SSM 53801: 2022-2025 Maverick Hybrid 12V Battery Drain Issue Update Fix Released!

[HeyBales]

Well since the dealers don’t really know to much about the battery issue, or not letting the public know about it, I don’t think the dealer are going to put trickle chargers on the hybrids weekly.
If the hybrids are holding a battery charge at the dealers before purchases, then is it something we’re doing like ford pass?
Or is it something that we turn on for the first time or a sequence of turning something on?

Whether you setup Fordpass on the truck or not - it's still reporting into Ford upon each start & stop.
Fordpass setup merely allows the truck to have secure remote access from the app.

And perhaps that's the difference - if there is no remote access given - then the modem doesn't need to do an hourly ping to keep the network connection active for that remote ability.
For the truck to send data up, merely connects when ready and sends.
Maybe until that 1st setup - Ford never reaches out to the truck, so ability doesn't need to be there.
No hourly pings, means if terrible AT&T network, no wasted extra energy.
No hourly pings, means 1 less module to go flakey and get into a bad process, perhaps not turning the connection off.

I could see an improvement from that.

While that should mean the difference between 50 mA peak power to only 25 mA peak - during the whole sleep time.

But also, after every stop, the different modules being on upwards of 75 min, pulling who knows how much then until they finally sleep. Someone doing multiple trips a day has many opportunities for 75 min bigger drains. Compared to just sitting on the lot in constant sleep mode.

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[HeyBales]

After the dealer having my '24 hybrid for 10 days and finding nothing wrong with the battery they charged it and sent it back and said I am to blame because I don't drive it enough. I drove it 5 of the last 6 days but today once again got the battery saver mode warning on my FordPass.

Pretty sure your battery has already got a bad cell - remaining 5 can't hold high enough charge.
Maybe 2 gone by now. Will need almost 3 gone to test bad for warranty replacement.

Not sure on testing if they'd report "ya it's having problems", knowing that raises the whole replace it desire, and they can't do that under warranty yet.
So, "nothing wrong" (enough).

 

[rknrbt]

Pretty sure your battery has already got a bad cell - remaining 5 can't hold high enough charge.
Maybe 2 gone by now. Will need almost 3 gone to test bad for warranty replacement.

Not sure on testing if they'd report "ya it's having problems", knowing that raises the whole replace it desire, and they can't do that under warranty yet.
So, "nothing wrong" (enough).

They have it in their mind because my truck is low miles that I don't drive it enough to keep the battery charged. Easier to do that than really look for the problem.

 

[Master Blaster]

After the dealer having my '24 hybrid for 10 days and finding nothing wrong with the battery they charged it and sent it back and said I am to blame because I don't drive it enough. I drove it 5 of the last 6 days but today once again got the battery saver mode warning on my FordPass.

A battery is designed to be charged to a minimum of 90%, and preferably a slight overcharge to mitigate any sulfation starting to form. Unlike older large-alternator systems, the BMS in the Mav only charges the battery to a maximum of 75% charge, leading to early sulfation death. Your battery is dropping below 69% charge, which is common on heavily-sulphated batteries. At 55% your doors will not open and the interior light will stop coming on. Its just going to get worse, until you have to tow it to the dealer. Your dealer needs to be trained on Hybrid problems and symptoms, as they are obviously assuming that a common ICE drivetrain problem with undersized alternators is to blame. Get a new dealer who is properly trained and has the correct load tester specified by Ford to determine that the battery is toast.

 

[johnDeere]

A battery is designed to be charged to a minimum of 90%, and preferably a slight overcharge to mitigate any sulfation starting to form. Unlike older large-alternator systems, the BMS in the Mav only charges the battery to a maximum of 75% charge, leading to early sulfation death. Your battery is dropping below 69% charge, which is common on heavily-sulphated batteries. At 55% your doors will not open and the interior light will stop coming on. Its just going to get worse, until you have to tow it to the dealer. Your dealer needs to be trained on Hybrid problems and symptoms, as they are obviously assuming that a common ICE drivetrain problem with undersized alternators is to blame. Get a new dealer who is properly trained and has the correct load tester specified by Ford to determine that the battery is toast.

Very good info.
I set my flooded battery to flooded and to charge to 99%. I am watching the voltage and current with a attached volt-current meter.
The voltage when in ready mode is now in the summer 14.6 v, in the winter time its 15.1.
I also installed another attached 12v battery that has removable covers so I can check the water level, and after 3 months the water lever is normal, so not over charging.
After the truck sitting for 4 days my voltage is down to 12.3v, (after one day sitting, the voltage is down to 12.6) and when I turn on the truck it starts charging at 80A, but drops down to 30A after 5 minutes.
It can take 30 minutes to bring the charging current down to 6A, remember that is for two batteries.
So the excuse the dealer is telling you to drive more is BS, they don't know what there talking about or how to check for problems or fix this issue.
I have never seen in normal driving the voltage drop below 14V.
I did tests where I fooled the BMS and got it to charge to 13.5V but at night it reset it self to 14.6V
Three is probably there biggest issue, (the dealer) not checking the voltage when the truck is driving down the road for 30 minutes.
So far I have not done enough testing to see where all the current is going when you turn the key to OFF.
As its said in other posts, it could take 75 minutes before it lowers to 0A.
Maybe the flux capacitor?

