Drive Mode Unavailable

[BennyTheBeaver]

I've been having this issue for a few months now. Thought it might be an isolated glitch until I saw others posting about it on Facebook.

When I'm in Sport mode, the truck will occasionally kick me out of Sport mode back to Normal. I'll get a message on the instrument cluster saying Drive Mode not available and I'm unable to select any of the drive modes (they are grayed out).

Has anyone here also experienced this? If anyone had reported to their dealer, what was the response?

So far I've heard it's a software glitch that originally occurred on the MME and should be remedied by a patch eventually.

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[emptykim]

Couple times the last few days. Not sure if its correlated to anything else.

 

[Blochead21]

I’ve seen the same issue while in tow/haul yesterday.

 

[sotek2345]

Not in my Lightning, but had it happen a few times with Unbridle in our Mach-e

 

[hturnerfamily]

in 26,000+ miles, much of that while towing, I've seen this happen infrequently, although it's a little unnerving when it does... one time, especially, I would put it back into SPORT, after it had given me the on-screen message, but the 'Drive Modes' were all still available, but then, a few minutes later, it does it again. No, I know of no correlation with anything external, or anything internally, that would seem to make it happen. I tried this several times, until finally, it settled into SPORT mode and continued on the rest of the trip.

I think we are all experiencing 'software' trade-offs with these types of vehicles. Sensors are certainly part of the equation, and maybe there is some 'sensor' that would ocme into play to determine that your drive mode is not longer 'available, but I can not imagine what that would be.

Several times, too, the message has been provided, and the Drive Mode screen is totally grayed out - which makes me think the worst. But, it, too, resolved itself in a matter or seconds, or minutes, and no worries from then on.

I've found that I don't take any of the 'warning' or 'messages' too seriously. I realize we are dealing with a mobile 'computer' and these things just might be part of the equation. As long as the truck is able to continue on, no matter the 'drive mode', I'm o.k.... it really only changes the amount of REGENERATION... that's all.

 

[BennyTheBeaver]

Couple times the last few days. Not sure if its correlated to anything else.

I wish I could tie it to an update, but it has happened sporadically. There is nothing I'm doing that can replicate the issue. I've noticed it for at least 4-6 weeks.

 

[BennyTheBeaver]

Not in my Lightning, but had it happen a few times with Unbridle in our Mach-e

What's the last Power Up you've recieved on your Lightning? I've been on 4.2.3.1 since May.

 

[BennyTheBeaver]

I’ve seen the same issue while in tow/haul yesterday.

So it's not just Sport mode, good to know. For what its worth, it first happened to me on May 1.

I just think it might be more widespread than Ford thinks.

Since they've grouped 1PD into the Drive Modes section, I could see a significant issue with the truck toggling off 1PD while I'm using 1PD.

 

[Mike G]

I never really leave "Normal" on my Lightning. I have used "Tow/Haul" twice and it never dropped out during those two short trips with a tandem trailer. So for me this has never happened in the truck.

I have had the DMU about 8-9 times on the '21 MME I traded in for a '23 GT-PE about a month ago, and the second day I had the GT I got the DMU sitting in the car while waiting to leave. Hasn't happened since then though.

And I have also heard that there is a fix (which means the problem has been identified) and a software patch will becoming hopefully this year (after laying off a shed-load of technical staff it's anybody's guess when that will be).

 

[sotek2345]

What's the last Power Up you've recieved on your Lightning? I've been on 4.2.3.1 since May.

My last update was PU0306-BCF-DET on June 22

 

[BennyTheBeaver]

And I have also heard that there is a fix (which means the problem has been identified) and a software patch will becoming hopefully this year (after laying off a shed-load of technical staff it's anybody's guess when that will be).

I have heard the same. I wish Ford would release incremental fixes for bugs instead of bundling bug fixes together with new features and updating every few months (years).

 

[Ford Motor Company]

I've been having this issue for a few months now. Thought it might be an isolated glitch until I saw others posting about it on Facebook.

When I'm in Sport mode, the truck will occasionally kick me out of Sport mode back to Normal. I'll get a message on the instrument cluster saying Drive Mode not available and I'm unable to select any of the drive modes (they are grayed out).

Has anyone here also experienced this? If anyone had reported to their dealer, what was the response?

So far I've heard it's a software glitch that originally occurred on the MME and should be remedied by a patch eventually.

Hi there! If you send over a DM with your VIN and Ford dealer info, I can look into your drive mode concerns on my end.

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