Stop Safely Now Warning

[WattsUp]

My dealer tried to tell me that playing music loudly would significantly reduce range. :roll: (The power required for audio is minuscule.)

I think your dealer was simply misinformed. Take whatever they say with a block of salt. It's a bit scary to think that the dealers don't fully understand they cars they are selling, but what can you do?

 

[jeffand]

It could be that the low voltage battery doesn’t charge when the vehicle isn't put into the ready to drive mode. Press the start button without stepping on the brake pedal. This turns on all the accessories but doesn’t put the car in the ready to drive mode. The car has a DC to DC converter that charges the 12 volt battery off of the high voltage battery. If for some reason the DC to DC converter doesn’t work would result in the 12 volt battery being exhausted in a relatively short time if load is high. The cars computer monitors the 12 volt battery. If the voltage drops below a certain level it imitates a shut down. Since the computer runs off the 12 volt battery, loss of this source of power is critical to the vehicles operation.

 

[jmueller065]

It should be fairly easy to validate that: "Start the car" and check the voltage across the 12V battery with a voltmeter--if the voltage is ~14V then the battery is charging, if 12V or less it isn't charging.

On an ICE vehicle the alternator/regulator puts 14V to the battery; I would suspect that on the BEV Focus they would also put 14V to the battery simply because that is what the engineers know--its all they've known for the past century!

 

[JFS]

Could this be a difference between the 2012 and 2013??? There seem to be several downgrades between the model years (mostly minor--fewer LED lights, loss of a couple of gizmos/features e.g.). I do notice that my manual seems unusually generic in spots.

Thanks, though--I will pass this back to the dealer. It jives better with what I thought I was told upon purchase.

 

[jeffand]

The FFE has LED lighting right above the head lights, license plate, and the two stripes on the tail lights. Far as I know this is the same as the 2012 FFE.

If you wish to upgrade to LED lighting then check out this link.
http://www.myfocuselectric.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=946

If you leave the door open the lights will turn off in about 10 minutes. If you leave the trunk open the trunk lights will remain on.

 

[zech80]

I had this happent to me on a busy highway. I was driving along at highway speeds and came over a hill to standstill traffic. I slammed on the brakes and the stop safely light came on and I could not power the motor. Everything else was on. I had to push the car out of the middle lane in traffic. I cant imagine what my wife would have done. Anyway after about 15 minutes of being on the phone with roadside, and them telling me I had to pay out of pocket for the tow to get me off the highway, I held in the start button for awhile and it fired up. Today my wife drove it 15 miles to work then went to go run an errand and she got the same message. She was eventually able to start it by holding in the start button. Its going to the dealer tomorrow. I hope i didnt make a mistake with this car?

 

[JFS]

Hmmm... the shop said something about "reconnecting" or "re-seating some connections" on mine. I wonder if there are some connectors that are not clipped on as firmly as they should be. The car does have very good brakes! So maybe slamming on the brakes would do it. As for me, I'd hit some pretty massive potholes already (new though the car is).

It's been running very nicely since then. But I have to admit, when on the highway, I've made a point of driving in lanes with a shoulder, just in case, when possible.

 

[hhcev]

I have a 2012 with 4300 miles on it and the stop safely now light came on while my wife was driving back from the store. It stalled out at an intersection, she put it in park and tried to restart it to no avail. I came to get her and tried to start it but could not and because she put it in park, it would not go into neutral and was totally immobilized. I pushed and held down the start button and somehow was able to get it into neutral and roll it off the street. About 5 minutes after that it started and has been running fine since (about 5 days now). What was the final fix for anyone else who had this happen, or is there one? Reminds me of a glitchy computer, where you just do a hard shutdown and its fine after that, but I sure don't want it shutting down on the freeway in the carpool lane.

 

[JFS]

I now have some diagnoses and codes. Their comments are given as quotes. My comments in italics.

Batteries reading 3v, charge battery and test with rotunda tester, indicates good battery.

i.e. the 12 V battery was drawn down considerably, but not faulty.

