My MME is perfect. I wish to discuss my fears with other members here about the Lightning. (No more fears.)

[mme_and_lightning]

I have owned my 2022 MME premium ER for a year and 7,000 miles. Perfect in every way. (OK, a bit bouncy on rough pavement, but reliable in every way.)

I'm 67 years old. I bi-weekly travel from Virginia to Delaware using some rural roads and across heavily traveled bridge that is miles long.

So here is my concern. I need a truck as reliable as my MME and I'm a bit worried about things I read on this forum about the Lightning.

I want so badly to buy a Lightning Platinum, but I see a lot of people with "it bricked on me today" and other "now it is driveway art."

All I want to do is travel during the late evening and night with confidence my wife, grandchildren and I will be safe in a reliable truck.

I hope members will help me out with a meaningful discussion that I'm sure almost everyone here can provide.

Here is one thing that concerns me. I almost bought a Platinum a few months ago at a dealership. It was bought quickly as I was discussing at home with my wife so I missed out. I saw a week or so ago that the dealer is selling it now as 1-owner used after less than four months. Carfax says " HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY MODULE REPLACEMENT " so I guess it "bricked' on the first owner, but I could be 100% wrong.

I thank you in advance for your thoughts to help me.

Sponsored

 

[Pioneer74]

You must not frequent the MME sister forum to this site. The Lightning, to me, seems to have less problems than the Mach-E.

 

[MickeyAO]

I have owned my 2022 MME premium ER for a year and 7,000 miles. Perfect in every way. (OK, a bit bouncy on rough pavement, but reliable in every way.)

I'm 67 years old. I bi-weekly travel from Virginia to Delaware using some rural roads and across heavily traveled bridge that is miles long.

So here is my concern. I need a truck as reliable as my MME and I'm a bit worried about things I read on this forum about the Lightning.

I want so badly to buy a Lightning Platinum, but I see a lot of people with "it bricked on me today" and other "now it is driveway art."

All I want to do is travel during the late evening and night with confidence my wife, grandchildren and I will be safe in a reliable truck.

I hope members will help me out with a meaningful discussion that I'm sure almost everyone here can provide.

Here is one thing that concerns me. I almost bought a Platinum a few months ago at a dealership. It was bought quickly as I was discussing at home with my wife so I missed out. I saw a week or so ago that the dealer is selling it now as 1-owner used after less than four months. Carfax says " HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY MODULE REPLACEMENT " so I guess it "bricked' on the first owner, but I could be 100% wrong.

I thank you in advance for your thoughts to help me.

Think about the number of Lightnings produced, then think about the number of complaints on this forum. Next, check the MME forums to see how many complaints there are. Now compare the last step to your experience with the MME.

In ANY forum the relatively small number of people with complaints posts will far out weigh the number of people with out any complaints.

As far as the number of people turning in their EVs quickly, they underestimated their charging situations. Several Kia EV6 were turned in after less than a month because the owners had a problem with the charging situation...that is how my wife ended up with the EV6.

Not to say there are NO problems with the Lightning, but you need to put it into perspective.

 

[ctuan13]

Think about the number of Lightnings produced, then think about the number of complaints on this forum. Next, check the MME forums to see how many complaints there are. Now compare the last step to your experience with the MME.

In ANY forum the relatively small number of people with complaints posts will far out weigh the number of people with out any complaints.

As far as the number of people turning in their EVs quickly, they underestimated their charging situations. Several Kia EV6 were turned in after less than a month because the owners had a problem with the charging situation...that is how my wife ended up with the EV6.

Not to say there are NO problems with the Lightning, but you need to put it into perspective.

This is absolutely right. Of all the Lightning owners, this forum is still a small minority and an even smaller fraction of the forum community has had actual issues with their truck. If anything, I'd say the Lightning as Ford's second official foray into full EVs, after the Mach E, likely has better engineering and reliability.

