Ford has ordered the recall of more than 300,000 Mustang Mach-E battery-electric vehicles – while telling dealers to halt sales and deliveries. A software glitch could cause the electric SUVs to lock owners out of the vehicles or, in some situations, keep them locked inside.
The 2025 Ford Mustang Mach-E.
If you own a Ford Mustang Mach-E you might consider parking it for now, the automaker announcing a recall to address a software glitch that can cause the electric SUV to lock itself, making it difficult to get into – or out of – the vehicle.
Ford also has issued a stop-sale, telling dealers to sideline the Mach-E SUVs currently on their lots until it can roll out a fix for the problem.
All told, the recall covers 196,911 vehicles sold during the 2021 through 2025 model years in the U.S., along with another 120,000 shipped to other markets.
The problem
The Mustang Mach-E doesn’t use conventional door handles.
On a number of occasions, Ford discovered, the Mach-E has been found to unexpectedly lock itself and then fail to reopen. In one case reported on the user seat Mach-E Forum earlier this year, an owner said their infant child was locked into the vehicle for 40 minutes, even when AAA road service attempted to help. The child only was released when a front window was smashed.
The problem is related to the fact that the Mach-E uses two separate batteries: a high-voltage pack that powers the electric drive system, and a 12-volt battery operating some other functions, including the EV’s electronic doors. Mach-E has button-operated door handles that require power to operate.
“In the event of unexpected 12V battery discharge, the front door electronic latches retain their last lock/unlock status,” the parent of the young child was advised. There is an emergency mechanical release inside the vehicle, it added, but, “If the driver or front passenger exits the front doors using the mechanical inside release handles, the doors may remain locked when they are closed. This may result in an unexpected lock-out condition.”
The fix
In some situations, a motorist and passengers could get locked inside the Mach-E.
According to Ford, there have been no reports of injuries or crashes related to the problem – though social media sites indicate the situation reported by the parent of that young child has occurred on multiple occasions.
The design of Mach-E’s electrical architecture isn’t unique. Other manufacturers also use secondary 12-volt batteries for some electronic functions. But where it’s normally possible to fix issues by recharging the battery, that may not happen with the Ford EV. As a result, the automaker is working up a fix.
“A software update is coming soon to address this recall,” spokesman Mike Levine said in a statement.
The automaker has so far not clarified whether it will require owners to go to dealerships to get the planned update or if the automaker will be able to use Mach-E’s built-in smartphone-like capabilities to download an over-the-air update.
“Will share more as soon as it’s released,” Levine said in a text sent to Headlight.News.
More Ford News
- First Drive: 2025 Ford Expedition
- Ford F-150 Lightning Now Outselling Tesla Cybertruck
- A Week With 2025 Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally
Another setback
The Mustang Mach-E continues to outsell the conventional Mustang coupe.
The recall is the latest affecting the Mustang Mach-E and follows another one announced earlier this week impacting a few hundred of the EVs due to faulty park rods that could fail and lead to a crash. Dealers were told on June 16 not to demonstrate or deliver any of the vehicles in stock that were equipped with the defective parts.
The Mach-E is one of two retail EVs sold by the Blue Oval brand and the new recall comes at a time when the automaker is struggling to build demand for its all-electric line-up. But it also serves as another reminder of Ford’s ongoing problems with quality and reliability. As Automotive News noted, the automaker led the industry during three of the last four years in terms of total recalls and has now ordered 76 more this year.
Ford has also lagged the industry in terms of initial and longer-term quality and reliability, according to ongoing studies by J.D. Power, AutoPacific and other consultancies that track the industry.
0 Comments