Update on SSM-53801

[Vomamansr]

Had that update performed end of May 25 and now we’re in August and guess what’s come back, sleep mode messages are starting to come back. I guess that’s not the fix They thought it would be

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[Waterick]

Have heard this before. So far, it seems some vehicles may have had the drain addressed by the SSM, but for many it changes nothing.

 

[HeyBales]

Had that update performed end of May 25 and now we’re in August and guess what’s come back, sleep mode messages are starting to come back. I guess that’s not the fix They thought it would be

If you read the SSM it was never about deep sleep mode - which is an undercharged battery.
It was about intermittent battery drain - dead battery in a day or two.
Obviously a battery being drained will cause deep sleep mode on it's way to being drained.

It was only rumor and hopefulness of drivers, not Ford, that applied it to the wrong issue.

Oh - sleep mode is what the truck does 75 min after turn-off, or sooner as Battery Saver functions are enabled. All modules turned off except for security & radios for reading remote fobs, and the modem.
Deep sleep the modem is disabled too.

 

[Krys]

I dropped off Maverick off Thursday morning at the dealer. They told me later that the NAPA AGM battery that they replaced a year ago was charged at 30%. They will charge battery, then run the SSM 53801 procedure, but want to keep the truck overnight to have a test drive in the morning. The NAPA battery was good, and Thursday evening Ford App worked, and showed truck's location at dealer's parking lot. At 7:30 AM Friday, before they opened, App showed the low battery message again. This proved that the "air conditioning control module (ACCM) software update" was unnecessary, and did not fix the drain issue. Their drive test didn't help either, right after the drive the App message was still asking to "Drive to reconnect vehicle", no amount of driving ever fixed such message, so I am stuck again, and dealer has no solution at hand. Sort of amazing that since Ford released the first Ford Maverick they are still unable to fix the 12V battery issue. I guess they are waiting for a class action lawsuit, since the new truck buyers are kept in the dark about the problem, and Ford removed the low battery warning light from the dashboard as not to alert to the issue.

 

[Master Blaster]

I had my 3rd battery put in my 23 at the end of May when they also did the A/C SSM, charged the battery fully and reset the BMS. Until lately its been working properly, but I'm starting to see the interior lights shutting off earlier, so I measured the battery. Its only charging to 12.1V after a long drive, or about 55% charge. Putting it on a 10A charger overnight gets it up to 12.2V and then its back down to 12.1V after a couple of hours and the surface charge has dissipated. So, my 3-month-old new Motorcraft battery is toast, and about to start causing the deep sleep shutdowns again. I think its going to happen at the 5 or 6 month mark on a battery that should be lasting a minimum of 12 times that long. Clearly they have not solved the defective BMS software issue yet.

Come on Ford, you promised a fix for 1Q25 and then end of 2Q25, and it has still not been released. What's the new date? This is costing you a huge amount in warranty claims and lost goodwill.

 

[HeyBales]

That's the rumor - they never promised to fix an under-charged low voltage battery issue that results in deep sleep.

They fixed an intermittent battery drain issue. Maybe. Hopefully. At least one cause.

Big difference.

Everyone that gets a battery replacement should make sure their dealer sends it up as I described - a BMS caused undercharged low voltage battery issue that killed their battery early.

Reporting a deep sleep issue is really useless - that's a symptom, not a cause.
Letting them report it as only a bad battery under warranty replacement just tells Ford they got some bad batteries - if it ever raises to the level to matter to find another supplier or investigate why so many.

If other makes and models have all been sent up as bad batteries also - no wonder the problem remains.
If other work orders for warranty report all say the issue is deep sleep - no wonder the problem remains for them too.

I really think these are stats they don't receive. Unless the extra 1 or 2 MPG extra is really worth it.
But frankly - since I got a new battery - my mileage has increased. As the high charging rate has gone down. (of course too much again - battery is dying a fast death)

 

[skinnyboy]

Unless the extra 1 or 2 MPG extra is really worth

I think you hit the nail on the head. Obviously not worth the minor mileage increase on the impacted vehicle, but if it allows the manufacturer to sell high profit fuel hogs since it meets CAFE ratings overall it likely does. My son's new(ish) Corolla software goes to great lengths to save fuel with things like HVAC restrictions. Then I see the ridiculously expensive, huge new SUV's and pickups on the dealership floor. There has to be a profit incentive.

Cheers.

