2023 Powerboost “stop safely now” no start

[jamo13]

Just picked up my 2023 PowerBoost. Drove it for four days heading back to CA with no issues. Enjoying it and the drive back home. This morning, fifth day of the trip while visiting a friend, got the “stop safely” warning message and truck wouldn’t start. Remembered others had said to check the fuses. Three-fourths of the fuses and relays were not fully seated in their sockets. Pressed them all firmly in and tried to start the truck again. Pressed start, warning message was gone and truck fired right up. Hopefully, that fixes the no start issue for good. ? ? So far, I’m really enjoying driving this truck.

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[westbayou]

Add my 2023 Platinum PB to the list. Got the same warning this morning and could only get it to start using the Ford App. After that its been fine but I don't trust this truck at all at this point.

 

[TruckGuy2023]

My turn again. I got called, on call, to the hospital. Got in my truck and got the no start, "stop safely now". This is my 2nd time. I have the 2023 PB XLT, now at ~1700 miles, 1st no start was at ~200 miles. I tried all the tricks I knew, switch to sport mode, tried the app, tried remote start, checked fuses. Nothing worked. I called my Ford salesperson. I had told him about the 1st no start, and he said if I ever got stranded he would pick me up (its a small town). He said he was on the way. In the meanwhile, I got my 15 yo Jeep ready which my PB had been a replacement for. After 15 years, the Jeep has some mechanical issues and seemed less reliable, so I bought the new $68,000 PB to have a reliable vehicle. Unfortunately, I had neglected the Jeep while driving my PB around, and so the battery was drained. I used my portable jump starter to get it going and ran the engine for a while. I decided to give the PB one last attempt, tried to start through the app, and the truck started!!! It had been about 15 mins since I last tried to start the truck, since I was occupied with the Jeep. I tried to call off the salesperson but he was already on the way. When he arrived I had nothing to show him since the truck was working, and I had to head to the hospital. Luckily I had over an hour to get to the hospital, if it had been an emergency at 3am, this would have been a big problem. I will have to be more diligent in maintaining the battery on the Jeep just in case.

I'm starting to think that all these tricks (sport mode, app starting remote start, etc...), don't actually do fix it, its just the waiting that lets the truck reset somehow. In my case I didn't touch it for 15 mins before it worked again, and I had tried started with the app as my first few attempts without getting it to start. Salesperson advised me to take the truck in to be checked out, which I will, I'm just not optimistic that they will find anything. I'm also going learn how to use the BlueDrive scan tool, so the next time this happens I can check directly. Its not a good feeling to not trust that my truck will start, I bought this so I would have a reliable vehicle.

 

[westbayou]

"Stop Safely Now" take 2. Was leaving work at the hospital (also on call myself) got in the truck and immediately got the red battery, stop safely etc. for the 2nd time in 4 or 5 days. Got out, locked the truck, tried remote start, no go. Tried to start it via the app, only this time that also didn't work. The truck would lock itself but wouldn't fire up. I figured I'd try and wait it out, but it dawned on me I should get video/pics of the truck acting up to show the dealer. Got inside the truck, started the video on my phone, and the damn thing fired up like nothing was wrong. Quickly starting to feel like trading my Bronco in was a huge mistake.

 

[Davexxxx]

Three-fourths of the fuses and relays were not fully seated in their sockets. Pressed them all firmly in and tried to start the truck again. Pressed start, warning message was gone and truck fired right up.

Interesting. I wonder if because these things are fly by wire, almost all of the problems aren't electrical and more, simply because of bad connections.

There is a vid of a guy in a PB with the trans shuddering so badly it seemed like it was about to implode.

He did a follow up vid. They found an electrical connector that hadn't been fully seated..

Thanks for the tip. First thing I'll check if it ever happens, is the fuses and relays being seated.

In fact, I'm not waiting for a failure. I'll check them today. Wanted to take a peek at em anyway.

 

[westbayou]

Been a couple days now and no new warnings. I did check all the fuses under the hood, and the relays. Almost all of them were loose/not fully seated, especially the relay closest to the front of the truck. I made sure they were all properly seated and so far so good.

Ford called today after I responded to the bot on the forum. Told me to take the truck to the dealership, so I explained it was currently working fine but randomly throwing this error and not starting. "Well nothing we can do right now, take a video the next time it does it and call this number..... Just don't go online and discuss it." Uh........ say what?!?!?

