[smaster553]

Now what happened !!!

Ford halts production, shipments of F-150 Lightning over possible battery issue

Ford Motor Co said on Tuesday it had stopped production and shipments of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup after discovering a potential battery issue during pre-delivery checks.

www.reuters.com

 

[ChasingCoral]

Battery issue halts Ford F-150 Lightning production

Shipments also on hold while Ford investigates an undisclosed issue, but sales continue.

www.greencarreports.com

Possible battery issue halts Ford F-150 Lightning production

JOEL FEDER FEBRUARY 14, 2023 4 COMMENTS

Production and shipments of the Ford F-150 Lightning have been stopped, though sales continue.
On Tuesday, Ford spokesperson Emma Bergg confirmed to Green Car Reports a stop-build and in-transit stop-ship order has been given for the F-150 Lightning pickup truck due to a potential battery issue.

Ford has not disclosed what the potential battery issue is at the time of publishing.

Discovered during Ford's pre-delivery quality inspections, the issue may affect trucks in production and those on their way to dealers. The automaker is unaware of any incidents or issues associate with customer-owned trucks at this time.

Ford has not issued a stop-sale and Bergg confirmed Lightnings already sitting at dealers awaiting delivery can be delivered to customers as scheduled.

Bergg said the engineering team is currently establishing the root cause of the potential issue, and a timeline hasn't been given as to when the stop-build and in-transit stop-ship orders will be reversed.

"It depends on how long it will take to conduct the root cause analysis," Bergg said.

The Ford F-150 Lightning was named Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2023 for its transformative effect on the pickup-truck and electric-car market.

Ford's electric pickup truck has received three large price hikes since it went on sale just under a year ago. The current base price of $57,869 is nearly 40% higher than the original pricing.

On Monday Ford announced a new battery plant, which is set to play a key role in making the automaker's EVs affordable. Part of that announcement included the transition to LFP batteries for some future F-150 Lightning models.

 

[Mr. Mazak]

Now we wait for the slow trickle of information that will be released. Ford stocks are already plunging.

 

[R.I.P.]

Right on cue. For those paying attention, I called this about 8 weeks ago.

Ugg... That "I told you so" line feels really icky to write, which is why I rarely do it... But in this case there is a further point to it. I predicted a series of events that are more likely than not to happen, that will result in significantly lower consumer prices by late summer.

The first predicted domino has fallen. Rejoice! This absolutely will result in a better product going forward, and the black eye Ford is going to receive over it will damage public interest; driving demand and prices down (similar to what happened to the Bolt).

The thing to watch, is owners trying to get out of their "old tech" battery packs before there's a problem, the way people did with the Bolt. These will be the deals to jump on, because in the end the manufacturer has to fix the vehicle. Tens of thousands of us ended up with Bolts with a brand new, redesigned, higher tech battery because we were playing the long game.

Of course nobody on this forum is going to panic sell in that fashion, cuz you know better.
😏

BTW, none of this is because I have anything like a magic crystal ball that I am gazing into. I just got a look inside that battery pack and knew it was not going to fly the way it is designed, so the rest is pretty easy guesswork.

 

[Mr. Mazak]

Right on cue. For those paying attention, I called this about 8 weeks ago.

Ugg... That "I told you so" line feels really icky to write, which is why I rarely do it... But in this case there is a further point to it. I predicted a series of events that are more likely than not to happen, that will result in significantly lower consumer prices by late summer.

The first predicted domino has fallen. Rejoice! This absolutely will result in a better product going forward, and the black eye Ford is going to receive over it will damage public interest; driving demand and prices down (similar to what happened to the Bolt).

The thing to watch, is owners trying to get out of their "old tech" battery packs before there's a problem, the way people did with the Bolt. These will be the deals to jump on, because in the end the manufacturer has to fix the vehicle. Tens of thousands of us ended up with Bolts with a brand new, redesigned, higher tech battery because we were playing the long game.

Of course nobody on this forum is going to panic sell in that fashion, cuz you know better.
😏

BTW, none of this is because I have anything like a magic crystal ball that I am gazing into. I just got a look inside that battery pack and knew it was not going to fly the way it is designed, so the rest is pretty easy guesswork.

So, for those of us who have built but not shipped trucks, do you think we'll get our batteries re-done? The way they're making it sound, they are doing some "investigating" to see if anything needs to be done to all the trucks going forward.