 

[Master Blaster]

I had my 3rd battery put in my 23 at the end of May when they also did the A/C SSM, charged the battery fully and reset the BMS. Until lately its been working properly, but I'm starting to see the interior lights shutting off earlier, so I measured the battery. Its only charging to 12.1V after a long drive, or about 55% charge. Putting it on a 10A charger overnight gets it up to 12.2V and then its back down to 12.1V after a couple of hours and the surface charge has dissipated. So, my 3-month-old new Motorcraft battery is toast, and about to start causing the deep sleep shutdowns again. I think its going to happen at the 5 or 6 month mark on a battery that should be lasting a minimum of 12 times that long. Clearly they have not solved the defective BMS software issue yet.

Come on Ford, you promised a fix for 1Q25 and then end of 2Q25, and it has still not been released. What's the new date? This is costing you a huge amount in warranty claims and lost goodwill.

Waiting and watching. I've tracked the voltage every month in the 6mo that it has been since it was replaced, and put it on a trickle charger after that. It is presently at 12.1V instead of the 12.6V, or only 35% charge as understood by industry standards. My Ford dealer confirmed my battery SOC complaint, measuring the 12V SOC at 56% and IR at 6.24 ohms or right at the upper resistance edge of what would be considered a non-sulfated battery. If you work out the difference between their measurement and mine, it looks like they consider an 80% charge to be 100% for some reason. Their measurements were not bad enough to replace the battery for the 3rd time, calling that 100% SOH. They confirmed that I had already had SSM53801 applied to fix the unintended A/C battery usage, and then they spent almost 4hrs updating just about every software module on my 23 - the BECM, BCM, PCM, SOBDMC and TCU modules, and reset the BMS.
So with a host of newly updated modules, we're going to wait and see if the battery stops degrading and finally lasts for at least a few years. I guess we'll see...

 

[Waterick]

Waiting and watching. I've tracked the voltage every month in the 6mo that it has been since it was replaced, and put it on a trickle charger after that. It is presently at 12.1V instead of the 12.6V, or only 35% charge as understood by industry standards. My Ford dealer confirmed my battery SOC complaint, measuring the 12V SOC at 56% and IR at 6.24 ohms or right at the upper resistance edge of what would be considered a non-sulfated battery. If you work out the difference between their measurement and mine, it looks like they consider an 80% charge to be 100% for some reason. Their measurements were not bad enough to replace the battery for the 3rd time, calling that 100% SOH. They confirmed that I had already had SSM53801 applied to fix the unintended A/C battery usage, and then they spent almost 4hrs updating just about every software module on my 23 - the BECM, BCM, PCM, SOBDMC and TCU modules, and reset the BMS.
So with a host of newly updated modules, we're going to wait and see if the battery stops degrading and finally lasts for at least a few years. I guess we'll see...

Just don't hold your breath! Have the SMM now, still waiting for the OEM battery to fail their test. So far, my courtesy lights still operating normal, been one week yesterday.

 

[Krys]

Happy to report that the 12V "low battery" issue got finally resolved. After fail of SSM 53801 fix I called Ford Customer Care, and they called the dealer to bring my truck back. Three days ago I dropped off the truck and the battery problem has disappeared. As the service manager explained, the issue had nothing to do with the battery low level, or charging. They installed new software to correct communication errors between truck's system software and the communication module that was talking to the Ford App. Evidently what they did works, the "low battery" App lockout is gone, there are no more messages to "Drive to reconnect vehicle", and the App is fully functional.

 

[HeyBales]

Happy to report that the 12V "low battery" issue got finally resolved. After fail of SSM 53801 fix I called Ford Customer Care, and they called the dealer to bring my truck back. Three days ago I dropped off the truck and the battery problem has disappeared. As the service manager explained, the issue had nothing to do with the battery low level, or charging. They installed new software to correct communication errors between truck's system software and the communication module that was talking to the Ford App. Evidently what they did works, the "low battery" App lockout is gone, there are no more messages to "Drive to reconnect vehicle", and the App is fully functional.

So part of the process is testing the battery.

That requires a full charge. Test. Then recharge after that test. BMS reset.

You got a fully charged battery.

You now need to wait for weeks (if battery having an issue holding a charge) to months (if battery was merely starting to get week) before you can claim it has really fixed the issue.
Even the new AGM's that people installed couple years ago are finally showing issues.

