October Forum Survey Results

[Ford Motor Company]

Hi F-150 Lightning forum members (I feel like I need a better name for y'all?),

First, I want to thank EVERYONE who submitted a response to the survey that we launched a couple weeks back. It's incredibly helpful for Ford, and even more helpful for me to gather data to fight the good fight on behalf of the owners in this space, and ultimately be a "voice of the customer" on your behalf.

Some fun stats for you: The survey we ran in Feb had 232 submissions, this time we were down to 204 submissions. I put this down to having the first survey open longer.

Here's what you want to see more of:

• You want more clarification around software updates and OTAs
• Acknowledgment and action on known technical issues. You want official, and where possible, proactive communication about things you may notice in your vehicles
• Direct, honest and technical communication, even if it means I come back to you and say "I don't know, I can't share that, or I'm working on finding out"
• A closed feedback loop, where possible. Similar to the above, closing the loop when feedback or community flags are being addressed

Here's what you want to see less of:

• Soon™
• DM me your VIN
• Corporate BS / marketing style language / Silence

And here's what I'm going to do with this information:

• Share this feedback with the product teams
• Do my best to pick up on technical issues, and gather clarification to share as soon as I can, within possibility of my role
• Openly tell you when I can't answer something, or I'm trying to find out more information, and close the loop when I do (when possible)
• Talk to you all like a human. I am one, after all
• While I can't avoid "Soon™" due to powers outside of my control, I will provide as much information as I can
• I also can't avoid "DM me your VIN" sometimes, but what I have been trying to do is close the loop in public threads, in case it can help others

NOW, I have one more request... Outside of the fun "quirks" that I help manage, what kind of interesting, fun, proactive, and helpful content can I start to provide? AMAs? Competitions? Just for fun stuff? Deep dives on technical "nerdy" stuff? I'm all ears. Reply to this thread and I will compile your responses to see what's even possible.

FWIW, the survey results were identical in this forum and the Mustang Mach-E forum. I work across both, and I'm taking the same approach within my power.

Brian, Not AI, from Ford

PS: There was also a lot of "we're happy Brian is here" messages, and that's not lost on me. Thank you!

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[21st Century Truck]

I'd like to see more Lightning-specific drop-down technical nerdy stuff. After all, that is a major benefit (for me) in joining and remaining a member of this forum.

ESPECIALLY if this deep-down techy nerdy stuff comes from Ford Corporate voices like Yours Brian.

 

[Firn]

"Lightning Forum Members" sounds a bit like LFMs. Although maybe "Ford Lightning Enthusiast Community", or FLECs...

F150L LFMs

Thank you for the update!

 

[Lytning]

I, too, am glad you are here, Brian. You represent @Ford Motor Company to us moreso than the CEO. So, I hope the internal Ford people you are sharing our input with are paying appropriate attention to you.

Being an Engineer, I am obviously interested in the nerdy technical stuff. For example, I would like to hear where Ford is on the topic of matrix headlights. I know there are legal limitations, but what could we as owners do to help make this a fully Ford supported reality?

 

[Kev12345]

Can ford give us any hope that software updates will be improved going forward? Tesla is out here dropping completely unnecessary stuff like Tron themes for their cars and we’re still waiting for the basics…

 

[Astrotrain00]

Can ford give us any hope that software updates will be improved going forward? Tesla is out here dropping completely unnecessary stuff like Tron themes for their cars and we’re still waiting for the basics…

Rivian should also be dropping its Halloween theme update soon. Fun, but not necessary.

Regular updates would be great. Knowing what they actually are doing would also be great.

I'd also like to be able to remote start my brand new truck for what that's worth (happy with the purchase but disgruntled at the moment).

 

[fhteagle]

Yes it's good that Brian is here.

I got busy and forgot to do the survey. Oops.

But the best thing I think I can contribute is maybe managing bugs in the truck, especially software, like open source people track and report bugs and feature requests. I get that the coders probably have their own bug tracking system, and that we're probably not going to see the official tracker ever.

Yes running a parallel tracker is a duplication of effort. But it will also let us see what's on the list, avoid replicate reports, but still add representative examples and "corner cases" where the bugs show up.

Doesn't stop the"soon™", but does at least let us know what's on the list to be worked on at some point.

 

[Citizen0]

Definitely stuff of a technical nature. I would love a deeper drive into the BlueCruise system, battery tech, etc. Some [all?] of this information floats around on the forums and is fascinating. It would be interesting hearing about it from the other side. Anything the programs were really excited to solve? Something that was much harder than initially thought?

