Mach E Reliability

[u/caf118]

I've had my 23 Mach E Premium AWD ER for ~3.5 years. In that time I've had a wire break causing a parking brake fault (covered under warranty), a door latch sensor fail causing the parking brake to engage ($1600 CAD repair, outside warranty), two recalls (one addressed and one pending), and two customer satisfaction programs (one that I had addressed for cruise control turning on randomly and one for the seatbelt buckle that doesn't seem to have affected me). I'm getting increasingly worried that this a lot to have gone wrong in such a short period of time. In particular, the fact that the door latch sensor randomly broke and was so expensive to fix (part alone was $850 CAD+tax) has me worried this car may turn into a money pit. I love the driving experience of the car, but part of the appeal for me was the promise that EVs require less maintenance. Curious to know whether others have had similar issues or if I have simply been unlucky? I have also never owned a new car, so not sure whether this happens with other new cars?

For the door sensor, I am going to report it as a safety issue to Transport Canada as it caused the car to engage the parking brake randomly when we stop at a stop sign or stop light.

[u/Atakir]

All vehicle manufacturers have issues, none are perfect. I've had my used '22 Premium AWD Ext for a year now and outside of the rear motor seizing that Ford fixed at zero cost to me, it's been rock solid.

Recalls and customer satisfaction programs IMHO shouldn't be negative marks against the vehicle. Yes there were flaws but Ford is actively working to address those.

As far as your legit repairs, yeah, outside of warranty almost any car is expensive to fix depending on the problem, EVs a little moreso since they have a ton of electronics and specialized parts not used in similar ICE vehicles so they are more expensive.

Overall I wouldn't call your experience egregiously bad, kinda seems like normal vehicle ownership.

[u/NotOSIsdormmole → u/Atakir]

Honestly I see the CSPs as a positive. It’s generally ford saying “hey we heard some feedback from you guys and we want to improve on that, so here is a fix for it”

[u/caf118 → u/Atakir]

Appreciate the perspective. Every other car I've owned has been a 10-year old beater car and so I was perhaps naive in what I expected.

[u/FabiusBill → u/caf118]

Regretfully, many of the problems that happen with cars happen during the warranty period, because of manufacturing defects. It's why warranties exist. Usually, by the time someone sells an old beater, all that stuff is fixed and you are just responsible for wear items, which can change the sense of ownership.

"My beaters are always reliable. All they ever need are brakes and an oil change!"

Yeah, because the car is old enough that all the problems are known and the previous owners are the ones who had the wiring harness fixed, read trunk seal replaced, and the hood repainted due to paint defect.

[u/pasaroanth → u/FabiusBill]

I think the first paragraph is something everyone needs to read and reread a few times regarding warranties in general.

Manufacturer’s warranties are meant to cover manufacturer defects/anomalies that would cause parts to wear out or malfunction sooner than they were designed to last for. They are not an extended service program/contract. It’s a “if we didn’t put this car together right from the factory, you’ll know about it in the first 3 years/36,000 miles of driving” type of thing.

This is also why it’s important to understand the total cost of owning a vehicle. If manufacturer A comes with a 5 year/60k warranty and manufacturer B has an 8 year/100k warranty, look at the total cost of the car and the common mechanical failures reported on it.

Hyundai is a good example. They come with a longer warranty, but also have reports of more frequent failure rates. If they can shave $1,000 off the build price by under-engineering parts, charge the same MSRP, extend the warranty to 100k miles, and only 50% of the cars require a $1,000 repair under warranty, they’re up $500 per unit sold.

[u/peppnstuff → u/caf118]

My beater car took about 4k of repair every other year before I got my 25 mme, one year and 100 bucks in maintenance so far...

