Ford Mustang Mach-E Owners Still Report Power Loss Even After Recall Repairs
New complaints from owners have forced NHTSA to launch a probe into Ford’s handling of a prior recall.
In June of 2022, Ford recalled 50,000 Mustang Mach-E electric SUVs built over a two-year span for defective battery contacts, which ran the risk of overheating, resulting in immediate power loss. Since then, many of the affected cars have been serviced, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received 12 complaints from owners that have already had their cars remedied, describing the very same phenomenon the recall was designed to address. It's caused the NHTSA to open a recall query to assess Ford's response.
"I suffered a failure related to this post-recall and had a sudden and permanent loss of power while driving at Texas highway speeds (70 mph) in congested morning traffic," one owner reported to the NHTSA, per Automotive News. Their Mach-E had been supposedly repaired under the earlier recall campaign. "Fortunately I was able to make my way off the highway but other conditions (sic) could have ended up worse," they said.
Ford spokesperson Maria Buczkowski told Automotive News that the company is "working with NHTSA to support their investigation." No accidents, fires, or injuries have been associated with the defect to date.
A previous software update Ford pushed out was intended to monitor contact temperature and reduce battery power accordingly to stave off issues. This patch could be installed over the air or by technicians at a Ford service center. However, Ford concurrently issued a technical bulletin to also replace the junction box on these SUVs, which manages the connections between the battery pack, motors, and charging system. The owner quoted above told NHTSA that their vehicle's junction box had been replaced prior to their post-recall incident.
This isn't the Mach-E's first major recall. Back in late 2021, Ford's first mass-market EV was summoned to dealers to remedy poor bonding of the car's windshield and panoramic sunroof. That could result in—you guessed it— glass popping off the vehicle. Best case scenario, you'd get some unwanted wind noise and water leaks. Worst case, you and your passengers would want to carry along a few pairs of emergency goggles, just to be safe.
The bonding problem covered about 38,000 cars across North America and Europe. Earlier that year, 75 of the first Mach-Es delivered were immediately recalled for loose subframe bolts. It's all unfortunately par for the course for the company which has claimed more than its fair share of recalls in recent months.
