Stop safely now warning

[Dstiedeman]

Just had my first SSN error code this morning. I went into the garage in the morning to go to work and after pressing the start buton, the SSN message appeared....along with the following error messages: starting system fault, see manual, tire pressure monitor fault, check park aid, motor coolant overtemperature, service advancetrac.

The car would power on, but the green car symbol never appeared so the car would not drive. I tried to turn the car off but it wouldnt power down....the dash display always stayed on. So i called a tow company through ford roadside assistance and the tow truck was going to take 2 hours to show up. I left the keys in the car and did some chores around the house and 2 hours later i checked on the car to see if it ever turned itself off. When i opened the passenger door the dash display looked back to normal, so i tried to start the car again and it worked fine. Somehow the car cleared itself of the error messages so I drove it to the dealer and they are currently working on it to see what the problem is. The car is one month old with 2200 miles on it (2014 model). I'll post again when i find out what the dealer says. Hopefully there is a definitive problem to fix and its not some random electrical gremlin....

 

[NightHawk]

Was the temperature really cold?
Maybe after the car heated up it returned to normal?

 

[Dstiedeman]

It was probably 50 degrees outside.....the car was plugged in to 240v charger and i set a go time 10 minutes before i got into the car. I could hear a fan running while i approached the car, so im pretty sure the car was being warmed up to 72 degrees while i opened the driver door. I live in Sacramento so it doesnt get that cold at night. Still waiting to hear from the dealer....

 

[michael]

Opening the door seems to have something to do with clearing the fault.

It will probably never happen again, but if it does, try: turn off; open door, close door, see if problem cleared.

If that doesn't do it, I suppose you could try getting out, locking and unlocking the door, get back in.

 

[NightHawk]

Yep the 12v battery being low can cause lots of bizarre symptoms.
Thats why I bought (and recommend) a cheap 12v meter accessory (available on amazon, etc) you can leave plugged into the 12v accessory port to always monitor the 12v level.
If it drops down much below 12.0V consider charging with an external 12v battery charger.

 

[banshee08]

Hi all,

Unfortunately the SSN message had just happened to our 2014 FFE. I started the car serval time and it came back to life. Had no choice as I was going up a driveway at work. Car has 9200 miles on it. I had the car towed by Ford Roadside to Ford of Chino in southern California. All the dealer did was reset the computer. I will check the 12V tonight when I get home but its been 70 miles since the incident and still running. Just waiting for the next message so I can make a video and leave the SSN message on the screen if I am in no danger.

Read thru all 50 something pages and seems like there is a mess of issue it could be.

 

[jmueller065]

Read thru all 50 something pages and seems like there is a mess of issue it could be.

Except that the first 35 or so pages were all taken care of by the SSN recall and probably don't apply.

 

[Dstiedeman]

The dealer still has the car and can't determine the cause of the problem. They saw the list of error codes generated when they scanned the car computer, but don't know why it was generated. Pretty frustrating, and they are still trying to figure out what to do next. They say everything checks out fine, but want to keep the car and see if the problem happens while they have it in their possession.

 

[happyahab]

I too got my first and second Stop Safely Now warning. Both happened today within 10 minutes of each other. While driving too ... fun... Had to shut down, open door, restart, and things looked back to normal. As a coincidence I did notice there's an update to my SYNC software. I updated that via USB today and will see if things work fine tomorrow.

At the time of the warnings I was @ 10K miles, about half full on energy, no AC, no heater, about 70deg weather.

Incidentally the SYNC update got me to the below version. This is the version that appears in an XML file which is created once the update is complete.

<ImageFPN>EA5T-14D544-AC</ImageFPN>
<Version>6.0.14122.0.0</Version>
<OEMVersion>4.32.14122_PRODUCT </OEMVersion>

 

[WattsUp]

I too got my first and second Stop Safely Now warning. ... As a coincidence I did notice there's an update to my SYNC software. I updated that via USB today and will see if things work fine tomorrow.

The "infotainment" software (SYNC and MyFord Touch) have nothing to do with drive train control, or the motor or the high-voltage battery. Those aspects of the car are controlled by entirely separate software/firmware running on other computers within the car, and none of it can be updated by the user.

In particular, the MFT software running in the "center console" is totally inconsequential to the car's operation. In fact, you can pull the fuse for the MFT computer (touch screen will go blank; the computer totally powered down) and still drive the car just fine. This is because the MFT system is nothing more than a very fancy car stereo.

 

[JFS]

I had a bunch of SSN incidents before the big recall and software update, then no problem for over a year (though I was not driving it in the winter). The vast majority seemed to be triggered by something--anything--draining the 12V battery, which apparently needs to be very well charged for regular function of the large battery.

