HELP: "Stop Safely Now" message?

[Walter Townsend]

I missed where it had failed to work for anyone. My apologies. I had 3 SSN's in a week. Statrted using the two step method and have not had any issues since. But I need to get it fixed. It is not fun having a vehicle you cannot trust to start.

Yup thus the reason I no longer own or drive a PowerBoost!

With how much the monthly charges were and having it sit on the dealers lot for over two months, while I was still paying monthly charges, did not work for me.

I am willing to pay the premium to have a new reliable vehicle, but not pay the premium for an unreliable one.

Getting ripped off big time to break the lease on the PB was not an easy pill to swallow, but at least now the 5.0L truck I have has started every time I have wanted it to!

Sponsored

 

[Snakebitten]

I missed where it had failed to work for anyone. My apologies. I had 3 SSN's in a week. Statrted using the two step method and have not had any issues since. But I need to get it fixed. It is not fun having a vehicle you cannot trust to start.

No reason to apologize.
While I am sure that it's discouraging for someone who used the 2-step technique to find that it didn't negate the issue, I still think it's fair to say that it has worked, so far, for all but a very few.
Who knows why there are exceptions?

The good news is that there seems to be far less posts with folks being inconvenienced by SSN, either as a result of the 2-step or the TSB being applied.

I'm looking forward to the subject growing stale and mostly in the past.
Similar to the Max Tow axle bolt and the exhaust heat exchanger tube leak.

 

[mommarazzi]

As ridiculous as it sounds, when you get in the truck press the "start" button without your foot on the brake. Wait 5 seconds, put your foot on the brake and press the start button, it will start every time. Ford does have a fix available but the amount of time it takes to apply the fix varies from dealer to dealer. Some have had the fix applied in an hour. Others are taking a week to apply the fix. This discrepancy is due to every Ford dealership having absolutely knowledgeable Ford techs who understand how important it is for people to be able to use the vehicles they purchased combined with the fact that our trucks are giant rolling computers and all of the techs/mechanics have a degree in computer science. - Sorry for the sarcasm but I am finding dealers who think nothing of keeping people's vehicles for weeks and then are surprised when people are upset. If I wanted my vehicle to sit at the dealership for weeks I simply could have not purchased it off the lot.

Very helpful, thank you. We have an excellent dealership and they have done amazing things with service. They have it now, so we will see! I really like the truck, hope it can be fixed. Thanks again!

 

[mommarazzi]

No reason to apologize.
While I am sure that it's discouraging for someone who used the 2-step technique to find that it didn't negate the issue, I still think it's fair to say that it has worked, so far, for all but a very few.
Who knows why there are exceptions?

The good news is that there seems to be far less posts with folks being inconvenienced by SSN, either as a result of the 2-step or the TSB being applied.

I'm looking forward to the subject growing stale and mostly in the past.
Similar to the Max Tow axle bolt and the exhaust heat exchanger tube leak.

We can hope!!

 

[hokieinidaho]

Well, this morning's appointment went about as expected. Despite my having scheduled it two weeks ago, and having provided the references to the qualifying codes and the TSB, I went down there starting from ground zero. They said there is NO way they're going to be able to get to it in under 2 days. In fact, they admitted they it would likely sit for 2 days before they got to it. We had a bit of a conversation around why they would schedule it to sit, vs. scheduling it for when they have someone to work on. WE had a conversation around my not having transportation for 2+ days (or longer, given what I've seen here) and why they told me they don't do loaners anymore, to revealing that they do, but they're all taken up. They're all over the place.

The whole thing was maddening. They admitted they are overwhelmed by the demand they have and not being able to keep up.

This business of stranding people, I don't know if it's an industry problem, a Ford problem, or this specific dealer. Our other non-Ford Hybrid, I can't say that we've ever had this type of experience because it just runs - no issues.

As for my prior 2004 F150, given I had it worked at an independent dealer, I always had a loaner when needed, over the nearly 20 years of ownership.

