A charging problem Ford will not fix

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NavinRJohnson

Active member
Joined
Nov 4, 2014
Messages
42
In early July, my '14 FFE developed a very annoying charging problem. Basically, it stops charging after about an hour. If I restart the charging session, it will charge for even less. So, once I've run it down to 15 miles range or so, it could take 5-10 (or more) charge attempts to get a full charge. Each time, it throws my iPhone a fault message "(carname) had a fault while charging". I've tried several different high speed chargers, even using 110v. It happens with all of them.

So I left the car with Ford for weeks on end. They've tried fixing it, but apparently can't find any problem, even though they've seen it happen. They have no idea what's wrong. Early on, they replaced the main wiring harness (per technical bulletin) but the problem persists. And yesterday, they finally had a Ford factory service technician come out and came back with "we can't find anything wrong with it".

What do I do? I can't live with it this way. And even if I was willing to put up with 5-10 attempts to get a full charge, I would lose out on the cheap electricity from midnight - 7am. Suggestions??
 
*I assume your car is still under its factory warranty and 2 years old or less

First, keep all your paperwork handy. You do have meticulous records of all the service vists, right?

If you've met these criteria:

- A serious safety defect has been subject to repair one time and the serious safety defect has not been corrected
- The same nonconformity has been subject to repair three times, and the nonconformity has not been corrected or
- The vehicle is out of service by reason of repair of one or more nonconformities for a cumulative total of 30 days.

Contact a lemon law lawyer in your area.
 
I just checked for Georgia and it appears this would also be a slam dunk here. Sounds like the first step is to submit a repurchase or replace request to Ford. Or should I get an attorney first? Any suggestions?
 
It took Ford 9 months to give me a new FFE after my '14 FFE (11 months old) sat at the dealer for 6 months

I am pretty sure Lemon Law is easier during the first 12 months of ownership from what I remember.

Threatening them with a lawyer makes things worse, trust me!

Except for California you should follow the instructions in the Owners Manual about how to file with the Auto Better Business Bureau (Something name like that)

I did that and they handled everything and only after using them did Ford listen. I wasted 1000$ on a lemon lawyer who could not
accomplish that. I was able to do most of the filing via emails and everything was free. I even put 8000 miles on a Fusion loaner while waiting for the '16 FFE to be built.
 
Find a lawyer in your area that will do a free consultation. Because the lemon law statute provides for fee shifting, the manufacturer is required to pay atty fees (again, consult someone with a JD :) ). If you have a case, you'll get representation because it's generally easy money for the atty.
 
My saga continues. It's been over 30 days at the dealer service center and no solution. In fact, they refuse to believe there's an issue even though I have detailed logs of every charge attempt and failure report (from MFM via text message).
I think my only option at this point is to file a 'vehicle repurchase request'. Anyone know how to do this and/or have suggestions? Where do I send it? What is the process? I have the paperwork/work receipts and a clear written explanation of the issue with the failure reports.
 
Are you sure it is not the charger? are you using L2 or the 110V charger that came with car?

As for re-purchase it is tedious and not sure it applies easily after the first 12 months of ownership...see my previous post on how I did it (took 9 months). I can explain to you in more details via PM.

So called lemon lawyers are not always successful; trust me, my tenant was a lawyer for Ford and Ford is extremely difficult to deal with.
 
It happens with all chargers. Have tried several fast chargers and even the 110v from the cable that came with the car.

I'm still within two years, which I thought was the cut off. I imagine it's a tedious process but hopefully it will pale in comparison to all the phone calls and logging of charge/fault messages I've had to compile that tell the story. It amazes me there are no detailed error logs inside the car. It simply stops cheating and throws a charge fault via MFM.
 
Well, after several days of failed charge attempts, a Ford service rep was on site yesterday and they said after spending two hours with the car he found an issue. (The dealer service rep said Ford employees have access to more detailed information/logs than the dealer's technicians.) Ford then needed to approve replacement of a part (which they did today) and it has been ordered. I asked what the part is called and they said it's called the "SOB BM". It will supposedly be replaced in the next day or two.
 
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