Dear Ford. It's Me, Bob. My Maverick died today.

[NJBob]

Ford looks at this Forum but like the ordering situation nothing but crickets. At least acknowledge the issue. But nothing. I sure other car manufacturers would do the same thing. May affect their sales.

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[Uncle Ed]

I absolutely love my little Maverick, and was hoping this hybrid charging thing was something I would avoid.

I just passed 3000 miles this weekend and all was awesome. Then, I had just pulled out of a parking lot near my home, and I was about a 1/2 mile down the road doing 35 mph when the truck died. The a/c blower was still working, no warning messages, no dimmed dash lights- it just started to slow down without power. I pulled over, turned the key to the OFF position, then restarted the vehicle. After a few seconds, the ICE started. I didn't have anything plugged into the power outlets/USB. I have not added any power accessories to the bed.

I arrived at home, spent a few minutes unloading our bicycles. When I opened the driver's door, the key-in-ignition warning sound was oddly distorted, as if the voltage or current was too low.

I checked for error messages- none. I checked the battery voltage: the battery reads a little over 12v when the ignition is off, 14+ when running. I drove the vehicle around town to see if I could reproduce the symptoms, but no.

I will call my dealer after the holiday. It would be an understatement to say that I'm not pleased with Ford Motor Co. right now.

Now I can't trust my 2 month-old vehicle. If the power had died on the interstate (where I frequently drive) I would have been in an unsafe situation. There is obviously a defect in your product.

NHTSA , report any unsafe autos, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, seems like a place to start, we are not seeing any urgency or even recognition from Ford.

 

[Captain]

This issue is significant enough to warrant a TSB. What's the Ridgeline have to do with a Ford problem, fanboy?

Clearly you never owned a Honda or you wouldn’t ask. I’m truly a Toyota Fanman, owned no less than 10 new Toyotas in the last 20 years. A TSB isn’t going to help until the car fails… whereas a recall can get them fixed before getting them killed.

 

[projectvortex]

I absolutely love my little Maverick, and was hoping this hybrid charging thing was something I would avoid.

I just passed 3000 miles this weekend and all was awesome. Then, I had just pulled out of a parking lot near my home, and I was about a 1/2 mile down the road doing 35 mph when the truck died. The a/c blower was still working, no warning messages, no dimmed dash lights- it just started to slow down without power. I pulled over, turned the key to the OFF position, then restarted the vehicle. After a few seconds, the ICE started. I didn't have anything plugged into the power outlets/USB. I have not added any power accessories to the bed.

I arrived at home, spent a few minutes unloading our bicycles. When I opened the driver's door, the key-in-ignition warning sound was oddly distorted, as if the voltage or current was too low.

I checked for error messages- none. I checked the battery voltage: the battery reads a little over 12v when the ignition is off, 14+ when running. I drove the vehicle around town to see if I could reproduce the symptoms, but no.

I will call my dealer after the holiday. It would be an understatement to say that I'm not pleased with Ford Motor Co. right now.

Now I can't trust my 2 month-old vehicle. If the power had died on the interstate (where I frequently drive) I would have been in an unsafe situation. There is obviously a defect in your product.

File a report with NHTSA and others as a safety issue. We won’t get attention unless we keep turning Ford in for making s*** trucks.

 

[Mite-o-Dan]

I absolutely love my little Maverick, and was hoping this hybrid charging thing was something I would avoid.

I just passed 3000 miles this weekend and all was awesome. Then, I had just pulled out of a parking lot near my home, and I was about a 1/2 mile down the road doing 35 mph when the truck died. The a/c blower was still working, no warning messages, no dimmed dash lights- it just started to slow down without power. I pulled over, turned the key to the OFF position, then restarted the vehicle. After a few seconds, the ICE started. I didn't have anything plugged into the power outlets/USB. I have not added any power accessories to the bed.

I arrived at home, spent a few minutes unloading our bicycles. When I opened the driver's door, the key-in-ignition warning sound was oddly distorted, as if the voltage or current was too low.

