[HN Gopher] Ford halts production, shipments of F-150 Lightning ...
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       Ford halts production, shipments of F-150 Lightning over possible
       battery issue
        
       Author : mfiguiere
       Score  : 55 points
       Date   : 2023-02-14 19:44 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.reuters.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.reuters.com)
        
       | osamagirl69 wrote:
       | They are also recalling packs in the field, my truck is currently
       | at the dealer getting a new pack.
        
         | Whatarethese wrote:
         | "We are not aware of any incidences of this issue in the
         | field," Ford spokesperson Emma Bergg said in an email.
        
           | osamagirl69 wrote:
           | I am not sure what you are trying to say. My f150 pack did
           | not explode (presumably what an 'incidence' would be in this
           | case) but is still being recalled.
        
             | toomuchtodo wrote:
             | Would you be willing to provide the recall number from
             | NHTSA based on your VIN? Exposing your VIN is unnecessary.
             | Ford might have provided it directly in their
             | communications to you.
        
             | jjtheblunt wrote:
             | BMW replaced my battery pack to analyze the cell chemistry
             | where the "incident" was rate of degradation (2014 BMW i3
             | pure electric in this case), so it's not necessarily
             | something dramatic, but might be just engineering analysis
             | and iterative improvement.
        
       | stcroixx wrote:
       | [flagged]
        
         | MoreSEMI wrote:
         | How is hoping they fail going to improve things? Wouldn't you
         | rather hope they fix it and then maybe lower their prices as a
         | way to get back customers?
        
           | stcroixx wrote:
           | No second chances on price gougers from me. They knew the
           | ethics of that before they chose to do it. Maybe other
           | manufacturers can learn something from their demise.
        
             | willnonya wrote:
             | Most of this "gouging" is at the dealership level where
             | prices are raised above the mfg prices. Hoping the company
             | fails just seems asinine as a response.
        
         | dang wrote:
         | Please don't do this here. You may not owe price-gouging
         | megacorps better but you owe this community better if you're
         | participating in it.
        
       | hk1337 wrote:
       | I wonder what the new Ram 1500 REV is going to be like?
        
         | labcomputer wrote:
         | Certainly not premature.
        
         | YVoyiatzis wrote:
         | Not a HEMI, that's for sure.
        
           | bozhark wrote:
           | HEVI
        
       | lspears wrote:
       | My truck was supposed to be delivered last week and mysterious
       | got pushed back three weeks. That explains it.
        
       | Seanambers wrote:
       | If only there was a company with experience in electric cars..
        
         | cmh89 wrote:
         | You mean the one that famously has terrible quality control?
        
           | stephbu wrote:
           | Post-production QA is an industry problem in general - the
           | difference between systems is who does the QA.
           | 
           | In the dealership model - after transit, they do a once over
           | and post-production/transit repairs before the car appears on
           | the lot. So much so that most states wrote legislation to
           | limit repairs allowed while still being called "new". (often
           | ~5% of the retail value of the car). Note that dealers also
           | pay wholesale rates on the cost estimate for that, so this
           | can be quite large repairs.
           | 
           | The T* direct-model should put the SC in that same spot. Bug
           | is they're not doing the work - probably the emphasis on
           | throughput incentivizes the wrong behavior. All too often the
           | the SC tries to palm-off problems and/or the consumer has to
           | do drive QA. Fixing it means the customer is on point -
           | obviously YMMV.
           | 
           | IMHO this is a huge gap and flaw. Unfortunately OEM
           | dealership behavior is so predatorily atrocious that even
           | this flaw isn't enough to overcome the otherwise positive T*
           | sales experience. I now know how few signatures are needed to
           | buy a car in my state. I have zero intention of participating
           | in the "sit outside of a finance office for an hour, no I
           | don't need Scotchgard, interest rate manipulation" routine
           | ever again.
           | 
           | Dealerships often talk about "relationships" - this BS sales
           | talk - we're just prey to them.
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | leesec wrote:
           | Is this the same car that is famously about to be best seller
           | even tho it's 2-3x the price of the current best seller?
        
             | rtkwe wrote:
             | Slow down the oblique shots have gotten so vague I've lost
             | track.
        