I'm tempted to contact another dealer and see what their story is on being able to get a vehicle in and read the codes - seems like it shouldn't take 2+ days to do that.

By the time I was turned back to my truck to be sent home (wasted an hour of time this morning, plus all the time providing the diagnostics and referenced TSB ahead the drop off...), I'd finally been appeased with a rental car assist, when one becomes available. Not sure how that's going to play out. Right now I have nothing - no appointment, no fix. Just a truck, which in sales, I often drive clients around. It's a beautiful thing when a brand new 63k truck won't start, and my clients expression of the whole thing.

@Ford Motor Company - is this the customer satisfaction being aimed for?

 

[Snakebitten]

If you were in my part of the country you could just drive up to my barn, plug into FDRS, and apply the software yourself while drinking a glass of home brewed sweet tea.

No need for a loaner or the frustrating back & forth.

A Mongoose adapter is just another necessary tool in the toolbox. I get that not everyone wants to avoid the dealership enough to warrant the investment. But it's sure nice to have one.

 

[turbopilot]

If you were in my part of the country you could just drive up to my barn, plug into FDRS, and apply the software yourself while drinking a glass of home brewed sweet tea.

No need for a loaner or the frustrating back & forth.

A Mongoose adapter is just another necessary tool in the toolbox. I get that not everyone wants to avoid the dealership enough to warrant the investment. But it's sure nice to have one.

Part of the problem is the archiac system architecture used by Ford to apply updates. It is extremely labor intensive with lots of dead time between steps.

When glass cockpits were first introduced into general aviation aircraft same thing happened. Software updates could take all day with repeated prompts to do things sometimes hours apart.

Modern glass cockpits update in minutes with no prompting. It just happens.

I suspect the slowness in the Ford process has to do with using really cheap, slow out of date microprocessors in all those modules. Whatever the cause it continues to destroy their franchise with this process of updating. Clearly the dealers have had enough and are in open revolt about getting in the middle. I really can't blame them.

 

[hokieinidaho]

If you were in my part of the country you could just drive up to my barn, plug into FDRS, and apply the software yourself while drinking a glass of home brewed sweet tea.

No need for a loaner or the frustrating back & forth.

A Mongoose adapter is just another necessary tool in the toolbox. I get that not everyone wants to avoid the dealership enough to warrant the investment. But it's sure nice to have one.

What I'd give for a glass of sweet tea.... not to mention getting this issue resolved!

 

[labjr1]

Well, this morning's appointment went about as expected. Despite my having scheduled it two weeks ago, and having provided the references to the qualifying codes and the TSB, I went down there starting from ground zero. They said there is NO way they're going to be able to get to it in under 2 days. In fact, they admitted they it would likely sit for 2 days before they got to it. We had a bit of a conversation around why they would schedule it to sit, vs. scheduling it for when they have someone to work on. WE had a conversation around my not having transportation for 2+ days (or longer, given what I've seen here) and why they told me they don't do loaners anymore, to revealing that they do, but they're all taken up. They're all over the place.

The whole thing was maddening. They admitted they are overwhelmed by the demand they have and not being able to keep up.

This business of standing people, I don't know if it's an industry problem, a Ford problem, or this specific dealer. Our other non-Ford Hybrid, I can't say that we've ever had this type of experience because it just runs - no issues.

As for my prior 2004 F150, given I had it worked at an independent dealer, I always had a loaner when needed, over the nearly 20 years of ownership.

I'm tempted to contact another dealer and see what their story is on being able to get a vehicle in and read the codes - seems like it shouldn't take 2+ days to do that.

By the time I was turned back to my truck to be sent home (wasted an hour of time this morning, plus all the time providing the diagnostics and referenced TSB ahead the drop off...), I'd finally been appeased with a rental car assist, when one becomes available. Not sure how that's going to play out. Right now I have nothing - no appointment, no fix. Just a truck, which in sales, I often drive clients around. It's a beautiful thing when a brand new 63k truck won't start, and my clients expression of the whole thing.

