Re: Brake Failure
 

The experts on this site can can offer you far more than I can-I only
come here for advice myself, BUT I will tell you two things from my experiences:
1-Many Fords have some kind of emergency 'all power off' that needs to be
reset after a panic stop (it happened to my mom)
2-I also had a catastrophic brake failure early on when I ran down
the battery, and then found out that after about 15 minutes all systems reset themselves and you are fine after that.
HOWEVER-with 43K now, I am getting worried that things might start
to fail and I have only a warranty left on the batteries...so I am not
sure how to answer you on the long-term question. Hopefully the
experts will weigh in for you. Good luck.

Re: Brake Failure
 

I can't offer any expert advice, but I've followed GH and other forums long enough to see a possible trend developing. As the previous poster commented, there may be a connection between unusual braking (panic braking, emergency stops, etc) and subsequent error messages. Some of these instances resolved themselves after a few restarts or allowing the car to sit for a while and pout.

Hopefully you don't have a mechanical failure and you'll have the vehicle back in short order. The other trend I'm seeing is these vehicles have above average to excellent reliability.

Warning: These observations are my own and may have been biased by my adoration of FEHs!

Re: Brake Failure
 

[quote=Reed V;171427]The experts on this site can can offer you far more than I can-I only

2-I also had a catastrophic brake failure early on when I ran down
the battery,
quote]


Which battery are you referring to--the 12V battery located in the engine compartment or the large hybrid battery?

Re: Brake Failure
 

So far (fingers crossed) I haven't had any other trouble with my brakes. My brake failure happened on the FWY at 70 miles per hour and no traffic...I coasted to the nearest dealer. Don't forget that you can always use the footbrake in an emergency...it's a mechanical brake.

Re: Brake Failure
 

The software on these FEHs is very complex and easy to confuse. When confronted with these wrench, brake and other warning lights and messages IT TAKES 2 STARTS FOR THE SYSTEM TO DECIDE IF THERE REALLY IS A FAULT. So stop safely, place in park, turn the key off and restart, then do it again. If the warning is still on you in fact have a problem. I suspect this is why many go to the dealer only to find that they could find no problem or failure codes in the system. These cars are not just ahead of the rest of cars but they are a level of MAGNITUDE ahead of most cars on the road. BTW the Prius has some traction control/ABS issues also.

Re: Brake Failure
 

As far a "allot of failures" I think that may be over stated. If there were 10 people that had this problem on this site it would look like an eminent NTSB recall. In fact Ford would recall them if they were indeed that common, because the NTSB keeps track of these failures especially safety issues.

Re: Brake Failure
 

Thank you for your responses. There were in fact 5 codes in the computer.
P0685, U0418, C1524, U2023 and P0562. I found a few of those on the web but of course still have no clue what they mean. Ford gave the mechanics a list of procedures to go through to try to isolate the issue. They said when they test drove the car everything was normal. If this was a simple thing i.e. the windshield wiper comes on randomly or even if there was something wrong with the turn signal, I could live with it, but my brakes failing at worst case scenario 70mph... I don't think so! Oh and Ford claims they have never heard of this problem on another FEH before.
Thanks again.

Re: Brake Failure
 

Mark, I have read at least ten postings from different people, not just on this website. Some were as extreme as mine, when the car actually stalled, some were just random brake failure.

Re: Brake Failure
 

Annie-

I can see where your confidence in this particular car may be rattled.
Your confidence in this MODEL of car should not be.

Ford has a lot riding on this, and this is perhaps the SAFEST car in the Ford Fleet.
Your brakes probably DID NOT FAIL all together. Your power brakes only failed.

In your self admitted panic, you didn't notice, but if you were to push the brake pedal all the way down, your car would have stopped fine, even from 70 MPH.

There is always a physical, mechanical way to brake... even if all the electronics freak out which sounds like it did in your case.

Short of the car being physically damaged in a crash or something, you will always have physical braking ability, but this will require much more physical effort from your foot than you are used to.

Do not panic, and always remember you have a parking brake also that does not involve any electronics.

See if your dealer will get you another FEH in trade. I would stick with it. You will not regret it!
-John

Re: Brake Failure
 

You might check out "Customer Satisfaction Program 07B48" with your dealer. We got a notification on this from Ford on our '07 FEH, and it is related to the corrosion of a resister in the power unit located in the battery module.

The description provided by Ford doesn't sound like what you've got, but with so many things going wrong at the same time on yours, it certainly bears looking at.

BTW, I took my letter to my dealer requesting they perform the repair outlined in the letter, and they said it was optional - to their option, yet the letter says they can deny coverage for damage caused from failure to perform this service....