Phantom Warning Message

[dcsmith423]

I have a 2023 Lariat (loaded) Hybrid Powerboost purchased new. It now has 14,000 miles. Randomly, I get a waring message pop up for a split second and then it is gone. Too fast for me to even read it. Sometimes it happens once. Other times, it happens several times in a row over the course of a few minutes. There is no commonality as to when it happens. At a stop. Driving low speeds. Driving highway speeds. Doesn't matter. I belive it said something with the words..."Trailer Brake...". I am unsure if there are other messages because they flash so quickly, I cannot read them. Are these stored anywhere that a dealer or ODB could pull? Is this happening to anyone else and if so is there a fix?

BTW... I love the truck. Plenty of complements. Best mpg so far on a 45 mile trip was 27.8. Typically I am getting about 23 +/-.

Any advice is appreciated.

Chris

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[madsend81]

A lot of weird little electrical gremlins like that have been resolved by either ensuring the 12V AGM batteries are fully charged with battery maintainers, running the AC fan at 5 or higher, or replacing the factory AGM batteries with new ones.

 

[TheDIG]

I had similar weird things like that with my 23 PB. A trailer brake controller fault would blip up on the screen for a second and then go away. Sometimes with the warning chime, sometimes without. I have not had that issue since replacing the original battery. I was constantly getting a low battery message even though I drive the truck several times a day. Having to keep a maintainer on a 2023 truck is absurd.

 

[madsend81]

Having to keep a maintainer on a 2023 truck is absurd.

I agree. I was only summarizing what I have seen on this forum for the OP.
I had one weird gremlin pop up for me on my PB which was resolved with a quick hookup of my battery jump pack.
The best long term strategy, IMHO is to replace the AGM batteries.

 

[dcsmith423]

I had similar weird things like that with my 23 PB. A trailer brake controller fault would blip up on the screen for a second and then go away. Sometimes with the warning chime, sometimes without. I have not had that issue since replacing the original battery. I was constantly getting a low battery message even though I drive the truck several times a day. Having to keep a maintainer on a 2023 truck is absurd.

Which battery? The one under the hood or the one under the rear passenger seat?

 

[TheDIG]

The one under the hood.

 

[JohngaltinOC]

I have a 2023 Lariat (loaded) Hybrid Powerboost purchased new. It now has 14,000 miles. Randomly, I get a waring message pop up for a split second and then it is gone. Too fast for me to even read it. Sometimes it happens once. Other times, it happens several times in a row over the course of a few minutes. There is no commonality as to when it happens. At a stop. Driving low speeds. Driving highway speeds. Doesn't matter. I belive it said something with the words..."Trailer Brake...". I am unsure if there are other messages because they flash so quickly, I cannot read them. Are these stored anywhere that a dealer or ODB could pull? Is this happening to anyone else and if so is there a fix?

BTW... I love the truck. Plenty of complements. Best mpg so far on a 45 mile trip was 27.8. Typically I am getting about 23 +/-.

Any advice is appreciated.

Chris

If I was a betting man I'd bet it said something about "reverse brake assist unavailable". Used to get it & midnight alarms going off quite often before I figured out to slam rear doors better. Fwiw

 

[Beagleman]

There is at least one other thread regarding the phantom messages problem and possibly a TSB. The issue I had sounds like yours.
https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/threads/phantom-alerts-dash-warning.21045

I just got my truck back from the dealership for this issue and the trailer brake module was replaced.

 

[HammaMan]

As other's have pointed out, this happened earlier with 22s, it was the TBC acting up and mine was resolved with a patch.

 

[Rah150]

Just happened with my 23 PB. No issues other than flashing a bunch while driving with the tone. I’ve only had one SSN occurrence in about 12000 miles.
No abnormal weather or driving conditions when it happened.

wondering if just swapping with a new battery would solve this?

 

[Beagleman]

I actually had a number of system messages concerns that would flash by without being able to catch what was displayed in the message. The trailer brake message finally stuck around long enough to be able to read it. It also would do a strobe light effect with going on and off. Glad that's fixed now.

In my case, the "Full Accessory Power" followed by "Stop Safely Now" while trying to start the truck always stayed on long enough to read them. I was stranded five or six times between July when I bought the truck and November. A software fix was supposed to solve this one. I received several OTA's in the late autumn and I haven't had this concern since. The dealership confirmed the fix was in one of those OTA's. I don't know which OTA solved the issue. I still have the same batteries in the truck.

I also had other fleeting messages but I was able to catch part of one as it flipped by regarding driver assistance. Lane keeping and lane centering stopped working. This problem was also fixed when I was at the dealership for the issues above. The tech at the dealership reached out to the Ford engineering for assistance on this one. A couple of cables were faulty and replaced.

I haven't had any phantom messages since. I bought an OBDLink MX+ and keep that plugged in now. Glad no issues have occurred, but at least I'll be able to easily keep track of codes that occur.

The tech at the dealership has the identical truck as I do, same color and all so he's familiar with the PB's. The official Ford account on the forum reached out to me when I was posting about my phantom message experience. They created a case with Ford. A Ford rep then was in contact with the service department throughout while the problems were being diagnosed. The Ford rep also stayed in touch with me weekly. Good experience with the dealership and Ford support.

 

[dcsmith423]

I had similar weird things like that with my 23 PB. A trailer brake controller fault would blip up on the screen for a second and then go away. Sometimes with the warning chime, sometimes without. I have not had that issue since replacing the original battery. I was constantly getting a low battery message even though I drive the truck several times a day. Having to keep a maintainer on a 2023 truck is absurd.

 

[dcsmith423]

In your first paragraph above, you said the trailer brake message was finally fixed. What was the fix? An OTA? Were these special OTA's that the service rep was able to get loaded for you because of the CAS number you got from Ford or were those just standard OTA's. I bought my truck this past July and have had several OTA's pushed normally but I still have the random warnings pop up.

 

[Beagleman]

For my issue, the trailer brake module was replaced.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

I have a 2023 Lariat (loaded) Hybrid Powerboost purchased new. It now has 14,000 miles. Randomly, I get a waring message pop up for a split second and then it is gone. Too fast for me to even read it. Sometimes it happens once. Other times, it happens several times in a row over the course of a few minutes. There is no commonality as to when it happens. At a stop. Driving low speeds. Driving highway speeds. Doesn't matter. I belive it said something with the words..."Trailer Brake...". I am unsure if there are other messages because they flash so quickly, I cannot read them. Are these stored anywhere that a dealer or ODB could pull? Is this happening to anyone else and if so is there a fix?

BTW... I love the truck. Plenty of complements. Best mpg so far on a 45 mile trip was 27.8. Typically I am getting about 23 +/-.

Any advice is appreciated.

Chris

Hi Chris! I can look into your F-150's error message concern on my end. To get started, could you please send a private message over with the name/location of your local Ford dealer and your F-150’s VIN?

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