Connected 220 charge cable, Charged lithium battery. Run self test on all modules, no stored codes

this is rather startling, given that the car had "stop safely now" either two or three times, a "low 12 V battery" warning once, that was sent to the cell phone, and two hard shut downs--all apparently without successfully storing a code onboard the car!

Road test vehicle, vehicle stopped, and stop safely now light is now on.

Not nice that it happened to them, but thank goodness, because it gave them something to diagnose.

Performed self test on all modules, PCM has a stored code D0A0AI01 High Voltage System Interlock Circuit. Perform PPT H

whatever PPT H is, I didn't ask

Remove left from wheel, inner fender panel to gain access to PCM, remove PCM and connector C175B. Perform PPT H1TO. Performed wiggle test on all connectors check pin fit on all connectors C1822B, C1822E, C1822C, C1822A, C1822G, C175B and C1457A. P1 on C1822E and Pin 2 on C1822G Pin fit is loose, repair pin fit and reassemble vehicle. Run on demand self test and all passes.

While not listed in the diagnosis, they also replaced the powertrain control module (PCM) as well as finding and fixing loose connectors. Unclear to me if that's because the pins are integral with the PCM, or if there was some additional problem with the PCM, or if they mostly did the replacement out of an abundance of caution.

We're having a significantly worse than usual crop of potholes and other assorted road lumps and debris this year, and the car has had more than its fair share of sudden drops and bumps in its short life. So connectors could have been loose from the factory, or could have been jostled loose.

FWIW (not much?) the Left front wheel was also the wheel that they had replaced a tire on a couple of days previously (my bad--slashed it on a rock). I'd assume that's unrelated / incidental, but for completeness, I mention it.

I don't have a tester to confirm the state of the 12 V battery, but I'm being far more judicious in using it--especially when the car is not a) in drive and ideally b) in motion--and have not had more problems of this nature.

I still have other (ongoing) minor weirdness with the navigation (which likes to go to a blank screen, while repeatedly demanding that I "pick a line") and the entertainment (which still sporadically tells me that my files are corrupt or unsupported, and then, often as not, plays them anyway). But those are quirks I can live with.

I am pleased to report that as the weather warms into the mid 50's, the car is now allotting me 102 miles worth of driving for a full battery--much better than I'd hoped for--and it continues to drive very enjoyably. I'm still glad I have the car.

I should also mention that my last car was one of the very first US Priuses (delivery in Nov 2000). That Prius stranded me a couple of times with its own version of "stop immediately" until Toyota got things figured out, and sent out an operating system patch. (And that was AFTER the Prius had been out in Japan for two years.) If Ford is as diligent about their teething problems as Toyota, I look forward to a mostly drama-free 8 or 9 years...starting (I hope) very soon.

 

[jpc1818]

Same thing happened to me today. HAd 3/4 battery power.
Just got off the LIE and was waiting as a train passed.
Try to go and no power at all and the warning lights came on.

I thought it was weird that the battery,although 3/4-full, would go down to zero and the stop now message would appear.

It finally came to after 10 minutes or so.

ITs at the dealer now and who knows at this point.

 

[jpc1818]

So got it back from the dealer, after they had it for two days.
They told me that the problem was with the battery control module.
They also updated my software, which gives me nearly 80 miles fully charged (can probably squeak out more). Can is better then before and feels like it should.

If you guys havent received the update, go get it now!!!!!

 

[firewired]

Mine likewise had it for two days. They found no error codes.

 

[jcrowne]

I picked up my brand new FFE last Wednesday. I was really excited about it until this morning, when I got my first "Stop Safely Now" warning... on the freeway at 70 MPH. I was on my way to the airport and had to leave the car on the side of the road (after crossing 4 lanes of traffic with no power!). I had a call from the dealer a few hours ago, and they think the car needs a new lithium ion battery. The car has 251.3 miles on it! Apparently, Ford is sending a few engineers to the dealer to check out the issue. I'm not so excited about my FFE anymore! I'll post updates as they come in.

 

[WindPowered]

I picked up my brand new FFE last Wednesday. I was really excited about it until this morning, when I got my first "Stop Safely Now" warning... on the freeway at 70 MPH.

