Last month, Ford announced a Mustang Mach-E recall and told dealerships to halt all deliveries and test drives over a potentially dangerous battery malfunction. Affected vehicles could lose power while in motion, but Ford has temporarily released an update to solve some issues.
The problem resides in the high voltage battery contactors, which could overheat and weld to the contact points, which isn’t good. The recall covers new Mach-E vehicles awaiting delivery and over 48,000 cars already in customers’ driveways.
Ford confirmed that vehicles that could face this problem would slowly and safely stop if the malfunction occurs. That’s because while the car will lose power, the 12V systems handling steering, brakes, and other safety mechanisms will be unaffected. Coasting to a stop safely, but also leaving owners stranded and waiting for a tow truck.
However, it looks like Ford found a band-aid solution and has released a temporary fix for the battery recall. According to the MachEForums, Ford is rolling out an optional (but highly recommended) over-the-air software update to vehicles.
This new update will not prevent the problem, but if it does occur, power will be cut to 33% allowing owners to get off the road safely and safely drive vehicles to a dealership. So, as we said earlier, a band-aid and quality of life update for potentially affected vehicles.
Owners can take their Mach-E into a dealership for the fix or apply it themselves. Ford dealers will “reprogram the Powertrain Control Module (PCM), BECM, and SOBDMC using the Ford Diagnostic Repair System.”
The patch is available now at dealerships throughout the U.S. and Canada, or it’ll be an optional over-the-air update you can apply at home later this summer. Then, we’re expecting a full physical recall with replacement battery contactors sometime in Q3 of this year.
via DriveTesla
