Fan and Air Conditioning Controls Are Horrible (and dangerous)

[frautumn]

I hate trying to turn air conditioning on/off with the little tiny virtual button on the bottom 15" screen in my Lariat. Half the time, I miss it and then have to pay more attention to it than I should be while trying to drive in a straight line. The fan setting is even worse, as you have to hit the tiny button and then hit another virtual button on the skinny slider that pops up to choose your setting. And if you miss the slider, you will end up changing radio station or advancing to the next podcast or whatever else is showing on your screen behind the slider. This is dangerous and I'm sure over time more than a few people will get into accidents trying to adjust these 2 controls.

My suggestion to @Ford Motor Company to fix the fan control would be to do one of the following:
* Simple fix for the slider -- MAKE IT WIDER! It's only on screen for a few seconds, so make it prominent (like at least 3 inches wide).
* For the few seconds that the fan control bar is active, the physical volume control knob could be repurposed to control the fan setting.
* The volume knob has the ability to be pressed in, and currently if you just briefly press it in, it does nothing (pressing it for 2 seconds turns the screen to sleep mode). So give users an option in the settings for what a quick click of the volume button should do -- nothing, bring up fan control (with volume knob controlling it), toggle the AC, etc.

There are many downsides to not having physical knobs, but the upside is that this stuff is all programmable, so they can make usability improvements based on user feedback, and hopefully they are doing that.

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[Regular150]

What we found work with our MachE same screen, is to just press the voice button on the steering wheel and say set the fan on high 72°. Or you can also put on set auto 72° don't have to touch a thing or take your fingers off the wheel. But I do love my current Platinum setup which is the XLT version of the the lightning. 12-in screen is fine and I have physical knobs.

 

[cvalue13]

I’d add that the button locations and sensitivities are such that I’m constantly turning on the rear defroster, etc., if when I go to turn up the volume my finger happens to whatsoever drag the screen

generally agree this entire “zone” of the controls is poorly thought out at best, and distracting at worst

software-fix this area of controls, @Ford Motor Company - for starters, if the volume knob is actively being turned the software should “deaden” the touch-screen area located in the immediate vicinity of the knob

we truck owners have big, dumb, banana-hands and the fine motor skills of a St. Bernard … help computer!

 

[Maquis]

My Mach-E has the same software. After 2 months fighting this, I found that I can leave the fan on auto 2 and all I ever need to do is adjust the temperature which is always available on the Home Screen. I make sure AC, recirc, and E-heat are where I want them before departing. Since they retain last setting, I rarely even check any more.
When I drove the Lightning as a service loaner, I did the same thing and it seemed to work the same way.

 

[frautumn]

What we found work with our MachE same screen, is to just press the voice button on the steering wheel and say set the fan on high 72°. Or you can also put on set auto 72° don't have to touch a thing or take your fingers off the wheel.

Good suggestion! I hadn't tried the voice assistant before, so I just educated myself in the manual and went out to my car to try it. Good news is that the temp control works great. Bad news is that temp is the only thing you can control -- it doesn't know anything about the fan or air conditioning. Here is a screenshot of the Voice Assistant screen in the truck showing what climate related commands you can say. And climate is just another word for temperature apparently, because that is all that it changes. I guess if you keep your climate in auto mode and don't care about changing the fan setting, that would be all you need. But I don't use auto mode, and I am always changing the fan setting and toggling AC on/off. So I guess I'm SOL for now. Hopefully @Ford Motor Company will provide an update with these options.

 

[Amps]

There are many downsides to not having physical knobs

It's even worse when you have a physical knob (gia-monstrous volume control) that could be programmed to do so much more.

 

[Tmack7]

This is one of the big issues I have with the truck that gives me hesitation on my order coming in next month. Would much rather have the 12inch screen with physical buttons. Like you I am constantly changing things and think taking my eyes off the road is a safety issue. At least it has manual vent adjustments unlike the Rivian. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Fixing a problem that isn’t there. Personal preferences, I suppose some my like it. But seems like they are trying to copy Tesla or be luxurious. Then if there is screen issues (as reported) you are really SOL.

 

[sotek2345]

Good suggestion! I hadn't tried the voice assistant before, so I just educated myself in the manual and went out to my car to try it. Good news is that the temp control works great. Bad news is that temp is the only thing you can control -- it doesn't know anything about the fan or air conditioning. Here is a screenshot of the Voice Assistant screen in the truck showing what climate related commands you can say. And climate is just another word for temperature apparently, because that is all that it changes. I guess if you keep your climate in auto mode and don't care about changing the fan setting, that would be all you need. But I don't use auto mode, and I am always changing the fan setting and toggling AC on/off. So I guess I'm SOL for now. Hopefully @Ford Motor Company will provide an update with these options.

Give the auto setting a try - it works great! In 8 months we have never had to use any manual climate control settings in our Mach-e. (One minor exception - I had to push range on a road trip in April and manually turned climate all of the way off for the last ~40 miles. Made the charger at 2% battery).

 

[frautumn]

Give the auto setting a try - it works great!

I will give it a try. But although it says "Auto", aren't there actually 3 settings within auto (low, medium, high) which affects the fan speed? In which case there is still a setting I will need to control when I want to change the auto level (ie fan speed)? When it's hot out and I'm sweaty and get in the car, I want the fan blowing hard for the first 5 mins, then I'll turn it down. Does auto do this on its own?

 

[Artificial Intelligence]

you can use hello ford or alexa to use AC/fan functions except turning it off. I use alexa... i agree interface is junk

 

[Maquis]

I will give it a try. But although it says "Auto", aren't there actually 3 settings within auto (low, medium, high) which affects the fan speed? In which case there is still a setting I will need to control when I want to change the auto level (ie fan speed)? When it's hot out and I'm sweaty and get in the car, I want the fan blowing hard for the first 5 mins, then I'll turn it down. Does auto do this on its own?

The fans speed changes as necessary. When I get in a hot car, it blows hard on auto-2. Give it a try. YMMV!

 

[sotek2345]

The fans speed changes as necessary. When I get in a hot car, it blows hard on auto-2. Give it a try. YMMV!

Yup. Also very easy to change the auto setting. Just tap that button. Single tap, no sliders or sub-screen to deal with.

 

[frautumn]

you can use hello ford or alexa to use AC/fan functions except turning it off. I use alexa... i agree interface is junk

Ford voice assistant was already suggested, it doesn’t work (see above) — only the temp can be controlled. And I’m not going to pay for Alexa.

 

[RickLightning]

Ford voice assistant was already suggested, it doesn’t work (see above) — only the temp can be controlled. And I’m not going to pay for Alexa.

Pay? Alexa in the vehicle is free.

 

[frautumn]

Pay? Alexa in the vehicle is free.

Ah my mistake, I thought it was part of Ford Streaming, which came with the vehicle but requires subscription after it expires in 30 days. But regarding Alexa, surely it is not able to do any more than Ford Voice Assistant (ie nothing) when it comes to changing the fan speed to toggling the AC?

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