Is it inevitable that we will all get the stop safely now warning (SSNW)? I know that sounds crazy, but let's look at my reasoning behind the thought.

First, let's take the number of FFE's sold. The most accurate numbers we have on total units sold to date is 1104.
Source: http://insideevs.com/monthly-plug-in-sales-scorecard/

Second, let's take the number of those owners who have found this website and are posting on it. Let's estimate high since they're early adopters and probably actively engaged in the EV movement. So let's say 30% have discovered the forum, signed up, and are actively reading and posting. This is about 330 owners.

Third, let's look at the number of owners who would post if they had a SSNW message, and let's say again that it would be a fairly high number, or about 50%, equaling 165 users, under the assumption that some folks won't report it because they just not interested, and some folks won't because they've already read enough about it to know what to do (i.e. go to the dealer). This makes about 165 posts for the SSNW.

Finally, let's take those posts and distribute them out over time. This is because as far as we've seen, the SSNW is not a DOA issue from the dealership, nor do does it seem to happen at any specific time. So let's give the chance of a SSNW occurrence a normal distribution over the roughly 12 months that the car has been sold, and project 2 years out for the total term of most leases.

This analysis says that we should be seeing about 4-5 SSNW posts per month if 100% of the vehicles are going to be affected. Isn't that close to what we're seeing?

My Conclusion: I don't think this bodes well for the rest of us.

A simpler way of looking at it is the percentage of SSNW occurrences to the number of units sold. That's already a really high ratio compared to automotive industry norms for issues, and there's no guesswork involved with that math.


WP

P.S. Perhaps this should be a separate post, but I wanted to include it here for continuity of the discussion. I'm really hoping someone can show an alternate viewpoint, because I'm nervous about my FFE.

 

[jeffand]

It seems to me most of the stop safely now issues have shown up in the first three months of ownership. If there are any assembly issues with the car they will likely show up in the first year. This is why companies like Ford offer warranties. As time goes by the chances of having an issue will be reduced. I haven’t had any real issues with my FFE so far. Since Ford now is having their engineers observe assemble of the FFE, does indicate that assembly issues maybe an issue.

:arrow: If by chance when you try and start the car, and you put it in gear and step on the accelerator pedal and nothing happens at this point. You should check the instrument cluster to see if the green car with the arrow underneath it is missing. This is most likely cause by not having your foot on the brake when you hit the Power Start button. You should place your foot on the break, put the vehicle in park. Then press the power button once. Wait about 4 or 5 seconds, then with your foot still on the brake pedal press the Power Start button again. You should now see the green car in the instrument cluster. :idea: The green car indicates that you are ready to drive.

 

[jmueller065]

I would hope WindPowered's analysis is fundamentally flawed: You are assuming that the assembly/engineering of the cars will not improve and thus the distribution of the SSN message is even across the entire spectrum of FFE's built.

I would like to think that Ford is learning from all these vehicles that are getting SSN messages, towed to the dealers, and analyzed by Ford and making at least a few running changes to the engineering and/or assembly of the car (I'm sure some of the minor changes will be held back until the 2014 model year but some of the more important things like a different connector, or new software, etc. can be incorporated as a running change).

Heck looking at my FFE order form I'm getting a Job #2 FFE for 2013 which means that there was some change between what I'm getting and anyone with a job #1 2013 FFE.

 

[WindPowered]

I would hope WindPowered's analysis is fundamentally flawed: You are assuming that the assembly/engineering of the cars will not improve and thus the distribution of the SSN message is even across the entire spectrum of FFE's built.

I would like to think that Ford is learning from all these vehicles that are getting SSN messages, towed to the dealers, and analyzed by Ford and making at least a few running changes to the engineering and/or assembly of the car (I'm sure some of the minor changes will be held back until the 2014 model year but some of the more important things like a different connector, or new software, etc. can be incorporated as a running change).

Heck looking at my FFE order form I'm getting a Job #2 FFE for 2013 which means that there was some change between what I'm getting and anyone with a job #1 2013 FFE.