         | stephbu wrote:
         | Doesn't matter if you like or dislike the T-word or EM-himself.
         | Fact is they have built one hell of an
         | experienced/industrialized muscle in this field. That
         | experience is priceless right now - Ford, VW, GM etc. don't
         | just need to run-as-fast, they need to run faster. All the
         | while not repeating the mistakes that others were allowed to
         | make when there were less optics on the problem. This
         | technology change is going to be a capital-intensive, painful
         | experience for the incumbents.
        
           | toomuchtodo wrote:
           | Incumbents thought they were going to be bin assemblers as
           | they've always been, not an engineering first org with
           | cutting edge battery technology experience. Oops. Can't MBA
           | way your way to the lead, physics cannot be fooled. I hope
           | they catch up, the space needs robust competition.
           | 
           | This is also why Tesla is building and selling 40GWh/year of
           | stationary storage from their Lathrop Megapack manufacturing
           | facility; their battery management systems are proven under
           | the harshest conditions vehicles see. Utility storage demands
           | are comparatively benign compared to high end powertrain duty
           | cycles in top trims.
        
         | Arrath wrote:
         | Like Toyota (Prius), Nissan (Leaf), or Chevy (Bolt)? Among
         | others.
        
         | kotaKat wrote:
         | Like GM, who had their EV packs fail and catch fire? Like
         | Toyota, who had their HEV software fail in extreme cold and
         | need an update?
         | 
         | No automaker is perfect.
        
         | mtmail wrote:
         | You mean Toyota? Or is Telsa implied? Model 3 had 15 recalls in
         | 2020, 14 in 2021, 9 in 2022 with basics like "One or both
         | taillights may intermittently fail to illuminate."
        
           | beambot wrote:
           | What fraction of the recalls were fixed via OTA software
           | updates?
        
             | ggreer wrote:
             | For my 2020 Model 3, all but one of them. There was a
             | recall to replace a cable in the trunk that could break,
             | disabling the backup camera.[1] I still haven't taken mine
             | in to get the free replacement, but my backup camera has
             | been fine.
             | 
             | 1. https://www.consumerreports.org/car-recalls-
             | defects/every-si...
        
           | leesec wrote:
           | Most (all?) of these 'recalls' were fixed over the air
        
             | LightDub wrote:
             | I don't mean to be mean, I know there's still a tendency to
             | worship Musk and his companies, but pretty please ... just
             | get with it. Tesla are just another vehicle manufacturer.
             | 
             | https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-recalls-16-vehicles-
             | involved...
        
               | readthenotes1 wrote:
               | They are just another vehicle manufacturer that fixes
               | many recalls OTA without making you take time off work
               | and go into the shop so they can upsell you on something
               | else?
               | 
               | That seems kind of unusual to me, but I drive a 22 year
               | old car.
        
               | leesec wrote:
               | They're not but OK. Also what you posted agreed with what
               | I posted.
        
             | ajross wrote:
             | All. At least for the Y since summer of 2021. There's a
             | spectrum of car recalls from "we'll push it in the next
             | update" to "bring it in or die".
             | 
             | FWIW, battery replacements really aren't that far to the
             | right. The worst possible case is a battery fire, and those
             | really aren't very dangerous in context (e.g. would you
             | rather your car burn, or your powertrain or brakes fail
             | suddenly?).
             | 
             | But they _are_ extremely expensive for the manufacturer if
             | they involve replacements. Not good business news for Ford
             | if so, but we don 't know yet.
        
         | willnonya wrote:
         | If only any of them made good EVs...
         | 
         | Or even better weren't trading one ecological disaster for
         | another.
        
           | themitigating wrote:
           | Which is less of a disaster? That's all that matters and you
           | making it a binary situation is overly simplistic and likely
           | done on purpose due to your political beliefs
        
         | LightDub wrote:
         | Yes, Hyundai/Kia are out there!
        
           | doubled112 wrote:
           | Hyundai/Kia seems to be having a fair amount of recalls about
           | potential fires in things that don't normally catch fire.
           | 
           | The idea of packing them full of lithium is not drawing me in
           | right this moment.
        
           | rattlesnakedave wrote:
           | Hopefully in a secure location.
        
         | sunshinekitty wrote:
         | Thank god for the free market and competition, choice is in the
         | interest of consumers.
        
         | whalesalad wrote:
         | competition is the fuel of our entire economy
        
       | [deleted]
        
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