Take for example the HVJB issue on the Mach E. That entire system was re-engineered by Ford from the Lightning so that from day one it has zero issues. Different, much beefier contactors and everything.

The truth is with any new vehicle platform or new generation, there are bound to be some hiccups, lemons and oversights, but for how large of a leap the Lightning is technologically speaking, I have to say, I think Ford did a pretty damn good job, especially for a legacy automaker.

Good luck with your search and know that if you're not picky about it being a 2023 and are okay with a 2022, there are better deals to be had for trucks without any deleted features!

 

[mme_and_lightning]

So far, so good. Thanks everyone that posted so quickly. I guess it is so far 3-out-of-3 seem to have no issues.

Please feel free to add more. Keep in mind please that I'm not asking about a MME to Lightning comparison, just an overall experienced review of Lightning owner's reliability.

I love the MME and I can't go back to an ICE vehicle as the MME has ruined ICE vehicles for my wife and me.

 

[F150ROD]

I have owned my 2022 MME premium ER for a year and 7,000 miles. Perfect in every way. (OK, a bit bouncy on rough pavement, but reliable in every way.)

I'm 67 years old. I bi-weekly travel from Virginia to Delaware using some rural roads and across heavily traveled bridge that is miles long.

So here is my concern. I need a truck as reliable as my MME and I'm a bit worried about things I read on this forum about the Lightning.

I want so badly to buy a Lightning Platinum, but I see a lot of people with "it bricked on me today" and other "now it is driveway art."

All I want to do is travel during the late evening and night with confidence my wife, grandchildren and I will be safe in a reliable truck.

I hope members will help me out with a meaningful discussion that I'm sure almost everyone here can provide.

Here is one thing that concerns me. I almost bought a Platinum a few months ago at a dealership. It was bought quickly as I was discussing at home with my wife so I missed out. I saw a week or so ago that the dealer is selling it now as 1-owner used after less than four months. Carfax says " HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY MODULE REPLACEMENT " so I guess it "bricked' on the first owner, but I could be 100% wrong.

I thank you in advance for your thoughts to help me.

34k miles in less than 1.5 years. The biggest issue I’ve had so far was the power being reduced to 50% a couple of times with no cause found.

Every time I get in and drive I remember why I wanted one in the first place. It’s awesome.

 

[MickeyAO]

So far, so good. Thanks everyone that posted so quickly. I guess it is so far 3-out-of-3 seem to have no issues.

Please feel free to add more. Keep in mind please that I'm not asking about a MME to Lightning comparison, just an overall experienced review of Lightning owner's reliability.

I love the MME and I can't go back to an ICE vehicle as the MME has ruined ICE vehicles for my wife and me.

Oh I have issues, my front parking sensor keeps erroring out...but it is more of a nuisance than a real problem. I'm also included in the wiper motor, rear tailgate light, and the module problem recall. I will find out tomorrow if I actually have a problem with the module voltage mismatch.

I doubt you will find any modern vehicle that has absolutely no problems what so ever. I will even bet that there are problems with your MME that you are overlooking.

 

[DiveMan911]

So far, so good. Thanks everyone that posted so quickly. I guess it is so far 3-out-of-3 seem to have no issues.

Please feel free to add more. Keep in mind please that I'm not asking about a MME to Lightning comparison, just an overall experienced review of Lightning owner's reliability.

I love the MME and I can't go back to an ICE vehicle as the MME has ruined ICE vehicles for my wife and me.

Purely anecdotal…but I’ve had no major issues. ‘22 Lariat with 14k miles. I’ve taken my Lightning and family on a 1500 mile mile road trip and back without concerns for reliability.
Every new vehicle has some quirks and minor issues…but honestly I’ve been rather impressed.

 

[Jim Lewis]

And then there's the Home Integration System, a.k.a., "Whole Home Backup," which really can't backup your WHOLE home but does put a hole in your wallet.

 

[MickeyAO]

And then there's the Home Integration System, a.k.a., "Whole Home Backup," which really can't backup your WHOLE home but does put a hole in your wallet.

