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.
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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."
