HELP: "Stop Safely Now" message?

[hokieinidaho]

Congratulations on the new truck @hokieinidaho

Please keep us posted if the 2-step ever fails you or not.
Can I ask if this is your first Gen14 F150? Or did you have a 2021-2022 before this new truck?

Thanks Snakebitten.

My prior truck was a 2004 F-150, 219k miles. God really blessed me with that truck - very few issues and cost-of-ownership was very low; mostly tires.

At the risk of getting trabo's panties any further in a wad, I have to say, if I would have seen this post prior to my purchase, I would not have purchased this truck. The complexity of the framework is true - and the symptomatic issue here is just indicative of some other things that could go awry if Ford doesn't get it figured out.

I'm a Ford guy as well - our entire family is. This is PowerBoost #3 in the family, and I can't tell you how many Ford trucks we've had in the extended family in past 15 years - mentally I think I counted 7. I wrote a separate post about the tech in this new 2023 lacking that of our other non-Ford hybrid sitting in our garage, and how Ford could (hopefully) take some cues from others. (Settle down Trabo, I don't want you spitting any of that hot McDonalds coffee all over your monitor )

I do appreciate your candor and respect, Snakebitten. Hopefully it rubs off on others.

I otherwise love the truck. We'll see whether it makes it 20 years like the '04 did.

Sponsored

 

[gadiedrick]

Not quite the same problem BUT it's technology run amuck. We've managed to postpone a software update to our '21 F150 PB all summer because we've had no issues in our 30k miles of usage. The update is now being forced & we've been informed that the software update will occur within the next couple days from 0100 to 0108 in the AM & that we might experience loss of some functions until it happens. So ..... what good is a truck if the tailgate won't release?!?! That's more than a minor inconvenience in our mind. Very concerned about being forced to take this pending update & what else will be screwed up after the unwanted update.

 

[trabo]

Thanks Snakebitten.

My prior truck was a 2004 F-150, 219k miles. God really blessed me with that truck - very few issues and cost-of-ownership was very low; mostly tires.

At the risk of getting trabo's panties any further in a wad, I have to say, if I would have seen this post prior to my purchase, I would not have purchased this truck. The complexity of the framework is true - and the symptomatic issue here is just indicative of some other things that could go awry if Ford doesn't get it figured out.

I'm a Ford guy as well - our entire family is. This is PowerBoost #3 in the family, and I can't tell you how many Ford trucks we've had in the extended family in past 15 years - mentally I think I counted 7. I wrote a separate post about the tech in this new 2023 lacking that of our other non-Ford hybrid sitting in our garage, and how Ford could (hopefully) take some cues from others. (Settle down Trabo, I don't want you spitting any of that hot McDonalds coffee all over your monitor )

I do appreciate your candor and respect, Snakebitten. Hopefully it rubs off on others.

I otherwise love the truck. We'll see whether it makes it 20 years like the '04 did.

There are no panties and there is no wad. My complaint was to the unhappy owners who *repeatedly* cry on this thread about their truck. It's fair to be frustrated and fair to express that here, but to continually bombard us with posts about how you're giving it back or already did give it back is just waste of time and energy. These same guys also tell everyone who is working through problems that they're kissing ford's ass... which is simply not the case. I wanted a best-in-class hybrid truck and the only option was a Powerboost. I don't care who made it. Ford has work to do here, as we've all acknowledged. I'm just thankful that we apparently have a workaround; and a workaround that's pretty friggin' easy to execute. Really easy.

I keep coming here to find out if anyone has had the 2-step method fail, as that will be a major piece of information.

 

[TheDIG]

Honestly, there's no way to know unless you verify yourself.
I have a cheap Bluetooth battery monitor on my truck so that I can monitor the 12V battery(s) without touching the truck or waking it up. (waking it makes it impossible to know what the static voltage was)

It'd be interesting at what voltage your truck is sitting at to see if it really is below say..... 12.3V?
Because if it's 12.3V or higher, there's no reason for your remote features to be disabled.

Sitting inside the RV, truck parked maybe 20' from the door..... App on phone can fetch a reading

I checked my battery today, 12.6 volts. Remote features still disabled and I still get the power off warning when turning the truck off. Not sure

Honestly, there's no way to know unless you verify yourself.
I have a cheap Bluetooth battery monitor on my truck so that I can monitor the 12V battery(s) without touching the truck or waking it up. (waking it makes it impossible to know what the static voltage was)

It'd be interesting at what voltage your truck is sitting at to see if it really is below say..... 12.3V?
Because if it's 12.3V or higher, there's no reason for your remote features to be disabled.

Sitting inside the RV, truck parked maybe 20' from the door..... App on phone can fetch a reading

Checked this today, I'm at 12.6 volts. Remote features still disabled and I still get the warning when I turn the truck off. I'll call the dealership tomorrow and have them check it...again.

 

[Snakebitten]

At 12.6V and remote features disabled, there's obviously an issue somewhere.

If you have Forscan, I'd try a BMS module reset?
Or perhaps unhook the 12V negative post on both batteries for a few minutes?

Or better yet, someone with a better understanding of the low 12V SOC auto-feature-disable will come along with good advice.

I assume your truck is not turning ICE off at stop lights? (auto stop/start)

 

[TheDIG]

At 12.6V and remote features disabled, there's obviously an issue somewhere.

