Recall issued: 2019-2020 Fusion Energi - BECM Fire Risk

[Richard_Yul]

Thanks for the update Cathy. I suspect the "containment" option is the reflash to disable HVB charging until a new battery pack is available.  Like you, I used to LOVE this car. I'm hanging in there ATM and hoping a fix comes this year as promised.

 

[Barrie Campbell]

It's March 6th 2024.  My 2019 Fusion Energi plug-in has still had no fix for the recall issue. I filed a complaint with the Vermont Attorney General and today got a reply. They attached a letter from Ford saying basically there's nothing they can do.  Here's what they wrote to the Attorney General:

 

" A complaint was filed with your office by Mr. Campbell for his 2019 Ford Fusion. You asked Ford
Motor Company to review and provide your office with our written response. Our Consumer Affairs
Department has reviewed Mr. Campbell’s concern regarding the 23S33 recall and his request for the
recall to be resolved.
There are many reasons why parts are out of stock or delayed. Some of these may include the type of
part needed, the availability of the part from the supplier, and the difficulty in accurately forecasting
how the need for each particular component may affect our level of inventory. Because Ford Motor
Company does not manufacture this component; the delay in getting the part is beyond our control."

 

So, I have to drive this car (which I like) burning way more gas than I want to and Ford have basically shrugged their shoulders and said "Too bad".  I'm going to reply to the AG asking them to get Ford to compensate me for the extra expense incurred.   

[wakasc]

I have a 2019 Fusion Energi and received a recall notice.   I went through filling out and sending documentation in order to initiate a buy-back.  They're offering $20220.63 which includes sales tax. That said, why doesn't Ford just replace the funky battery cell with one from the 2016, 2017, or 2018 models? These years aren't mentioned in the recall.

 

Side note:  A friend of mine started buying non-functioning Fusion Hybrids back when they were first introduced.  He would open up the hybrid battery compartment and test all the cells, finding and replacing the dead cells......made a small fortune doing this.

 

wak

[jsamp]

On 3/10/2024 at 1:58 PM, wakasc said:

 That said, why doesn't Ford just replace the funky battery cell with one from the 2016, 2017, or 2018 models? These years aren't mentioned in the recall.

 

 

People won't be satisfied with a 20% reduction in battery capacity as a "fix".  And it would cost Ford too much to use the older batteries as a temporary fix only to replace them again when the new ones come into stock.

I'd also bet they only have a few of the older ones in stock and not nearly enough to fill the need required by this recall.

 

Basically Ford doesn't support this vehicle any more as it is out of production.  They have to get replacement batteries to fulfill the original battery warranty, but beyond that they have no interest.

[Robert Plamondon]

On 10/30/2023 at 2:27 PM, Richard_Yul said:

I found a law firm in Quebec that does class actions with Ford.  https://www.lexgroup.ca/class-actions/

 

I filled out a form suggesting the class action.  Encourage fellow canadians to do the same.

 

[Ryan]

There's a Canadian law firm named Gluckstein Lawyers who appears to be doing a class action law suit against Ford. I pasted a link below that takes you to a form where you can express interest in participating in their class action lawsuit. 

 

https://www.gluckstein.com/class-actions/Ford-Fusion-PHEV-2019-2020-Recall-Class-Action/learn-more

[Richard_Yul]

Thanks for this ! 

[likeaw]

On 3/10/2024 at 3:58 PM, wakasc said:

I have a 2019 Fusion Energi and received a recall notice.   I went through filling out and sending documentation in order to initiate a buy-back.  They're offering $20220.63 which includes sales tax. That said, why doesn't Ford just replace the funky battery cell with one from the 2016, 2017, or 2018 models? These years aren't mentioned in the recall.

 

Side note:  A friend of mine started buying non-functioning Fusion Hybrids back when they were first introduced.  He would open up the hybrid battery compartment and test all the cells, finding and replacing the dead cells......made a small fortune doing this.

 

wak

Thats not too bad because I only paid $21K in Jan 21 for my 2019 Fusion Energi Titanium. It only had 4K miles and has less then 30K now. How many miles and is it a Titanium like mine? I may consider it if they offered that for mine. BTW I drank the Tesla juice...lol

Edited March 22, 2024 at 07:41 PM by likeaw

[wakasc]

I think my Fusion Energi buy-back was made possible by California's Lemon Law.  It was noted more than once somewhere in all the paperwork this involved.......getting a Honda Accord Hybrid as replacement.  I've had a bunch of Hondas in my auto-history all without issue:

2 Civics

2 Preludes

1 Accord

3 CR-Vs

 

I guess it could just be that Ford's foray into the plug-in technology was a bit premature.  

[jsamp]

On 3/22/2024 at 4:37 PM, wakasc said:

I guess it could just be that Ford's foray into the plug-in technology was a bit premature.  

