program.

You hit the nail on the head. Building a great vehicle is only half the job. How we support you when things go wrong is what actually builds or breaks trust. We clearly broke it here. Losing an advocate who has literally handed over their personal keys for test drives is a massive failure on our end.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the team is currently investigating what has taken place with your vehicle but I wanted to share that I did take your update directly to our customer experience team. We are actively looking at how to fix these exact support loops and the strict rental constraints. Your detailed breakdown is exactly the kind of real world evidence I need to show the team where our processes are failing owners.

Thank you for all you have done for the Mach-E community over the last four years. I am truly sorry we let you down.

A couple updates from my end.
TLDR - Ford has been a bit more responsive and the vehicle performed another master reset on itself this morning.

I’m now in touch with two supervisors at Ford. The first said they will help to find a Ford rental when the car goes to the dealer. This is a departure, and improvement, to how I was treated when my vehicle was at the dealer the entire month of February getting the TCU replaced.

That said, the second supervisor told me not to go to the dealer yet. She is talking to engineers who want to have a better idea of what’s going on before they send me to the dealer.

In the meantime, the car decided to do another master reset this morning. This marks four times it has happened since I got the car back with a new TCU at the end of February.

Additionally, I’m still waiting to hear back from the Connected Services team. My connected services didn’t work for 105 days while my TCU was broken, out of stock, then ultimately getting replaced. They are supposed to extend the date my connected services end by that amount, alas it’s been six weeks since I initiated that and it hasn’t happened yet. I followed up once a couple weeks ago and was told they would get back to me.

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