NHTSA Complaint #11672199 — 2023 FORD MUSTANG MACH E

At [XXX] on Tuesday [XXX] while driving our 2023 Ford Mustang Mach E GT eastbound in the left lane on [XXX] near the [XXX] intersection the car suddenly stopped. There was a second or two of multiple warning notices then the car instrument panel went blank. The car “bricked” as is known in Electric Vehicle jargon. There was no power to anything, and the stop was sudden and steering was extremely difficult. Washington State Patrol and Washington Department of Transportation responded to provide safety assistance while eastbound traffic on [XXX] backed up for several miles. The car is now at Frontier Ford in Anacortes Washington and they have confirmed its status as completely dead. In fact it took almost an hour to get the car off the tow truck. The dealership tried several battery jumper options to the 12v battery but when they worked it seemed to only work for a few seconds before the car “bricked” again. There is probably a WSP police and WSDOT report about responding to this incident. In the seconds before the complete electrical shutdown there was a cascade of warning notices then everything went blank and the car abruptly stopped in traffic. It took over an hour to get a tow truck and then the cars “bricked” status made the towing job very difficult and eventually the car was literally dragged onto the flatbed with a winch. This incident happened during rush hour in heavy traffic and both occupants safely was put at high risk of a high speed collision from traffic approaching from the rear of the car. We have made two reports to Ford Customer Service. Case # [XXX] And case # [XXX] The suddenness and inability to maneuver and get out of traffic is a real safety problem that can lead to a severe accident. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)