Stop Safely Now Warning

[Ken_mc3]

Yeah, just like mine sat in the shop for 10 weeks while they replaced almost everything. I traded it and lost $10,000. Ford still refuses to cooperate with me! The lack of customer service is terrible. Ford doesn't care about the problems with the BEV, they are selling the plug in hybrids. Look at the sales scorecard.
If you want an EV, buy a Leaf. If you want a Ford, buy a plug in hybrid.

 

[scoops]

Why did you trade it? Why would Ford do anything now that you have? Aren't there laws that protect you against lemons like this?

 

[scoops]

On topic: I got a Stop Safely Now yesterday in my garage as I was poking around with my ODB Cable (Ross-Tech VAG-COM) Car was fine. Couldn't get any parameters from the Cable though

 

[Ken_mc3]

Well scoops, if you had looked at my old posts you would have a different tone to yours.
I bought my Focus BEV on 8/7/2013. It went in twice for recalls after a week. On 10/4/2013 it did a SSN when I tried to leave work. It was taken to the nearest dealer and spent the next 10 weeks having the high voltage cables, transmission, motor, 12 volt converter, main batteries, modules, charge port, and it's cables.
I had sent an email to Ford on 11/15/2013 after seeing that the car was not getting fixed. I was assigned Terry Woodard. We talked a dozen times. He agreed Ford should buy back the car, but wasn't going to. I wrote and talked with 4 different people and no one would help. I contacted my State Attorney General Office. They sent Ford 3 letters, and advised me to hire a lawyer since Ford was uncooperative.
When my FFE was "fixed" I took it back to the dealer I bought it from. They gave me $10,000 less than what I paid for it trading it in on a Ford C Max Energi.

 

[Ken_mc3]

So, I am driving a Ford plug in hybrid. It has almost as many miles on it as the FFE did when it stopped working.
I plan to write Ford again. I had sent one letter to the BBB address listed in the warranty guide and it was returned as undeliverable. I will try this address again, return receipt requested. I will also send one more letter to the customer service office. Then if I do not get satisfaction I will post my story on Facebook along with Ford's phone number and ask people to call on my behalf. If that fails, I will try to get a class action lawsuit going against Ford for selling a dangerous vehicle that randomly shuts off without warning.

Ford, are you looking at this?

 

[bgs]

I mentioned I am considering a FFE, but thinking seriously about a cmax energi now. This not because of any individual instance of SSN, but when you take into account there are still a decent amount of people still reporting it. There are a few on this forum (~5) and if you read any external article about SSN, you'll see people having SSNs in the comment section. This even on 2014s, as well as 2013s -- all post recall. When you add this up and consider the people that don't report on blogs/forums and the fact that there's only a few more than 2000 FFEs out there, it becomes a percentage that's not trivial. Even though the risk is still small, you don't have to take on a risk like that with almost every other car you would consider. With a small daughter that I may want to take with in this car I can't see taking on the additional risk, especially living in a busy urban area with aggressive, speeding drivers who are probably texting. Can't imagine stalling out on a busy highway or even street in these conditions.

But still mulling it over! Too bad the volt and leaf are so ugly!

 

[jmueller065]

there are still a decent amount of people still reporting it.

Um, no not really. Since the recall for the SSN was issued last September there have been 3 maybe 4--significantly fewer than before (typically there would be 3 or 4 per week before).

I wouldn't let these very few instances sway you from the FFE. If you decide not to get it let your decision rest on its merits not the extraordinary few SSN's of late.

I also wouldn't count the people reporting in article comment sections as valid SSN issues.. Where have you seen these? There are very few articles about the FFE as of late since the new 2015 FFE is essentially a carryover and thus nothing to report on. In addition: when you are searching check the dates on those comments/articles--they could be older.

 

[bgs]

Here's 3 from the first few search results from google, all recent (def. post recall) instances. Check the comments section.

http://insideevs.com/focus-electric...ts-to-the-stop-safely-now-power-loss-problem/

http://green.autoblog.com/2013/06/04/ford-focus-electrics-flashing-stop-safely-now-warning-for-some/

http://green.autoblog.com/2013/09/10/ford-focus-ev-stop-safely-now-stalling-problem-under-nhtsa-pro/

It's not a decent amount of instances if it's a F150 that sells 600,000 units/yr. When you only sell 2000 units and have even this many people posting on message boards about it and given that the problem is potentially very dangerous, I think it's sensible to weight this risk as one of the factors in deciding on a car. I haven't decided against the FFE, just feel this should be one of the factors to consider, especially since it's a potential safety issue.

