BlueCruise Usage Skyrockets 88%

[galstaf]

My wife's Lightning came with 3 years of BC, but Ford offered a one-year extension for free which we took. BC 1.4 is pretty nice and we've used it for several trips since part of the family is now 6 hours away.

The initial three years would be finished this May, but this shows in the app...

I don't see us paying for it when it runs out in May 2027.

Good for her! I am guessing this isn't typical.

I just bought a 22 used and the Ford phone app only shows all the things they included with it as expiring. I can't even use the DC charging app; all the options are greyed out because that expired too for some reason. Tech support had to "escalate" it to try to fix it, but it still isn't working... so I cannot precondition the battery prior to charging which sucks in cold weather.

I did also ask the tech if I could get a free trial to try out Blue Cruise, and got a no on that too.

So far I am a disappointed first time Ford customer... a good truck ruined with poorly implemented software and a poor support infrastructure. The vehicle is only as good as it's software these days and Ford are dropping the ball.

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[Calvin H-C]

I just bought a 22 used and the Ford phone app only shows all the things they included with it as expiring. I can't even use the DC charging app; all the options are greyed out because that expired too for some reason.

Sorry to hear that, but not surprised.

My eight-year experience with a Ford EV (the Focus Electric, FFE) has not been spectacular. I posted a few times here that it could be foreshadowing what MME and Lightning owners could face, and sadly it appears @Ford Motor Company has lived up to this history.

Don't get me wrong, the FFE is still going strong, but the worst things from a customer satisfaction concern were these two:

1. When they offered free labour to replace the 3G modem with a 4G model, I got it done but the TCU software had a bug that resulted in the loss of scheduled "value charging" and "go times" (scheduled cabin preconditioning). The bug was fixed in about six months, but was not OTA pushed to my car. Dealerships wanted to charge to do it. After two years I finally broke down and paid one $160 to update the TCU. It fixed the problem that should have been fixed for no charge 18 months earlier. I've asked FMC to be reimbursed, with no response.
2. When Jim Farley said "all Ford EV owners" would get a NACS adapter, he failed to mention that "all" didn't include FFE owners. Understandably, 2011 to 2016 models did not have a CCS port, but 2017 and 2018 did.

To rub salt in this wound, this past Tuesday saw the loss of the vehicle image in the app:

 

[WXman]

From the 1970s through the 2000s we saw fatalities slowly fall as seatbelts became a thing, and then laws requiring usage of seatbelts became a thing, and then airbag systems, all while vehicles were being constructed in safer ways. And then, you get to the end of the 2010s and into the 2020s and fatalities start rising sharply again. WHY? Well, a lot of the data suggests that it's because of these self-driving systems and other nannies like adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assistance. Anything that causes drivers to become more lackadaisical and inattentive leads to a higher incidence of crashes.

What is extremely odd is that insurance companies often grant lower rates to drivers of these high tech vehicles despite the data that shows those vehicles (and the lack of driver attention behind the wheel) are more dangerous.

My state is discussing legislation right now to totally ban any and all technology that isn't hands-free, and my guess is that if these fatality trends continue we'll see laws start to stretch into the hands-free tech next.

 

[Jamchampnate]

Well they buffered my free blue cruise again.

I’ve got it now until December of 2029 for free. That will have been a total of 6 free years of BC. I’ll take it.

 

[chriserx]

From the 1970s through the 2000s we saw fatalities slowly fall as seatbelts became a thing, and then laws requiring usage of seatbelts became a thing, and then airbag systems, all while vehicles were being constructed in safer ways. And then, you get to the end of the 2010s and into the 2020s and fatalities start rising sharply again. WHY? Well, a lot of the data suggests that it's because of these self-driving systems and other nannies like adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assistance. Anything that causes drivers to become more lackadaisical and inattentive leads to a higher incidence of crashes.

What is extremely odd is that insurance companies often grant lower rates to drivers of these high tech vehicles despite the data that shows those vehicles (and the lack of driver attention behind the wheel) are more dangerous.

My state is discussing legislation right now to totally ban any and all technology that isn't hands-free, and my guess is that if these fatality trends continue we'll see laws start to stretch into the hands-free tech next.

I am all for more data, but correlation isn't necessarily causation. And always check how your sources color the data. Is the best Y axis really going to be 'Per 100K population' especially over that time frame. As the X axis continues so does the average age in the US population, cars got heavier, and infrastructure got worse. That's just what I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[rickmontalban]

Got my 2025 Lariat in October. My 3 month trial ran out last week. I see no option to extend the trial. I wonder what the reasoning is to give virtually unlimited free Bluecruise to earlier models.

 

[SomeStupidDriver]

Got my 2025 Lariat in October. My 3 month trial ran out last week. I see no option to extend the trial. I wonder what the reasoning is to give virtually unlimited free Bluecruise to earlier models.

They obviously pity us

 

[Coolbreeze704]

No thanks, not worth the money. It's crazy you spend 80k and you still have to pay for a feature that's already built in. Anyone paying for it is attributing a can of worms BMW started. It's not even like it's self driving, it's just glorified cruise control that's not even smooth. When someone lane changes into your lane you and your family have to deal with an aggressive slow down. First it's glorified cruise control, then heated seats, a/c seats, etc.

