Phantom alerts (dash warning)

[Jwademn]

Has anyone struggled with phantom alerts/dash warnings? My 23 PB XLT has done it a number of times and I’m struggling with the dealership.

Phantom alert? The chime or set of 3 tones that accompanies an alert on the dash such as low fuel. The only time I’ve received the alert AND had a warning that was visible to read was when I ran low on fuel. I’ve experienced a number of occasions where the chime happens and I either see nothing or an alert pops for a fraction of a second - not long enough to get any info. The last few times (prior to today) when I’ve received these alerts it corresponded in timing to a code - low battery voltage the last two times - but my dealer refuses to tie the phantom alert I report to the actual code and has been difficult to make progress with on the phantom alerts. They want specifics on what was happening at the time, try to write it off on other behaviors, and have provided limited help “without the error i shows”. I’ve found no way to replicate this specific behavior though they did warranty a battery and that seemed to keep it at bay for a couple hundred miles when I had previously experienced it every few miles.

(This truck has been an enormous pain in my ass)

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[Beagleman]

I feel your pain. The same thing happens on my '23 PB purchased in July. It seems to happen on drives of at least 30 minutes or more. The chimes will go off and a pop up message briefly appears on the instrument panel and disappears. Sometimes, there will just be a real quick couple of chimes and there might not be the pop up message or it's gone before I can look down. Recently, I was on a 4 hour drive back from Michigan. 3 hours in, got the chimes, then the message "Trailer Brake Fault". Another message flashed by and I couldn't catch what it said. This occurred several times for maybe 10 minutes then stopped. I wasn't towing anything.

I haven't taken it in the to dealer for the phantom messages, yet. I need to take it in again as I continue to get the no-start condition and messages "Full Accessory Power Mode On" and "Stop Safely Now" while sitting in my garage. I need to get formal documentation for the continued no-start. I'll mention the phantom message problem, too.

 

[CoCamper]

I’d bet money you have a bad trailer brake module or another module is spewing noise into CAN bus.

I had a bad trailer brake module that would produce phantom alerts as you call them and sometime would produce a cascade of alerts one after another, but for me it always started with trailer brake alert followed by many other module faults.

suggest unplugging you trailer brake module and see if it helps.

took me a year to figure out, 10 min to fix.

I have other posts in the forum with videos of my alerts. Search for “reboot” and you’ll find it.

 

[PowerBoostSoCal]

FIRST piece of advice - TRY another dealer! My first dealer was a local one store shop, super nice people and they always try hard, BUT they do not have the staff or all of the latest equipment to work on very technical problems. GO TO a dealer with good/great ratings and a place that does A LOT of repair work! Ok so I HAD a 2021 F150 PB Lariat ... really loved the truck. At about 80K miles I began to experience all kinds of warnings, etc. My first dealer basically told me they just did not have the smarts to do the work! Told me to try a local LARGE dealer, etc. The most concerning was the wrench light, the code that came to my Ford Pass told me it was some sort of high pressure sensor in the transmission. After three repair attempts Ford was going to replace the transmission with a new one, BUT the lead time was 30 plus days for the parts to arrive so I had a loaner ... I went to the dealer service manager and she worked with the dealer GM and whoever else and got me a $10K discount on a new Ford vehicle ... I was able to trade out of the 2021 PB for a 2023 non-PB with basically tax and license out of pocket. I am SO happy with this new truck! The PB was wonderful when it functioned properly, but maybe is just not ready for prime time yet??

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Has anyone struggled with phantom alerts/dash warnings? My 23 PB XLT has done it a number of times and I’m struggling with the dealership.

Phantom alert? The chime or set of 3 tones that accompanies an alert on the dash such as low fuel. The only time I’ve received the alert AND had a warning that was visible to read was when I ran low on fuel. I’ve experienced a number of occasions where the chime happens and I either see nothing or an alert pops for a fraction of a second - not long enough to get any info. The last few times (prior to today) when I’ve received these alerts it corresponded in timing to a code - low battery voltage the last two times - but my dealer refuses to tie the phantom alert I report to the actual code and has been difficult to make progress with on the phantom alerts. They want specifics on what was happening at the time, try to write it off on other behaviors, and have provided limited help “without the error i shows”. I’ve found no way to replicate this specific behavior though they did warranty a battery and that seemed to keep it at bay for a couple hundred miles when I had previously experienced it every few miles.

(This truck has been an enormous pain in my ass)

Can you send over a message with your VIN and the name/location of the Ford dealer you have been working with? I would like to take a look at you alert issues on my end.

 

[Jwademn]

FIRST piece of advice - TRY another dealer! My first dealer was a local one store shop, super nice people and they always try hard, BUT they do not have the staff or all of the latest equipment to work on very technical problems. GO TO a dealer with good/great ratings and a place that does A LOT of repair work! Ok so I HAD a 2021 F150 PB Lariat ... really loved the truck. At about 80K miles I began to experience all kinds of warnings, etc. My first dealer basically told me they just did not have the smarts to do the work! Told me to try a local LARGE dealer, etc. The most concerning was the wrench light, the code that came to my Ford Pass told me it was some sort of high pressure sensor in the transmission. After three repair attempts Ford was going to replace the transmission with a new one, BUT the lead time was 30 plus days for the parts to arrive so I had a loaner ... I went to the dealer service manager and she worked with the dealer GM and whoever else and got me a $10K discount on a new Ford vehicle ... I was able to trade out of the 2021 PB for a 2023 non-PB with basically tax and license out of pocket. I am SO happy with this new truck! The PB was wonderful when it functioned properly, but maybe is just not ready for prime time yet??

