Stop Safely Now Warning

[GREG]

Greetings all.

Today I got a "Wrench Alert" - the manual reads: "Illuminates when a powertrain or high-voltage charge system fault has been detected. If the indicator stays on or continues to come on, contact your authorized dealer as soon as possible."

I guess this is a PCM (Power Control Module) problem. I tried to start the car a few hours later and it came up fine. This is the first "problem" I have had since we purchased this 2012 FFE on 6 October 2012. It has 2482 miles.

The only thing different in the use of the car was that it was still charging (98%) when the power plug was detached and then the car start was pushed and it started. But the "Wrench Alert" icon also came up.

I came to this thread because of the above post having had such a "Wrench Alert" coupled with a SSN.

I share this "fault" so that I have a record of its occurance as well as letting others know of this "glitch."

 

[guruuno]

OK, my FFE is 3 months old, 2,500 +/- miles, 1st SSN message yesterday as I backed out of the driveway, with a full charge.
Pushed into the street, used another car for the day, after spending 10 minutes getting things out of the FFE to the Porsche.
Arrived late for my scheduled appointment, created havoc with the day's schedule (because of the initial timing of the start of the day getting screwed up), called the dealer at 6PM, asked if they could deal with the issue and not create a myriad of problems (like make the appointment, get someone else involved, wait, wait, try this, try that, etc., etc.)
Sure, I understand things sometimes happen, and it could happen with an ICE car, but wait, I am now supposed to still feel confident that I will not be driving 60 MPH and have the car die? Or have my wife use the car, drive to her destination, get back in the car and because a "Bob's EV has limited performance due to cold temperatures. Please plug the vehicle in", message being displayed, a SSN message would prohibit the use of the car?
It was 39 degrees Thursday AM. The car was plugged in with a full charge until 9 PM the night before. I'm supposed to keep it plugged in irregardless of anything otherwise the car will not start, even if there is range on the battery?

Wanting to make sure....

So, in order to get a 'buy back', as I'm not going to live with this crap, I'm sure I have to keep explicit records to invoke a lemon law complaint, and I know it might be a tad premature, but I'm not a beta tester for Ford....

 

[Susan]

This thread has been recommending that all owners who have had the SSN incident report it to the NHTSA immediately and be sure to comment early on that this it about the Ford Focus Electric model so that it stands out. This report will not only help you but all owners.

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleCo ... ndex.xhtml

I have read recommendations that you must take the car to the dealer ASAP so aside from getting assistance it is documented. Others also recommend that you reference your states Lemon Law requirements in order to understand the parameters.

We all understand your frustration. It is an unfortunate situation. Please keep us all posted.

 

[guruuno]

Page cannot be found:
https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleCo ... ndex.xhtml

Do you have another link?

 

[firewired]

Try:

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchResultsByUrlCode.action?referenceSearch.requestId=14952&referenceSearch.urlCode=ITS7G5N58J9EXHY

 

[hcsharp]

...Or have my wife use the car, drive to her destination, get back in the car and because a "Bob's EV has limited performance due to cold temperatures. Please plug the vehicle in", message being displayed, a SSN message would prohibit the use of the car?
It was 39 degrees Thursday AM. The car was plugged in with a full charge until 9 PM the night before. I'm supposed to keep it plugged in irregardless of anything otherwise the car will not start, even if there is range on the battery?

I don't think the low temperature warning is related to the SSN problem. To be fair, virtually all EVs have to be plugged in during cold weather to keep the battery above freezing. It will still drive just fine below freezing but regen will be disabled, and a lot of battery capacity will be used to warm it up. That's why it's better to leave it plugged in. In fact the FFE performs better than most other EVs in this regard.

Leaving it plugged in will also allow you to take advantage of features like Go Times, MyFordMobile, etc to warm your car up before you leave on a cold day (and more) without reducing range.

SSN is a serious issue but I don't think you can blame it for other things you might not like about the car.

 

[guruuno]

I absolutely love the car, just a big disappointment that I have to be a Windows 98ME beta tester.....(as in maybe released too soon, without bugs addressed, etc.)
Look, don't want to get into a tizzy here. Bottom line, if it happens again and again, it's not safe. Period.

