2022 Ford Maverick Hybrid

Vehicle was in traffic traveling 5-7 mph applied brakes, they failed to engage. Continued to apply more pressure without effect to speed. After three to four seconds of forward momentum and continuing to apply steady pressure to brakes, brakes engaged forcefully causing the wheels to lock up. This was without warning. This has been happening more frequently and with more randomness. Due to the hating motion, this latest event compounded a prior injury in my back and passenger shoulder (from the seat belt locking). Reported problem to dealer, was told this was normal. This has happened many times prior, this is the first time it caused an injury.

Breaks not responding or working correctly at low speed... At low speed the break pedal will suddenly become "soft" and vehicle will surge forward until the break pedal is moved a significant distance downward in some cases causing a very abrupt stop from having to slam on the breaks. The other situation during slow speed is that the breaks will suddenly stop short and hard. Then you will need to release the break to move forward causing the above situation to occur where the break pedal becomes soft and takes a lot of downward travel to achieve the same level of breaking. I am an experienced driver of many years and have owned or rented hybrids and EV's and none have had breaks that responded as dangerously as the 2022 Ford Maverick. I have nearly hit two other stationary vehicles in a parking lot and while at a stop light as well as nearly hitting someone that was walking between parking spaces as the this vehicle surged forward from a sudden loss of breaking at low speed. As you can imagine this also causes many looks of concern from observers as your vehicle is surging and stopping abruptly while driving in parking lots or traffic. I purchased this vehicle for my family to use and I don't want them use it due to these safety concerns. The breaks work as expected on highways at higher speeds, only issue is during slow speed breaking. THIS IS A SAFETY ISSUE AND NEEDS TO BE FIXED.

About two weeks after first buying the car I noticed that when breaking the pedal requires inconsistent extra pressure at times to stop the car. Also while breaking and coming to a slow downhill stop the front end makes an odd clunk sound while jerking to a stop. These things only happen very infrequently, so when I took it to the Hansel Ford dealership (in Santa Rosa, Ca.) they could not repeat the sound or breaking effect. The first time I heard the noise I thought I hit something. I feel that the inconsistent breaking could pose a safety issue, making it harder to stop, and potentially causing a collision. I called Ford consumer assistance, they gave me case # [XXX], and asked me to return it to the dealer. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

While attempting to accelerate to pass, the engine shut down and a warning displayed to pull over as soon as possible. The engine check light displayed and I only had electric motor operation. There was no power to continue to pass and I was able to return to an open lane and pull off the road without any further incident. I was lucky that the road was fairly open and there was no oncoming traffic. This is the third time this has happened and each time was while attempting to perform rapid acceleration in "normal" hybrid mode.

While driving in traffic on the highway at about 20-30 mph, traffic in my lane slowed further. In response, I applied what should have been an adequate amount of brake pressure to slow down and stop if needed given the following distance I had left. Initially I progressively applying more braking pressure, but after a ~3 seconds of this I slammed the brake down. Instead, the vehicle did not slow as expected in the following ~5 seconds. Despite having slammed on the brake at that point, the vehicle only then showed the emergency braking alert and emergency braked in addition to my foot being fully down on the brake. However, this was too late as my passenger and I rear-ended a Toyota Tacoma. They and myself have filed against my insurance, so there is an accident on my car report that I know has depreciated my new vehicle’s value. Although I do not currently have the Toyota’s estimate, I believe I can ask the owner or my insurance for this. Previously, I had several rear-ending close calls in the car when in traffic and I knew that I often struggled to slow down at stop lights when they first turn yellow. As a result, I’ve often sped up to beat the red since I knew my vehicle struggles to brake in time. My car is currently being repaired by the closest dealership to my SO, but I no longer trust the vehicle. I believe my hybrid maverick does not adequately mechanically brake since it over relies on the weaker regenerative braking. The dealer has attempted to replicate the issue at this point but my vehicle is available for further inspection upon request. I am happy to answer any additional questions.

New incident for me on a recent road trip. I had the check engine light activate once on me back in May when I was on the interstate with cruise set around 75 MPH and I hit the accelerator to go around someone. Just the Yellow/Orange light and it disappeared a day later. On this last trip, same scenario, but the vehicle threw a RED powertrain failure light and went into limp mode. The dash instructed me to pull over when safely possible. Power to accessories(but not HVAC) was on, but drivetrain was not functioning. Luckily, once I got over to the shoulder, I was able to reset the vehicle by doing a complete shutdown of the vehicle. It took a couple of tries, but it came back to life. We were able to continue on with no issues at all other than a Yellow/Orange engine light that disappeared in a couple of hours of continued interstate driving. This has now happened three times total all under the same driving situations.