@Ford Motor Company - is this the customer satisfaction being aimed for?

You are absolutely right. Scheduling your vehicle to come to the lot and sit for 2+ days before they touch it is ridiculous. They want your vehicle available so THEY don't waste time when their tech becomes available. Inconveniencing the customer to make it easier on them is now standard fare at Ford. It amazes me that they never seem to understand why customers actually want to minimize down time with servicing their trucks, while the dealership is trying to minimize downtime with their techs. It is the same premise. This problem takes one hour of service time to resolve. Asking you to let it sit at their dealership for days so the dealership won't be inconvenience is ridiculous.

Snakebitten's offer is very generous but it is a horrible shame that we must spend $500 on a mongoose and rent the software to repair our own vehicles that have a manufacturer's flaw and that are under warranty. It almost seems as if Ford is trying to drive owners to self repair. Perhaps they will then claim you worked on the vehicle yourself and they are therefore no longer responsible for issues. The problem is not specific to Ford. I had similar issues with my last 4 RAM trucks - but in my case the same owner has the Ford and Ram dealerships sitting next to each other.

 

[hokieinidaho]

You are absolutely right. Scheduling your vehicle to come to the lot and sit for 2+ days before they touch it is ridiculous. They want your vehicle available so THEY don't waste time when their tech becomes available. Inconveniencing the customer to make it easier on them is now standard fare at Ford. It amazes me that they never seem to understand why customers actually want to minimize down time with servicing their trucks, while the dealership is trying to minimize downtime with their techs. It is the same premise. This problem takes one hour of service time to resolve. Asking you to let it sit at their dealership for days so the dealership won't be inconvenience is ridiculous.

Snakebitten's offer is very generous but it is a horrible shame that we must spend $500 on a mongoose and rent the software to repair our own vehicles that have a manufacturer's flaw and that are under warranty. It almost seems as if Ford is trying to drive owners to self repair. Perhaps they will then claim you worked on the vehicle yourself and they are therefore no longer responsible for issues. The problem is not specific to Ford. I had similar issues with my last 4 RAM trucks - but in my case the same owner has the Ford and Ram dealerships sitting next to each other.

Yep, like I said, the dealer service model is broken. Whether it's the speed/tech they have, the dispatching/workload, or other. I mean, this dealer is huge, I can't believe the number of people working in the service department alone, and then I look out and see little activity going on anywhere.

Coming up on 2 days here in a couple hours, and here it sits:

while Ford/Dealer is eating $60 per day on the Enterprise rental I'm driving.

EV bug didn't bit me. But if something ever comes up that turns this ugly broken thing on its head, whether it's loaners for everyone, or what, then I'm bouncing.

 

[mommarazzi]

Hi - Looking for feedback from the forum or Ford on an issue I have had 2x now. I have got into my '23 F150 Powerboost to leave for work and this message pops up on the dash when I try to start the vehicle. The truck will not start and I can't use the gear select out of park. Definitely have a major concern about being stranded somewhere. Anyone else had this issue and what the fix is?

We have gone through this with our new 2023. Ford and our dealer have been great. You may also get a "Full Power Accessory Mode" message, dealer has had it twice and been very supportive. Just added a new software update and we have not had the issue again... Hoping it solved the problem.

 

[Sfg57]

I picked up my truck last night from my local dealer after showing them the TSB 22-2317. Apparently I had this already installed. They replaced the battery which they claim was the culprit. The battery they replaced was new in June when I bought the truck new off the lot and the OEM battery was dead. We shall see if this fixed my problem or I have a parasitic voltage leak somewhere else.

 

[mommarazzi]

I"ve noticed that every time we walk close to the truck in our garage with our keys it "wakes up", I'm wondering if that contributes to battery drain. The dealer had already replaced our batteries and starter, going to try driving it more to see if it prevents the battery drain.

Sponsored