Maverick Hybrid Brakes Completely Ruined After Towed Behind RV

[The Real Maverick]

This is I think the third case I have read about the Hybrid Mav toasting the brakes while being flat towed.

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[Crowman]

I’m sorry to hear about your accident or incident, but I also bought the Maverick to tow behind my RV but I’m using a tow dolly only because I already had one but now I’m kind of glad I am using the tow dolly it also has its own braking system Best of luck getting someone to take responsibility.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

do you have an auxiliary charger from the RV to the Maverick?

if not, are you certain the battery level in the Maverick was sufficient?

Good point. What is expected damage if neutral tow is not achieved or at what soc of 12v battery that it drops out of neutral tow?

 

[The Real Maverick]

I’m sorry to hear about your accident or incident, but I also bought the Maverick to tow behind my RV but I’m using a tow dolly only because I already had one but now I’m kind of glad I am using the tow dolly it also has its own braking system Best of luck getting someone to take responsibility.

Be careful with the tow dolly.
There is a tilt sensor.
If the truck is tilted by just a few degrees, it assumes you are on s hill, and automatically puts on the parking brake while in Park.

In fact it is SO sensitive, my truck was doing the automatic brakes with the TINY tilt from this heavy load yesterday.
I was going to start a new thread about my funky experience.

THIS was enough to fool the truck into thinking I was pointing uphill and I was getting brakes automatically applied about 50% of the stops I made. With key in, still in drive. The hill hold so no rollback feature.

 

[MetalThunder]

Could be old news But So Glad when I ordered Hybrids orders were not being accepted. ... Saying that just received the BCM recall on my Ecoboost

RCLRPT-24V330-2910.PDF (nhtsa.gov)

The automakers says affected vehicles received a software update that can cause the vehicle to pop into neutral while driving. Keep in mind that these machines have electronic shifters of varying design – a dial in the Fords, buttons in the Lincoln – so this is some sort of rogue line of code buried in that software update that's causing the problem.


As the vehicle coasts to a stop, the thing will place itself in Park which is considerate since doing so at 60 mph would cause unwanted figure eights on our nations' highways. If the driver chooses to shift back to Drive in an attempt to depart, the vehicle will enter limp mode which provides limited torque at low speeds up to 30mph.

Cheers

 

[MakinDoForNow]

At least it's been narrowed down. Still, as others mentioned, a bit scary thinking the system could be faulty if the battery drops below a certain voltage which is well known on these trucks. Am I understanding that correctly?

Also note that someone posted that in shop manual it is stated that during program updates there needs to be 13.1 volts minimum with auxiliary power supply to be sure the BMS does not activate load shedding which could affect proper installation of update. I take this to mean that your power supply from RV should be stable at 13.1 v or higher (buck booster set to 13.1/13.2???). If voltage from RV is not stable and brake lights come on in maverick that may cause a drop in voltage to trigger the load shedding and neutral tow could get turned off because of that?

 

[Crowman]

Be careful with the tow dolly.
There is a tilt sensor.
If the truck is tilted by just a few degrees, it assumes you are on s hill, and automatically puts on the parking brake while in Park.

In fact it is SO sensitive, my truck was doing the automatic brakes with the TINY tilt from this heavy load yesterday.
I was going to start a new thread about my funky experience.

THIS was enough to fool the truck into thinking I was pointing uphill and I was getting brakes automatically applied about 50% of the stops I made. With key in, still in drive. The hill hold so no rollback feature.

Someone in an earlier threads stated that putting it in slippery mode may help mine and your situation, referring to the tilt

 

[pigsareus]

I'm baffled how the brake assist could have applied enough brake force to completely ruin the brakes yet you didn't notice and drag while towing?

big old motorhome isn't going to feel any resistance especially if the pressure on the brakes was constant but subtle and going at any rate of speed.

 

[rclee]

I'm baffled how the brake assist could have applied enough brake force to completely ruin the brakes yet you didn't notice and drag while towing?