I checked for error messages- none. I checked the battery voltage: the battery reads a little over 12v when the ignition is off, 14+ when running. I drove the vehicle around town to see if I could reproduce the symptoms, but no.

I will call my dealer after the holiday. It would be an understatement to say that I'm not pleased with Ford Motor Co. right now.

Now I can't trust my 2 month-old vehicle. If the power had died on the interstate (where I frequently drive) I would have been in an unsafe situation. There is obviously a defect in your product.

How has there not been a recall for dead hybrids yet?

 

[Red Ryder]

Clearly you never owned a Honda or you wouldn’t ask. I’m truly a Toyota Fanman, owned no less than 10 new Toyotas in the last 20 years. A TSB isn’t going to help until the car fails… whereas a recall can get them fixed before getting them killed.

We have a Honda Odyssey in the garage, along with a Mazda and the Maverick.

Sure a recall would be ideal, but those are usually preceded by a TSB identifying the issue and providing a stop-gap. We've seen nothing. And, yes, my earlier response was excessive, my apologies.

 

[Mite-o-Dan]

I absolutely love my little Maverick, and was hoping this hybrid charging thing was something I would avoid.

I just passed 3000 miles this weekend and all was awesome. Then, I had just pulled out of a parking lot near my home, and I was about a 1/2 mile down the road doing 35 mph when the truck died. The a/c blower was still working, no warning messages, no dimmed dash lights- it just started to slow down without power. I pulled over, turned the key to the OFF position, then restarted the vehicle. After a few seconds, the ICE started. I didn't have anything plugged into the power outlets/USB. I have not added any power accessories to the bed.

I arrived at home, spent a few minutes unloading our bicycles. When I opened the driver's door, the key-in-ignition warning sound was oddly distorted, as if the voltage or current was too low.

I checked for error messages- none. I checked the battery voltage: the battery reads a little over 12v when the ignition is off, 14+ when running. I drove the vehicle around town to see if I could reproduce the symptoms, but no.

I will call my dealer after the holiday. It would be an understatement to say that I'm not pleased with Ford Motor Co. right now.

Now I can't trust my 2 month-old vehicle. If the power had died on the interstate (where I frequently drive) I would have been in an unsafe situation. There is obviously a defect in your product.

Would normal jumper cables work? I'm thinking of ordering a battery pack jumper cable set I can use without another car for when my hybrid arrives.

 

[Special Order]

Would normal jumper cables work? I'm thinking of ordering a battery pack jumper cable set I can use without another car for when my hybrid arrives.

I would be more concerned about the vehicle dying in the middle lane of traffic on the interstate, or while going down a steep grade towing a trailer. What if it died in the middle of a turn through a busy intersection?

My advice is to park it...demand a loaner from Ford, until the problem is fixed.

 

[Special Order]

How has there not been a recall for dead hybrids yet?

Hopefully Ford isn't foolish enough to be trying to use the "silent recall" method.

 

[NJ Pinelands]

I watch a lot, but not every minute of Tims @fordvideoguy shows on Tuesday and Thursday. Has he mentioned if any of their customers have run into this and are the Mavericks being built now using something more solid ?

 

[Nw_adventure]

How has there not been a recall for dead hybrids yet?

Plus I am still wondering how a truck that has been out and driven for almost a year now has no official crash test rating -

 

[MLowe05]

The crash test thing likely has to do with availability of Mavericks. But it's not a new platform and should do fine.

There is no recall likely because of it being a small overall percentage and NHTSA probably not being notified by everyone.

 

[Dudley]

EcoBoost!

 

[Chris_G]

Dear Bob,

We have suspended all manufacturing and sales while we address your issue.
We have also sent our engineering team to your residence to personally identify and resolve your concerns.

Sincerely,
The summer intern

 

[abjbrtd]

Question for "Bob" and any other affected followers of this thread.

Have you reported your problem to the NHTSA?
Here's the link.
https://www.nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem#index

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