Culprits and likely culprits included having my thumb drive of songs plugged into the USB…checking up on the car in any way via my phone…use of certain Sync functions (or more generally the voice system…failing to officially cancel a navigation route without having reached the end point…running the turn signal, flashers or radio with the car turned off (isn't that the point of flashers?)…not having the car plugged in while it's above ~87 degrees F or below ~35 degrees F (so that the car uses the 12V battery either to try to condition the big battery, or tries to alert the owner that it's too hot or too cold).

I have not gotten this year's update (if there is one), but so far as I know, the car still does not have a lockout to stop you from driving a few feet without the big battery on and engaged! That is, if you push the "on" button at the wrong instant, and the "green car" symbol does not light up, you can still back out a few feet…that's the car driving on the 12V battery…and the car very quickly then bricks itself.

So long as the 12V is merely limping, not dead, you can do the "open door / close door / hit lock button on fob / hit unlock button on fob" to release the car from it's refusal to shut down, while in SSN mode. But it'll likely do it again, shortly.

I'm posting because after leaving my car at the airport for 20 days, including a couple of days over 90 degrees… and including not canceling out the navigation command to get me to the airport (which did not self-cancel, as the parking lot apparently did not count as the airport) I've had three days with a series of SSN faults. Tried to deal with it by getting a 12 volt top-off charge at the Jiffy lube, which worked great for one day, but then the car bricked itself overnight. Plenty of charge on the large battery.

FYI, when it's bricked, you unlock the front door with the hidden key in your fob, unlock the other doors from inside, and lock the other doors back up with your hidden key (or perhaps a screwdriver would work?) in the mini key slot hidden on the outside door edge. Don't use the child safety locks on the back doors, or you won't get them open again, until the car gets un-bricked at the dealer.

So, anyway, mine's still a bit of a lemon, though not as sour as it was for the first year of ownership. Given that I don't yet have 10K miles on it, this is pretty pathetic, though.

 

[JFS]

I too got my first and second Stop Safely Now warning. ... As a coincidence I did notice there's an update to my SYNC software. I updated that via USB today and will see if things work fine tomorrow.

The "infotainment" software (SYNC and MyFord Touch) have nothing to do with drive train control, or the motor or the high-voltage battery. Those aspects of the car are controlled by entirely separate software/firmware running on other computers within the car, and none of it can be updated by the user.

In particular, the MFT software running in the "center console" is totally inconsequential to the car's operation. In fact, you can pull the fuse for the MFT computer (touch screen will go blank; the computer totally powered down) and still drive the car just fine. This is because the MFT system is nothing more than a very fancy car stereo.

This is formally true, as far as software being independent.

However, the two systems are still electrically interdependent.

1. one main route to SSN involves pulling down the 12V battery, and as bad software engineering choices allow way too many functions to wake the car up (or keep it awake) thus depleting the 12V battery, any update that basically tells SYNC to STFU when it's not being used (or at least, when it's not being used, and the car isn't plugged in) would have a very useful secondary effect on the SSN problem.

2. the main drive train, for reasons that make no sense to me, is not physically independent of the 12V battery. And the 12V battery is certainly deeply tied into all the SYNC nonsense (aka "functions"). They also presumably connect directly at several other checkpoints (starter; error reporting points for the main system; etc). So long as one system can tell the other to stand up and bark (or roll over and play dead)--even if that happens via a physical process (electric or mechanical)--updates to one system impact the other system.

I am, however, glad to know the car could drive fine with the center console disabled. How long have you done that for? No bad repercussions over time? I'm tempted….very tempted.

 

[hybridbear]

not having the car plugged in while it's above ~87 degrees F or below ~35 degrees F (so that the car uses the 12V battery either to try to condition the big battery, or tries to alert the owner that it's too hot or too cold).

The car never tries to use the 12V battery to condition the battery. The 12V does power all the electronics, including those that alert the owner of issues such as a high temp alert.

I have not gotten this year's update (if there is one), but so far as I know, the car still does not have a lockout to stop you from driving a few feet without the big battery on and engaged! That is, if you push the "on" button at the wrong instant, and the "green car" symbol does not light up, you can still back out a few feet…that's the car driving on the 12V battery…and the car very quickly then bricks itself.

The car never drives on the 12V battery. It will only move in this situation if you are on an incline. In this situation the DCDC converter should be engaged and thus the 12V battery shouldn't be continuing to provide the power for the electronics.