 

I'd say that isn't quite accurate.  The 2013-2018's are not part of this recall, because they have a different (older) battery.  When Ford updated the battery in 2019 adding 20% more capacity (9.0 kWh total), something went haywire.  The older 7.6kWh batteries (like my 2015 with 114k miles on it) are doing just fine and do not have this issue.  It was the battery cell designer/manufacturer who pushed this "new" battery out that was probably the premature move.

[Richard_Yul]

On 3/14/2024 at 8:25 PM, Ryan said:

There's a Canadian law firm named Gluckstein Lawyers who appears to be doing a class action law suit against Ford. I pasted a link below that takes you to a form where you can express interest in participating in their class action lawsuit. 

 

https://www.gluckstein.com/class-actions/Ford-Fusion-PHEV-2019-2020-Recall-Class-Action/learn-more

 

I am meeting with them this week.

[likeaw]

On 3/24/2024 at 1:20 AM, jsamp said:

 

I'd say that isn't quite accurate.  The 2013-2018's are not part of this recall, because they have a different (older) battery.  When Ford updated the battery in 2019 adding 20% more capacity (9.0 kWh total), something went haywire.  The older 7.6kWh batteries (like my 2015 with 114k miles on it) are doing just fine and do not have this issue.  It was the battery cell designer/manufacturer who pushed this "new" battery out that was probably the premature move.

I wish the battery was about twice as big. My son drives about 20 miles to work in the 2019 Energi, he could, before recall, get there or just about. Would have been nice to be able to drive there and back on one charge. But, I can only dream.

[jsamp]

On 3/25/2024 at 11:48 AM, likeaw said:

I wish the battery was about twice as big. My son drives about 20 miles to work in the 2019 Energi, he could, before recall, get there or just about. Would have been nice to be able to drive there and back on one charge. But, I can only dream.

 

Agreed.  Ford's rationale for the 20 miles was flawed.  Obviously they wanted to use the lowest possible cost battery to keep the price down, so they used the "average" commute, but assumed you could charge at work too.  That gave them a battery that was too small to push a car that large/heavy.  Thus the battery degradation issues especially with freeway driving.  It really was a no-win situation for Ford, but they could have made better choices.

[Richard_Yul]

Update on this. I met with the legal firm (https://www.gluckstein.com/class-actions/Ford-Fusion-PHEV-2019-2020-Recall-Class-Action/learn-more) and they have confirmed that they are going ahead with a Class Action against Ford in Canada. If you are affected, suggest you contact them via that form. Note that in Canada, all impacted owners are automatically opted-in for the class action, but wouldn't hurt to get your contact info on their list.  Good to know that someone will be fighting Ford on this.

 

Lawyer said there are approximately 4000 Canadian vehicles impacted by the recall. He said he will be meeting with Ford lawyers in late April to discuss. He indicated that this meeting would be very informative regarding Ford's approach to resolving this. If they have a fix coming, the settlement would be for additional gas charges. If Ford decides to scrap the fix, the settlement scope gets much larger.

 

Either way it may take up to a year before it hits the courts. Lawyer suggested I contact him in May for updates.

Will report back.

[Cathy]

On 3/27/2024 at 5:31 PM, Richard_Yul said:

Update on this. I met with the legal firm (https://www.gluckstein.com/class-actions/Ford-Fusion-PHEV-2019-2020-Recall-Class-Action/learn-more) and they have confirmed that they are going ahead with a Class Action against Ford in Canada. If you are affected, suggest you contact them via that form. Note that in Canada, all impacted owners are automatically opted-in for the class action, but wouldn't hurt to get your contact info on their list.  Good to know that someone will be fighting Ford on this.

 

Lawyer said there are approximately 4000 Canadian vehicles impacted by the recall. He said he will be meeting with Ford lawyers in late April to discuss. He indicated that this meeting would be very informative regarding Ford's approach to resolving this. If they have a fix coming, the settlement would be for additional gas charges. If Ford decides to scrap the fix, the settlement scope gets much larger.

 

Either way it may take up to a year before it hits the courts. Lawyer suggested I contact him in May for updates.

Will report back.

If it is like securities class action litigation in the USA, you will get about $400 and no fix to the problem... but maybe auto class actions are different, hopefully.

[FairwayFusion]

I have a 2020 Ford Energi Fusion, and I'm also awaiting a Ford fix on the 23S33 recall.  I called Ford recall department and was told there would be no fix until the end of 2024, if we're lucky.  I'm pissed because this is part of the reason, I purchased the vehicle.  I too got their $250.00 check in the hopes that this would satisfy me enough to wait for a battery fix.  Is this a joke? I live in California, and gas is over $5.00 a gallon, heading towards $6.00 by summertime. So far, no other issues with the vehicle caused by the battery recall. I sent a letter to the NHTSA weeks ago and haven't received anything.  I'm seeing there are many posts here asking Ford to repurchase your vehicle.  I'm very interested in requesting Ford make me an offer.  Can anyone on these posts tell me what the process is and a link to which I can submit my claim. I thank you in advance, and good luck to all.

