I got the "check brake system error" after I left the Ford garage, and they had just closed after pickup. 

I restarted the engine and it was gone, I then drove it home and decided I'd give it a run locally for 45 mins and as I started the engine to leave the house, I had the same error. 

But the brakes are working fine now, just the error showing up. 

The car drove fine the entire journey with no issues whatsoever, even with idling twice for 5-10 mins each time. 

Two garages have told me my brakes/pads/discs are all good, I'm hoping the error came up because they had just bled the brake fluid to clear a DTC from their diagnostics, I'm going to drive it tomorrow and see if the errors return. 

I don't trust the ford garage here at all, so if the problem persists, I'll take it to a well respected auto electrician nearby, to see if they can find and fix the fault. 

As far as I know, If ford have updated the modules, then there's nothing an independent auto electrician can't do at this point..

I've only owned this car for 9 months and I love it, but I'm going crazy 😅

The error may clear with a few run cycles. If it doesn't then the Ford Garage haven't fixed it and it has to go back to them as they have been paid to fix it and they haven't done so.

Most garages assume no knowledge from their customers so "we updated the module" is a good way of making you go away but a main dealer will have resources higher up in Ford to draw upon  and random brake issues do tend to worry them more than blown engines so if you have to ask them to elevate the problem, they might.

54 minutes ago, anon said:

The error may clear with a few run cycles. If it doesn't then the Ford Garage haven't fixed it and it has to go back to them as they have been paid to fix it and they haven't done so.

Most garages assume no knowledge from their customers so "we updated the module" is a good way of making you go away but a main dealer will have resources higher up in Ford to draw upon  and random brake issues do tend to worry them more than blown engines so if you have to ask them to elevate the problem, they might.

The next thing they said they were going to do is replace the electronic brake booster for over a grand, I was sold this car 9 months ago and the warranty hasn't covered any repairs so far and I don't think it covers this either. 

If the problems continue, do you think I should try my luck with the dealership that sold me the car or am I just going to have to bite the bullet and move onto the next thing that might fix it with the ford garage? 

I reckon Ford will just keep charging me whatever they like until they get it right, as that's how it's went sofar and it's how they're talking. 

I would explain to them that you are buying main dealer professional services, not guesswork and as they have not fixed it, you insist on being refunded.

" You don't get paid for doing nothing. "

I've went ahead and bought a maypole smart battery charger as it seems like something that will be useful to have in the future, and it might buy me some time.

If I use it overnight over the next couple days and the errors dissappear I can confidently say to the garage this is a power draining issue, and replacing the EBB is pointless. 

I feel I already know this is the case anyway. 

Can someone please just confirm a couple of things as I am clueless 😅

 

 

As its a MHEV do you attach the positive smart charger cable to the positive terminal, and the negative smart charger cable to the earth point on the chassis? 

Where exactly is the earth point is on the chassis? 

Does the 12v battery terminals clamps need to be disconnected from the cars battery while using the smart charger, or can I leave them on while it's charging via the smart charger? 

Also when removing the smart charger, do I just unplug the smart charger and remove it or is there further steps needed. 

 

Thanks! 

Your online handbook should tell you but the charger goes to the battery positive and the point on the negative lead where it bolts to the car. (This is chassis ground,not battery ground.) There is no need to disconnect anything nor should you perform a BMS reset once it is done. Switch the charger off at the mains or unplug  BEFORE disconnecting the car to avoid the possibility of sparks igniting the hydrogen evolved from the battery charging process.

Perfect thanks for the advice! 

And do have a good read of the charger instructions before you start.

5 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

And do have a good read of the charger instructions before you start.

That's the very last thing to do only when everything else has failed 🤣

Another update

I charged it on Sunday morning and the issues are still happening. 

This is the voltages:

Engine off: 12.41v

Engine on and idling: 14.96v

 

With no drains 

 

This seems healthy right? 

 

The only errors coming up on Forscan are related to ABS. 

 

Apparently the Electronic Brake booster can only be replaced by Ford because it needs programming once replaced. 

 

They have quoted £1020 for the part, 4hrs at £130 to fit it, and VAT, totalling £1848. 

 

I'm looking into my warranty to see if they cover the Brake Booster.

 

Once this is done I've decided I'm going to seek a refund, at least a partial one, with a working car. 

I'm also going to chase up Arnold Clark and the finance company, aswell as the ford garage because there's no chance I should be paying almost £2500 out on a car I was sold 9 months ago and Ford have wasted my time and money too. 

On 9/12/2025 at 8:56 AM, anon said:

Your online handbook should tell you but the charger goes to the battery positive and the point on the negative lead where it bolts to the car. (This is chassis ground,not battery ground.) There is no need to disconnect anything nor should you perform a BMS reset once it is done. Switch the charger off at the mains or unplug  BEFORE disconnecting the car to avoid the possibility of sparks igniting the hydrogen evolved from the battery charging process.

 

27 minutes ago, Naten576 said:

Another update

I charged it on Sunday morning and the issues are still happening. 

This is the voltages:

Engine off: 12.41v

Engine on and idling: 14.96v

 

With no drains 

 

This seems healthy right? 

 

The only errors coming up on Forscan are related to ABS. 

 

Apparently the Electronic Brake booster can only be replaced by Ford because it needs programming once replaced. 

 

They have quoted £1020 for the part, 4hrs at £130 to fit it, and VAT, totalling £1848. 

 

I'm looking into my warranty to see if they cover the Brake Booster.

 

Once this is done I've decided I'm going to seek a refund, at least a partial one, with a working car. 

I'm also going to chase up Arnold Clark and the finance company, aswell as the ford garage because there's no chance I should be paying almost £2500 out on a car I was sold 9 months ago and Ford have wasted my time and money too. 

Just ran scan on Forscan and all the old stuff is back too. 

I'm not going to spend the rest of my life reading through all this stuff. There could be lots of different reasons why you have these fault codes and there is no consistency in them. Most seem to be comms failures that have nothing to do with the fault you have reported. I think you need an auto electrician and in all probability, deep pockets because that isn't a five minute fix.

6 minutes ago, anon said:

I'm not going to spend the rest of my life reading through all this stuff. There could be lots of different reasons why you have these fault codes and there is no consistency in them. Most seem to be comms failures that have nothing to do with the fault you have reported. I think you need an auto electrician and in all probability, deep pockets because that isn't a five minute fix.

Yeah, I understand. Thanks for all your help throughout

Good luck.

In case anyone has similar issues, I got the problem fixed under the warranty yesterday, they replaced a brake fluid sensor and the ABS control Unit. 

So glad to have my car back in working order! 

Thank you for letting us know. Hope that it stays fixed and glad to hear that it was covered by the warranty.

1 hour ago, anon said:

Thank you for letting us know. Hope that it stays fixed and glad to hear that it was covered by the warranty.

Cheers mate! All the best