IF you decide to pay for it. I looked at the cost and decided it was too much for the small number of outages in South Texas. Yes, there was a major outage here two (or more?) years ago, but I could not justify the cost versus a manual system to do the same thing.

 

[Maquis]

I own both a Mach-E and a Lightning. Both have been excellent. Not perfect, but excellent. I’ve owned the Mach-E for 2-1/2 years, the Lightning almost 9 months.

I haven’t had any major problems with either vehicle, but I‘ve had far more niggling issues in the first 9 months of my Mach-E journey than the same period in my Lightning. Ford is learning and evolving When it comes to EVs.

I wouldn’t hesitate to buy either vehicle today.

I participate in both the Mach-E and Lightning forums, and my casual non-scientific observation is that the Mach-E has probably left more people stranded on the side of the road percentage-wise than Lightnings.

 

[Jseis]

We have a ‘21 SR MME Select and a ‘23 LT ER Lariat. The MME has 50K+ miles and the LT about 6K.

No issues with either. Two of the best vehicles we’ve ever owned. We’ve driven both from SW WA to Great Falls MT and back and no issues there (other than a few minor charging annoyances).

Yes, the software tech and EV tech are a bit daunting but have worked mostly seamlessly. PAAK was annoying but has settled down and I use it for both.

The LT is an absolute highway interstate cruiser; smooth, serene, stately, and powerful when needed.

We charge both in the garage with two chargers on separate circuits.

 

[Pioneer74]

an overall experienced review of Lightning owner's reliability.

I'm about 2 weeks shy of a year of ownership with my Lightning. I have about 22k on it and the only quality issue I've had, besides the light bar recall, is a rattle in the passenger door.

I also have a "22 Mach-E. No problems with it, but am counting down the days until I hand it back on the Options plan. I don't particularly have anything bad to say about it, but nothing good either. The Lightning is far superior in every way to the Mach-E.

 

[Oafy44]

15k. No issues. I have an f350 tremor diesel and my lighting. Love both just like kids. The same but in different ways. Selfishly I kind of like how there still aren’t many out there. I get stopped more now then I did a year ago with people asking me about reliability ect ect.

 

[Nikos]

I have owned my 2022 MME premium ER for a year and 7,000 miles. Perfect in every way. (OK, a bit bouncy on rough pavement, but reliable in every way.)

I'm 67 years old. I bi-weekly travel from Virginia to Delaware using some rural roads and across heavily traveled bridge that is miles long.

So here is my concern. I need a truck as reliable as my MME and I'm a bit worried about things I read on this forum about the Lightning.

I want so badly to buy a Lightning Platinum, but I see a lot of people with "it bricked on me today" and other "now it is driveway art."

All I want to do is travel during the late evening and night with confidence my wife, grandchildren and I will be safe in a reliable truck.

I hope members will help me out with a meaningful discussion that I'm sure almost everyone here can provide.

Here is one thing that concerns me. I almost bought a Platinum a few months ago at a dealership. It was bought quickly as I was discussing at home with my wife so I missed out. I saw a week or so ago that the dealer is selling it now as 1-owner used after less than four months. Carfax says " HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY MODULE REPLACEMENT " so I guess it "bricked' on the first owner, but I could be 100% wrong.

I thank you in advance for your thoughts to help me.

I am a happy owner of a 2021 MME Premium ER with 30K. Trouble free up to this point. I also own a 2022 Lightning Lariat. Trouble free. My Lightning is my work truck, vacation truck, hauling the camper truck, landscaping truck and hauling all our toys to our favorite places truck. Not an issue, yet. I am 60 years old. I understand your worries but in your case, is understandable that making this commitment is a serious and logical question and issue.
Go for it. You won't be disappointed.
I am not. Other than the Fast Charging issues that every EV owner has, apart from Tesla, for me, it was the best and wise choice. I haven't had any remorse into getting into the EV that I currently own. Ask anything you may have questions about.