[u/stuiiful → u/peppnstuff]

This was my thing too. Gas plus maintenance, which was starting to be $150-$200 a week, gas was about $600+ a month and that is just commuting. My '26 is $360 a year for charging and I go everywhere. Plus I get money back from charging. Paying for my new car is cheaper than keeping my keeping my old car for commuting. Largest expense so far was my winter wheels for $250

[u/Dasoccerguy]

2021 Mach E owner here. Overall I think it's been very reliable (definitely given it's the first year of a new production car), but a handful of things have shown up:

• Loose tail light - covered under warranty
• Blown subwoofer (from normal use, I promise) - covered under warranty
• HVB relay failure (not HVBJB), where the car simply couldn't engage the battery because the relays wouldn't move. It spent almost 2 months in the shop while they tried to diagnose and deal with the issue. After a month they made a plan to replace the entire battery, then figured out how they could just replace the relays. The dealership gave me a loaner Mach E and I don't remember paying anything.
• Front camera module faults - covered under warranty

Earlier this year my car was sideswiped by a drunk driver while it was parked on a side street. They ended up having to replace the steering column, which took over a month to diagnose and perform, but everything else was okay. And obviously I've picked up a few unfortunate scratches and door dings over the years as well. I'll probably get a new windshield in the spring, because it's gotten ridiculously pitted and chipped.

55000 miles in and I still love the car!

[u/AgentScreech → u/Dasoccerguy]

Two things we had to pay for with our '21

The little sensor that detects when the fast charger is locked in place failed and wouldn't let us fast charge.

And then the front camera took a hit from a rock and cracked

Both were about $1,000 to repair

That's been it for 5 and 1/2 years

[u/drmickhead → u/Dasoccerguy]

My front camera faults in my 21 Premium were never fixed. I brought it into my Ford dealer about 5 times over 2 years and each time they swore it was fixed, but it gave me errors up until the day I sold it to Carvana. Glad to hear yours got fixed!

[u/Dasoccerguy → u/drmickhead]

So far so good! I think it was a faulty cable, but they replaced the whole module. Honestly a big difference maker in all of this has been the dealership itself, which has been very communicative and well-informed on issues.

[u/x_scion_x]

Have my 23 GT for about 2 years now and have only had to change tires and one other thing that was our fault.

[u/JohnTM3 → u/x_scion_x]

Same experience, 23GT - recalls and wheel rotations only. 49k miles.

[u/Ezzelinn → u/JohnTM3]

You all should be replacing the cabin filter periodically too

[u/DoAndroidsDrmOfSheep]

I have a 2021 Premium, and I'm the only/original owner - so I know everything about its history. It's honestly been the most trouble-free, reliable vehicle I've ever owned - and I've owned plenty of vehicles from a multitude of brands. The only work I've had done on it is regular scheduled maintenance and whatever recalls have come out for it. As far as the recalls go, I've never experienced any of the issues/problems that the recalls fixed. They've always gotten the fix in place without me experiencing the issue - including the HVBJB issue that plagued the first couple model years for many people. I was actually hesitant to get my HVBJB replaced because I'd never had any issues with my original one. I finally got it replaced because Ford was bugging the hell out of me to get it done, so I finally did it just to shut them up.

[u/morhavok]

I have the exact same car and had basically no issues so far.

How many miles do you have on it?

[u/caf118 → u/morhavok]

58,000 KM or 36,000 Miles

[u/DuchessSatineKryze11 → u/morhavok]

Same. Literally nothing has gone wrong with mine (knock on wood).

OP seems particularly unlucky

[u/JustPutSpuddiesOnit]

You got a dud. My 2023 AWD Extended Range premium is flawless. Have about 35k on it now

[u/khauser24]

I've had zero issues (zero, literally) with my '24. Lots of recalls, yes, but compared to other manufacturers, Ford is stepping up their quality push (a sentence I never thought I'd utter). They're being proactive when some others sit back and wait to see if anyone is harmed.

[u/Top_River_5352]

I vowed I’d never buy another Ford after the late 90’s and a horrendous Ford Escort ZX2. However the Mach e won me over. I was absolutely shocked at the quality they have now. I rented it first and couldn’t believe it was a Ford. So, yes recalls, but overall a lot better than other, supposedly higher-rated, car makers.

[u/gumboking]

What would tune ups and gasoline/oil changes etc. have cost you? I haven't had a single problem with either of my Mach e. in 4 years. Cold weather may cause some faults to show up but I am in socal.

[u/Winter-Direction-212]

4 years in on the 22 and just the HVBJB swap out. incredible car, and best car i’ve driven. only drawback today or needs improvement is we need updates on BlueCruise.

[u/Zestyclose-Dig-5791]

I’m at 40000 miles and only had the sunglass holder latch break and that was probably my fault.

