Hi All-
i purchased a brand new 2025 Ranger Lariat in February and it currently has 1,246 miles on the odometer. Last week while driving in city traffic, the engine suddenly turned off, but all of the electrical was still operational- pretty much like the irritating engine shut off feature operates when you come to a stop. Only I wasn’t at a stop- I was turning left, in front of approaching traffic. Thankfully they were far enough away that I was able to coast through to the side street. At some point while still rolling the engine switched back on. So I drove home to change my pants. Two days later it did the same thing- I was in a roundabout, going about 25mph and the engine switched off again. After forever (maybe 20-25 seconds) the engine switched back on. Off to the dealership. They told me that this issue could be difficult to diagnose because it isn’t doing it all the time, but they would keep the truck and try and recreate the issue. About five days later, since I hadn’t heard from them, I gave them a call and was told that, sure enough, they couldn’t recreate the issue. I asked them what, specifically, are they trying to recreate? They said, “The engine switching off while in motion, and then turning back on.” I found that puzzling, so I asked, “Why do you need to recreate an engine switching off while in motion, and then turning itself back on, when I’ve already explained to you that THAT is exactly that what it’s doing? How is your experience of having the engine switching off, then back on, going to be different from my experience of the engine switching off, then back on?” That earned me some blank stares. Trust me- there really aren’t that many ways to interpret an engine switching itself off while moving, and then switching itself back on. Maybe there are. Maybe I’m missing something. But it seems to me that they might want to take a stab at figuring out how something like this may happen? Google had some ideas about it- “Battery Management System (BMS); Loose Connections (as in a loose nut connecting the alternator and the engine block); Body Control Module (BCM)/Software; Faulty Sensors ( Brake/Throttle)” etc. They weren’t interested. Come get your truck. So now I have a brand new truck that is potentially a death trap, and a Ford dealership that has no idea (or interest) in what to do. Neither do I at this point. Find another Ford dealership? Write a letter to someone at Ford (who?) Any suggestions would be appreciated. Apologies for the long, long, long post.

 

Welcome to FTE.

You have a switch to turn off the stop/start, right?

If so, are you turning it off?

If you are turning it off, does the engine still die while in motion as you describe above?

And when it dies in motion, you are having to restart it manually?

 

Yes it has the start/stop switch but I’ve not turned it off. At least not recently. I’m not sure that the current issue is because of that switch being on, although it makes a certain amount of sense, given that the engine restarts itself after stopping in moving traffic. I’m taking it to a different dealer this week and will see what they think. Thanks!

 

IF you turn off the Auto stop start AND it no longer dies when moving as described above, THEN that should be a smoking gun for the dealer to follow.

IF you turn off Auto stop stard AND it still dies as described, then that would be a different path to follow for diagnosis methinks.

AND it should throw a code.

Good luck!

 

As for the dealership trying to recreate the problem, my understanding is for the dealership to get paid by Ford for working on your vehicle under warranty, the dealership has to document for themselves that the problem exists before starting any repair attempts and cannot just take the descriptions from the customer as justification for repair attempts. If you pay out of pocket, they will attempt whatever repairs you want.

 

One exception that Ford does for a problem that has a specific occurrence and repair pattern is the customer satisfaction program where Ford will allow for certain specific vehicles with a known problem pattern, Ford will under that CSP allow dealership warranty repair based on the custoner complaint description matching the CSP criteria.

 

Thank you for that information- I was not aware of the requirement to them to document for themselves the issue. That does, however, make it incredibly frustrating for the owner when the issue is intermittent. And especially so when the issue could cause a major crash on a busy highway.

 

Thanks Alan for the information. Kinda nice to know that I’m not the only one with this shutting down issue!

 

Stick around here on these forums and you will read that it is unfortunately common for owners to have intermittent problems that the dealership cannot reproduce. Even people bringing in videos of the problem usually is not good enough. Some dealerships are better than others. The forum is great though when others with the same problem figured it out and can help you. Good luck with your truck.

 

Good idea turning off the auto stop/start first to rule it out. If the shutoff still happens with ESS disabled, you are dealing with something separate. For the dealer: ask them to pull freeze frame data and any U-codes or B-codes from the BCM and TCM, not just powertrain codes. Intermittent shutoffs like this often log in body modules that a basic OBD scan misses. The trans temp sensor suggestion is also worth flagging - overtemp events can trigger a protective shutoff. If the second dealer stonewalls you the same way, ask to escalate to a Ford Field Service Engineer. Dealers can request FSE involvement on intermittent issues they cannot reproduce. At 1,200 miles this is clearly a warranty issue and you should not have to fight for it.

 

Thank you FordWrench91! I’ll print out what you wrote because I have no idea what you just said! But I’m sure their service department will know, and hopefully the issue can be addressed. Thanks again!