 

[fhteagle]

. I just got a look inside that battery pack and knew it was not going to fly the way it is designed

Care to elaborate on what you think needed reworked?

 

[peptide45]

Care to elaborate on what you think needed reworked?

check his other posts... May take some time to catch up but the design was similar (carbon copy) to battery design that failed in Chevy Bolt previously.

 

[peptide45]

Battery Failure

So last Friday I got the dreaded Stop safely now and service vehicle soon warnings, power reduced to 4%, and Ford pass app saying pro power was overloaded. No issues with range or charge loss before. Today the dealer is saying it's a bad cell. For those who are curious, Lariat ER, 7k miles...

www.lightningowners.com

 

[quikag]

I see this as a net positive long-term. My battery is perfect with great range, zero issues. If there is an issue down the road within the 8 year/100k warranty, you will get a new battery pack likely with updated technology. Charge with confidence.

 

[Kawartha Lightning]

I see this as a net positive long-term. My battery is perfect with great range, zero issues. If there is an issue down the road within the 8 year/100k warranty, you will get a new battery pack likely with updated technology. Charge with confidence.

I hope you’re right and I’m going to try avoid having kittens while everyone speculates about the impact (if any) in the meantime. Wake me up when this is over?

 

[R.I.P.]

I see this as a net positive long-term. My battery is perfect with great range, zero issues. If there is an issue down the road within the 8 year/100k warranty, you will get a new battery pack likely with updated technology. Charge with confidence.

I agree. The downside is that it will cost Ford, and slow them down a little bit, but in the end customers will win.

Interviews with Farley this past week were very encouraging to me. In those interviews he sounded a little discouraged, and publicly acknowledged his disappointments with some of the engineering mistakes made in the Mach-E and the Lightning. This is not a man that's trying to cut corners or blow smoke up people skirts, this is a man who really wants to do it right. Bodes very well for Ford in the future.

Additionally, he keeps looking to Tesla for benchmarks. It is a smart man that doesn't try to reinvent the wheel at every turn.

 

[R.I.P.]

So, for those of us who have built but not shipped trucks, do you think we'll get our batteries re-done? The way they're making it sound, they are doing some "investigating" to see if anything needs to be done to all the trucks going forward.

A disappointingly large number of the V6s that went into the Broncos recently had bad valves in them. There have been a lot of early failures of that engine. Obviously, there has been a lot of grumbling from owners, but in the end Ford is pulling those engines out and replacing them with new ones. For those that may be affected but have not gotten a new engine, they are getting extended warranties for that engine.

Expect similar treatment with any battery pack. In the end it will be Ford's problem not yours. As far as I am concerned, a catastrophic battery failure in a 6-year-old Lightning is the best scenario you could ask for; a brand new battery pack in your 6-year-old truck!
👍

 

[MCM]

My truck was delivered today and 7 hours in, I couldn't be happier as an owner of the F 150 Lightning!

 

[R.I.P.]

My truck was delivered today and 7 hours in, I couldn't be happier as an owner of the F 150 Lightning!

I should be in one by September, & am super looking forward to parking/scrapping my F 250 V10.

Enjoy!

 

[Tsmom]

So vehicles currently in transit won't be delivered? Or just ones waiting to be shipped? My delivery window got pushed out by another week this morning ..... should i assume that's BS?

 

[StephenD]

I see this as a net positive long-term. My battery is perfect with great range, zero issues. If there is an issue down the road within the 8 year/100k warranty, you will get a new battery pack likely with updated technology. Charge with confidence.

Until they tell us not to charge in a garage because of possible fire danger like what happened to the bolts!

 

[EFX4]

I'm sure that everybody looking to flip a Lightning for extra dough is happy right now. This will just keep used prices higher till supply catches up again.

 

[BertJ]

Very unfortunate, but probably inevitable that this happened. Hard to believe after what happened to GM with the LG batteries that Ford hadn't looked very closely at this. Was this a rush to ramp up production before nailing down engineering?

 

[R.I.P.]

I'm sure that everybody looking to flip a Lightning for extra dough is happy right now. This will just keep used prices higher till supply catches up again.

I would not count on that. The "bad press" usually spooks the public, and depressed values. Not always though, it does not seem to have hurt the Broncos too badly, so we will see.

 

[BertJ]

I'm sure that everybody looking to flip a Lightning for extra dough is happy right now. This will just keep used prices higher till supply catches up again.

What? Would you pay more for potential battery problems.