Also glad you're here too. We're all enthusiasts here. It's nice knowing a Ford employee who is also an enthusiast is here too.

 

[Zprime29]

Deep dive technical discussions please!!

There are many debates here that could easily be settled if we had some official (or even semi-official) source to point to. Things like:

• When do the physical brakes activate?
• What determines when the brake light goes on while in 1 pedal mode?
• How does the brake coach compute our score?
• What is the max possible regen that can be achieved in both 1 & 2 pedal modes?
  • Peak power and total energy
• How is State of Health computed?
• Is State of Health what Ford will use to determine warranty claim for battery?
  • Honestly, I doubt anyone will hit 70%. Battery seems rock solid thus far, but still curious.
• Ford Cloud, why is it so slow? Is anything being done to improve latency?
  • Is communication between the FCSP and Ford cloud the reason why we have trouble adjusting charge rate?

 

[jetfixr1]

NOW, I have one more request... Outside of the fun "quirks" that I help manage, what kind of interesting, fun, proactive, and helpful content can I start to provide? AMAs? Competitions? Just for fun stuff? Deep dives on technical "nerdy" stuff? I'm all ears. Reply to this thread and I will compile your responses to see what's even possible.

You know what I honestly would really like to see? Have Ford host a semi-annual (or atleast annual) seminar at Rouge. The first half day could be dedicated to engineers and product support specialists from both the MME and Lightning program. Include speakers from these programs, a fireside chat with maybe Mr. Farley himself, and end with a Q&A session. I wouldn't be afraid to get technical either, that is the type of stuff we want to see. Break for lunch and end the day with a factory floor tour, photo-op and if feeling generous, some merch. You can invite forum members and customers who have expressed interest in BEV's.

This would really set Ford apart in engaging with it's customers, in turn, driving customers loyalty and advocacy. I know I've influenced two other people to purchase a Lightning, this would be the cherry on top.

 

[hb.sagen]

Open source the Lightning'

 

[BhamDCam]

In addition to the other things people here have said, an AMA with the Lightning software engineers would be amazing.

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

Brian, just want to give you a shout out - thanks for what you do here on the Lightning forum, much appreciated.

 

[I <3 My Lightning]

NOW, I have one more request... Outside of the fun "quirks" that I help manage, what kind of interesting, fun, proactive, and helpful content can I start to provide? AMAs? Competitions? Just for fun stuff? Deep dives on technical "nerdy" stuff? I'm all ears. Reply to this thread and I will compile your responses to see what's even possible.

Big Bri not AI, did you use AI to tally the results?

In my survey response, I gave specific feedback and it is basically what has also been asked in this thread.

I want to see the beat down testing
by ford when developing and tweaking the lightning... I'll give you hint which was my response... I mentioned the train towing YouTube video.

...questions...

With that in mind, how much of that test mule made it's way into the market version?

Do you drive a Ford EV?

Do you drive an alternate EV?

Why does some lightnings have the front bumper wheel well crash bars and some do not?

Are there OTA test mules before beta testers? Are there actual trucks of each model year or just wired up module boards?

For fun, can we get some video of the no holds bar of the market version of the lightning where they are probably pushing 0 to 60 at 3 sec? I don't care for the skunk works super truck version, that's just not us regular folks reality.

What is your role within the ford ecosystem? Are you an engineer involved directly with the EV division or are you on double secret probation and this is your punishment?

I'm still in Soon™ status for BC1.4 and the rest of the WAL to see if the co pilot 2.0 gets those other improved features and of course the WAL... That is why I have yet to report back in the BC1.4 thread.

 

[Jim Lewis]

NOW, I have one more request... Outside of the fun "quirks" that I help manage, what kind of interesting, fun, proactive, and helpful content can I start to provide? AMAs? Competitions? Just for fun stuff? Deep dives on technical "nerdy" stuff? I'm all ears. Reply to this thread and I will compile your responses to see what's even possible.

As requested before, I'm sure Home Integration System owners like me would very much appreciate an update on any progress toward making it to work reliably as an automatic home backup system, as originally promised in the debut of the Lightning. Especially given the cost of having it installed - over 1/10th the cost of the vehicle itself - Ford's silence on the matter is unconscionable. If Ford wants owner trust and loyalty, they have to do a MUCH better job earning it for those who plunked down big bucks for the Home Integration System.

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