HELP! EMERGENCY!

[FlufferMew]

So I think my car is completely dead. I have a 2013 Ford Focus Electric. I had it charging for the past 2 days, and today when I went to go use it, I unplugged the car, and tried to pen the door....but nothing. It won;t unlock with my touch. So I tried unlocking it with the key, still nothing. I plugged the car back in to see if the light ring would light up, still nothing. And the car is completely silent. I can;t hear any of the weird clicks and what not it makes when you're around it doing stuff. It's just dead, and I have no idea why.

My question is, who do I call? Do I call my local dealership? Do I call my insurance company?

 

[hybridbear]

So I think my car is completely dead. I have a 2013 Ford Focus Electric. I had it charging for the past 2 days, and today when I went to go use it, I unplugged the car, and tried to pen the door....but nothing. It won;t unlock with my touch. So I tried unlocking it with the key, still nothing. I plugged the car back in to see if the light ring would light up, still nothing. And the car is completely silent. I can;t hear any of the weird clicks and what not it makes when you're around it doing stuff. It's just dead, and I have no idea why.

My question is, who do I call? Do I call my local dealership? Do I call my insurance company?

Sounds like a dead 12V battery. You can use the physical key inside the fob to open the door & pop the hood. Then you can jump start the car or connect a battery charger. Do not connect anything directly to the negative post of the 12V battery.

 

[FlufferMew]

So I think my car is completely dead. I have a 2013 Ford Focus Electric. I had it charging for the past 2 days, and today when I went to go use it, I unplugged the car, and tried to pen the door....but nothing. It won;t unlock with my touch. So I tried unlocking it with the key, still nothing. I plugged the car back in to see if the light ring would light up, still nothing. And the car is completely silent. I can;t hear any of the weird clicks and what not it makes when you're around it doing stuff. It's just dead, and I have no idea why.

My question is, who do I call? Do I call my local dealership? Do I call my insurance company?

Sounds like a dead 12V battery. You can use the physical key inside the fob to open the door & pop the hood. Then you can jump start the car or connect a battery charger. Do not connect anything directly to the negative post of the 12V battery.

Thank you! But my car doesn't have a physical key. I did end up calling Roadside Service. I thought they would just have someone jump the vehicle for me, the lady said, "It appears they're actually going to tow it to the dealership." Okay, weird. So I'll see when he get's here, maybe he can just jump start it.

How can the 12volt battery die though, if the car is plugged in? I had it plugged in all weekend! I have been having problems with the car recently. LAST weekend, all the audio in my car has completely stopped working. I've had problems with this before, where only the entertainment section was effected, but THIS time, even my voice commands failed. Ironically, I was going to take it in for that, because I couldn't fix it this time. Does that mean something was on this whole time? If so, I still don't see how that would matter if the car was plugged in.

 

[hybridbear]

Thank you! But my car doesn't have a physical key. I did end up calling Roadside Service. I thought they would just have someone jump the vehicle for me, the lady said, "It appears they're actually going to tow it to the dealership." Okay, weird. So I'll see when he get's here, maybe he can just jump start it.

How can the 12volt battery die though, if the car is plugged in? I had it plugged in all weekend! I have been having problems with the car recently. LAST weekend, all the audio in my car has completely stopped working. I've had problems with this before, where only the entertainment section was effected, but THIS time, even my voice commands failed. Ironically, I was going to take it in for that, because I couldn't fix it this time. Does that mean something was on this whole time? If so, I still don't see how that would matter if the car was plugged in.

There should be a physical key inside the fob. You can insert it into the door & use it to unlock the doors.

When you plug in the car, the SOBDM checks with the BCM to determine the 12V SOC & to decide how much to charge it. There is a TSB relating to 12V battery issues which appears to make the charging of the 12V more aggressive.

If the 12V is dead the car cannot detect that the EVSE is connected & thus it can't fix itself.

