Heated Steering Wheel vs MachE

[ZSC100]

So I recently had a MachE loaner for 3 weeks while my truck was getting a battery module replaced. I have a XLT SR EG311A so no heated steering wheel or seats. I'm curious from those out there with the heated wheel in the Lightning, does it work like the MachE seemed to? I've considered doing this mod, but now I'm concerned. The MachE would heat up the wheel quickly and noticeably, but then it's as if there was temp feedback that overshot and relaxed to a lukewarm state where it stayed for the remainder of the trip. I've rented plenty of ICE vehicles with heated wheels and never seen this behavior. Most I've seen have at least a high/low setting and between those you can choose something comfortable. The MachE seemed to only have on/off, and for the first few minutes of the trip it was nice, but then blaaaaaaa, it was just barely warm,, barely.

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[archon]

Mine behaves as you describe, although when it backs off to warm it is still pleasant. But since that is subjective it might not suffice for you. I wish they would put a slider in the settings so you could set it to where you wanted it to level off to….but there are many things I would like in settings that aren’t there.

 

[JRT]

On off too, I had 2021 Mach-E for 30k and used them all the time. My 2023 ER XLT has it and seats and try are just awesome, I feel they are similar in performance.

 

[TomB985]

The OP’s description is exactly how the heated wheel in my Lightning works. It gets hot, then backs off to a lukewarm state for the duration. I wouldn’t have bought my truck if not for that heated wheel because of medical problems screwing up my circulation in the cold. It’s adequate, but not great.

 

[VTbuckeye]

Quite frankly the heat is kinda weak. My Volvos (EV and phev) have three temp settings. Level 3 gets hot and stays hot (warm through a pair of gloves). The phev when driving on electric only Level 3 is actually pretty weak, but once the ice is on the power output matches that of the pure EV. Level 1 is what I turn it down to after the first 10 minutes so that my hands don't get too hot.
The heated wheel in the lightning gets fairly warm, not hot, then it turns down and is better than nothing, but not great. I find that I move my hands around looking for the hot spots. I also keep the heat off as much as possible while driving (I already have on a coat and hat with the seats turned up to high and it is usually a short trip).
Our Chevy bolt's heated wheel was also disappointing,but better than nothing.

 

[ZSC100]

This is maddening, Why FMC, Whyyyyyyyyy. You could've programmed this so much better in so many ways. Even given the owner selectable temp if there really is feedback. I'm sure the feedback is closed loop through the SCCM. The APIM just tells it on/off via CAN message. It blows my mind why simple things like this are overlooked and/or not customer tested. And that there is no real effective way for real customers to give feedback to FMC about things like this that are noticeable inferior to every other brand out there.

 

[WildBlue]

This is maddening, Why FMC, Whyyyyyyyyy. You could've programmed this so much better in so many ways. Even given the owner selectable temp if there really is feedback. I'm sure the feedback is closed loop through the SCCM. The APIM just tells it on/off via CAN message. It blows my mind why simple things like this are overlooked and/or not customer tested. And that there is no real effective way for real customers to give feedback to FMC about things like this that are noticeable inferior to every other brand out there.

I noted the same behavior in my XLT 312A with the heated steering wheel from the factory (IE not retrofitted). It is a disappointment and one that was so easy to avoid for Ford. However, while not a fix, I did use Forscan to change the temperature setting to the maximum value (I forgot the difference in Fahrenheit). The result is the wheel warms up nicely, it still backs off like you describe, but because you've set the maximum temperature higher than stock, it seems to cycle the heating back on more frequently so that it tries to maintain some "average" temperature. Ford "engineers" that thought this was a good design should be fired -- it's such a terrible fail given the simplicity of the fix. They actually had to deliberately nerf the heating to make it behave this way rather than just keep it on. So dumb.

 

[ZSC100]

I noted the same behavior in my XLT 312A with the heated steering wheel from the factory (IE not retrofitted). It is a disappointment and one that was so easy to avoid for Ford. However, while not a fix, I did use Forscan to change the temperature setting to the maximum value (I forgot the difference in Fahrenheit). The result is the wheel warms up nicely, it still backs off like you describe, but because you've set the maximum temperature higher than stock, it seems to cycle the heating back on more frequently so that it tries to maintain some "average" temperature. Ford "engineers" that thought this was a good design should be fired -- it's such a terrible fail given the simplicity of the fix. They actually had to deliberately nerf the heating to make it behave this way rather than just keep it on. So dumb.

Yea I can't count the # of times I'd have fired a software engineer if I was in charge of the BEV engineering team. It's obvious that FMC is struggling with software engineers and specifically modern tech UI engineers. They better bring their A team for the next generation of Lightning b/c if it's the same team that did the first generation when there was no competition Farley is in big trouble. I honestly can't believe they don't have a program that seeks out industry professionals who want to own/drive these trucks and be beta testers/advisors. Hell, there are plenty (on this forum) that would help for free for just minor compensation. Compensation as minor as having a meaningful positive influence on software updates and new developments. You won't find anyone more loyal than an owner/engineer who is allowed in some exclusive (or perceived exclusive) circle of design influence.

 

[davehu]

my wheel works great. warms up very fast but never hot. I forget to turn it off.

 

[bellyer]

My heated steering wheel that was installed about three weeks ago has stopped heating at all. ?. Guess the truck has a trip back to the dealer in the near future... ?

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