Remote start Mach E

[Chrisw]

It would be useful to be able to use the remote start feature on the Mach E when it has been parked overnight and not been on charge. As the vehicle goes into sleep mode currently this can't be done without going out to the car and waking up manually. 

[chris200100]

@ukcraigrich   When charging the cars systems should be live, when you plug in it wakes the car as you can hear it clunking that’s the systems waking up, as there is a handshake protocol between the cars charger and the wall box, basically the car tells the wallbox right I’m ready to charge this is how much power I require and will charge accordingly and it will stay woken up till unplugged as the bms is controlling the cars systems. 

@jonno70 @MikeC 

I would be surprised if it was the Ford pass app as one it has no control of when the car goes into deep sleep and two not every one has this issue. Unless are you both on android? Myself I’m on IOS so maybe it could be that. Also have you both been on a long journey recently and then it worked after that. 

[Davcas]

Mine is only a week old and goes into deep sleep constantly. Trying to put some mikes on it to charge the battery,  yet it does negate the remote start function especially when it’s been cold and want it warmed up and ready to go. 

[MikeC]

Hi @jonno70 , I agree, I would also be surprised if the FordPass App had any control over the car’s sleep mode, but maybe if the App even if closed is running background tasks. I’ll try switching the phone off during the night and see what happens. No long journey prior to deep sleep and I’ve still got my good old faithful iPhone 7.

Long journey to Salisbury today from Scotland (450 miles) and then ferry to France from Portsmouth on Thursday. Wish me luck with the 3 charge stations on the way down and that the Settings/Vehicle/Alarm System - Motion Sensors Off actually works and the alarm doesn’t continually go off during the ferry crossing 🤞🤞🤞. Trying to find a definitive answer to whether this actually works has proven to be impossible 😢

[jonno70]

@chris200100 I think at the moment it’s looking at all possibilities that might be causing the issue. I’m on iOS, all software is updated. The randomness is the curious part; out of 10 remote starts the past 9 have all been successful. No long journeys, the weather has been warmer but still started after a late shift at work when temperatures were at zero. It’ll be interesting to see what, if anything, the second trip to the dealership throws up. 

@Davcas m@Sorry to hear you’ve got the same problem. Mine was the same right from the word go. I phoned Mach E tech support who were useless. Spent 35 minutes going through some diagnostics on the phone then be told to talk to my dealer! I would recommend you flag it to your dealer now and see how you get on. This issue needs to get fed back to Ford so they know how widespread it is. 

@MikeC good luck with your trip. Where in France are you going? We often go down to the Vienne from Dieppe; not sure I’d feel confident yet to take an EV. They still seem way behind the uk for charging stations except the IONITY points on the A10, A28 etc. I’d be interested in how you get on. 

[MikeC]

Hi @jonno70, many thanks. That’s the 450 mile bit done. 3 charge stations on the way down (Ionity - Gretna Green Services. MFG EV power - Mossy Lea Road, Wigan (M6 Jnc 27). MFG EV power - New John Street West, Birmingham). Approx 30 mins at each station. The MFG stations were brilliant  with 8 charge points, but at 49p/kWh it does work out to be more expensive than my 45 miles/gallon car at this time of year. The Birmingham one takes a while to get to from Jnc 1 M5, so will probably use the Ionity north of Chippenham next time.

France, not too far to go once we leave the Ferry at Ouistreham, then to our house in Pays-de-la-Loire about 1 hour north of La Mans. There is an Ionity Station on the A13 a little east of Caen so will pay that a visit to get a top up, and if out of order, we should easily have enough charge to get to the house. Got ‘a day at the Château’ (Escape to the Château channel 4 series) on Saturday, looking forward to that….might even be on Tele 😀 .

If you are considering taking an EV to France, get a ChargeMap account and card. The App shows pretty good coverage in France 🤞. The card will give you access to ‘most’ charge points.

[ukcraigrich]

Just thought I'd update on this. Had a new 12v battery fitted on Tuesday 19th April but the app still reports the car being in deep sleep a little after half an hour of it being switched off. The field engineer will apparently be taking another look at the car on Monday. Really doesn't fill me with much confidence of getting stuff fixed once the warranty runs out.

[jonno70]

@ukcraigrich Mine also went back in a couple of weeks ago for the third time. In the end, they didn’t replace the 12v battery, but told me Ford now accept there is a problem and are working on a software fix. No timescales were given. The dealership have been very good but I asked them to give me an email address to raise a complaint to Ford. I have emailed them and expressed my dissatisfaction and anger that they have released a car to market with software issues. I’ve asked them for some form of compensation for a) paying nearly £60k for car that doesn’t meet their marketing claims and b) for the three trips I’ve had to make to the dealership to try to rectify the problem. 

If anyone else wants to raise a complaint (UK) the address is ukcrc1@ford.com. 

[ukcraigrich]

@jonno70 do you know who your dealer spoke to at Ford by any chance? Seems a bit bizarre that they would accept there's a software issue for you but are still 'investigating' exactly the same issue for me. Classic case of different departments not taking too eachother it seems. I have already complained using that email address but as of yet I've had no response. 

[MikeC]

Reading the manual it appears that the 12V battery is charged from the drive battery if the voltage drops, when the car is off. Certainly after 4 x 6hr ferry crossings the alarm was triggered once on 1st, 3 times on the 2nd and 3rd and 5 times on the 4th crossing. The 12V battery voltage seemed to be fine as I didn’t have a problem getting into the car or driving off the ferry (turning the motion sensors to off in Settings/Vehicle/Alarm System does not work!….yet another software bug on a £60k car!). The deep sleep mode has not happened for at least 2 months now, I believed at the time that a later version of the Ford Pass App had fixed this. For other owners, not yet, so maybe I’m just lucky.

My car is now at the dealership for the Pano roof and Windscreen adhesive recalls. The dealership has so far failed to answer any of my questions over the last 5 months (particularly the tilt (inclination) sensor on a ferry setting the alarm off) so have been very insistent that when I pick the car up next week they will have some sort of positive answer for me. I have tried the Ford complaint route, but absolutely no response. I’ll keep trying. So far Ford after sales support has been non existent.

[jonno70]

@ukcraigrich @I don’t know who the person at Ford was I’m afraid. Interestingly, whilst the Ford Pass app on my phone shows the deep sleep error message, if I try to start it using my Apple Watch it works every time. I don’t know why this should be, but that’s how it is.