2024 Nautilus software and battery issues

[Steve_C]

LATEST: Still at the dealership (15 days now), no fix but have confirmed it is the battery that is the problem .... & no one has any, so cannot begin to test/check anything else. Dealership has found at least one dead battery on new cars on lot also. Have talked to corporate & they are investigating this.

Wonder what corporate is investigating? Could it be why a battery would go bad after 70+ days of constant discharge during its journey from factory to delivery...all the while experiencing parasitic draws while sitting & many short startups/shut downs along the way?
Could they be that naive in not knowing that any battery would experience serious sulfation under those circumstances thus compromising that battery and cutting its service life short?
Naa! They cannot be that out of touch with those conditions. BMW has a special plug used during shipping that shuts down battery discharge (parasitic drains) to control such issues. They have been using this for over a decade to insure batteries stay healthy during overseas shipping! This is not new technology, just an excellent quality control implementation to insure vehicle reliability and customer satisfaction.

I am going to go with this; Corporate is investigating why no batteries are available for replacement! It appears this battery is not a common off the shelf application that is readily available! Ooops!

I wonder what the future holds for a readily available "off the shelf" replacement battery for these vehicles....in lets say 6 or 7 years from now!

 

[Hugo Drivenow]

From what I understand the new Nautilus design has been on the roads in China for at least a year now. That means they have had over a year to iron out software bugs.

No offense to those who got the hybrid, but the second we walked in the dealer the first thing we said was…we didn’t want to see any hybrids. and that was before we knew anything about the issues. I was just wary about too much technology in one car. IMO battery tech is not far along enough to rely on. I’m still bummed they stopped putting the V6 in the cars!

That said, I hope you all with hybrids get your issues sorted out and end up happy with your purchase! Good luck!

 

[Jacyte]

From what I understand the new Nautilus design has been on the roads in China for at least a year now. That means they have had over a year to iron out software bugs.

No offense to those who got the hybrid, but the second we walked in the dealer the first thing we said was…we didn’t want to see any hybrids. and that was before we knew anything about the issues. I was just wary about too much technology in one car. IMO battery tech is not far along enough to rely on. I’m still bummed they stopped putting the V6 in the cars!

That said, I hope you all with hybrids get your issues sorted out and end up happy with your purchase! Good luck!

The few with battery issues are not the hybrid battery. It’s the 12v battery that is low and it’s not limited to just the hybrid. No problems with mine at all. Drives fantastic and the electric motor torque is awesome. Can’t feel hills at all and is amazingly smooth. The only new tech in the hybrid version is the use of an ecoboost motor with an eCVT. Otherwise everything is very well proven.

 

[Kmen]

I have nearly 3,000 miles on my hybrid with no issues at all other than the media glitches. Media system is performing better after the dealer software upgrade. Fortunately, I haven’t had the problems noted here. In fact, the fit and finish is as good as any German suv i have owned. This is a luxury suv with no premise of sport. I appreciate that however power is immediate at any speed. I am completely satisfied with my car.

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[Hugo Drivenow]

The few with battery issues are not the hybrid battery. It’s the 12v battery that is low and it’s not limited to just the hybrid. No problems with mine at all. Drives fantastic and the electric motor torque is awesome. Can’t feel hills at all and is amazingly smooth. The only new tech in the hybrid version is the use of an ecoboost motor with an eCVT. Otherwise everything is very well proven.

I may be mistaken but doesn’t the hybrid have a different starting 12v battery? But you are right about many…or most…have no problems and those with problems will search and join forums quicker (for answers and troubleshooting) than those who have no problems. So a forum can skew your view of just how many cars have a common issue. So far we have no major problems and still, this forum has been a huge help in figuring out things. Our infotainment has had the very common volume glitch and going haywire when trying to enter profiles. But at least those are easy resets.

The hybrid WAS tempting for the extra hp, but we still didn’t want the extra complexity, no matter how long it’s been around. But I’m not here to slam hybrids, this was just a personal choice…no offense.

 

[Jacyte]

I may be mistaken but doesn’t the hybrid have a different starting 12v battery? But you are right about many…or most…have no problems and those with problems will search and join forums quicker (for answers and troubleshooting) than those who have no problems. So a forum can skew your view of just how many cars have a common issue. So far we have no major problems and still, this forum has been a huge help in figuring out things. Our infotainment has had the very common volume glitch and going haywire when trying to enter profiles. But at least those are easy resets.

The hybrid WAS tempting for the extra hp, but we still didn’t want the extra complexity, no matter how long it’s been around. But I’m not here to slam hybrids, this was just a personal choice…no offense.

Hybrid uses the 12v for all the low voltage circuits. It controls interior lights, door locks, computers, seats. It’s required to “start” the car but doesn’t actually start the engine. The hybrid uses the eCVT generator motor to start the engine using the high voltage battery but all computer control uses the 12v system.

 

[hinckley]

I think we have to be careful about extrapolating too much from the experiences of this group. There's only a relative handful of us and the sample size that we represent is far too small to know whether our problems, or lack thereof, are representative of the total universe of 2024 Nautilus buyers.

