Very dangerous incident this AM

[steviet]

Hi Everyone,

I'm writing this to find out how common an issue this is. I'll layout the specific scenario below maybe someone can chime in with their experience.

My FFE is a 2015 with less than 600 miles on it. I had a full charge when I left the house this AM and had driven 3 miles in ~50 degree F temperatures to get to the interstate on ramp. I was waiting for traffic to clear so I could make the left hand turn onto the ramp, when it cleared enough to turn in I hit the accelerator, the car started forward then just completely lost all power and showed the Stop Safely Now message. In the mean time I was very slowly turning onto the on ramp and almost got T-Boned by a semi truck that was coming down the road. Very very dangerous to just lose all power like that.

I slowly steered the vehicle to the side of the onramp, put the hazards on and tried to shut the car off and turn it back on. Nothing was working so I decided to hold down the Start button and it appears that it reset the warning/computer and I was able to start the car to drive.

Very dangerous scenario since I was crossing traffic lanes. Has anyone else experienced that problem in that situation before?

Steve

 

[jmueller065]

You might want to read this thread: (Note that the thread is 58 pages long)
http://www.myfocuselectric.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=900

Although you probably don't have to read all of it; just some of the more recent discussions. In your case I'd bring it back to the dealer and tell them exactly what happened. (Most of the early SSN's were due to a software bug that was fixed in a recall. The more current SSN's seem to be happening due something in the hardware like a bad wiring harness, etc.)

 

[steviet]

You might want to read this thread: (Note that the thread is 58 pages long)
http://www.myfocuselectric.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=900

Although you probably don't have to read all of it; just some of the more recent discussions. In your case I'd bring it back to the dealer and tell them exactly what happened. (Most of the early SSN's were due to a software bug that was fixed in a recall. The more current SSN's seem to be happening due something in the hardware like a bad wiring harness, etc.)

Thanks for the quick response, I'll definitely read that later part of the thread, and I have a call into the dealership. I was reading about the 2013's and the recall thats why I was a little confused. I'll follow up when I find out what the dealerships says.

 

[Washingtonian]

I had a similar situation with my 2014 the first time I commuted in it. In my case, the 12V battery was dead at delivery so the dealer warrantied it. However, the root cause was the DC-to-DC converter not functioning properly so the 12v battery was not being recharged during operation. As my 12V battery got low the MFM 8" display powered down with a message about "conserving power" and about a mile down the road I lost power with a SSN message and was fortunately able to coast safely into a parking lot.

After the part was replaced and some software updates were applied we've had about 6000 trouble-free miles. To your point, it is quite unnerving to lose power and it can be very dangerous!

I did file an NHTSA complaint but that may come back to bite me when I go to sell the car since it included the VIN.

 

[steviet]

I had a similar situation with my 2014 the first time I commuted in it. In my case, the 12V battery was dead at delivery so the dealer warrantied it. However, the root cause was the DC-to-DC converter not functioning properly so the 12v battery was not being recharged during operation. As my 12V battery got low the MFM 8" display powered down with a message about "conserving power" and about a mile down the road I lost power with a SSN message and was fortunately able to coast safely into a parking lot.

After the part was replaced and some software updates were applied we've had about 6000 trouble-free miles. To your point, it is quite unnerving to lose power and it can be very dangerous!

I did file an NHTSA complaint but that may come back to bite me when I go to sell the car since it included the VIN.

Thats good news that it's been running trouble free for you. I don't know how the complaints work, can you adjust or amend the complaint to a 'fixed' status?

It's really weird what will cause it to just power down, I'm not a big fan of it, and to be honest, the 12V battery going down shouldn't cause it to just shut off without smoking of other warning. Stop Safely Now is a weird thing to alert the driver to when you've just killed all useful energy to actually safely stop.