 

[WattsUp]

It was 39 degrees Thursday AM. The car was plugged in with a full charge until 9 PM the night before. I'm supposed to keep it plugged in irregardless of anything otherwise the car will not start, even if there is range on the battery?

I think you may be conflating SSN issues (which are obviously abnormal) with other (normal) aspects of EV ownership that you find annoying ("having" to plug the car in). But, maintaining battery temperature for good performance is a normal aspect of EV ownership. With ICE ownership, you have do all sorts of annoying things, like replace the oil, or get tune-ups.

And yes, in temperature extremes, it is wise to keep your EV plugged in. The car won't necessarily be charging (once charged), but it will be able to use the wall power to heat or cool the battery, not to mention prepare the cabin temperature at your "GO time", all while preserving range. This is a wonderful feature of the FFE (the Leaf does not have a temperature-managed battery, for example, and you're simply stuck with sub-optimal performance in extreme temperatures).

 

[bribarn]

I had another SSN this morning on the way to work. As I was braking for a stop sign there was a thud, the Stop Safely Now light came on, and the car stopped immediately. It wouldn't restart, so I pushed it to the side of the road and called Ford Roadside. They towed it to the dealer where it now, of course, is showing no codes. This is my third incident and the second time it's been to the dealer. The FFE has only 1284 miles on it. I really like it, but the repeated incidents have me thinking about buy back. Time to do my research. Stay tuned for updates, probably next week.

 

[goloch]

Got my car back from the dealer last night. They diagnosed the cause of the High Voltage error as a loose connection on the signal cable that communicates charge state to the on-board computer. I wasn't able to get a clear answer as to whether or not the SSN was related, but it isn't too far of a reach to think it might.

I can provide the technical report provided by the technician if anyone is interested.

FWIW, I was able to get both Ford corporate and the dealer to agree to compensation for gas costs on my loaner. The first service advisor I spoke with gave me a hard time, but everyone else was very agreeable about it. Good thing too since they gave me a 2012 V6 Fusion - I spent as much on gas in a week as I do on electricity in a month!

And yes, I already did a NHTSA report. I use my car to take my two-year old back and forth to day care as part of my commute each day; ANY safety concern is too big to leave unresolved.

 

[guruuno]

OK, dropped of the EV, and re: bribarn's issue: I think we all need to take time stamped photographs with our smartphones, it the "black box" doesn't record the codes, then?????

I'll keep all informed.

 

[Arthur]

Here is the letter that the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) sent to Ford Motor Company, on September 16, 2013:

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM444424/INIM-PE13031-57668.pdf‎ <-- If this link doesn't work, cut-and-paste this URL into Google. Then, click on the link that Google brings up.

Near the end of the letter, it says: "Ford's response to this letter, in duplicate, together with a copy of any confidentiality request, must be submitted to this office by October 14, 2013."

Then, of course, the government (including the NHTSA) was shut down, from September 30 to October 16:

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/10/01/nhtsa-stopping-recall-notices-safety-testing-amid-government-sh/

Finally, however, this summary of "Service Bulletin No. ASI-32226," from Ford Motor Company, has appeared on the NHTSA website (http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchVehicles):

By the way, there have been 26 complaints submitted by vehicle owners to the NHTSA website: 4 from 2012-model FFE owners, 21 (of which the latest one is MINE) from 2013-model owners, and 1 from a 2014-model owner.

Summary:

"VEHICLES MAY RECEIVED INVALID DATA FROM ACCESSORY PROTOCOL INTERFACE MODULE (DTC U0554:00) FROM GENERIC FUNCTION MODULE DURING DIAGNOSTIC SELF TESTS. MODEL 2012-2013 FOCUS ELECTRIC, C-MAX/FUSION/MKZ HYBRID, ENERGI."

Compare that with the Technical Service Bulletin that Ford published on September 23 (a week after receiving the NHTSA's letter):

http://www.fordservicecontent.com/Ford_Content/pubs/content/~WT/~MUS~LEN/3675/tsb13-09-19.htm

My translation of all of this nonsense: Our FFE's are being shut down by spurious data that is generated by "DIAGNOSTIC SELF TESTS," which are probably occurring at prescheduled intervals that have NOTHING to do with anything that is actually HAPPENING, in the REAL world of us driving our cars.

