Uncommanded Parking Brake Activation

[x47]

Got a call from the dealership ; the TSB that Ford initially thought might be related unfortunately did not pan out. Door panels, hood, and all associated sensors are aligned. Not surprising since the instrument panel never said a door was open unless it truly was.

@Ford Motor Company it sounds like the dealership may reach out to Ford on Tuesday.

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[x47]

I did some testing yesterday and was only ever able to get it to happen when the door was slightly ajar. It just might be my fault... not closing the door fully or opening the door too soon to check the hitch. I did run into a situation today that makes me think we need a bypass on the action of slamming the parking brake on when opening the door. I was off road in tall brush/weeds. I got out to open the tailgate and load some items. I tried to clear the driver door of brush/weeds but couldn't completely close the door. You can't move without completely closing the door. Since I didn't have the appropriate tools with me it took me a good while to remedy the issue. It would really be nice to be able to disable the parking pawl activation in certain situations where it is difficult, impractical or impossible to shut a door.

In the hours prior to my Lightning’s appointment, it behaved without any issues. After running it through a car wash (no change), opening doors multiple times (no change), restarting the truck several times (no change), the issue finally came up again after backing the truck up so that the rear sensors were 2” away from another vehicle.

May or may not be related. The last few weeks (when the truck was a real pain) I had a bike rack attached to the back. I intentionally had the parking sensors turned off so it would not throw errors when in reverse. The issue started before I had the rack on the truck but maybe that causes the sensor to put a lot of data on the CAN bus and trigger a fault elsewhere? IDK. I didn’t take notes each time the issue popped up about if something was only a few inches from the rear bumper.

Have you tried putting something up against those sensors to see if it happens? I am not suggesting backing up to within 2” of an accident. Maybe you’ve got a few things around the house you can use to block each sensor individually?

 

[fvineyard]

Maybe you’ve got a few things around the house you can use to block each sensor individually?

Maybe a piece of cardboard could work as an "obstacle" for testing this theory?

 

[rtk11226]

In the hours prior to my Lightning’s appointment, it behaved without any issues. After running it through a car wash (no change), opening doors multiple times (no change), restarting the truck several times (no change), the issue finally came up again after backing the truck up so that the rear sensors were 2” away from another vehicle.

May or may not be related. The last few weeks (when the truck was a real pain) I had a bike rack attached to the back. I intentionally had the parking sensors turned off so it would not throw errors when in reverse. The issue started before I had the rack on the truck but maybe that causes the sensor to put a lot of data on the CAN bus and trigger a fault elsewhere? IDK. I didn’t take notes each time the issue popped up about if something was only a few inches from the rear bumper.

Have you tried putting something up against those sensors to see if it happens? I am not suggesting backing up to within 2” of an accident. Maybe you’ve got a few things around the house you can use to block each sensor individually?

That’s an excellent point that I totally forgot about… since the proximity alarm is definitely going off as I’m slowly approaching the trailer. I’ve got a bush near my driveway that I can do some testing with this evening.

 

[x47]

@rtk11226 any news on the testing with the bush or pieces of cardboard? The dealership is unable to trigger the condition so I am hoping to learn something to try with the dealership.

 

[rtk11226]

@rtk11226 any news on the testing with the bush or pieces of cardboard? The dealership is unable to trigger the condition so I am hoping to learn something to try with the dealership.

I tested backing into a bush and actually hooking up my trailer and in either situation was I able to reproduce the issue. I really believe there may be a problem with a partially closed door but I certainly can’t simulate the event at this point. If it reoccurs I’ll report back to this thread but at this point no luck.

 

[x47]

Well the truck has been at the dealership for 10 days now across two repair attempts. We've got three codes, one is interesting, but there's still no clear path to resolution.

Ford's BEV team is involved now and I've also notified the NHTSA about the issue since they may have an interest in a parking brake malfunction increasing the risk of a crash.

The dealership has been helpful but it appears there's only one EV-certified tech available that can work on the truck and he's been out sick recently. Not his fault, not mad about it. But Ford needs to build up additional support capacity. We don't even know if we need to order parts yet to fix it, or if those parts are on backorder.

All the while I've really needed my truck (not this old oversized F250) three times in the last two weeks and it is sitting in a shop waiting.

I'm starting to read up on lemon laws for Indiana. I'd rather not go this route but if they can't support an awesome BEV with sufficient repair capacity...

 

[invertedspear]

I'm starting to read up on lemon laws for Indiana. I'd rather not go this route but if they can't support an awesome BEV with sufficient repair capacity...

I honestly think more of us need to push this route from the moment we drop the truck off at the service center. This is one of the few ways we have to put the screws to Ford on this front, if they have to buy back a bunch of trucks, they're going to put more investment in making sure service can happen faster.

 

[x47]

It looks like we have resolved the issue. Ford sent someone to the dealership today to take a look at the truck. It turns out one of the connectors in the driver side front door was not fully seated ; this is why the truck was not reliably getting confirmation the door was closed.

The truck is coming home today after which I am going to run it through it's paces for a while.

@rtk11226 you might want to have them take a look at the connectors here if your truck has more fits.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Wonderful assembly line errors .......

 

[x47]

I got the truck back and, so far, the issue is resolved. Still need to get a few car washes, a couple hundred miles on the odometer, a few runs with the bike rack, and a few weeks of zero issues before calling it a victory.

I found it curious that the rubber conduit in the driver door sits the way it does after the repair though. I'll get a picture in a little while but basically in the picture in my last post the flare at the end of the rubber sits somewhat firmly against the metal. It seems like there's a potential opportunity for water ingress there.

Can someone take a picture of their truck in that area and share? I hope they didn't accidentally skip an assembly step again.

 

[The Weatherman]

Seems the rubber fittings are tightly inserted at both ends of the conduit. They are not just sitting up against the metal.

Edit: I’ll try again to get a good photo.

 

[The Weatherman]

 

[x47]

That's what mine looks like also. Excellent, thank you @The Weatherman

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