Proximity/Door handle lock/unlock not working

[pappcam]

Soo.... this all started with my lane centering on adaptive cruise not working a few times when it should. Troubleshooting that made me check my software updates on my truck and I got the "checking status" eternal spinning wheel screen every time.

Research here and other places said to disconnect the negative terminal to my battery for 20 minutes and that seemed to fix the software updates problem. Lane centering also worked the next time I used adaptive cruise control but I'm not sure if that's actually fixed or related.

Now my door handle lock and unlock is not working. Grabbing the door handle does not unlock it and touching the black sensor button also does nothing. My truck flashes the lights as I approach it so it recognizes the fob and I can start and stop the engine with zero issues using the push button and I get no messages on my cluster or screen about it. I tried with the other fob and it's the exact same thing. I can still even use the code on my door to lock and unlock it. The buttons on the fob itself also work fine.

I'm stumped as to why I can't use the door handle anymore and I'm wondering if anyone else has seen this behaviour and got it fixed easily. I will be making a call to the dealership anyway if any of these issues arise again or persist. Thanks in advance.

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[NVRANUF]

YES... I've seen it before. On my friend's 2021 5.0.... the battery needed to be charged and the BMS / SOC needed to be reset. Then his proximity sensor and touch lock / unlock worked again. He had no messages on the dash except every once in a while the infotainment would display something about entering power saving mode when he turned the ignition off, but hadn't opened the door yet (so the radio would normally still be on)... most of the time he didn't notice the message because he would just shut off the truck and get out right away. My friend's truck also started normally, and the manual lock switches worked fine. You might also just go ahead and put an H8 size battery in it. If you leave your truck parked a lot and only do a bunch of fairly short trips with your truck (like under 20 minutes) then the battery never really charges back up. When you charge your battery you MUST attach the negative side to the little nut on the BMS sensor... NOT to the battery terminal.

 

[pappcam]

Well, I fixed it by doing another 20 minutes of unhooking the negative terminal on the battery. These electronics are a little flaky. Any more issues and it's going to the dealer for a look over.

 

[NVRANUF]

Your 20 minutes of battery disconnect likely reset the BMS (Battery Management System) and the SOC (State of Charge). But if your battery is low on charge then the problem will resurface. I'd throw on a battery tender overnight (Again.... you MUST connect charger to the nut on BMS sensor and NOT to the battery terminal). For a Tender I'd recommend at least a 3-amp or 5-amp one.... the cheap 1-amp ones might not due to much as these trucks are always drawing some power to stay "ready" for proximity wake-up, OTA updates, key fob input, etc., etc.

 

[pappcam]

Your 20 minutes of battery disconnect likely reset the BMS (Battery Management System) and the SOC (State of Charge). But if your battery is low on charge then the problem will resurface. I'd throw on a battery tender overnight (Again.... you MUST connect charger to the nut on BMS sensor and NOT to the battery terminal). For a Tender I'd recommend at least a 3-amp or 5-amp one.... the cheap 1-amp ones might not due to much as these trucks are always drawing some power to stay "ready" for proximity wake-up, OTA updates, key fob input, etc., etc.

If I run into issues again I will definitely do the battery tender thing. Mine's a 2024 but was bought new this spring and only has 5000km on it. Yeah these things must have a lot of residual drain on the battery with all the systems that need to be "ready" at a moment's notice.

 

[Flash69]

As you know, these trucks have a lot of electrical components and modules. They don’t function properly when the battery voltage is low. From my experience on this forum and with my 2022, 98% of the electrical gremlins are solved with a new battery and BMS reset. I was having the issues you described and constantly getting the “shutting down radio to save power” message. I replaced my battery, reset the BMS and I’ve not seen a single issue since.

 

[pappcam]

As you know, these trucks have a lot of electrical components and modules. They don’t function properly when the battery voltage is low. From my experience on this forum and with my 2022, 98% of the electrical gremlins are solved with a new battery and BMS reset. I was having the issues you described and constantly getting the “shutting down radio to save power” message. I replaced my battery, reset the BMS and I’ve not seen a single issue since.

I don't think putting a new battery in a truck that was new 4 months ago is something I should have to do. I've never seen a "shutting down to save power" message yet but I will keep an eye out for it.

How did you reset the BMS? The negative terminal thing?

 

[Flash69]

I don't think putting a new battery in a truck that was new 4 months ago is something I should have to do. I've never seen a "shutting down to save power" message yet but I will keep an eye out for it.

How did you reset the BMS? The negative terminal thing?

Agreed, you should not have to replace a battery on a truck that is 4 month old, Ford should do that.

There are a couple of things happening here with the 21+ trucks:
The first thing is the way Ford programmed the BMS, the trucks only maintain an 80% state of charge and you have to drive it for more than an hour for it to start doing that. An example: Driving 25 mins to and from work each day will not allow the battery to reach 80% SoC.

The second thing happening here is Ford seems to have changed who they get batteries from and/or Ford changed the specs for their OEM batteries. Ford used to have great batteries, they even had 7 year warranties on Ford OEM batteries however that is no longer the case.

The last part of this problem is Ford dealer techs. Most dealer techs only know how to follow step by step instructions, they don’t know how to actually troubleshoot things. I’m saying this because a tech will only follow the step by step instructions to verify the battery is not the problem. There are easily 50+ threads on this forum about battery problems and how almost very odd power problem in these trucks is solved with a new battery and BMS reset.

The only two ways I know to perform a BMS reset is via Forscan or FDRS, both require an OBDII adapter and computer to perform the procedure.

 

[NVRANUF]

In addition to using ForScan or FDRS, the BMS reset can also be done manually by turning on the ignition (no engine) flashing the brights 5 times and pressing the brake pedal 3 times.

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