JimMich
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Let me start by saying that I absolutely love my Lightning. I leased it on 11/27/24 and it has been my favorite vehicle I think I have ever owned. I'm quickly losing faith in both the truck and Ford Motor Company.
On April 7th, my 2024 F-150 Lightning Lariat displayed a Powertrain Malfunction / Reduced Power message.
The message had appeared 2 or 3 times prior, but always disappeared after a restart. On this morning it appeared as I prepared to leave my first client's location and the truck would not start. Was forced to call a tow truck and have the vehicle towed to the dealership I leased it from. Upon arrival I was told it would likely be at least a week before they could even diagnose it because they only had one Tech who could work on the EVs and he already had 5 trucks in front of me. The dealership will not provide a loaner until they determine it is actually warranty. I rented a vehicle for 3 days until they finally determined it was definitely warranty and provided me with a loaner. They had my vehicle for 8 days before they notified me it was a bad 12v battery, said there was a manufacturing defect in it. They put a new battery in and everything was good.
Everything was fine until the morning of May 23rd. While leaving my 2nd Client, the truck started flashing a warning about a High voltage Battery error. pull over immediately. I did a turn off and turn on and found the vehicle would not start. When the message popped up in fordpass it said it could be driven to my destination but would not restart if turned off, would have been good information for the truck to give me before I turned it off. Called for a tow again and had it towed to the dealership.
I again had to rent a car, because they one EV tech was swamped, this time there were at least 6 vehicles ahead of me. I was told at that time that they would likely have my truck for quite awhile. 6 days later I got a loaner. Between these 2 events my rental fees have been more than my monthly truck payment and obviously the gas charges have been about 3.5 times what I would be paying to charge my Lightning. I've had a loner long enough this time, I'm having to switch loaners every couple days because of the mileage. When I switched loaners yesterday, now I'm driving a bronco because they have no f150s, i was told the tech thinks the high voltage leak is coming from somewhere in the A/C system. I was basically told that he's working on easier to repair vehicles first until he has the time to dig into mine and it could be at the dealership for a considerable amount of time.
I spent 15 years of my working career as a Ford employee. Have never leased or purchased any make of vehicle besides a Ford. Was so excited to get a Lightning and have talked up how great the truck is and how much I love it. Looking at Ford's EV strategy, it seems Ford is going to give up on EVs and I wonder if those of us who have leased or purchased a Lightning or Mach-E are going to be stuck with a vehicle that dealership don't seem well prepared to repair or even diagnose, and that the company as a whole may be walking away from. I am no longer telling people to look into the Lightning. I've found 2 more lightning owners who are friends of friends and both of them have had their vehicles in the dealership for extended periods of time.
Checking my ford pass, my vehicle was only moved once in the last 2 weeks, and that was 5 days ago. It is back to sitting out in the repair lot behind the building.
These two incidents have so far cost me close to $2,000 due to rental fees, gas costs and lost business due to restrictions on rental and loaner vehicles.
Wondering if anyone has seen these two errors following one another in a short period of time. From the conversation yesterday, it sounds like the dealer is expecting to have my vehicle for a very long time. This experience has me thinking my next electric will not be a Ford.
On April 7th, my 2024 F-150 Lightning Lariat displayed a Powertrain Malfunction / Reduced Power message.
The message had appeared 2 or 3 times prior, but always disappeared after a restart. On this morning it appeared as I prepared to leave my first client's location and the truck would not start. Was forced to call a tow truck and have the vehicle towed to the dealership I leased it from. Upon arrival I was told it would likely be at least a week before they could even diagnose it because they only had one Tech who could work on the EVs and he already had 5 trucks in front of me. The dealership will not provide a loaner until they determine it is actually warranty. I rented a vehicle for 3 days until they finally determined it was definitely warranty and provided me with a loaner. They had my vehicle for 8 days before they notified me it was a bad 12v battery, said there was a manufacturing defect in it. They put a new battery in and everything was good.
Everything was fine until the morning of May 23rd. While leaving my 2nd Client, the truck started flashing a warning about a High voltage Battery error. pull over immediately. I did a turn off and turn on and found the vehicle would not start. When the message popped up in fordpass it said it could be driven to my destination but would not restart if turned off, would have been good information for the truck to give me before I turned it off. Called for a tow again and had it towed to the dealership.
I again had to rent a car, because they one EV tech was swamped, this time there were at least 6 vehicles ahead of me. I was told at that time that they would likely have my truck for quite awhile. 6 days later I got a loaner. Between these 2 events my rental fees have been more than my monthly truck payment and obviously the gas charges have been about 3.5 times what I would be paying to charge my Lightning. I've had a loner long enough this time, I'm having to switch loaners every couple days because of the mileage. When I switched loaners yesterday, now I'm driving a bronco because they have no f150s, i was told the tech thinks the high voltage leak is coming from somewhere in the A/C system. I was basically told that he's working on easier to repair vehicles first until he has the time to dig into mine and it could be at the dealership for a considerable amount of time.
I spent 15 years of my working career as a Ford employee. Have never leased or purchased any make of vehicle besides a Ford. Was so excited to get a Lightning and have talked up how great the truck is and how much I love it. Looking at Ford's EV strategy, it seems Ford is going to give up on EVs and I wonder if those of us who have leased or purchased a Lightning or Mach-E are going to be stuck with a vehicle that dealership don't seem well prepared to repair or even diagnose, and that the company as a whole may be walking away from. I am no longer telling people to look into the Lightning. I've found 2 more lightning owners who are friends of friends and both of them have had their vehicles in the dealership for extended periods of time.
Checking my ford pass, my vehicle was only moved once in the last 2 weeks, and that was 5 days ago. It is back to sitting out in the repair lot behind the building.
These two incidents have so far cost me close to $2,000 due to rental fees, gas costs and lost business due to restrictions on rental and loaner vehicles.
Wondering if anyone has seen these two errors following one another in a short period of time. From the conversation yesterday, it sounds like the dealer is expecting to have my vehicle for a very long time. This experience has me thinking my next electric will not be a Ford.
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