We need a recall on Charge Port Door latch freezing issues

[Pjlightning]

Ford if you are reading this please consider the problems we are having with the Charge Port Door latch mechanism Freezing in cold weather on a regular basis.

this is a safety issue if we cannot charge the Truck and get stuck in the wilderness or wherever.

using a hairdryer both looks ridiculous as I stand next to a row of Tesla’s with simple flip port doors, but it also doesn’t always work to unfreeze it.

right now I’m stuck in Vermont at a destination charger with no way of charging because of the frozen port door. Given the scarcity of charging locations up here, I don’t know if I will make it home, especially since I don’t know if this door will ever unfreeze today.

please Ford, find a better solution for us.
This is really crazy. Especially on an 80k vehicle.

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[RickLightning]

Need to clean your hairdryer's air input vents.

 

[LightningShow]

I haven’t had this happen yet but it’s pretty obvious that it’s bound to happen based on the design. Even a little freezing rain makes operation of the door difficult. Agreed on the poor design.

 

[Maquis]

I have a 2013 Explorer with a push-to-open gas door that’s set outside for 10 winters that’s never had this problem. I wonder how Ford screwed this up?

 

[MRButtler]

Apply silicone grease to rod.

 

[ctuan13]

Apply silicone grease to rod.

And line the rubber seal on the door with a light film of pure silicone grease.

 

[ctuan13]

I have a 2013 Explorer with a push-to-open gas door that’s set outside for 10 winters that’s never had this problem. I wonder how Ford screwed this up?

I don't have a gas Ford with the push-release fuel door, but from what I've seen it simply comes down to lack of clearance and shorter distance to actuation.

On the gas car fuel doors I've seen, there is a much deeper depress required to actuate the release mechanism. Not only does this allow for more travel to potentially break up icing along the seal as it flexes in and out, the larger tolerances within the door mechanism and behind the door itself allow for greater amounts of snow/ice build up before the entire mechanism is seized up and prevented from moving.

 

[Maquis]

I don't have a gas Ford with the push-release fuel door, but from what I've seen it simply comes down to lack of clearance and shorter distance to actuation.

On the gas car fuel doors I've seen, there is a much deeper depress required to actuate the release mechanism. Not only does this allow for more travel to potentially break up icing along the seal as it flexes in and out, the larger tolerances within the door mechanism and behind the door itself allow for greater amounts of snow/ice build up before the entire mechanism is seized up and prevented from moving.

Going from memory, it seems like my Mach-E has a deeper depress than the Explorer. I’ll have to pay more attention. I haven’t opened the Lightning enough yet to have a feel for it.

 

[MRButtler]

And line the rubber seal on the door with a light film of pure silicone grease.

No, there's already a gasket behind the door Just make sure it's clean.

 

[Pjlightning]

An update here:

I never did get the charger port door to open.

I limped home for over 150 miles at as slow a speed as safely possible on the highway, and pulled in the driveway with 9% state of charge left, and a buffer of only 17 miles from a completely dead battery.
I Stopped at several charging locations along the highway and never had any luck getting the charge port door to open to allow me to get a charge.

Crazy.

It Still won’t open in my driveway.
I probably won’t even be able to drive to a dealership to get this fixed.

Ford, please do something about this Achilles heel on this truck. This is not an isolated incident.

Range loss is one thing in cold weather, but losing the ability to simply charge the truck is a dreadful experience.

this was a stressful trip for my family, with my wife and 11 year old son worried we would be soon left on the side of the highway in the dark.

Recall or fix this somehow before something really bad happens out there.

 

[Jer]

What happens when you pull the cable under the Frunk for the charging port? I haven’t pulled it myself so not sure if it is of any value.

 

[Amps]

What happens when you pull the cable under the Frunk for the charging port?

That's to releases a locked charging cable. More details in this very good video, starts @ 3:44:

 

[Driver8]

On a related note, Ford has started selling some sort of accessory to prevent snow/ice build up when charging outside in winter. No picture online yet, but it is part no. PL3Z10D802A.

At a list price of $80, I am curious to see if it is a well-executed solution. There are a variety of generic EVSE shrouds on Amazon for less than $20.

I know the OP's post is about the door getting frozen shut, not open, but I thought this still might be of interest to folks reading this thread.

 

[SmoothJ]

On a related note, Ford has started selling some sort of accessory to prevent snow/ice build up when charging outside in winter. No picture online yet, but it is part no. PL3Z10D802A.

At a list price of $80, I am curious to see if it is a well-executed solution. There are a variety of generic EVSE shrouds on Amazon for less than $20.

I know the OP's post is about the door getting frozen shut, not open, but I thought this still might be of interest to folks reading this thread.

Interesting... The main issue I had with mine is that I couldn't close it and that ICE would build up around it when it was plugged in. Luckily, we might be out of the woods since the weather in the NE US isn't as bad this year, but it still can be.

I saw something on the e-transits, and it was like a cap to cover the connector itself. Maybe thats what they will be selling?

 

[NeuralFlow]

I have a 2013 Explorer with a push-to-open gas door that’s set outside for 10 winters that’s never had this problem. I wonder how Ford screwed this up?

Right. You think they’ve been making fuel doors for 100 years, it’s one of those parts they just can’t mess up. But they managed to do it.

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