If you think Ford is probably innocent, take a look some history:

http://www.autosafety.org/sites/default/files/imce_staff_uploads/Strickland%20Recall%20Remedy.pdf

If you don't recognize The Center for Auto Safety, take a look at this Wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Auto_Safety

Ford is treating us as if our safety does not matter! We must demand that Ford IMMEDIATELY perform item 3, on their Technical Service Bulletin, referenced above:

"Reprogram the powertrain control module (PCM) to the latest calibration, using IDS release 86.04 and higher."

...and that is just the beginning. This excuse that we keep hearing, that they found no Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs), when they tested the car, is the WORST kind of dirty trick! They are using this supposed LACK of codes to justify taking no action, whatsoever.

If Ford Motor Company has not designed the FFE to save a log of trouble codes, as they occur, then they must immediately either CHANGE that design, or outfit each FFE with an external device (like a ScanGauge) that can plug into the FFE's OBD port and allow us to check for (and manually record, at the very least) the trouble codes that are generated, each time that we "Stop Safely Now."

 

[gene]

My 2012 FFE suffered the same SSN problem yesterday in the middle of a busy street. After about two minutes, I was able to restart the car and drive away as nothing ever happened. I called the Ford support today and was referred to the local Ford dealer. I made an appointment for next Monday. Not very hopeful after reading all the posts.

 

[mgambhi]

I am a new owner with 2 months and 2100 miles on my 2013 Ford focus electric and I have had 5 SSN episodes. Two just yesterday in one trip...within a mile of the first event. In both cases it did restart after opening the door, turning everything off and then restarting, but the fact that it does this in the middle of the road while driving at 40 mph is very disconcerting. I have had the "wrench" symbol come on twice now as well. Taking it to dealer tomorrow. Let's see what they have to say.

 

[TedMH]

My 2012 FFE suffered the same SSN problem yesterday in the middle of a busy street. After about two minutes, I was able to restart the car and drive away as nothing ever happened. I called the Ford support today and was referred to the local Ford dealer. I made an appointment for next Monday. Not very hopeful after reading all the posts.

Pls be sure to report to NHTSA.

 

[TedMH]

I am a new owner with 2 months and 2100 miles on my 2013 Ford focus electric and I have had 5 SSN episodes. Two just yesterday in one trip...within a mile of the first event. In both cases it did restart after opening the door, turning everything off and then restarting, but the fact that it does this in the middle of the road while driving at 40 mph is very disconcerting. I have had the "wrench" symbol come on twice now as well. Taking it to dealer tomorrow. Let's see what they have to say.

Pls be sure to report to NHTSA.

 

[Arthur]

You can also file a complaint with The Center for Auto Safety (http://www.autosafety.org/fileacomplaint). For model, I filed my complaint under "Other," rather than just putting under "Focus." (Focus Electric was not listed separately.)

Here is what I said, in my complaint:

Below the line, is some information that I have posted on a couple of discussion forums that are dedicated to the Ford Focus Electric (FFE). I have gotten this "Stop Safely Now" message twice, now. The total number of FFEs that have been sold is only a few thousand. According to the summary of "Service Bulletin No. ASI-32226," on the NHTSA website, "VEHICLES MAY RECEIVED INVALID DATA FROM ACCESSORY PROTOCOL INTERFACE MODULE (DTC U0554:00) FROM GENERIC FUNCTION MODULE DURING DIAGNOSTIC SELF TESTS. MODEL 2012-2013 FOCUS ELECTRIC, C-MAX/FUSION/MKZ HYBRID, ENERGI." That last part of the summary indicates that the same problem affects the FFE and all five of Ford's new gas/electric hybrid vehicles. However, when one of the gas/electric hybrid vehicles shuts down all power to its electric motor, the gas engine just comes on, and the "Stop Safely Now (SSN)" message is NOT displayed. Since the FFE is a purely electric vehicle and has no gas engine, the shutdown of the electric drive is very dangerous, because it leaves the driver with a completely dead car, often while moving at significant speed, in traffic, with no shoulder. An unknown percentage of FFE owners have experienced this SSN message, but, for those who HAVE seen it, it has usually been more than once. Often, by the time we can get the vehicle in to be tested by a Ford service technician, there are no longer any trouble codes showing. In other words, the trouble codes don't seem to get saved in a log. Instead, they seem to be deleted when the FFE is restarted. So, people who have experienced this problem (including myself) are often just told by the Ford service representative that there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the car, at the moment, and that we should bring the car in again, if the problem recurs. From what I have heard on the discussion forums, some people have had their cars at the dealer for weeks, while the local service people go back and forth with Ford engineers, trying various fixes. In the end, people have been told a variety of stories (everything from "caused by a defective 12-volt battery" to the replacement of some related electrical component, with plenty of software excuses in between).