 

[NightHawk]

I had some times where the car didn't charge the 12v battery even when plugged in and could discharge if left plugged in for over a day, I think thats a bug in the firmware.
Since the FFE is so dependent on the 12v battery to do anything, its important to monitor the 12v battery level often, so I got a cheap accessory that displays the 12v level plugged into the 12v accessory port inside.
I have an external 12v battery charger available in my garage to charge up the 12v battery directly if I ever see its getting low like below 11volts. Probably a good idea to give the 12v battery an external charge once a month or two anyway to be sure.
I also got an emergency 12v battery jumper unit (small size LiOn) too, if I need it away from home.

I practiced before with the manual key thats inside the electronic key remote for emergencies too.
I also keep a spare coin battery for the remote key in the car's glove box in case it ever dies.

You should probably have your Ford dealer do a full test on your 12v battery and it might need replacement if its not holding a charge very well. They usually do that as part of the annual scheduled maintenance you should take the FFE into the dealer for each year.

 

[WattsUp]

Thank you! But my car doesn't have a physical key.

Yes it does.

Did you read the owner's guide? There is one physical key inside each key fob. You have the pull the tab on the back and the key will pop out.

Assuming you can open your FFE with the physical key and then pop the hood, you should be able to "jump start" it from another car (just like with a gasoline car).

Again, read the owner's guide. It describes the proper procedure for jump starting the FFE.

Good luck!

 

[focussed]

Thank you! But my car doesn't have a physical key.

Yes it does.

Did you read the owner's guide? There is one physical key inside each key fob. You have the pull the tab on the back and the key will pop out.

Assuming you can open your FFE with the physical key and then pop the hood, you should be able to "jump start" it from another car (just like with a gasoline car).

Again, read the owner's guide. It describes the proper procedure for jump starting the FFE.

Good luck!

Ironically, FlufferMew's manual must be locked in the car :-( You can view manual on-line in the mean time.

 

[FlufferMew]

Update! Thank you everyone. And yes, I found the physical key after fiddling with the fob for a while. Haha, I had no idea it had one. 2 years I've had this car! How funny.

Anyway, so the tow truck driver came and whisked my car away to the dealer. Unfortunately I won't hear anything until the morning because the service department was already closed for the day. Is there any reason they would want to take it to the dealer for a dead 12v battery? Is it a bigger deal because it IS an electric car? Or because of the weird circumstances of it dying despite being plugged in?

This is my first car, so then of course my first "major" car issue. So a littler nerve-racking. Nighthawk, thank you, I will definitely look into this stuff to avoid some stress in the future. Hilariously, after the tow truck guy jumped my car before moving it, my phone got a text a half hour later alerting me my 12v was low. HMMM, GEE A LITTLE LATE ON THAT MESSAGE, CAR! :lol:

 

[NightHawk]

Hilariously, after the tow truck guy jumped my car before moving it, my phone got a text a half hour later alerting me my 12v was low. HMMM, GEE A LITTLE LATE ON THAT MESSAGE, CAR! :lol:

Yeah probably the car couldn't send the 12v battery was low message until the 12v battery got charged up some first...
Thats why Ford needs to work on this issue, the 12v battery is the car's achilles heel - they need to have it keep it charged up from the HV battery automatically so it never gets in a condition where the car can't do anything.
I heard they did the update the firmware of the Ford Energi hybrid models awhile back to help this, but not for the FFE in this area?

 

[hybridbear]

I heard they did the update the firmware of the Ford Energi hybrid models awhile back to help this, but not for the FFE in this area?

This TSB may apply:

 

[breeves002]

I hooked up a battery MINDer and just plug it in at least once a week to top the battery off. If it dies I can just easily plug it in too.

 

[FlufferMew]

UPDATE UPDATE! My 12volt died again!!!! AGAIN!? Why would the battery fail again this soon? It's only been 2 months! At around midnight last night, I went to my car to grab something, everything seemed to work fine. By today around 4, it was dead. I'm positive nothing was left on. I didn't even start the car.