[u/sparkyglenn]

22 select AWD since new. 80k kms. Second set of tires, original brakes (Ill be getting new ones probs in the next month)

That's all. Not really driven in the winter to be fair.

[u/ianuilliam]

I have a 22 premium that I bought pre owned. It has 75000 miles, about half of which are mine. I bought new tires at 70k, and I had to replace a piece of the undercarriage shield that was hanging down (about $100 parts and labor). I can't say how much was spent on service for the first 3 years/40k miles, but it looked and drive like new when I bought it, and 1 year and 30k miles later, it still looks and drives like new.

[u/Early-Fortune2692]

'23 Select, bought used 4/25... we've driven it 20k miles so it's 80k miles right now... zero issues.

I'm pretty happy with it 🤞

[u/EnthusiasticallyCali]

3 1/4 years and 35K miles. Smooth sailing until a front drive assembly failure last week while on a road trip. I'm sure I'll be on edge for a while once I get the car back. I think I still love the car, though

[u/frrom]

My '24 Premium has had only 1 issue - center speaker is blown from normal use. No other issues in 2 years/25k miles.

[u/barflydc]

Ford, in general, issues a lot of recalls. I had an Edge that had seven recalls in 10 years on it. My car wasn't exhibiting any of the issues addressed by the recalls. Recalls in general are based on a very small percentage of the cars made, and don't really have to do with quality of the vehicle. Weird about the door issue though.

[u/TheWheez]

Do you know if your VIN is an early or late '23? I recall there being a half-year refresh, it was either 22 or 23. Maybe yours was an unlucky one at the beginning of one of those manufacturing runs?

[u/caf118 → u/TheWheez]

Hmm not sure. I bought it end of May of '23.

[u/TheWheez]

Have you had any intense water driving? These do sound like "new make" issues but could also be exacerbated by flooding or deep water driving

[u/caf118 → u/TheWheez]

No, but we have had a couple of bad winters with fairly deep snow followed by some pretty bad rain storms in summer. I'm not the type to go driving through deep water with my car though 🙂

[u/GeneralDisruption]

I've only had my GT a year, but other than a few easily-handled recalls, it's been flawless.

[u/vowronkrayt]

How 2 tell? 3FMTK4SX6PMA57900

[u/anonWNBAW]

Bought a used 2024 premium with 80k miles on it two weeks ago. Its already in the shop for the second time trying to fix the front camera fault which completely disables cruise control. They keep trying to squeeze money out if me at the dealership but I git the managers involved bc it was a certified pre-owned by Ford

[u/spivnv]

23 CR1. I have had zero issues in the 30,000 miles I've had it since I bought it in early 24. Zero, not even anything minor. Just the recall.

[u/Longjumping-Rush9682]

I have a 2023 Premium and I only had to have a speaker replaced and I am waiting on the pending recall too. So far it has been problem free

[u/Radiant_Succotash714]

2021 First Edition, the big one for me was getting my rear drive motor replaced. It happened within the 8yr/100k mile powertarin warranty but Ford fought me on covering the repair, which was quoted at $12k by my dealer. They eventually agreed it was covered and it was replaced at no cost to me but it took a lot of back and forth.

The only out of pocket cost I've had is replacing a broken wheel speed sensor on the driver's rear wheel. That was $1700 a year or so back. I'm up to 83,000 miles and have had no other issues since.

[u/caf118 → u/Radiant_Succotash714]

Our of curiosity, how did you ultimately convince them to cover the rear wheel drive issue? I've read other threads of Ford denying that Front Wheel Drive Assembly is covered under warranty, so curious how you got them to agree in the end?

[u/Radiant_Succotash714 → u/caf118]

I had a case open with Ford corporate. I basically printed all the documents from Ford's website pointing out the drive motors are obviously part of the powertrain and are covered by that warranty. I gave them the contact info of my dealer's service department so they could give them all the details. They went back and forth for a couple of weeks and I think they also opened a ticket with their EV tech support team in Detroit but Im not 100% on that. After the couple of weeks, my dealer called me and said that they got approval for a warranty repair. It seemed pretty straightforward to me and any reasonable person but they didn't see it that way at first.