It is usually possible to recover from the problem, by some combination of restarting the car's power and opening and closing the driver door. However, we never know when the problem will happen again. Some of us (not myself) have managed to get our car towed in to a dealer, with the power still on and the SSN error still displayed, but that hasn't always lead to a quick and clear resolution, either. Ford's "Service Bulletin" summary, on the NHTSA website seems to indicate that the cause is periodic self-tests that are failing, as a result of "invalid data." That would imply that there is no PHYSICAL cause, but, rather, just pre-scheduled self-tests, generating spurious data. Nonetheless, parts are being replaced, customers are being told that it's "fixed," only to experience the problem, again, weeks or months later. Generally, their seems to be a tremendous amount of confusion, and an almost complete lack of "transparency" by Ford Motor Company. What a surprise, huh?

One person told of how they got out of the car and walked to a safe position, only to watch their parked car get hit by another driver and be totaled. Another person said that their car did not just lose power, it lost power while the regenerative braking was fully engaged, causing the car to abruptly slow to a halt, in the middle of traffic.

---------------------------

Here is the letter that the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) sent to Ford Motor Company, on September 16, 2013:

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM444424/INIM-PE13031-57668.pdf? <-- If this link doesn't work, cut-and-paste this URL into Google. Then, click on the link that Google brings up.

Near the end of the letter, it says: "Ford's response to this letter, in duplicate, together with a copy of any confidentiality request, must be submitted to this office by October 14, 2013."

Then, of course, the government (including the NHTSA) was shut down, from September 30 to October 16:

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/10/01/nhtsa-stopping-recall-notices-safety-testing-amid-government-sh/

Finally, however, this summary of "Service Bulletin No. ASI-32226," from Ford Motor Company, has appeared on the NHTSA website (http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchVehicles):

By the way, there have been 26 complaints submitted by vehicle owners to the NHTSA website: 4 from 2012-model FFE owners, 21 (of which the latest one is MINE) from 2013-model owners, and 1 from a 2014-model owner.

Summary:

"VEHICLES MAY RECEIVED (sic) INVALID DATA FROM ACCESSORY PROTOCOL INTERFACE MODULE (DTC U0554:00) FROM GENERIC FUNCTION MODULE DURING DIAGNOSTIC SELF TESTS. MODEL 2012-2013 FOCUS ELECTRIC, C-MAX/FUSION/MKZ HYBRID, ENERGI."

Compare that with the Technical Service Bulletin that Ford published on September 23 (a week after receiving the NHTSA's letter):

http://www.fordservicecontent.com/Ford_Content/pubs/content/~WT/~MUS~LEN/3675/tsb13-09-19.htm

My translation of all of this nonsense: Our FFE's are being shut down by spurious data that is generated by "DIAGNOSTIC SELF TESTS," which are probably occurring at prescheduled intervals that have NOTHING to do with anything that is actually HAPPENING, in the REAL world of us driving our cars.

If you think Ford is probably innocent, take a look some history:

http://www.autosafety.org/sites/default/files/imce_staff_uploads/Strickland%20Recall%20Remedy.pdf

If you don't recognize The Center for Auto Safety, take a look at this Wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Auto_Safety

Ford is treating us as if our safety does not matter! We must demand that Ford IMMEDIATELY perform item 3, on their Technical Service Bulletin, referenced above:

"Reprogram the powertrain control module (PCM) to the latest calibration, using IDS release 86.04 and higher."

...and that is just the beginning. This excuse that we keep hearing, that they found no Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs), when they tested the car, is the WORST kind of dirty trick! They are using this supposed LACK of codes to justify taking no action, whatsoever.

