Master Vehicle Electrical Hazard Warning Lamp and "Stop Safely Now" Message
 

Yesterday morning, my wife backed out of the garage, and drove our 2006 FEH 4WD about 100-yards (to the bus stop) and shut-off the ICE. The ICE was on for no more than 2-minutes and off for several minutes before restarting it. After my daughter got on the bus, my wife started the ICE, put the gear selector in Reverse, and the Master Vehicle Electrical Hazard warning lamp (triangle with exclamation point inside) illuminated, and the message center indicated “Stop Safely Now.” My wife put the gear selector in Park, and turned off the ICE. A few seconds later, she turned the ICE back on, and drove home. About one and one-half hours later, she drove our FEH several miles roundtrip in order to drop-off my other daughter at pre-school, and there were no issues. This trip did not require my wife to turn off the ICE, due to a teacher comes out to the vehicle to get the children out of the vehicle, or put it in Reverse. A few hours later, my wife drove back to the bus stop, and exactly the same problem occurred – when she turned on the ICE and put the gear selector in Reverse, the Master Vehicle Electrical Hazard warning lamp illuminated, and the message center indicated “Stop Safely Now.”

According to the owner’s manual, the Master Vehicle Electrical Hazard warning lamp indicates Hybrid component fault/failure that will cause the vehicle to shutdown or fail to start. Anybody know what the cause might be?

Unfortunately, it does not look like I will be able to drop-off my FEH at the dealership this week. Luckily, I have three vehicles.

I know there is another thread about the "Stop Safely Now" message, but I wanted to start another.

Re: Master Vehicle Electrical Hazard Warning Lamp and "Stop Safely Now" Message
 

The next time this occurs drive to you autoparts store and see if they will plug in a "code reader" device to see if your vehicle has thrown a "code". A scanguage device also can operate as a code reader. You can purchase a dedicated code reader for a low price--see Walmart or autopart stores. Do not turn off the ICE when this warning occurs in an attempt to preserve the code that may have been thrown.

Re: Master Vehicle Electrical Hazard Warning Lamp and "Stop Safely Now" Message
 

Frankly... I'd take it to a dealer... the REPUTABLE ones will take the charge off your bill to fix it, it should be maybe $70. And frankly since its likely the same battery door problem I've seen here time and time again its going to have to be fixed at the dealer ANYWAY. The code readers used at autoparts stores might not read diagnostic codes for climate controls.

I'm all for saving a buck but in this case I'd just get the code read.

Re: Master Vehicle Electrical Hazard Warning Lamp and "Stop Safely Now" Message
 

After 40,000 miles and almost 3 years of flawless performance. I got my first incident of the "stop safely now" and warning lamp last Saturday. Of course my wife was driving.....but everytime she would stop and turn it off and back on again.........it would run a few more miles. She was able to drive it home. I got in and went about half-a-mile with everything looking normal - then I got the cut and the messages.

I'll re-post after I try and pull some codes and do some diagnostics.

Re: Master Vehicle Electrical Hazard Warning Lamp and "Stop Safely Now" Message
 

You know.. it may be an issue with the shifter... when I was messing with mine (because the key didn't want to come out at times due to it now 'knowing' it was in Park), I somehow managed to knock the shifter sensor out of adjustment due to its screws being loose.

I had to car running at the time for heat, and it somehow (the sensor, but not the actual shifter) got into a position between R and P... and the STOP SAFELY NOW message came on and the ICE died.

Once I realized what had happened, I was able to readjust the sensor.. and the engine started up. The WRENCH light went off after the next restart, and the CHECK ENGINE light went off two days later. Hasn't been an issue since.

I never did bother to pull the codes.

Re: Master Vehicle Electrical Hazard Warning Lamp and "Stop Safely Now" Message
 

Sounds like there is a problem with your bus stop.
Try another bus stop.
;):P

( sorry, couldn't resist noticing the coincidence )

Good luck, and keep us posted.

Re: Master Vehicle Electrical Hazard Warning Lamp and "Stop Safely Now" Message
 

Okay here is what my FEH is doing:

At cold-start it starts and operates normally - with "assist" and "charging" occuring as designed.

Then, after the warmup period and after the FEH starts to go into and out of EV, it will experience a full power cut out, "stop safely now", MIL event. It only does this as the vehicle is in the process of coming to a full stop (w/ regen) and it happens JUST BEFORE REACHING A FULL STOP.[usually at a stop sign or red traffic light) Shift into "P", cycle the key and the vehicle runs normal....until the next full stop. It has not failed to re-start. Of course the ScanGuageII says "NO CODES READ - Ready - "

Now, if I anticipate the next full stop and shift into "N" before applying the brakes....I can stop fully without the full PCM shutoff. Shift back into "D" or "L" and try to complete a full stop....and I can cause the PCM shut off.

The Service manual's brake system diagnosis focuses on the Hydraulic Control Unit (HCU) and the ABS module which is part of the HCU. This is were I will point the technician once I take it to the dealer.
Any other suggestions?

Re: Master Vehicle Electrical Hazard Warning Lamp and "Stop Safely Now" Message
 

Do you have any stored/pending DTCs from the TBCM? The xgauge to determine this is:

TXD: 0745220200
RXF: 044605020600
RXD: 3008
MTH: 000100010000
NAM: BTC

This will read 0 if there are no TBCM generated DTCs. If it is 1 (or more) then there are TBCM DTCs that a Ford dealer can extract. The SG can also do it but it is a major pain and requires that you look for each DTC one by one from the list in the shop manual.

Re: Master Vehicle Electrical Hazard Warning Lamp and "Stop Safely Now" Message
 

I dropped my FEH off at the dealer on Thursday evening, and they called on Friday saying they could not duplicate the problem, but there was a "vague" code. The technician spoke with me, and I gave him details. He asked to keep it in order to try to duplicate the problem based on the information that I provided. On Monday, they called to say they were able to duplicate the problem, and they had to send the data to Ford, and Ford would send it to someone else. I was told it would take a few days to get back to me, and Ford told them it was okay to release the vehicle back to us. I drove it 125-miles roundtrip to work today without a problem, getting my usual 32.5-MPG. I hope it is something that won't cost too much to repair. While it was at the dealer, I asked them to change the oil, and, when the service advisor called to let me know the status and I could pick it up, he said consider the oil change a courtesy (no charge). :)

I doubt very seriously the bus stop will ever change, Brad, so I guess my wife will need to drive my daughters to school. ;)