2023 mav XLT hybrid 16K miles

 

[MakinDoForNow]

A battery is designed to be charged to a minimum of 90%, and preferably a slight overcharge to mitigate any sulfation starting to form. Unlike older large-alternator systems, the BMS in the Mav only charges the battery to a maximum of 75% charge, leading to early sulfation death. Your battery is dropping below 69% charge, which is common on heavily-sulphated batteries. At 55% your doors will not open and the interior light will stop coming on. Its just going to get worse, until you have to tow it to the dealer. Your dealer needs to be trained on Hybrid problems and symptoms, as they are obviously assuming that a common ICE drivetrain problem with undersized alternators is to blame. Get a new dealer who is properly trained and has the correct load tester specified by Ford to determine that the battery is toast.

Ooooo, it just came to me that I have not put my lariat on my noco G5 for 8 weeks or so. Will take about 10 days for it to optimize sulfation, etc. will start it tonight. Probably cannot let it sit for more than three days so may take 3 weeks or so to "get,-er-done". (I was in 3/21 infantry Gimlets in Viet Nam, we got the do it asap assignments due to unit history since the days of Boston Tea Party). I came home in 1968 but 3/21 Gimlets was last ground combat unit to leave Viet Nam in 1972

 

[rknrbt]

Very good info.
I set my flooded battery to flooded and to charge to 99%. I am watching the voltage and current with a attached volt-current meter.
The voltage when in ready mode is now in the summer 14.6 v, in the winter time its 15.1.
I also installed another attached 12v battery that has removable covers so I can check the water level, and after 3 months the water lever is normal, so not over charging.
After the truck sitting for 4 days my voltage is down to 12.3v, (after one day sitting, the voltage is down to 12.6) and when I turn on the truck it starts charging at 80A, but drops down to 30A after 5 minutes.
It can take 30 minutes to bring the charging current down to 6A, remember that is for two batteries.
So the excuse the dealer is telling you to drive more is BS, they don't know what there talking about or how to check for problems or fix this issue.
I have never seen in normal driving the voltage drop below 14V.
I did tests where I fooled the BMS and got it to charge to 13.5V but at night it reset it self to 14.6V
Three is probably there biggest issue, (the dealer) not checking the voltage when the truck is driving down the road for 30 minutes.
So far I have not done enough testing to see where all the current is going when you turn the key to OFF.
As its said in other posts, it could take 75 minutes before it lowers to 0A.
Maybe the flux capacitor?

2023 mav XLT hybrid 16K miles

I don't think they want to really spend any time looking for the source of the problem. In their mind they know the problem, ME! I have a call in for my national service rep and am looking into another dealership that will be interested in solving this problem. I fear all the service departments are in collusion and stick together though. The dealership that can solve my problem will win a new loyal customer for sure.

 

[johnDeere]

Didn’t we read on another post it was a team in India that may have found the possible issue with the AC controller?
there shipping our issue to another country to find there problem

 

[OleFordGuy]

Didn’t we read on another post it was a team in India that may have found the possible issue with the AC controller?
there shipping our issue to another country to find there problem

Pretty pathetic but not uncommon in today’s s/w coding world for it to be outsourced overseas. Can you imagine the roadblocks
Hence still not resolved since MY22 now 3 years and counting
It think the a/c thought didn’t resolve it yet. Shake the magic eight ball again

 

[Waterick]

Didn’t we read on another post it was a team in India that may have found the possible issue with the AC controller?
there shipping our issue to another country to find there problem

They're, their, now let's not get carried away with computer input writing!

 

[HeyBales]

Pretty pathetic but not uncommon in today’s s/w coding world for it to be outsourced overseas. Can you imagine the roadblocks
Hence still not resolved since MY22 now 3 years and counting
It think the a/c thought didn’t resolve it yet. Shake the magic eight ball again

I'm totally convinced that whole effort was to track down the biggest source of a drain that they could find.
So they could stop paying warranty work to investigate it - since it does take awhile, or rather takes up a bay with all the waiting.

