[Subduction]

I've been thinking: don't do hallucinogenics during work hours.

 

[ratherberiding]

Nothing back from OP.

Yup. One post and done. Looks like a magnificent piece of trolling to me.

 

[ranxerox]

Since my Transit sits parked much of the year I looked into Usage Based Insurance, They spy on you like crazy and learn all of your driving habits.
I decided against it because you receive a penalty for driving between 1 Am and 6 Am which is when I do most of my driving.

What Is Usage-Based Insurance and How Does It Work? | Credit Karma

Usage-based insurance uses your driving habits to help calculate your auto insurance premium. Learn more.

www.creditkarma.com

 

[Bargeman]

Which begs the question; if these newer vehicles have |black boxes", how are they communicating this info? Only when hooked up to an illuminati-approved device at the dealership? Or are they transmitting?

Liked for Illuminati although I would have preferred the Trilateral Commision.

 

[carringb]

I know that my Focus will perform updates on any open wi fi network. I would assume it can transmit as well. I’m sure the first owner had to acknowledge a software agreement to use all the Sync features. I bought it used and there’s no “reset” between owners. I’m sure I could do some sort of factory restore, but I’d still have a black box that a dealer could pull data from using a hard connection.

 

[Schnits]

bS when he said neutral didn't help

 

[Schnits]

And reverse

 

[Emkei]

Thanks for the replies, the well intended ones anyway. Yes, even with my limited mechanical knowledge, I understand the fairly absurd way this comes across. However, I have no reason to doubt the driver, a well experienced driver in his mid 60s. He continues to refuse to drive the vehicle. Either way, still continuing to wait to hear from Ford. We have no other interest in this other than maybe understanding what happened, and hopefully disposing of / replacing the vehicle.
As a side note, I found this forum just yesterday, with the intentions of possibly finding some answers. Again, I wish to thank those that replied in good faith. Others that took to accusations of trolling because I have not replied in less than 24 hours, come on guys, you're better than that... Cheers!

 

[surly Bill]

On the spying aspect of this thread; Ranxerox' mention of the usage based insurance spying reminded me of something funny.

My brother, about 10 years older than me, was going to school at OIT in K-Falls Oregon in the '70's (got a degree in diesel engineering). He would come home every weekend, about 100 miles away. Dad let him drive the '67 suburban one year, because my brother didn't have a car then, for some reason. He saw out the window that dad was checking the odometer before he left, and figured he had been doing it surreptitiously all along. So, he got a few miles out of town and took out the speedo cable from the transmission, went to school for the week, and hooked it back up right before he got back home, it had like 5 miles on it from when Dad had checked it. He waited and watched for when Dad might go out to check the odometer, and was rewarded by seeing him do a literal double-take, walk off confused, go back and look again, looking even more confused, and then checking it a 3rd time and swearing. Dad never asked him about why it only had 5 miles, because he never told my brother he was checking the odometer. It was probably ten years later when we were all at my parent's house that my brother told him what he did, and Dad was really mad at first that he'd been fooled, AND caught, then started laughing, and couldn't stop. He laughed so hard he cried, stopped, and started laughing again. I don't think I'd ever seen him do more than chuckle at anything before. Or since. He passed on about 10 years ago in his 80's.

 

[Priscilla r.]

2018 Ford Transit 3.7 V6 148 medium roof: unable to slow vehicle down, continues to drive.

Our company has a fleet of expedite courier vans, mostly Chevrolet Express, Mercedes Sprinter, and couple Transits.
One of our Transit drivers, while driving in a winter storm on 219 approaching I86 near Allegany State Park NY last November, experienced total inability to slow the Transit down, resulting in a situation that could have easily culminated in multiple fatalities. According to his statement, the brake pedal became inoperational, steering became stiff, while the vehicle continued to cruise at approximately 75 km/h, without his foot being on the accelerator pedal (this Transit does NOT have cruise control).
This continued for about 10-15 minutes, with the driver attempting everything possible to stop the van, including applying the emergency brake, and shifting into various gears, including reverse, with NO effect. The driver noticed the reverse camera display turn on in the rear view mirror, while the vehicle was driving forward. The driver was also able to turn the ignition key to the ‘off’ position and physically remove the key, and the vehicle still continued moving forward.