I've said it many times . . . I absolutely love my car and have no purchase regrets (although I am annoyed by the infotainment bugs and hope for future feature enhancements). But some of the problems that have been reported here are pretty significant and hard to ignore. If I knew of them 40 days ago when I bought my car, it wouldn't have been unreasonable to have decided to sit on the sidelines and wait to see how they sorted out.

 

[swindler]

I may be mistaken but doesn’t the hybrid have a different starting 12v battery? But you are right about many…or most…have no problems and those with problems will search and join forums quicker (for answers and troubleshooting) than those who have no problems. So a forum can skew your view of just how many cars have a common issue. So far we have no major problems and still, this forum has been a huge help in figuring out things. Our infotainment has had the very common volume glitch and going haywire when trying to enter profiles. But at least those are easy resets.

The hybrid WAS tempting for the extra hp, but we still didn’t want the extra complexity, no matter how long it’s been around. But I’m not here to slam hybrids, this was just a personal choice…no offense.

Btw, yes the 12V battery is different, as in smaller. But given that it doesn't operate the starter as @Jacyte mentioned, it doesn't need to be as big. The eCVT transmission is actually simpler and more reliable than the 8-speed. We could argue about the complexity, but that doesn't necessarily translate to reliability.

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[Lars5457]

LATEST: Still at the dealership (15 days now), no fix but have confirmed it is the battery that is the problem .... & no one has any, so cannot begin to test/check anything else. Dealership has found at least one dead battery on new cars on lot also. Have talked to corporate & they are investigating this.

Wonder what corporate is investigating? Could it be why a battery would go bad after 70+ days of constant discharge during its journey from factory to delivery...all the while experiencing parasitic draws while sitting & many short startups/shut downs along the way?
Could they be that naive in not knowing that any battery would experience serious sulfation under those circumstances thus compromising that battery and cutting its service life short?
Naa! They cannot be that out of touch with those conditions. BMW has a special plug used during shipping that shuts down battery discharge (parasitic drains) to control such issues. They have been using this for over a decade to insure batteries stay healthy during overseas shipping! This is not new technology, just an excellent quality control implementation to insure vehicle reliability and customer satisfaction.

I am going to go with this; Corporate is investigating why no batteries are available for replacement! It appears this battery is not a common off the shelf application that is readily available! Ooops!

I wonder what the future holds for a readily available "off the shelf" replacement battery for these vehicles....in lets say 6 or 7 years from now!

From what my service advisor is telling me they are waiting on new batteries. It may come down to a service campaign to replace all the batteries from certain build dates.

 

[Steve_C]

From what my service advisor is telling me they are waiting on new batteries. It may come down to a service campaign to replace all the batteries from certain build dates.

I do believe that Lars is getting good info here from his service advisor! It makes total sense.
Also, just the fact that the advisor is aware of this situation tells you it is not isolated to a "few" that post this issue to this forum!

 

[Hugo Drivenow]

It’s really hard sometimes to determine if an issue is an isolated or common issue many have. But it’s either a forum like this or www.carcomplaint.com where you can get any real info. But for Lincoln to make high end vehicles and drop the ball on spare parts is pretty short sighted.

 

[Lars5457]

I do believe that Lars is getting good info here from his service advisor! It makes total sense.
Also, just the fact that the advisor is aware of this situation tells you it is not isolated to a "few" that post this issue to this forum!

My dealership is currently dealing with 5-7 dead battery Nauts. My battery's condition is poor.

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[RedHoncho]

It’s really hard sometimes to determine if an issue is an isolated or common issue many have. But it’s either a forum like this or www.carcomplaint.com where you can get any real info. But for Lincoln to make high end vehicles and drop the ball on spare parts is pretty short sighted.

I'm not so certain Lincoln has dropped the ball as the suppliers have. You have to consider if a part is deemed bad, then every one of those parts gets quarantined until it can have a status confirmation one way or the other. The supplier has to prove a good build date and then ramp up production to not only meet the plant production but to replace all the bad parts in the field. It takes time.

 

[G-808724]

I have a 2024 Jet package ordered in gas ... im not so sure now i am making a good decision on getting this vehicle ... am i buying a problem !!??

 

[Steve_C]

I'm not so certain Lincoln has dropped the ball as the suppliers have. You have to consider if a part is deemed bad, then every one of those parts gets quarantined until it can have a status confirmation one way or the other. The supplier has to prove a good build date and then ramp up production to not only meet the plant production but to replace all the bad parts in the field. It takes time.

Very true, good point.
Back in 1983 a friend of mine purchased the then newly introduced 1984 C4 Corvette. He wanted to take it for a spin that had a few challenging curves. He drove it up the Bronx River Parkway in Westchester, and promptly lost control on the S curves at Hartsdale/White Plains.
Towed to Dealer, major exhaust damage, and no replacement exhaust available for several months. Chevy Corporate refused to pull what he needed off the line! Lawyer got involved (this occurred just before the Lemon Law) and they ended up pulling what was needed out of the Bowling Green Assembly Plant 3 Mos. later!