 

[jmueller065]

First article comment section:
The post from Susan is probably the same Susan as on here: They had a heck of a time with their FFE's then had to get rid of them for reasons other than the SSN.
Other comment about SSN happening after a test drive: I wouldn't trust one that has sat on the dealer lots for test drives anyway. Many dealers didn't really "like" selling them and may not have did the update on their demo unit.
Ken's comment from November was about the time frame that all the SSN recalls were being performed (I did mine in late Nov).
Second article: (almost a year old now)
All of the comments for this article are June 2013 or older--right at the height of the SSN problems.
Third article dated Sept 10, 2013: Right about the time Ford issued the recall
Again all of the comments are on about the same date (Sept 10th)--many negative ones about the FFE in general ("Its a toy just get a Tesla" etc.). Not reflective of the state of the FFE today.

I'm at 11,000 miles in my FFE which has never had a SSN error and there are many on here that haven't seen the issue either. I had a spreadsheet going tracking all of the SSN's reported here. I had figured about 3% of the FFE's were having the issue at the time. Now we're talking about 3 or 4 total at most.

 

[bgs]

Wait, definitely not trying to overblow the issue, but do these comments not show up for you? All from this year.
First Article:



ChuckD
March 25, 2014 at 2:16 pm
This problem has not been resolved. I have a 2014 Focus Electric that is 3 weeks old and on my way to work on I-5 in Orange County, CA the message “Stop Safely Now” came on just as traffic stopped, so natually, the car quit. Very exciting to be in the fast lane unable to move. The car has been towed to the nearest Ford dealer and they have no clue how to fix it. Waiting to hear from Ford engineering with no news yet.

Second article:



Abdoulaye Fofana
I have a 2014 Ford Focus EV that I got on March 20 2014, now I've gotten this issue at least 15 times. I took my car to the dealer to fix but they didn't have any clue. I have another appointment with them , hopefully they will fix it otherwise I will take legal actions.

Third Article:

Sholom
This happened to me in a 2014 Focus electric. It was on a very very cold day but the car still had 50% battery left. It cleared itself after around 10 minutes. The car was parked all day in the cold and then displayed the message right after starting. 

I left it in accessory mode for a few minutes then started it from there and it worked. Not sure if accessory mode let the battery warm up or if it had anything to do with clearing the message.

I am going to bring it into the dealer shortly. No other problems with the car. We have liked it very much.
January 16 2014 at 4:46 PM

 

[jmueller065]

Nope didn't see any of those three, and I repeatedly hit the "Load More Comments" link until all the comments were loaded.

I disagree with the first comment: The SSN issue that was causing all the SSN's before has been resolved. Just because SSN happened to him doesn't mean that the recall issue isn't fixed.

The general consensus has been that any SSN's happening now are due to build issues, wiring, battery, etc. and not the software problems that plagued the car in the past.

Like I said earlier, though: We'll be sorry to see you go if you decide against the FFE due to this. There are almost 3000 FFE's out in the wild in the US now, so 3 or 4 (even 10) SSN's is <1%...still pretty good odds.

Add 'em up: http://insideevs.com/monthly-plug-in-sales-scorecard/
685 + 1738 + 522 = 2945

 

[bgs]

Well, if I go with the FFE, I definitely hope my experience is as good as yours.

 

[unplugged]

Well, if I go with the FFE, I definitely hope my experience is as good as yours.

No car is perfect. Ford was alerted to the issue and resolved it. There will always be issues with the FFE, just like any car. But as far as I have noted on this forum and others, complaints about the SSN issue have been very few, if practically nonexistent, since the recall and software fix. I think that any current SSN issue is the car doing what it was designed to do and shutting down for a real problem.