Eventually, he succeeded in bringing the vehicle to a halt and contacted the company dispatch in a full state of shock. We arranged a tow for the vehicle, and state police transported the driver to a hotel. The Transit was towed to local Ford dealer in Olean NY, where they inspected and test drove the van two days after the incident, and could not find any issues. After a three day stay at the hotel, the driver drove the van back to Canada and directly to a Ford dealer where we have serviced it since new. This dealership also could not identify an issues with the vehicle. The service manager stated he would inquire with Ford Canada and Ford USA and advise us. That's the last we heard from them. The vehicle has been sitting in our yard for a month and a half as the regular driver refuses to drive it again, and we cannot in good conscience ask anyone else to drive it. We have reached out to our Ford dealer, as well as to Ford Canada, with full documentation via registered mail and email, in an attempt to reach some kind of conclusion and resolution. All our attempts have thus far been ignored. We don't know how to proceed. Any suggestions on what could have caused this, and how to get Ford to acknowledge our issue and respond would be appreciated.

OMG wow that is scary. I have 2019. NO similar issues . is it possible to step on the brakes and they won't work? Are things that computerized these days ? No offense intended , I'm just wondering what ford told you. Is It possible some sensor got frozen that could cause this? Holy christ, I live in Maine.

 

[Priscilla r.]

Yeah, I remember the floor mat thing causing crashes years ago, I was going to mention that. Also, we're trying to make sense of the story verbatim rather than parsing out likely scenarios; which the verbatim 2nd or 3rd hand story negates. If the engine is OFF, the power brakes and power steering are going to be very difficult to use. I believe the same scenario for a broken or extremely loose serpentine belt. Maybe the driver is making up some excuses for driver error? It could be possible they were trying to "hypermile" by coasting down a long hill in neutral, and decided to go a step further by turning the engine off, not knowing how it would effect these systems, and the ensuing panicked actions to get systems back on line resulted in at least a bit of the story.

But knowledge of human nature eliminates this scenario: most employees driving someone else's truck will drive it as hard as possible for a thrill, and/or try to break it, to "get back at The Man". Everyone hates their boss and employer.

It's hard to imagine anyone doing this in a snowstorm (coasting ) but the floor mat theory makes sense. My small bus 2019 pass van had no mats and a rubber floor when bought it used. . Most sane people want a mat, but only another rubber mat will stay in place. Vinyl mats are like ice skates . When I asked dealership for mats they refused to sell them...because of previous lawsuits.

 

[surly Bill]

Thanks for the replies, the well intended ones anyway. Yes, even with my limited mechanical knowledge, I understand the fairly absurd way this comes across. However, I have no reason to doubt the driver, a well experienced driver in his mid 60s. He continues to refuse to drive the vehicle. Either way, still continuing to wait to hear from Ford. We have no other interest in this other than maybe understanding what happened, and hopefully disposing of / replacing the vehicle.
As a side note, I found this forum just yesterday, with the intentions of possibly finding some answers. Again, I wish to thank those that replied in good faith. Others that took to accusations of trolling because I have not replied in less than 24 hours, come on guys, you're better than that... Cheers!

The dealership disservice center couldn't replicate it, but did they look for evidence of corroded connections in the wiring?
It's a more or less "known issue", at least here on the forum, that water dripping into the engine compartment can and does go right onto the big wiring harness connector in the engine compartment that goes through to the dash. AND there have been issues of water wicking it's way through the firewall and getting on stuff, as well as puddling under the plastic step on the drivers' side and playing havoc with the trailer brake control module; if equipped.

I have never read of the collection of symptoms your driver experienced happening because of a corroded wiring harness, otherwise I'd point you in that direction.

 

[BobATX]

I noticed the connector that would get wet on my 2015 and the ECU are both moved on my 2020. What year were they moved and I wonder if it was to help with water invasion?

I park under a tree and it dumps crap all the time. It will clog the tray under the windshield in one night. When it is clogged even some the tray will fill up in a hard rain and find some way out. Clogged or not the tray slow leaked on the 2015 so I put drip diverters, plastic bags, over the connector and ECU. It never wigged out again.

Mixing water into electronics is BAD and who knows what can happen. When mine got wet the one time AC would not turn off and it was 30 something out. I think there were lights on that should not and the cruse would not set. Maybe in his case it would not unset?

 

[ColinD]

Scary for sure!! With so much of the mechanical systems now controlled by modules its not hard to imagine this happening.

I know with all my dash issues my dealership and Ford Canada have been less than helpful, they can't replicate it so they won't fix it.

Colin