Believe me, as an FFE owner I hope it's flawed too. And certainly, as you point out, Ford isn't resting on their laurels with the current production technology, nor would they be sending teams of engineers to investigate some of these problems, as we've heard from other posters, if they weren't serious about fixing these defects for the long term. And this will be great for future buyers who benefit from these improvements as they will undoubtedly own an even better vehicle.

My concern is really just those of us who already own this car. Unless these are software flaws that can be fixed somewhere in the system communications, then it's unlikely we'll get the benefits. i.e. If there's physical components that need replacing Ford isn't likely to do this proactively unless it's mandated under a safety recall, or becomes such a PR debacle that they want to save face. So it's essentially a game of waiting until you're broken down on the roadside to get it covered under warranty. Even worse (for us) is the scenario where they inadvertently solve this issue through improvements driven by the existing engineering cycles, and determine that it's not worth the cost and effort of looking backwards at < 1000 vehicles to try to figure this out, when the problem is already solved going forward for the future 10,000+ vehicles. They'd probably just delay resolving the issue as long as they can if that were the case.

Maybe I'm wrong here, but I suspect this is the price we pay for being beta testers, and receiving such generous discounts and incentives for this emerging technology. Personally, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed because so far I love my FFE!


WP

 

[dmen]

Crap! I now join the list of drivers who have seen this dreaded message.

Yesterday morning, after an overnight level 1 non-value full charge and Go Time warming (35 outside), as I'm coming to a gentle stop at low speed out of our alley, I hear a pleasant chime and see the Stop Safely Now message. I still seem to have power. I pull across the residential street and come to a stop. I put it in park and push the power button, but it acts like I'm trying to start and flashes the same Stop Safely Now warning. After a few minutes, it finally powers down. I calm the kids in the back, and we wait for 2 minutes. I power back up and get a green-to-go icon. Maybe against better judgement, I continue on our 10 mile round trip to the pool and back, thankfully with no problem. I leave it unplugged overnight since we still have about 90% charge. I go ~3 miles this morning on an errand without incident, then we go shopping. This time after several highway and surface miles, coming to a stop at a traffic signal, the chime sings and I see Stop Safely Now. Again, I can move the gear selector without a problem, but this time when I try to go, I get nothing. I put it in park again, and again the start/stop button won't power down until after several tries. Again, it starts up all green after 2 minutes or so, during which time I've frustrated the row waiting behind me for 1 light cycle. I keep my fingers crossed while we finish our shopping trip and we make it home safely. I have exactly 2500 miles on it, so the first message came around 2470. Aside from a yellow wrench 2 weeks ago, I have had no problems before now.

Both times happened to me as I was braking- am I correct that this is fairly common in others' events? It being Sunday, I have a message out to the dealer's service dept. I'm hoping they can send a tow to my house tomorrow.

Has anyone in the Chicago area had this issue? I'd love to take to to a service dept which has dealt with this before, but I believe I made the first and thus far only FFE purchase from my dealer. At least we're pretty close to Michigan...

 

[WattsUp]

I have exactly 2500 miles on it, so the first message came around 2470. Aside from a yellow wrench 2 weeks ago, I have had no problems before now.

This is really weird. If you search these forums and those at myfordmobile.com, more than one person has said they have had this problem for the first time at 2500 miles, sometimes exactly. What are the chances?

I was a little nervous as I crossed the 2500 mile threshold in my FFE, but luckily nothing happened. If anything, I was thinking there might be some kind of software bug (like Y2K) that was going to "strike" at 2500 miles.

 

[firewired]

"Both times happened to me as I was braking- am I correct that this is fairly common in others' events? It being Sunday, I have a message out to the dealer's service dept. I'm hoping they can send a tow to my house tomorrow. "

Mine happened very much like yours. It was when I came to a stop at a busy intersection. As soon as I hit the accelerator the tone went off and nothing happened, and simultaneously the warning lights went off. Like you I had to turn the car on/off multiple times to get it to reset. I called Ford customer service and reported and took it to the only EV certified dealer in my city. They ran it through the computer and apparently no codes were thrown.

I think the scariest story I have seen on the threads is the one person who reported the car going dead and the warning coming up while driving. Also, the fact that there are so few FFEs and so many people are reporting the same problem makes me suspect that the problem is likely pretty widespread.