If Ford Motor Company has not designed the FFE to save a log of trouble codes, as they occur, then they must immediately either CHANGE that design, or outfit each FFE with an external device (like a ScanGauge) that can plug into the FFE's OBD port and allow us to check for (and manually record, at the very least) the trouble codes that are generated, each time that we "Stop Safely Now."

 

[cosworth16v]

Joined to post here. Already made a complaint to NHTSA. This happened at about 5800 miles and the stop safely now message was related to an actual mechanical fault, but it still put my wife in a very dangerous situation. She absolutely refuses to drive the car, and I don't trust it either, as if that happens on the freeway at speed, or worse in a bend in the freeway in heavy traffic (live in Los Angeles, that's a strong probability), a lot of people could get hurt.

Driving in the left lane of a 4 lane road in moderate traffic, my wife was slowing to make a left hand turn onto a 4 lane hwy. Suddenly the vehicle chimed once, showed an orange caution sign in the left info display that read "Please stop safely now," and immediately shut down mechanically. She instantly lost control of the steering, brakes and engine and the car came to an abrupt stop nearly causing a collision. She put the car into park and tried to turn it off (the interior electronics that are powered by the standard lead acid battery were all still on and functioning) and restart the motor, but the vehicle would not turn off. It was lucky it stopped before the intersection, if it had happened 3 seconds later it would have been perpendicular to traffic on a highway that's mostly trafficked by big rigs and delivery trucks and she very well could have been killed. There was no way for her to safely get out of the car, there was oncoming traffic and when there wasn't there were cars honking and swerving to the left and right of the vehicle. We had the vehicle towed to the dealership where they diagnosed the problem. It was a failed cooling pump so the vehicle shut down the battery pack and everything driven by it (ie steering brakes and the motor) to prevent overheating. This has not been the only cause of the "stop safely now" sign and shutting down the car. Instantly cutting off the driver from all the basic controls of a vehicle is a very dangerous way to deal with fault codes.

Ford customer care was unconcerned that it had put my wife in danger and when I asked how they could address the problem of loosing steering and brakes when there's a fault simply said that "we have seen this problem before and fixing the coolant pump resolves the issue." And referred me to the dealership regarding any technical questions. I have talked pretty extensively with the dealership about faults related to the stop safely now message and they're about as baffled and confused as I am. They haven't sold many FFE so the service adviser and tech didn't know much about it other than the one they had with the low battery fault last year. This is a bigger problem than just for those with electrical gremlins. It's a problem with how the vehicle deals with fault codes, false or not. Low voltage acc battery = cut off the engine steering and brakes; wet condition = cut off the engine steering and brakes; overheating = cut off the engine steering and brakes; loose connection = cut off the engine steering and brakes; ect.

Of course there are situations where this is done to protect the driver and passengers from electrical shock or death by electrocution, but there has to be a better way that doesn't instantly putting them in danger from the cars around them. Some sort of scaled response. Perhaps in the event the battery pack needs to be disconnected, the brakes and steering could be powered by the 12v accessory battery. It wouldn't last long, but long enough to actually "stop safely" instead of suddenly turning your car into a steel sled.

 

[Dave]

SSN error number 3 today, second in two weeks.
This time the vehicle was just sitting in my driveway while I was working on a navigation route. SSN error popped up when the car was in PARK!

This may validate the theory that this has nothing to do with any mechanical maneuvers.

The vehicle is back at the dealer and, at this point, it can stay there till they have this problem fixed!

I have been lucky so far and have had no SSN in a bad situation but I'm not going to play Russian Roulette for the sake of driving an EV!

 

[Arthur]

...but I'm not going to play Russian Roulette for the sake of driving an EV!

That's really what it comes down to. Isn't it?!

I've started calling my FFE, my "Lucky Suicide Machine!"

It may be unintentional, but it's a bit of a setup for failure, if you think about it: A car that has so much torque at low speeds that you can easily pull out into traffic, even with a relatively small gap between the cars going by. ...but, then, after building up your overconfidence, that same car has this "annoying" tendency to just suddenly have ZERO power, with complete disregard for the driving situation you might be in.

Russian Roulette, indeed! I don't recall signing any "devil's bargain" that said "only suicidal drivers may own EVs!" If I did, I should have been nominated for the "Darwin Award," by now.