Part of my problem is this IS the large dealership, though in a community my size its probably small in comparison to a major metro. I feel for the service guy trying to help - electrical gremlins (which this feels like) are evil - but for $60k I'm disappointed I only made it a couple hundred miles before it threw its first error.

 

[Twg1]

Concur with the trailer fault. It may be the chimes that provide low overpass or other trailer obstacle warnings. They alert without any dash notification.

Its helpful if you have the Ford nav screen up so that you can spot them and correlate with any chimes (to rule out trailer obstacle identification)

 

[Jwademn]

Concur with the trailer fault. It may be the chimes that provide low overpass or other trailer obstacle warnings. They alert without any dash notification.

Its helpful if you have the Ford nav screen up so that you can spot them and correlate with any chimes (to rule out trailer obstacle identification)

The trailering alerts are a different tone. Have gotten a fair number of those when towing.

Thing is they’ve, so far, corresponded to errors in the connected ford system but have only been visible at the dealer, not in Fordpass or any health reports.

 

[antho]

Could be the zone alerts in the nav. I forgot I had it set and would get audio alerts whenever in a school zone etc. may be worth checking.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

I feel your pain. The same thing happens on my '23 PB purchased in July. It seems to happen on drives of at least 30 minutes or more. The chimes will go off and a pop up message briefly appears on the instrument panel and disappears. Sometimes, there will just be a real quick couple of chimes and there might not be the pop up message or it's gone before I can look down. Recently, I was on a 4 hour drive back from Michigan. 3 hours in, got the chimes, then the message "Trailer Brake Fault". Another message flashed by and I couldn't catch what it said. This occurred several times for maybe 10 minutes then stopped. I wasn't towing anything.

I haven't taken it in the to dealer for the phantom messages, yet. I need to take it in again as I continue to get the no-start condition and messages "Full Accessory Power Mode On" and "Stop Safely Now" while sitting in my garage. I need to get formal documentation for the continued no-start. I'll mention the phantom message problem, too.

Hi there. These warning message concerns doesn’t sound like something we want you to experience with your F-150 truck. Could you please send us a PM with your VIN and the name and location of your Ford dealer? To send a private message, just click on our username and select "Start Conversation". I'd be happy to look into how I can assist you on my end.

 

[Jwademn]

Finally an error to go off - and as was suggested, Trailer Brake Fault. I was into the dealer earlier this week to see what was up in connected data and this time nothing corresponded closely to when I heard the alerts but they had a handful of other warnings.

One additional takeaway - it happened 4 times over two days and a hundred miles during wet weather. Dealer appt 4 in a couple weeks.

 

[Sockmonkey]

I feel your pain. The same thing happens on my '23 PB purchased in July. It seems to happen on drives of at least 30 minutes or more. The chimes will go off and a pop up message briefly appears on the instrument panel and disappears. Sometimes, there will just be a real quick couple of chimes and there might not be the pop up message or it's gone before I can look down. Recently, I was on a 4 hour drive back from Michigan. 3 hours in, got the chimes, then the message "Trailer Brake Fault". Another message flashed by and I couldn't catch what it said. This occurred several times for maybe 10 minutes then stopped. I wasn't towing anything.

I haven't taken it in the to dealer for the phantom messages, yet. I need to take it in again as I continue to get the no-start condition and messages "Full Accessory Power Mode On" and "Stop Safely Now" while sitting in my garage. I need to get formal documentation for the continued no-start. I'll mention the phantom message problem, too.

I feel your pain. The same thing happens on my '23 PB purchased in July. It seems to happen on drives of at least 30 minutes or more. The chimes will go off and a pop up message briefly appears on the instrument panel and disappears. Sometimes, there will just be a real quick couple of chimes and there might not be the pop up message or it's gone before I can look down. Recently, I was on a 4 hour drive back from Michigan. 3 hours in, got the chimes, then the message "Trailer Brake Fault". Another message flashed by and I couldn't catch what it said. This occurred several times for maybe 10 minutes then stopped. I wasn't towing anything.

I haven't taken it in the to dealer for the phantom messages, yet. I need to take it in again as I continue to get the no-start condition and messages "Full Accessory Power Mode On" and "Stop Safely Now" while sitting in my garage. I need to get formal documentation for the continued no-start. I'll mention the phantom message problem, too.

 

[Sockmonkey]

I’m having the same no start situation with my 2023 Platinum PB purchased November 2023. I have attached pics to this thread. I did a lock and walk away and was able to start the car after a stroll through the Walmart parking lot. Worried about this happening on the road.

 

[Grafx36510]

I’m having the same no start situation with my 2023 Platinum PB purchased November 2023. I have attached pics to this thread. I did a lock and walk away and was able to start the car after a stroll through the Walmart parking lot. Worried about this happening on the road.

Try the 2 step method. Put the truck in accessory mode (key on-engine off), wait a few second and then start. It’s worth a shot based on what I’ve read around here.

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