Based on the limited miles you drive it sounds like you aren't driving enough to keep the 12V charged. There is an update for the charging behavior. The car checks the 12V SOC when you connect the car to the charger & at that point it decides how much charging the 12V needs from the EVSE. This is then regulated by the SOBDM. The BCM is not active during charging to monitor how the 12V responds to the charging. The DCDC converter is not active for 12V charging. During HVB charging the 12V is charged by the SOBDM.

If you 12V has been dead is has been permanently damaged. Just once with a dead 12V battery causes permanent damage. The dealer should replace your 12V battery under warranty. Be sure that they know to do the BCM reprogramming as part of the 12V battery replacement.

 

[NightHawk]

Yep the small 12v battery is the weak link in the current FFE design.
The FFE should be updated to monitor the 12v battery level and if it starts to get low automatically engage the DC-DC converter to charge it even when sitting unplugged and off for days.

I am proactive in keeping my FFE's 12v battery charged.
I got a 12v accessory voltmeter plug in so I can always monitor the 12v battery voltage and if it starts to get too low (11Volts or less, normal is ~12.3V) I can charge the 12v battery fully with an external 12v battery charger (I bought a good Sears model).
I got a portable 12v lithium-ion rechargeable small jump starter unit I keep in the car for emergencies too.

Though as long as I take a ~25mile+ drive in the FFE and plugin/charge the HV battery at least once a week I haven't had any low 12v battery issues. Though it might be wise to use an external 12v battery charger once a month or so to be extra safe.

 

[WattsUp]

Though as long as I take a ~25mile+ drive in the FFE and plugin/charge the HV battery at least once a week I haven't had any low 12v battery issues.

Do you sometime not drive your FFE that often?

I've never had an issue with the 12V battery in my FFE, but then I drive the car every day, and usually charge (partially) every day as well.

 

[NightHawk]

I've never had an issue with the 12V battery in my FFE, but then I drive the car every day, and usually charge (partially) every day as well.

Yep with daily driving and charging you would probably never see a 12v draining issue.
With my 12volt voltage monitor I can see it will start to drop after several days leaving it in "OFF" mode.
So even driving it once or twice a week is sufficient, but if you leave it OFF for over a week like if you go out of town for longer than that, it would be good to have an external 12v battery charger to use when needed.

 

[WattsUp]

So even driving it once or twice a week is sufficient, but if you leave it OFF for over a week like if you go out of town for longer than that, it would be good to have an external 12v battery charger to use when needed.

The times I've been gone for a week or ten days or so, it has also been fine.

I actually have a two-week vacation coming up. I'll be curious to see how it goes.

 

[mountaineer]

Got my first SSN on my 2013 Ford Focus Electric just yesterday, a couple of weeks (with fairly short, nearly daily driving) after a software check and update at the dealership. SSN suddenly appeared a quarter-mile out of my driveway, with a fresh 100% charge and 91 miles' indicated range. I stopped, called for Ford roadside service (a tedious process), tried repeatedly to turn the car off, and on about the fourth try cycling through Start cycles, the SSN disappeared and the green ready-to-drive light went on. No problem since.

Has anyone noticed a bug in whatever is the latest software release that could cause this? (I forget how to check which version I have.)

Am I recommended to call the dealer for another checkup, or just keep driving and see if SSN recurs?

 

[WattsUp]

The times I've been gone for a week or ten days or so, it has also been fine.

I actually have a two-week vacation coming up. I'll be curious to see how it goes.

Well, FFE was fine after I returned from my vacation. No odd behavior.

 

[dcast1079]

While....It's finally happened to me. SSN notice. I have a 2013 FFE with 19500 miles. Nine months left on my lease. While making a left turn and accelerating the engine died, no power steering, and a dead car in the middle of a busy street. I try a number of things that I've read here. Finally the car starts and I can move from the street. I tried so many things I really don't know what worked.
So, I call Ford and they really don't seem to care. Tell me to take it to a dealer in order to look for error codes. Log complaint with NHTS web site. I see 49 complaints for the FFE SSN notice.

Call local dealer and take it in. Arrive and told the EV specialist wont be in until Tuesday. Sure, I'll come back since I need my car. As I attempt to pull away from dealer I get the SSN notice three more times. I'm unable to drive away. YIKES. Have to leave the car until Tuesday.

I've been thinking of buying a new FFE when my lease is up. This dealer has none and I really don't like them anyway. Call anther and find out I can get a NEW FFE for 24,500 then reduce the over all price by $2500 (State)$3000 County and a tax credit of $7,500. Now I have to get the dealer to buy the remaining 8 lease payments. Did I day Ford has a 0% for 72 Months!. A New Ford Focus Electric for a net cost of $11,500. any ideas on how to get the dealer to payoff my lease?