What I find interesting is that the 2024 Naut is specified with a unique battery not readily available in the supply chain as of yet. I would classify a battery as a maintenance item. There probably is a "universal" battery out there somewhere that will fit the 2024 as needed, but not approved by Ford/Lincoln "spec" for replacement service.
I agree with Hugo Drivenow. This is just poor product planning IMHO! Maintenance items should be in supply chain from the get go!

 

[swindler]

Very true, good point.
Back in 1983 a friend of mine purchased the then newly introduced 1984 C4 Corvette. He wanted to take it for a spin that had a few challenging curves. He drove it up the Bronx River Parkway in Westchester, and promptly lost control on the S curves at Hartsdale/White Plains.
Towed to Dealer, major exhaust damage, and no replacement exhaust available for several months. Chevy Corporate refused to pull what he needed off the line! Lawyer got involved (this occurred just before the Lemon Law) and they ended up pulling what was needed out of the Bowling Green Assembly Plant 3 Mos. later!

What I find interesting is that the 2024 Naut is specified with a unique battery not readily available in the supply chain as of yet. I would classify a battery as a maintenance item. There probably is a "universal" battery out there somewhere that will fit the 2024 as needed, but not approved by Ford/Lincoln "spec" for replacement service.
I agree with Hugo Drivenow. This is just poor product planning IMHO! Maintenance items should be in supply chain from the get go!

I kinda agree but kinda don't. If the issue is that they sourced a small number of batteries, to cover the infant failures, but found it to be a widespread issue requiring 10× to 100× the volume, then I'm not sure they're negligent. If the (unique) battery is found to need replacing, or the adaptive suspension needs parts, or even if the software needs updating, this is outside the expected repair or maintenance of the vehicle.

What about brake parts? Air filters? Wiper blades? Sure, they should have ample volume to cover defective parts, but I wouldn't expect them to automatically have enough to cover a campaign.

The adaptive suspension was a known issue since February, and they just now have parts. I can't expect that they knew they would need so many batteries this early into the product lifecycle.

---

Btw, When I was young and stupid, I did some belly-surfing with a new model year Supra. Both front wheels ended up 50 yards in front of me. Insurance covered it, but I only had 30 days on my rental. The extra ~45 days I spent with the rental waiting for parts cost me more than the deductable.

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[Jacyte]

Very true, good point.
Back in 1983 a friend of mine purchased the then newly introduced 1984 C4 Corvette. He wanted to take it for a spin that had a few challenging curves. He drove it up the Bronx River Parkway in Westchester, and promptly lost control on the S curves at Hartsdale/White Plains.
Towed to Dealer, major exhaust damage, and no replacement exhaust available for several months. Chevy Corporate refused to pull what he needed off the line! Lawyer got involved (this occurred just before the Lemon Law) and they ended up pulling what was needed out of the Bowling Green Assembly Plant 3 Mos. later!

What I find interesting is that the 2024 Naut is specified with a unique battery not readily available in the supply chain as of yet. I would classify a battery as a maintenance item. There probably is a "universal" battery out there somewhere that will fit the 2024 as needed, but not approved by Ford/Lincoln "spec" for replacement service.
I agree with Hugo Drivenow. This is just poor product planning IMHO! Maintenance items should be in supply chain from the get go!

The problem is that Ford/Lincoln has to use OEM parts. There are plenty of low profile AGM batteries that are exact replacements but it has to be motorcraft. On your dime you can replace the battery right now without issue.

You can even buy an OEM battery yourself and have it delivered to the dealer faster.

https://parts.ford.com/shop/en/us/electrical/battery-and-related-components/battery-12vx50ah-20l-p-bagmh4?pdp=y

 

[markfm]

The problem is that Ford/Lincoln has to use OEM parts. There are plenty of low profile AGM batteries that are exact replacements but it has to be motorcraft. On your dime you can replace the battery right now without issue.

You can even buy an OEM battery yourself and have it delivered to the dealer faster.

https://parts.ford.com/shop/en/us/electrical/battery-and-related-components/battery-12vx50ah-20l-p-bagmh4?pdp=y

Do you have an example of a non-Motorcraft low profile AGM battery exact replacement? I haven't seen physical size information on the hybrid 12V accessory battery.

 

[Jacyte]

Do you have an example of a non-Motorcraft low profile AGM battery exact replacement? I haven't seen physical size information on the hybrid 12V accessory battery.

You would have to measure yours first but I would bet this would fit.

Advance Auto Parts - Down for Maintenance

This one is even lower profile.

Advance Auto Parts - Down for Maintenance

 

[Lars5457]

The problem is that Ford/Lincoln has to use OEM parts. There are plenty of low profile AGM batteries that are exact replacements but it has to be motorcraft. On your dime you can replace the battery right now without issue.

You can even buy an OEM battery yourself and have it delivered to the dealer faster.

https://parts.ford.com/shop/en/us/electrical/battery-and-related-components/battery-12vx50ah-20l-p-bagmh4?pdp=y

What are specs on that battery(CCA). I was told it was the 80ah 800CCA battery.