If you have Forscan, I'd try a BMS module reset?
Or perhaps unhook the 12V negative post on both batteries for a few minutes?

Or better yet, someone with a better understanding of the low 12V SOC auto-feature-disable will come along with good advice.

I assume your truck is not turning ICE off at stop lights? (auto stop/start)

The truck *seems* be running normally. The electric still kicks in and does its thing like it normally does. So yes, the ICE sometimes turns off at stop lights. Its a strange animal.

 

[dogboye]

We've gotten the "remote features disabled" on our PB a couple of times. Warning on the app, that is. To the best of my knowledge, neither of us has paid it any attention, went about our business, and the next time either of us got in the truck, everything worked normally. It was very random, and only happened maybe 3 or 4 times that I can recall.

Hybrid Battery top-off routine

Sooooo.... is there a thread on this somewhere? This is the first I've eard of this, but seems like it might be a good procedure to start.

 

[Snakebitten]

Sooooo.... is there a thread on this somewhere? This is the first I've eard of this, but seems like it might be a good procedure to start.

It's simply the practice of putting the truck in Park when you get home, but before shutting it off, blip the throttle and it will start the ICE. Let it idle until it shuts the ICE off. Then shut the truck off and go in.

ICE might run for a few seconds, or a minute, depending on the SOC when you got home. But now you know that when you hit accessory mode the next time you start the truck, the High Voltage battery is well prepped to feed that DC/DC alternator a healthy dose of Low Voltage current instantly.

 

[Popplemer]

In the one month and 2100+ miles on my powerboost as a not strictly scientific experiment I, since day one, have only used the 2 step start method. I also have kept the blower on 5+ the entire time. Saving one accidental regular start in my driveway not one other start has been standard. I have received the Remote Features Disabled warning once while the truck was parked for 2 days plus.

Still, No SSN ever.

As an aside, I have noticed two fairly odd things that may or may not be of consequence. One is that often the Propower screen shows the propower as "On" when I haven't activated it. Two is the "This Trip" timer in the myview screen which, while sitting in my truck putting around with my new forscan tablet today, showed a trip that was both longer than my commute to work but also longer than I'd been sitting in the truck. If someone could make a correlation between these data points and their potential effects on the SOC of the batteries and thus the no start conditions I'd be very interested in seeing it.

 

[dogboye]

It's simply the practice of putting the truck in Park when you get home, but before shutting it off, blip the throttle and it will start the ICE. Let it idle until it shuts the ICE off. Then shut the truck off and go in.

ICE might run for a few seconds, or a minute, depending on the SOC when you got home. But now you know that when you hit accessory mode the next time you start the truck, the High Voltage battery is well prepped to feed that DC/DC alternator a healthy dose of Low Voltage current instantly.

Interesting. I guess that makes sense. And should do a better job of preventing the loss of remote features. Will probably do this procedure the next time I drive it, and will mention it to the wife?

Is the general thought that this procedure will also help the battery last longer?

 

[TheDIG]

Interesting. I guess that makes sense. And should do a better job of preventing the loss of remote features. Will probably do this procedure the next time I drive it, and will mention it to the wife?

Is the general thought that this procedure will also help the battery last longer?

FWIW, doing this hasn't made any difference for me as far as the loss of remote features. I still get the warning a couple of times a week. Sometimes the remote features work...sometimes they dont.
I am doing the 2-step start method and haven't expierenced a SSN event so far. I have had a few times where the vehicle still didnt start after pressing the button the second time and I had to repeat the process. No SSN though.

YMMV.

 

[Snakebitten]

Is the general thought that this procedure will also help the battery last longer?

I can't say that with any confidence.
I think the latest and greatest vehicles being released with all the high tech auto update technology (Ford is not the only one) are going to be hard on their 12V battery(s). I think oem batteries lasting 5-7 years is going to be a thing of the past?

My oem battery is now well into 500+ DAYS.
It's requiring me to stubbornly stay on top of it to nurse further life out of it.

Topping the High Voltage battery off for the next morning is just a little insurance that digital alternator will have plenty of headroom to support a weak 12V AGM?

 

[turbopilot]

I can't say that with any confidence.
I think the latest and greatest vehicles being released with all the high tech auto update technology (Ford is not the only one) are going to be hard on their 12V battery(s). I think oem batteries lasting 5-7 years is going to be a thing of the past?

My oem battery is now well into 500+ DAYS.
It's requiring me to stubbornly stay on top of it to nurse further life out of it.

Topping the High Voltage battery off for the next morning is just a little insurance that digital alternator will have plenty of headroom to support a weak 12V AGM?

We are dealing with "old tech" here. Ford is not keeping up.

I just got my wife a new Tesla Model Y. Tesla has now replaced the 12 volt battery with a new 16 volt lithium battery. So the entire 12 volt electrical system is now 16 volts in a Tesla. Anyone who follows Tesla knows they were having reliability problems with these 12 volt batteries powered by a DC/DC converter.

 

[Snakebitten]

It isn't just Ford that is falling way behind when you use Tesla engineering as the yardstick.

Talk about disruption!

Still waiting for Tesla to release something that's .........warm?
They already own the nerd in me.

I need both.

Sponsored