How to Fix BlueCruise Refusing To Enter Hands-Free Mode

[Aminorjourney]

Having driven some 1500 miles in two days, we used quite a lot of BlueCruise on I84 and wow it reduces stress!

The only big issue is if you're heading into low sun at the end of the day - then the truck gets a little nervous about going hands-free (but still does the majority of work. You just have to hold the wheel!).

However, on our second day after a charging stop, BlueCruise refused to turn on. It would activate as per normal, and display the little bubble around the truck. The screen turned blue, but when you took your hands off the wheel it would nag to put them immediately back on. Even though there was minimal glare (so we know that wasn't the reason), the truck just point blank refused to cooperate. It would steer as if it was on blue cruise, but didn't want to let you take your hands off the wheel despite conditions being met.

Note: this happened for the best part of 180 miles, and we'd driven the other way on the same road with no issues... And the sun was behind us (so no issues there).

We pulled over a few times to reboot/turn off the truck and start again, but the symptoms persisted. No matter what, the truck would not activate BlueCruise.

At our next charging stop, we disconnected the 12V battery for 30 seconds and then reconnected before charging the truck. After our charge stop, everything was back to normal!

Just thought I'd share in case other people have the same issue!
Nikki.

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[IdeaOfTheDayCom]

I'm still waiting for my Lightning, but I have similar problems with my Mach-E for the past week.

In my case, it triggers an alarm telling me to resume control that does not turn off unless I pull over and turn off the car and start over.

Thankfully over the air updates should eventually fix it.

 

[Theo1000]

Love Blues clues but has a couple of quirks...

Mine seems to have issues at on/off ramps on some freeways but not others. It will ask you to take over at the off ramp then handsfree comes on and sure enough on the on ramp following again asks you to take over. Have not found an easy work around.

I suspect it will be fixed over time with an update.

Low in the sky sun esp. driving west produces ping-ponging. Again have not found a solution.

I know Ford Corporate is on these forums so hopefully they read this and pass on to the Blues Clues team.

 

[vandy1981]

I know Ford Corporate is on these forums so hopefully they read this and pass on to the Blues Clues team.

You can tag them at @Ford Motor Company

 

[LightningMcQueenAlbany]

Good ol' turning it off and back on again (but to the extreme!)

 

[vandy1981]

I just took my first long trip with the Lightning and had a similar issue. Bluecruise engaged as expected when heading west but it would not engage on the same stretch of highway heading east. Road conditions were identical and there was no glare.

I'm going to let it sit overnight and see if I still have the issue tomorrow. If it still doesn't work, I'll disconnect the battery as suggested by @Aminorjourney.

 

[vandy1981]

Blue cruise worked fine after letting the truck sit overnight. I didn't need to disconnect the 12v battery.

 

[Tony Burgh]

CNTL-ALT-DEL
The all purpose fix.

 

[millim]

Sorry to bring back an old thread, but we did our first drive on the freeway today and Blue Cruise wouldn't engage on a very heavily traveled section of the 405 in Orange County, CA (must be mapped), so of course I had to come to the forum to check it out. Was very happy to see one of my favorite automotive YouTubers @Aminorjourney had started this thread. I'm too lazy to try again this evening, but hoping I can get it to engage tomorrow w/out disconnecting the 12V, but will try that if no luck.

 

[Paulightning]

Sometimes if you just cancel the cruise with the left middle button and resume a second later it will enter hands-free mode.

 

[vandy1981]

BlueCruise would be easier to use if you had to push a button to turn it on and if it gave an explanation for why it couldn’t be engaged (speed >80 mph, unmapped section of highway, lightning conditions).

 

[FlasherZ]

BlueCruise would be easier to use if you had to push a button to turn it on and if it gave an explanation for why it couldn’t be engaged (speed >80 mph, unmapped section of highway, lightning conditions).

I agree with you on the explanation needs. Unfortunately, Ford only seems to know how to do explanations via huge notification boxes in the center of the screen with a big "OK" button, instead of explanatory messages in the corners.

I found myself giving a big middle finger to the cockpit camera several times this weekend as the big "hands on the wheel" messages kept popping up and distracting me (despite my hands being on the wheel!)

I think you do have a button to disable BlueCruise, though - the "lane keeping assist" button on the steering wheel? Or are you talking about a button to separate BlueCruise from BlueCruise hands-free?

Like others, I really hate how the truck can just randomly go from BlueCruise hands-free, to plain BlueCruise, to non-lanekeeping randomly, with little notice to the user. I recall early days with Tesla auto-steer, when the driver was surprised that the car started to drift because the auto-steer had been canceled accidentally by the driver. Ford needs to make it clear without whooshing graphics and blue backgrounds and stuff exactly which mode it is in, and use audio alerts for switching between them.

 

[fubar79]

I found myself giving a big middle finger to the cockpit camera several times this weekend as the big "hands on the wheel" messages kept popping up and distracting me (despite my hands being on the wheel!)

I have an XLT, so no Blue Cruise, but I had the same issue with Co-Pilot 360 at first. My hands were on the wheel, but it still kept prompting me to put my hands on the wheel. My guess is that it is not the camera sensing your hands, it's the wheel itself. Now when it gives me the "hands on the wheel" prompt, I just nudge the wheel a 1/4", and the prompt goes away.

I tend to keep one hand at the 7 O'clock position on long straights, so a minor nudge every 10-15 seconds seems to keep the prompts down.

The Co-Pilot 360 ( and I assume Blue Cruise) also seems to hate curves when vehicles are in front of adjacent lanes. It seems to think the vehicle is in your lane suddenly, and will sometimes brake hard. Any curve my hand is on the wheel giving feedback, and a tighter grip incase it freaks out.

 

[Tony Burgh]

I tend to keep one hand at the 7 O'clock position on long straights, so a minor nudge every 10-15 seconds seems to keep the prompts down.

Doesn’t that disrupt your nap?

 

[fubar79]

Doesn’t that disrupt your nap?

Sure does! No naps for XLT owners... lol

I don't mind keeping my hand on the wheel 99.9% of the time, as I really don't feel the technology is there yet. When it freaks out in curves, merging lanes, exiting lanes etc... It's called Co-Pilot for a reason.

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