Ford EV Software and Customer Service Woes

[shutterbug]

1) Updates come to vehicles when Ford queues them up for that vehicle. There is no published strategy.

I think there was/is something that went wrong with Lightning OTA updates. Mine hadn't received any since July. Finally, when I needed to get something else done about a week ago, I asked my dealer to look at that. They told they processed all available updates and it took over 6 hours. Since then I received 2 OTA updates in the space of a week.

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[Grease Lightning]

Can you point me to Fords explanation of their software policy release? I am not aware of it and maybe it will reset my expectations.

Here you go.

https://www.ford.com/support/category/sync-and-technology/software-updates/

 

[jimfigler]

updates are over-rated.

 

[Grease Lightning]

I disagree strongly with this. Ford hasn't made it clear at all. We've figured out what they do and don't do, but Ford has done nothing to make their software update strategy clear.

Sure they did. Their strategy is to make us sit, wait, grown, and moan….??

Like me I can now P&C on Tesla (yet my adapter will be here in May), but still can’t see percentage on my gauge. I would have rather they pushed that update over the Tesla P&C. ?‍

 

[Grease Lightning]

I tell people that the Ford is a great truck, but not a great EV.

It was and is a great EV. If we never got an update, it was still a great EV.

I think people sometimes intermix the concept of future updates as a value added measurement and the product being great.

The Lightning is a great EV. All the updates that are making tweaks to the UI and adding features is just making an already great EV even better. The fact that Ford is making those tweaks means they are listening and care.

Go back to the 1990’s and see how many “added features” came to your truck after the initial sale.

 

[RickLightning]

I think there was/is something that went wrong with Lightning OTA updates. Mine hadn't received any since July. Finally, when I needed to get something else done about a week ago, I asked my dealer to look at that. They told they processed all available updates and it took over 6 hours. Since then I received 2 OTA updates in the space of a week.

Some vehicles, Mach-Es and Lightnings, have gotten stuck at some point. Clearly you were one of those. Also, when a dealer does updates, they may, or may not, get all of them. If you got 2 in a week, it is likely they were other modules the dealer didn't do. They may have done a crucial module (Gateway?) to break the logjam.

 

[Daragh]

Here you go.

https://www.ford.com/support/category/sync-and-technology/software-updates/

Come on man, this is just marketing blurb!

 

[Grease Lightning]

Come on man, this is just marketing blurb!

It has an FAQ…..

Do you really think they are going to publish a document that says on Tuesday at 12:00 pm PST we drop all softwares updates?

Shoot when they tell us we will have access to the Tesla network around Spring we start foaming at the mouth and complain February is almost over….

My adapter says it is shipping by May, so i better get it in April because it says by May and my Interpretation is by is before so they better…..

Companies can never win. If they are late, we are mad. If they don’t tell us we are mad, if they tell us and they meet it with a beta software that bricks our trucks we are mad and take them to court…..

 

[Amps]

Is there a hotline for those who cannot find answers through normal channels?

If there was, they'd tell you to call the dealer.

By any chance, do you have any open recalls or customer satisfaction program items? 23B70 seemed like it really made a difference.

 

[Daragh]

It has an FAQ…..

Do you really think they are going to publish a document that says on Tuesday at 12:00 pm PST we drop all softwares updates?

Shoot when they tell us we will have access to the Tesla network around Spring we start foaming at the mouth and complain February is almost over….

My adapter says it is shipping by May, so i better get it in April because it says by May and my Interpretation is by is before so they better…..

Companies can never win. If they are late, we are mad. If they don’t tell us we are mad, if they tell us and they meet it with a beta software that bricks our trucks we are mad and take them to court…..

Ok

 

[Ventorum94]

Your expectations aren't in line with the truck you bought...

I respectfully disagree. His expectations are fully in line with:
1) Ford’s oft-stated promises of regular OTA updates, and
2) customer experience expectation for a new (flagship?) vehicle at the purchase price of an F150 Lightning.

 

[RickLightning]

I respectfully disagree. His expectations are fully in line with:
1) Ford’s oft-stated promises of regular OTA updates, and
2) customer experience expectation for a new (flagship?) vehicle at the purchase price of an F150 Lightning.

They aren't in line with REALITY.

 

[Ventorum94]

That believe and desire is just naive and unnecessary personal expectations that no manufacturer will ever satisfy.

At the risk of being “one of those guys,” my naïveté has been conditioned by the manufacturer of my two other vehicles. OTA updates are frequent, universal, beneficial and timely. Usually in a matter of days to a couple of weeks, every vehicle on the road has received the same update (tailored to its particular hardware set). Completely satisfied with the delivery and management of OTA updates, from that manufacturer.

 

[Daragh]

I'm a Ford guy, but I am not as forgiving as many on here seem to be, and that's ok both ways.

Ford created a great product in the F150 Lightning, but they are failing (in my opinion) miserably to deliver on their promise of timely updates, to claim otherwise is blind loyalty at any cost and I'm just not willing to do that.

The following key perspectives seem to want to shelter Ford from any accountability or scrunity with respect to their Customer Service (in relation to Lightning OTA updates) and software OTA deployment strategy:

1) They are a manufacturing company not a software one.
2) Ford are not a technology company, if you want that buy a Tesla.
3) Its better than it used to be in the 1990's.

I can't disagree entirely with point 1, they are a manufacturing company but they manufacture products heavily reliant on software and software updates,

I completely disagree with point 2, speaks for itself.

Point 3, well it absolutely has to be better than the 1990's period that just not an argument!

Point being in the year 2024, software updates should NOT take months to deploy OTA for the exact same end units.

 

[Ventorum94]

They aren't in line with REALITY.

The “reality” of satisfactory OTA update practices was established before Ford ever made a MME or F150L. It doesn’t have to be that way, for Ford owners.

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