Intelligent door Lock/Unlock only works on the driver's Door Fix

[MRhoades]

All, I have been scouring the web to figure why the wife's 2020 Ford Explorer's Intelligent Lock/Unlock function stopped working on all doors except the drivers door.
Note that the Intelligent Lock/Inlock has worked for months on all 4 doors flawlessly; then it stopped working except for the driver's door for no apparent reason.

I read a post in a thread that it could be battery State of Charge related.

I can confidently tell everyone this absolutely a fact.
Our Explorer has not been getting any long drives for the past four months or so; just runs to the store and back.

About three weeks ago, I noticed the car's auto stop/start was not shutting the car off at stoplights.
It used to do this as I had not disabled it yet.
I am familiar with this feature on my F-150 so, I knew that when Auto Stop/Start stops working, this is due to the battery being at a lower state of charge (SoC) as determined by the battery monitor system. They are the same in the F-150 and the Explorer.
I believe it the on-board computer shuts off Auto Stop/Start when the battery SoC is less than 75%.

So after reading in another post that the battery SOC was a cause, I figure I would do the following test:
1. Verified Intelligent Lock/Unlock was still only working on the driver's door. This was found to be true.
2. Removed negative and positive battery cables and cleaned the terminals and connectors. (Always removed negative or ground first and secure it away from the negative post, this prevents accidental arcing when moving the positive cable around during cleaning).
3. Sealed then with a spray on terminal protector
4. Put a battery charger on the battery. Charger showed battery at ~ 70% SoC. Initially charged the battery at ~ 10 amps for 2 minutes, then dropped the rate to 2.5 amps for 2 hours when the battery charger showed the battery was at a SoC 0f 100% and it stopped charging.
6. Tested the passenger door and verified that the intelligent Lock/Unlock now works again on that door.

Mike

 

[Dale5403]

If your Explorer has the original battery it could be nearing the end.

 

[Spacey]

The auto-start issue related to battery SOC happened to me as well. My 2020 ST is on it's third battery

 

[MRhoades]

All, I have been scouring the web to figure why the wife's 2020 Ford Explorer's Intelligent Lock/Unlock function stopped working on all doors except the drivers door.
Note that the Intelligent Lock/Inlock has worked for months on all 4 doors flawlessly; then it stopped working except for the driver's door for no apparent reason.

I read a post in a thread that it could be battery State of Charge related.

I can confidently tell everyone this absolutely a fact.
Our Explorer has not been getting any long drives for the past four months or so; just runs to the store and back.

About three weeks ago, I noticed the car's auto stop/start was not shutting the car off at stoplights.
It used to do this as I had not disabled it yet.
I am familiar with this feature on my F-150 so, I knew that when Auto Stop/Start stops working, this is due to the battery being at a lower state of charge (SoC) as determined by the battery monitor system. They are the same in the F-150 and the Explorer.
I believe it the on-board computer shuts off Auto Stop/Start when the battery SoC is less than 75%.

So after reading in another post that the battery SOC was a cause, I figure I would do the following test:
1. Verified Intelligent Lock/Unlock was still only working on the driver's door. This was found to be true.
2. Removed negative and positive battery cables and cleaned the terminals and connectors. (Always removed negative or ground first and secure it away from the negative post, this prevents accidental arcing when moving the positive cable around during cleaning).
3. Sealed then with a spray on terminal protector
4. Put a battery charger on the battery. Charger showed battery at ~ 70% SoC. Initially charged the battery at ~ 10 amps for 2 minutes, then dropped the rate to 2.5 amps for 2 hours when the battery charger showed the battery was at a SoC 0f 100% and it stopped charging.
6. Tested the passenger door and verified that the intelligent Lock/Unlock now works again on that door.

Mike

Update:
The problem and symptoms came back within days.
The only fix was to replace the battery. The battery was the original FOMOCO battery.
I replaced it with brand name 770CCA 48H6.
The locks and everything worked as designed as soon as I completed the install of the new battery.

I enable the Auto/Stop start screen on the dash and after a couple of minutes of running it showed the Auto Stop/Start status as normal.
On the first drive the car auto stopped at the first light and all of the door locks function again.
When I brough the old battery into the auto store the counter person made the comment: Oh it looks like the battery was outgassing excessively". This was because one of the battery caps under a large label was visibly pushing the label up. I am guessing the battery was ready to fail.

I hope this information helps others.

Milke

Mike

 

[peterk9]

Thanks for the update Mike.

Peter

 

[hbalek]

This happened to me today. The rear passenger door handle stopped working. I know my battery SOC is not great because it often says vehicle charging at stop lights. Then after a day or 2 or sometimes just 25 miles, the ASS starts working again. My battery is almost 3 years old. My original battery only lasted 1.5 years.