 

[astalevista]

Experience SSN time to time for a year now, before and after recall. First SSN after recall happened on the way from dealership. Last week car refused to start at all after SSN. Still in shop, dealer has no clue and does not seem to get advice from Ford. They replacing battery and harness now.

 

[bgs]

No model car is perfect, but the difference is that few other cars have a total lose of power at random times, that's a safety issue. I don't think it matters if the cause is a software bug or connector problem. Looks at the GM ignition switch recall, that's a stalling issue of the same nature and has cost people's lives. FFE is a very well done car, but we should be realistic about the problem.

 

[Ken_mc3]

Yes the dealer lied! There is a dc to dc converter to charge the 12 volt battery. Mine was replaced, along with everything else needed to make the car move
Anyone interested in a class action lawsuit?

 

[pjam3]

No model car is perfect, but the difference is that few other cars have a total lose of power at random times, that's a safety issue. I don't think it matters if the cause is a software bug or connector problem. Looks at the GM ignition switch recall, that's a stalling issue of the same nature and has cost people's lives. FFE is a very well done car, but we should be realistic about the problem.

Some people are just apologists, so no matter what, the FFE is the greatest car ever made. Or maybe they are Ford people who sell their souls to Ford. Who knows, when you see some comments on here, it's kind of obvious.

Ford got lucky that there were no serious accidents or deaths. They've sold what, 3000 FFE, and over 2600 of them had to be recalled for the power loss issue. Saying it's no big deal is just stupid. Maybe Ford was lucky that nobody bought the car, otherwise, there might have been a lot more bad press around somebody losing power randomly.

 

[unplugged]

Some people are just apologists, so no matter what, the FFE is the greatest car ever made. Or maybe they are Ford people who sell their souls to Ford. Who knows, when you see some comments on here, it's kind of obvious.

I knew eventually that this forum would end up with some guy with a chip on his shoulder. I'm actually amazed that it took this long.

I have sat back and reviewed your comments to long-time members and I am surprised at the amount of patience shown to you given the acidity of your remarks. You apparently can't accept the fact that others have different opinions than you without you feeling the need to make some snarky or cutting comment. This is especially true when you are faced with people who actually like the FFE and provide specific information to rebut your remarks. You are the type of guy who comes on to forums and expects others to abide by your negative view of the car and then makes it quite clear that anyone who disagrees with you is some fanboy or "apologist."

While others have ignored your comments, or attempted to reason with you, I feel your presence here will end up infecting this forum. I hope not. But I, for one, don't appreciate coming to this forum and having my blood pressure rise.

While I may be harsh in my response to you, I have no desire to participate in a forum where there is not mutual respect and a willingness to have intellectual and adult conversations. There is absolutely no excuse to come to this forum and suggest that those you disagree with would "sell their souls to Ford" or are full of "BS". Leave these types of comments to Car & Driver's or Fox News website, not this one.

 

[Ken_mc3]

Some people have the right to be upset with Ford. However, name calling about other posters is not appropriate. There are people who believe in a particular brand, no matter what. As a 40+ years member of the motorcycle community, I can introduce you to people who ride only one brand. Wear clothing advertising that brand. Feel that no matter what problems or technical shortcomings that brand has, it is OK.
I am NOT a brand name person! If I have trouble with a product, I will give it a fair chance for corrective action. I currently drive a Ford C - Max Energi. I had a FFE. Ford did not handle the problems with this car properly. I am still hoping they will step up and reimburse me for my losses.
Right now I am looking for a different brand of EV. When I find one that fits my needs, I will sell the C-Max Energi. It will be a LONG TIME before I will step foot in a Ford Dealership again!
If so, I will let people know about it. Right now I am letting people know how bad my FFE was, and how Ford, and the dealer would not recognize the faults in the vehicle.

 

[igopogo]

I bought a 2014 Focus Electric in February. Yesterday, in the garage, I got the "Stop Safely Now" message and haven't been able to start the car. I have 2010 miles on the car. There is a picture of a wrench, and I also noticed that the SRS warning light turns off and then comes back on steady. I left a message with the dealer and haven't heard back, but I wanted to add this data point.

Interestingly, when holding the power button down I can also get a message "Park Aid Malfunction" even though I don't have the park aid option.