Sudden Loss of Power and Steering

[threevines]

I posted this on Reddit last night and was asked to post it here as well

I was driving home last night with my wife; about 30m from home the vehicle (2023 Lightning Lariat) suddenly lost power - the throttle was unresponsive, power steering was dead, and the nav system went black. It was pretty scary, and I’m fortunate I wasn’t in a sketchier, freeway speed situation

After pulling off to the side of the road, the vehicle was able to restart, but it reported a “steering fault” error and wasn’t able to drive faster than 45mph.

I pulled over into a gas station, where the car refused to start back up. I called Ford’s roadside assistance, but because I was using phone-as-a-key they couldn’t help me. **you need a physical key if you ever need roadside assistance **.

I ended up calling a friend to get my wife who would get my keys so I could get roadside assistance. By the time my friend got there, the vehicle rebooted and I was able to get home without issue.

Has anyone else run into issues similar to this?

Edit:
Some other odd behavior I noticed surrounding the event
* When the vehicle abruptly stopped, it was reporting that I had 99mi of range at 50% battery. That seemed pretty low but I didn't give it much thought since I was close to home. After the sieze-up and safe-mode restart that jumped to 148mi.
* When I charged the vehicle that night (80amp charge station pro), it did not get up to the target, 85%, it only got to \ ~76-77%



@Ford Motor Company

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[MTcowpoke]

I posted this on Reddit last night and was asked to post it here as well

I was driving home last night with my wife; about 30m from home the vehicle (2023 Lightning Lariat) suddenly lost power - the throttle was unresponsive, power steering was dead, and the nav system went black. It was pretty scary, and I’m fortunate I wasn’t in a sketchier, freeway speed situation

After pulling off to the side of the road, the vehicle was able to restart, but it reported a “steering fault” error and wasn’t able to drive faster than 45mph.

I pulled over into a gas station, where the car refused to start back up. I called Ford’s roadside assistance, but because I was using phone-as-a-key they couldn’t help me. **you need a physical key if you ever need roadside assistance **.

I ended up calling a friend to get my wife who would get my keys so I could get roadside assistance. By the time my friend got there, the vehicle rebooted and I was able to get home without issue.

Has anyone else run into issues similar to this?


@Ford Motor Company

Check out Montanalightnings post "My truck tried to kill me." Sounds similar, a loose 12v connection.

 

[TheBigBezo]

I was going to say the same thing, similarish story.

https://www.f150lightningforum.com/forum/threads/new-truck-tried-to-kill-me.17002/

Certainly alarming. I hope this is a one off thing and not persistent across the fleet.

 

[threevines]

12v looks fine

 

[ctuan13]

12v looks fine

Not to question your certainty, but does it just "look" fine or did you actually tug on the positive and negative terminals to see if they're loose and check the retention nuts for the cables to the lugs/BMS?

There are several connection points that can become loose.

 

[threevines]

I checked the tightness of the primary terminals. I'll post an update with whatever the final disposition ends up being.

A Ford rep here reached out to me and let me know that the telemetry indicated that there was an underlying issue. It's at the dealer right now, and I'm waiting on some diagnostics, which could take a day or two.

 

[tubby]

That is not nice at all. We all hope we will never have to experience that. That reminded me an an Electrifying grin saying.
90% of all electric vehicles are still on the road...
The other 10% made it home.

 

[RaptorEV]

I called Ford’s roadside assistance, but because I was using phone-as-a-key they couldn’t help me. **you need a physical key if you ever need roadside assistance **.

I'm not a "phone-as-a-X" guy, but my understanding was that the primary benefit of phone-as-a-key is that you don't have to carry a key with you. So this rule about having the physical key to get roadside assistance is just insane. It's stuff like this that just highlights how Ford does not understand what they are doing. It makes no sense.

 

[TheBigBezo]

I think it mainly comes down to how will anyone else operate the vehicle. I know when I dropped my truck off for tinting the guy asked me for my keys and I'm sheepishly loaned him my cellphone so he could drive into his workspace.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Good time to remind of a workaround someone mentioned early on in the discussions about PAAK, store the key fob with battery removed in a baggy in the center console, in the unlikely occasion that you need to use it, reinstall the battery and hand it to the service technician, roadside assist, etc.

 

[roadhouse]

I'm not a "phone-as-a-X" guy, but my understanding was that the primary benefit of phone-as-a-key is that you don't have to carry a key with you. So this rule about having the physical key to get roadside assistance is just insane. It's stuff like this that just highlights how Ford does not understand what they are doing. It makes no sense.

Cool so they come tow your truck from the side of the road, and you give them your phone so they can lock, unlock and start it?

 

[RaptorEV]

Cool so they come tow your truck from the side of the road, and you give them your phone so they can lock, unlock and start it?

They can already remotely lock, unlock, and start the vehicle without a phone or key. That's the whole point of all this OTA shit. Or at least Tesla can. Ford may be retarded in this regard.

 

[threevines]

Not to question your certainty, but does it just "look" fine or did you actually tug on the positive and negative terminals to see if they're loose and check the retention nuts for the cables to the lugs/BMS?

There are several connection points that can become loose.

To follow up on this, it sounds like there was a loose 12v connection somewhere. It had been months since I touched the 12v battery, so it's a bit weird that it became an issue now. Earlier in the year there were some bugs with the modem software, and the common community response was to disconnect and reconnect the 12v battery to restart the nav computer.

 

[MontanaLightning]

It does sound like my loose battery cable to terminal block.

 

[tubby]

Good time to remind of a workaround someone mentioned early on in the discussions about PAAK, store the key fob with battery removed in a baggy in the center console, in the unlikely occasion that you need to use it, reinstall the battery and hand it to the service technician, roadside assist, etc.

I may be missing a feature or limitation of something, but I just leave the key in the truck all the time. I lock it with the touch panel and it unlocks when I approach with the phone in my pocket. If it doesn't, I use the touchpad to unlock it. I'm adding to this thread because I'm thinking I may be doing something that I shouldn't be doing or it is highly recommended I do not do that. Obviously, if someone finds out my entry code, it can be stolen.

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