 

[jamo13]

Makes me wonder ?...How many of the unresolved "no start" issues that some had (I believe has led to a Ford buy backs for some), might have been a result of loose fuses and or relays? Instead, several parts/modules are replaced as being faulty (some multiple times) yet this "no start" problem still persists.

I'm thinking that erroneous codes might be generated by sporadic "lack of" connectivity of some the fuses/relays in the fuse box located in the engine compartment due to vibrations from driving. Thus, these codes can be misinterpreted to what the problem is and they probably never point the service tech to investigate the fuse box (unless there are related TSBs or other notifications).

On the positive side, still no issues since I re-seated all the fuses/relays. I'm even getting the friendly we put you into "deep sleep mode...nothing to worry about..." message from the FordPass app after the truck being idle for 2-3 days and as the FordPass messages says, "don't worry," the truck does start right back up once I press the start button. I guess it is working like it should. ?

 

[TruckGuy2023]

That's a good thought, however I'm wondering if (at least some) of the "no starts" are due to the vehicle being non-operative when it is finalizing an update. It says on the updates screen that the vehicle won't work when finalizing an update. Most people have said their "no start" resolves after waiting 15 mins, with nothing mechanically changing or being done to the truck. Makes me think it is something regarding software the truck "fixes" or resolves on its own. It wouldn't be able to recharge a low battery or reseat fuses on its own for example. Mine resolved the first time without me even looking at or opening the fuse box, and the second "no start" I checked the fuses and they were all seated properly.

Could it be that the vehicle is doing updates randomly every few weeks or days (even minor updates or data updates that don't show on the updates screen) and we happen to catch it at a time when the vehicle will not start?

 

[PBoost]

For everyone following this thread. Ford contacted me on the forum and created a case for the Stop Safely Now message. I took the truck to the dealer and they ran diagnostics. Came back with several low voltage codes but no hardware issues. They replaced the 12V battery and gave me the truck back to see if I have any further issues.

 

[PBoost]

Reporting back to the forum.

My truck has displayed the "Stop Safely Now" message again. Truck was taken to a dealership to be diagnosed as recommended by Ford. Truck was at the dealer last week and I picked it up the truck from the dealership 6/23/23 after they said the repair was complete. The dealer replaced the 12V battery citing various low voltage message warnings were logged. I went to leave for work this morning 6/25/23 and the truck would not start. I attempted to use the Ford app to start the truck and that has not worked yet either.

 

[TruckGuy2023]

This sucks!!! What else is there to say. With the amount of money spent on these trucks and we can't even be sure it starts. I took a trip this weekend involving going to the airport, and I was worried the truck wouldn't start and make me miss my flight, or I would be stranded at the airport on the way back. Luckily that didn't happen, but why did someone with a brand new truck have to worry about that.

Does anyone have any thoughts on a solution that involves returning/exchanging the truck? It's difficult because the problem is sporadic, non-reproducible and there is no specific diagnosis. Hope it doesn't have to come to some legal recourse.

 

[Jus Cruisin]

Reporting back to the forum.

My truck has displayed the "Stop Safely Now" message again. Truck was taken to a dealership to be diagnosed as recommended by Ford. Truck was at the dealer last week and I picked it up the truck from the dealership 6/23/23 after they said the repair was complete. The dealer replaced the 12V battery citing various low voltage message warnings were logged. I went to leave for work this morning 6/25/23 and the truck would not start. I attempted to use the Ford app to start the truck and that has not worked yet either.

Get ready for this.....

Complete electric drive unit replaced. Never right after and now long gone.

 

[TheDIG]

Had my 2nd strike today with the 'Stop safely now' error. Truck wouldn't start with the button or the key fob. Tried it through the app and it started right up. Confidence remains low. I'm at 2825 miles.

 

[HammaMan]

Get ready for this.....

Complete electric drive unit replaced. Never right after and now long gone.

You got a lemon, we get it -- well we got it about 40 posts ago.

As for the sudden rush of 23s ford made themselves new issues to deal with.

 

[Jus Cruisin]

You got a lemon, we get it -- well we got it about 40 posts ago.

As for the sudden rush of 23s ford made themselves new issues to deal with.

Just block me..


And y'all best pray for no breakdowns because Ford can't fix 'em.

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