It is truly embarrassing software. Not even a descent lane assist. Ford is so far off from having anything more than a descent hat trick.

My lightning is the best truck I have ever owned and nothing comes close to it. I will keep it until I can no longer drive anymore. Then I will get into what ever Tesla I have at the time and let it drive me to where i need to go.

I marvel at my wifes Model Y and her FSD. It truly is sentient. We can go anywhere, park anywhere, go through any situation and the car responds better then I could.

With that I love getting back in my Lightning and enjoy it for what it is, best damn truck period

 

[Jamchampnate]

It is truly embarrassing software. Not even a descent lane assist. Ford is so far off from having anything more than a descent hat trick.

My lightning is the best truck I have ever owned and nothing comes close to it. I will keep it until I can no longer drive anymore. Then I will get into what ever Tesla I have at the time and let it drive me to where i need to go.

I marvel at my wifes Model Y and her FSD. It truly is sentient. We can go anywhere, park anywhere, go through any situation and the car responds better then I could.


With that I love getting back in my Lightning and enjoy it for what it is, best damn truck period

Well Tesla isn’t looking great either. Just cancelled their 2 flagship cars and will be charging high monthly rates for FSD moving forward and have already said it will increase.

I’ve had multiple Teslas. FSD isn’t that impressive. Yes it’s better than BC but then when you get a surprise WTF turn or lane change you are scared to use it again, even if it was flawless for months.

I’ll take BC simply because it keeps in my lane, doesn’t surprise me, and the radar (that Tesla stupidly removed) works in all weather and very well.

 

[PJnc284]

Well they buffered my free blue cruise again.

I’ve got it now until December of 2029 for free. That will have been a total of 6 free years of BC. I’ll take it.

Heck, they gave me 4 additional years so I'm covered until 2031 but it's just going to get wasted.

 

[Coolbreeze704]

Well Tesla isn’t looking great either. Just cancelled their 2 flagship cars and will be charging high monthly rates for FSD moving forward and have already said it will increase.

I’ve had multiple Teslas. FSD isn’t that impressive. Yes it’s better than BC but then when you get a surprise WTF turn or lane change you are scared to use it again, even if it was flawless for months.

I’ll take BC simply because it keeps in my lane, doesn’t surprise me, and the radar (that Tesla stupidly removed) works in all weather and very well.

You just showed how little you know. Good job

 

[Jamchampnate]

You just showed how little you know. Good job

Excellent, fact-filled comment response!

 

[Dahveed]

Got my 2025 Lariat in October. My 3 month trial ran out last week. I see no option to extend the trial. I wonder what the reasoning is to give virtually unlimited free Bluecruise to earlier models.

Yeah, it sucks that '25 owners don't seem to be getting anything. Granted, I just got my Lightning at the end of December and still I am within my 90 days, but still.

I used it for a 180mi round trip run this week and it was pretty darn good. BC 1.4 is perfectly passable in my book as a supervised, level 2 system. It didn't really get any surprises thrown at it, but it navigated all curves and a construction zone or two without issue.

 

[EV Engineer]

From the 1970s through the 2000s we saw fatalities slowly fall as seatbelts became a thing, and then laws requiring usage of seatbelts became a thing, and then airbag systems, all while vehicles were being constructed in safer ways. And then, you get to the end of the 2010s and into the 2020s and fatalities start rising sharply again. WHY? Well, a lot of the data suggests that it's because of these self-driving systems and other nannies like adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assistance. Anything that causes drivers to become more lackadaisical and inattentive leads to a higher incidence of crashes.

What is extremely odd is that insurance companies often grant lower rates to drivers of these high tech vehicles despite the data that shows those vehicles (and the lack of driver attention behind the wheel) are more dangerous.

My state is discussing legislation right now to totally ban any and all technology that isn't hands-free, and my guess is that if these fatality trends continue we'll see laws start to stretch into the hands-free tech next.

Are you kidding?

Why would seat belts and airbags reduce crashes but not automatic braking systems and lane keep assist devices?



The iPhone was released in 2007....Oh wow look where that line plateaus and starts to rise.
SCREEN TIME. It's pretty well speculated that's what's driving the rise.

 

[WXman]

From the 1970s through the 2000s we saw fatalities slowly fall as seatbelts became a thing, and then laws requiring usage of seatbelts became a thing, and then airbag systems, all while vehicles were being constructed in safer ways. And then, you get to the end of the 2010s and into the 2020s and fatalities start rising sharply again. WHY? Well, a lot of the data suggests that it's because of these self-driving systems and other nannies like adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assistance. Anything that causes drivers to become more lackadaisical and inattentive leads to a higher incidence of crashes.

What is extremely odd is that insurance companies often grant lower rates to drivers of these high tech vehicles despite the data that shows those vehicles (and the lack of driver attention behind the wheel) are more dangerous.

My state is discussing legislation right now to totally ban any and all technology that isn't hands-free, and my guess is that if these fatality trends continue we'll see laws start to stretch into the hands-free tech next.

And with that being said, I suppose it makes sense why Tesla is the most dangerous brand in the nation. Although, Waymo was in the news again yesterday after one of their self-driving cars ran over a child in the street.

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