While out-sourced programmers may have done the ACCM upgrade - someone with a truck had to track the drain down.
I'm still concerned that of the 3 posts I saw with work orders, when techs still did troubleshooting on a drain - none were the ACCM, but other modules.
And now the process is get the ACCM upgraded, recharge battery and confirm not damaged (not too bad anyway), and pat, pat out the door.
I guess if you came back the next week with battery drained again, they'd spend the time troubleshooting which module.

It really seems this comment in the manual was not implemented - or it doesn't work right, or very well. Or poor terms used - not "excessive battery drain detected", but rather "low voltage" which is not the same sort of smart system. For sure they need to include the TCU in the list.

HOW DOES THE BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM WORK

If excessive battery drain is detected, the system temporarily disables some electrical systems to protect the battery.
Systems included are:

• Heated rear window.
• Heated seats.
• Climate control.
• Heated steering wheel.
• Audio unit.
• Navigation system.

A message could appear in the information display to alert you that battery protection actions are active. This message is only for notification that an action is taking place, and not intended to indicate an electrical problem or that the battery requires replacement.

 

[johnDeere]

Now this reply is just for the hybrid mavericks.
It was nice they wrote software and wrote it in the manual that there is a order in witch items are shut off to protect the battery.
I think most of the items listed above will need to key ON to operate?
I know on my 23 XLT mav. if the key is on the battery is being charged.

Maybe they wrote that in to the software to be a watchdog system, so when there is a glitch in the software and the key is off and something is on by a glitch the watchdog system will turn it off to protect the battery.
They must have a high degree of conferenced that there software has issues.
Now I am going to need to look at other vehicle I have owned to see if they have a safety protection like this in there manual.

 

[HeyBales]

Now this reply is just for the hybrid mavericks.
It was nice they wrote software and wrote it in the manual that there is a order in witch items are shut off to protect the battery.
I think most of the items listed above will need to key ON to operate?
I know on my 23 XLT mav. if the key is on the battery is being charged.

Maybe they wrote that in to the software to be a watchdog system, so when there is a glitch in the software and the key is off and something is on by a glitch the watchdog system will turn it off to protect the battery.
They must have a high degree of conferenced that there software has issues.
Now I am going to need to look at other vehicle I have owned to see if they have a safety protection like this in there manual.

I'm not sure I'd put that much faith in the order of the items, not alpha order obviously, but there have been other sloppy sections in the manual. Maybe it is the order.
Glad you mentioned it that way - I was assuming totally when off.

I agree must mainly be for key On or perhaps ACC mode mainly, since I got this before truck taken in for battery replacement. Was only on ACC mode.

But I think applies to EB in ACC or On - but even the hybrid in On mode not Ready may be charging the 12V to handle those loads - but eventually the HVB could hit 30% and no ICE available to run. I've seen that warning.

It would be smart programming - to have something even with key Off, to be watching other modules being awake, at the least some V or A being drawn - during the 75 min or after, might as well disable modules that seem to be awake more than they should.
Shoot, they've been doing it for years with an overhead light left on or door left open causing the same - just an expansion of that.

 

[rknrbt]

I'm not sure I'd put that much faith in the order of the items, not alpha order obviously, but there have been other sloppy sections in the manual. Maybe it is the order.
Glad you mentioned it that way - I was assuming totally when off.

I agree must mainly be for key On or perhaps ACC mode mainly, since I got this before truck taken in for battery replacement. Was only on ACC mode.

But I think applies to EB in ACC or On - but even the hybrid in On mode not Ready may be charging the 12V to handle those loads - but eventually the HVB could hit 30% and no ICE available to run. I've seen that warning.

It would be smart programming - to have something even with key Off, to be watching other modules being awake, at the least some V or A being drawn - during the 75 min or after, might as well disable modules that seem to be awake more than they should.
Shoot, they've been doing it for years with an overhead light left on or door left open causing the same - just an expansion of that.

Well, I am taking it into another dealer on Monday. The service manager there told me they have a tech that is very good at electronics, finding shorts and drains. I hope he is right, time will tell.

 

[Red Eyes - Wide Shut]

A battery is designed to be charged to a minimum of 90%, and preferably a slight overcharge to mitigate any sulfation starting to form. Unlike older large-alternator systems, the BMS in the Mav only charges the battery to a maximum of 75% charge, leading to early sulfation death. Your battery is dropping below 69% charge, which is common on heavily-sulphated batteries. At 55% your doors will not open and the interior light will stop coming on. Its just going to get worse, until you have to tow it to the dealer. Your dealer needs to be trained on Hybrid problems and symptoms, as they are obviously assuming that a common ICE drivetrain problem with undersized alternators is to blame. Get a new dealer who is properly trained and has the correct load tester specified by Ford to determine that the battery is toast.

If all of what you say is fact, why doesnt Ford do something then. Adjust the charge level higher. With all due respect this is a years and years old problem going back to the Escape. I get the name now. Fixing problems has escaped Fords ability.

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