 

I'm also involved in a class action suit against Ford over the 3G to 4G modem upgrade. This has been going on for over a year, and we don't expect this to be resolved anytime soon, per the class action lawyer.  

[likeaw]

Agree that was crappy of Ford to put 3G modems in the 2019-20 Fords. I did not know that there was a class action against that. Heck, Tesla has not upgraded to 5G in their new, well MY 2023 vehicles yet. I can see that being a problem in the future when everything goes to 5G. I like my 2019 Fusion Energi Titanium but wish they would put some hurry up on the recall to replace the battery. That $250 will not go far with $6 gas in your case, not as bad in my area but still over $3. 

[cr08]

5G vs 4G/LTE I don't think is going to be a problem for a long while. The way all the main US carriers (at least. No idea about in other countries) have things set up is the LTE and 5G sides share the same bands and they can dynamically allocate how much of that band each uses based on what all the connected devices/phones/etc are using at any given moment. So they can easily coexist for quite a while. Does that mean they won't eventually drop LTE altogether? No. But compared to previous gens they have a much longer 'runway' to work with before they have to cut off LTE entirely. Plus there's so many of the bands available they can probably keep one around as a fallback. I know for T-Mobile, Band 12 has been their 'litmus test' and baseline required support for VoLTE service and is a low frequency/high range band. This would be an ideal one to keep as LTE only while everything else eventually moves to 5G IMHO.

Edited March 31, 2024 at 04:04 PM by cr08

[jj2me]

On 3/30/2024 at 2:46 PM, FairwayFusion said:

I live in California, and gas is over $5.00 a gallon, heading towards $6.00 by summertime.

 

Here is a quick-and-dirty Google Sheets calculator for the pump price break even point, given your particular kWh price.

 

Please only change column B entries, rows 3 through 12.  (kWh/100 mi. = 35 is the design spec, I don't know when or how that should be altered.)

 

Typically you would only set the Charge efficiency percentage to 72 for Level 1 charging, or 80 for Level 2 charging. 

You might want to change the Hybrid mpg to whatever you usually get for the type of driving you're comparing.

 

For example, using 42 hybrid mpg, a $6.00/gal. pump price compares to a kWh charge of $0.295 using a L1 charger, and $0.325 using a L2 charger

Changing to 38 hybrid mpg, we get comparable kWh costs of $0.325 for L1 and $0.36 for L2.

 

The average CA cost of electricity of $0.3276 kWh.

[Glenn Paul]

RECALL 23S33   The Fusion charging recall went out in June 2023 and is not expected to be resolved until late 2024. I bought a Fusion Plug-in so that I could charge it, not so that I could have a gas vehicle with no trunk space. Is there a class action suit involving this recall?

[wakasc]

If I've already sold my 2019 Fusion Energi back to Ford, and received the $250 gas stipend can I still join a class-action suit?

wakasc

[Johnny Mo]

On 3/30/2024 at 2:46 PM, FairwayFusion said:

I have a 2020 Ford Energi Fusion, and I'm also awaiting a Ford fix on the 23S33 recall.  I called Ford recall department and was told there would be no fix until the end of 2024, if we're lucky.  I'm pissed because this is part of the reason, I purchased the vehicle.  I too got their $250.00 check in the hopes that this would satisfy me enough to wait for a battery fix.  Is this a joke? I live in California, and gas is over $5.00 a gallon, heading towards $6.00 by summertime. So far, no other issues with the vehicle caused by the battery recall. I sent a letter to the NHTSA weeks ago and haven't received anything.  I'm seeing there are many posts here asking Ford to repurchase your vehicle.  I'm very interested in requesting Ford make me an offer.  Can anyone on these posts tell me what the process is and a link to which I can submit my claim. I thank you in advance, and good luck to all.

 

I'm also involved in a class action suit against Ford over the 3G to 4G modem upgrade. This has been going on for over a year, and we don't expect this to be resolved anytime soon, per the class action lawyer.  

I had a 2015 Energi that became my son's car - at 106k miles this past December we decided to upgrade (he loved his Fusion) to a 2020 Energi, knowing about the battery issue and a hope for a fix.  With that I was also surprised and upset about the modem issue - took matters into my own hands and replaced it with a newer modem from a Ford vehicle that was 4g and used Forscan to update it on his 2020 - works like a charm.  Check out the Cyan Labs forum for more details and what specific modem and antenna will work.  Hopefully we get a battery fix soon.  I had a lifetime 59mpg on that 2015 with 106k.   

[Cathy]

thanks to Johnny Mo for the modem info. I have been annoyed ever since they dropped that one on me. I will check out Cyan Labs.

[Johnny Mo]

https://community.cyanlabs.net/t/another-modem-upgrade-2020-fusion-energi/13446/18?u=johnny_mo

 

[Krystyna]

Here's a class action lawsuit here in Canada. 
 

https://www.gluckstein.com/class-actions/Ford-Fusion-PHEV-2019-2020-Recall-class-action/class-action#:~:text=This class action concerns the,defect and commenced a recall.