 

[michael]

Twice I had a similar problem. I've wondered whether I left a door open or for some reason the car didn't go to sleep as it's supposed to..

Now I check to make sure the interior lights have gone off as they should, haven't seen the problem since. But this is just a guess

 

[FlufferMew]

Twice I had a similar problem. I've wondered whether I left a door open or for some reason the car didn't go to sleep as it's supposed to..

Now I check to make sure the interior lights have gone off as they should, haven't seen the problem since. But this is just a guess

That's what I did too last night. I just had a feeling, so I watched it after locking the doors to see if all the lights went off. And they did. The Roadside Assistance is giving me a hell of a time. He doesn't know what to do. He doesn't believe me about the car going into neutral because it's all electric. I told him last time this happened, they jumped the car, and then put it in neutral before taking it to the dealership.

I'm going to not take it to the dealership this time, and just have him jump the battery, to see if that's all I need. I was supposed to be at work at 4. So I'd rather not miss my whole shift.

 

[michael]

In my case the fix was to have the car plugged into the charger, then attached charger to 12 V battery (jump would be equivalent). It immediately woke up and was normal thereafter.

Sorry, no better clues.

 

[billfj4045]

I just had the same problem this morning... dead 2015 Focus with zero power. I didn't have time to plug it in to see if that wakes it up, just climbed into the gas car to get myself to work. I had fully charged two days ago at a Charge Point pedestal, drove it a bit that evening but still had about 60miles range left that night. I didn't drive it at all yesterday.

Will the J1772 power connection change the 12v battery too or is the 12v battery part of the driven regeneration process?
Do you think the J1772 power will wake it up?
Is there a screen or part of the display where I can monitor the 12v battery status?

I did read in this post that it might take a "jump start" from another car... I haven't read that section in the manual yet, but expect there are instructions on how to do this in it? Yes, I have the mechanical key and can get to the manual.

Thanks!

 

[hybridbear]

Will the J1772 power connection change the 12v battery too or is the 12v battery part of the driven regeneration process?
Do you think the J1772 power will wake it up?
Is there a screen or part of the display where I can monitor the 12v battery status?

• The 12V battery can be charged directly by the SOBDMC when connected to an EVSE or while the car is in "ready to drive" mode by the DCDC converter
• If the car is completely dead, plugging in your EVSE will not wake it up, it will need to be jump started, conversely a 12V battery charger can be used to bring the 12V battery back to life, be sure to read the instructions in the OM about where to connect the cables in either case
• No, many owners have bought a voltmeter that plugs into the power outlet to monitor their 12V health, I check mine via FORScan to read what the car's BCM reports for 12V SOC

 

[NightHawk]

I recommend buying a good external 12v battery charger to keep in your garage for emergencies, also a portable 12v battery jump starter unit.
I got a good model 12v auto battery charger at Sears and use it every couple weeks to be sure the FFE's small 12v battery is fully charged - it tends to lose charge if not driven often enough.

 

[billfj4045]

Well, she's rolling again. Needed to hook jumper cables to the 12v battery from the gas car (didn't even need to crank it over). All the lights came on as soon as I made the last connection. I hit the start button and was ready to drive. Drove it around the neighborhood as if it was a gas car with an alternator. Fingers crossed she'll be alive in the AM. Yes, I'll start looking around for one of the portable jumpstart devices and leave it in the trunk and a 12v meter I can plug into the 12v accessory jack.

 

[NightHawk]

I'll start looking around for one of the portable jumpstart devices and leave it in the trunk and a 12v meter I can plug into the 12v accessory jack.

I got a really small 12v lithium-ion rechargeable auto jump unit that can also be used as a USB power source - fits in the glovebox!

Here is the plug in 12v meter I got at amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Zeltauto-Cigarette-Lighter-Digital-Voltmeter/dp/B00VL9JZ0K/ref=pd_sim_263_4?ie=UTF8&dpID=41ViIeW%2BuRL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=0VF9HZGPKQVYG6HZ8DFX