Nothing in the truck talks directly to your Fordpass app. Info goes up to Ford servers - whether you have the app install or not.
If you have app installed it gets to read some of that uploaded data (location, miles, fuel level, tire pressure) from their servers.
In addition, if the truck can maintain the cell connection - you can remotely reach it for updated location, or remote start/lock/unlock, ect.

That would be interesting to see from the workorder what module they actually updated - actual TCU module, or one that sends to the TCU the final data after parking.
Any module that thinks the data wasn't sent could get stuck in a feedback loop of retrying whether it needs to or not in reality.
It would explain my higher then spec draw during the sleep mode I see in system data the next drive cycle. Mostly see, every blue moon it's where it is expected.

 

[Krys]

Interesting you mentioned the work order.

This is what it says:
Found SSM 52307 for inaccurate deep sleep notification with Ford Pass. update TCU

Tech notes:
Tested battery and tested good. Checked battery SOC PID and found battery at 75 percent. Checked connected vehicle and it showed 30 percent. That's why customer is getting notifications on phone. Found SSM 52307 to update TCU for inaccurate deep sleep notification with Ford Pass. Updated TCM. Cleared codes. Reset battery SOC parameters. Battery shows now 100 percent on connected vehicle.

Just checked the App, all works well for the first time since I got the truck in August 2023.

 

[HeyBales]

Interesting you mentioned the work order.

This is what it says:
Found SSM 52307 for inaccurate deep sleep notification with Ford Pass. update TCU

Tech notes:
Tested battery and tested good. Checked battery SOC PID and found battery at 75 percent. Checked connected vehicle and it showed 30 percent. That's why customer is getting notifications on phone. Found SSM 52307 to update TCU for inaccurate deep sleep notification with Ford Pass. Updated TCM. Cleared codes. Reset battery SOC parameters. Battery shows now 100 percent on connected vehicle.

Just checked the App, all works well for the first time since I got the truck in August 2023.

Ok, that's much better then. Must have a Lariat.
The SOC PID uses 85% with a fully charged battery - so 75% isn't bad, since at some point since the last BMS relearn it becomes just a math figure anyway.

So the TCU had a stuck value for low SOC 30%, and kept reporting to Ford it was turning modem off due to it.
At least now you can get some accuracy with the situation.
I'm concerned they did the BS/BMS reset when the notes don't say they actually recharged the battery, but perhaps it was in a step there.

So at least you should have months before an actual issue appears again.
Just prepping ya!

 

[Master Blaster]

Waiting and watching. I've tracked the voltage every month in the 6mo that it has been since it was replaced, and put it on a trickle charger after that. It is presently at 12.1V instead of the 12.6V, or only 35% charge as understood by industry standards. My Ford dealer confirmed my battery SOC complaint, measuring the 12V SOC at 56% and IR at 6.24 ohms or right at the upper resistance edge of what would be considered a non-sulfated battery. If you work out the difference between their measurement and mine, it looks like they consider an 80% charge to be 100% for some reason. Their measurements were not bad enough to replace the battery for the 3rd time, calling that 100% SOH. They confirmed that I had already had SSM53801 applied to fix the unintended A/C battery usage, and then they spent almost 4hrs updating just about every software module on my 23 - the BECM, BCM, PCM, SOBDMC and TCU modules, and reset the BMS.
So with a host of newly updated modules, we're going to wait and see if the battery stops degrading and finally lasts for at least a few years. I guess we'll see...

The continuing saga:
Last week I had an oil change and they updated a whack of modules to try to resolve the low battery issue. A week later I noticed that the FordApp is still not communicating with the truck, and brought it back in this morning. I talked to a mechanic on coffee break while I was there, and he was pretty confident that the TCU is not functioning. I just got off the phone after they were looking at it for 7hrs, and they've escalated the problem to Ford and need the truck for at least another day. This is getting tiresome after experiencing battery issues ever since purchased. Now I'm betting its always been a TCU fault as the real culprit, and it has finally failed totally.

 

[Thex]

Wow. So I had my battery replaced for the second time last December (flooded.)
Three weeks ago, I got the battery saver notifications on my app and the lights would not come on inside. I took it in and they flashed the ACCM module, charged the battery and told me the battery was good.
I was thinking, "great, 3 yr warranty expires the end of this month and this is just going to happen again in three months - past warranty."
"Luckily" it happened again last week! This time they flashed the TCU. It took several attempts before it accepted the new programming. This time when the battery was tested, it was at 38%. They replaced it with a new AGM battery.
Whew! Squeaked it in before the warranty expired!

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