Not only drag, but there had to be a high amount of smell associated with burning your brakes out! I had a CR-V and it had only one caliper that was hanging. I drove around the block and parked the vehicle and I could smell burning brake and feel the heat on that wheel when I got close to it. That was less than a half mile drive.

 

[realshelby]

There is a LOT if guessing/assuming here. My coach weighs 23,000 lbs not counting the toad and I can tell if a brake didn't release properly ( I had issues with that due to the Blue Ox base plates bending under load). With catastrophic brake sticking there would also be some smoke in your mirrors too.

The "fix" for this is to install an LED lamp on the dash of the tow vehicle. Mine is tapped into the left brake light socket. Since my auxiliary braking system does NOT use the factor brake lamps, when they come on ( due to the pedal being depressed by the aux system) I KNOW the brakes on the Maverick are on! Even if using diodes on the factory brake circuit, they LED would still be ON telling the driver the brakes are staying on even when the coach braking is not applied. I think this LED warning lamp should be on any toad.

 

[Hot Runr Guy]

The "fix" for this is to install an LED lamp on the dash of the tow vehicle. Mine is tapped into the left brake light socket. Since my auxiliary braking system does NOT use the factor brake lamps, when they come on ( due to the pedal being depressed by the aux system) I KNOW the brakes on the Maverick are on! Even if using diodes on the factory brake circuit, they LED would still be ON telling the driver the brakes are staying on even when the coach braking is not applied. I think this LED warning lamp should be on any toad.

IF the toad was ordered with the $100 hitch, could this be as simple as a magnetic light plugged into the 4-flat trailer connector, and placed on the side of the fender, viewable from the coach mirrors?

HRG

 

[realshelby]

IF the toad was ordered with the $100 hitch, could this be as simple as a magnetic light plugged into the 4-flat trailer connector, and placed on the side of the fender, viewable from the coach mirrors?

HRG

I am not sure. I believe the 4 pin flat connector has to recognize a trailer is actually hooked to it to turn "on" the circuits. It might be the magnetic lights would trigger that, or not?

As far as simple, buying a surface mount led for a 1/4" hole is as easy as a quick internet search.
There isn't even a need for an extra cable to hook/unhook when setting up to tow. Start by tapping into the positive wire for a brake light in your Maverick ( highly recommend Posi-Taps for this). From there I run my led positive through a spare connector in the 6 pin round in the Maverick front electrical connector. That connects to the coach 7 pin round. I use the corresponding connector in that to run a wire to the dash of the coach. Tie that to the LED, find a place for the led ground wire, and you are done. If you have some spare wire, this is under $5 to do.
Adds a LOT of confidence that your braking system is working like it should. You can watch the light come on as Maverick brakes are applied, go off when released. And if something isn't releasing the brakes....you KNOW that immediately. This will work for ANY braking system......

 

[PNWMaverick]

Did you forget to release the hand brake?

This would explain damage to the rear brakes but not all four.

Who installed everything?

This is where I would be going. I would be asking for their insurance information so that a claim can be filed.

The Demco engineer is going to contact the installer and we will take it from there. Sure hoping they will take responsibility for this costly damage.

At minimum they should have insurance and you go directly to that. If they won't take responsibility you just bypass them entirely.

Edit:

If it is determined that it was an improper installation, and they won't take responsibility, I would reach back out to your insurance. They might step in at that point and go after the installer.

 

[Linda B]

I have a surge braking system by ReadyBrute. I also have installed external TPMS sensors so I see the tire pressure and temperature from the cab of my motorhome. The TPMS alerted me to dragging brakes because of an increase in temperature. It was braking because the spring that releases the brake pedal isn't strong enough to counteract the weight of the braking cable on the surge system. My solution, and the one recommended by ReadyBrute was a bungie cord from the brake pedal to the seat.

Without the TPMS, I would have had the same problem as the OP.

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