Truck "ping pongs" in lane with BlueCruise after recent accident

[bellyer]

Hey all,

Sanity check needed here. My truck was in a pretty serious accident back in November (see here). I do not really recall the truck ping-ponging (veering from side to side in the lane while driving straight) when using BlueCruise before the accident, but it seems to do it all the time when using BlueCruise now. I know that my 2021 Mach-E always did that, but I can't recall my truck having done that in the past. I have had the body shop now do two alignments and it has not helped. Is this something that others experience with their Lightnings? For reference, I have a 2023 Lariat with Extended Range battery.

If this is normal and others at experiencing it and I had just forgotten, that's fine, but otherwise, I'm curious if there is anything I should have the body shop or the Ford dealer take a look at to see if this can be addressed.

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[Henry Ford]

I assume you are talking about hands free?

Mine ping pongs at times but doesn't at other times on the same road. I have theories on what it might be but can't say with any certainty. Maybe it's glare. Maybe it's dirty cameras. Maybe it's lane line condition, it seems to do better when at least one line is solid. In your case maybe it has to do with the accident.

 

[The Weatherman]

I thought my MY22 did it quite abet early on. It as improved greatly over the past couple of months. I don’t know that they done any updates that may have improved it, but I feel like it’s better.

Also, I’ve found that if you intervene just a little to put the truck where you want it for a short period of time 10-15 seconds it behaves better after that.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Our Lightnings have an issue with ping-ponging, 22's got an early update that helped in my case, figure that's default in 23's . But the problem continues as John says in a variety of conditions, supposedly BC 1.3/1.4 when if ever it comes will vastly improve the issue.

 

[Heliian]

No ping pong here. Make sure your camera is clear, could also be poor road markings.

 

[bellyer]

Thanks.

No ping pong here. Make sure your camera is clear, could also be poor road markings.

The camera location is up in the windshield, right?

 

[Heliian]

Thanks.


The camera location is up in the windshield, right?

That is correct, right at the top where it can get salt and junk on it. It's in the wiper path and is heated but I find that it needs a good amount of spraying sometimes.

If everything is good and you find that a quick steadying of the wheel doesn't help then it is possible that the alignment is out. I would then take it to the dealer. I did a good 5-6hrs on bluecruise last weekend and it worked great.

 

[flypony53]

Our Lightnings have an issue with ping-ponging, 22's got an early update that helped in my case, figure that's default in 23's . But the problem continues as John says in a variety of conditions, supposedly BC 1.3/1.4 when if ever it comes will vastly improve the issue.

my 2022 always ping pongs and has since day 1. When a car enters the lane infront of me it is worse and more erratic. I have found Blue Cruise to effectively be worthless because of this. It also seems to aim at cars as I drive past them in another lane. The truck hugs the line and even crosses it often.

 

[TaxmanHog]

my 2022 always ping pongs and has since day 1. When a car enters the lane infront of me it is worse and more erratic. I have found Blue Cruise to effectively be worthless because of this. It also seems to aim at cars as I drive past them in another lane. The truck hugs the line and even crosses it often.

Yes, that freaks my wife to no end when she sees how close we are to the traffic to our right, I tend to nuance the truck manually with the wheel when I see left line huggers on my right side.

 

[Snakebitten]

You might try a recalibration procedure?
I know FDRS has the procedure, but I believe Forscan does now as well.

I know my Powerboost at times will attempt to find/adjust to the Lane Centering. This is described as ping-pong, or wanting to hug the right line way too close for comfort.

If/when this happens, I establish authority over the Copilot (I call her Alexa, since I'm uncomfortable with imagining multiple invisible persona's accompanying me) and manually hold the truck in what I consider a fair center.
Then when conditions are safe, I let it gradually (emphasis on gradually) have it's way over to the right.
Sure enough, as it wanders over there, it comes to the conclusion that it was NOT right about that urge.

I so enjoy allowing it to eat crow and then adjust to what it should have already known about where the center is. Albeit, still biased to the right a bit. But safe.

I've done this enough times over the last 1 1/2 years that it's effortless and rather polished procedure. And usually lasts for a long time. Often for the rest of the trip.

 

[bellyer]

my 2022 always ping pongs and has since day 1. When a car enters the lane infront of me it is worse and more erratic. I have found Blue Cruise to effectively be worthless because of this. It also seems to aim at cars as I drive past them in another lane. The truck hugs the line and even crosses it often.

That's strange. I swear that I have never had an experience like that in the Lightning, but it has seemed a bit more erratic since my accident.

 

[chillaban]

In terms of ping ponging: If yours didn't ping pong before the accident and now does, I'd blame the accident. They may need to re-calibrate the camera or re-calibrate the steering.

For others: If yours always ping ponged, there is a TSB for 2022 and earlier Lightnings that an updated PSCM (steering) firmware was released to reduce the amount of ping ponging in certain kinds of lanes, especially wider lanes or ones with really thick lane line boundaries: https://www.fordservicecontent.com/...3-2073/US/EN/~UEmployee/default.aspx?VIN=&ver

But honestly at this point, it looks like we are a month or two away from a BlueCruise 1.4 OTA rollout. It might not be worth the trip to the dealership at this point to get the PSCM update.

 

[flypony53]

That's strange. I swear that I have never had an experience like that in the Lightning, but it has seemed a bit more erratic since my accident.

Just drove to the airport and it was a bit steadier, but when I was passing a big truck, I had to pull the steering wheel as it seemed to be targeting it. Also, no one pulled in front of me while engaged, so I did not notice a difference on that front.

My Tesla Autopilot was far superior to this experience. I find I have to keep my hands on the wheel anyway because every few minutes of driving it tells me to return my hands to the wheel. I typically just disable it based on the behavior.

 

[flypony53]

In terms of ping ponging: If yours didn't ping pong before the accident and now does, I'd blame the accident. They may need to re-calibrate the camera or re-calibrate the steering.

For others: If yours always ping ponged, there is a TSB for 2022 and earlier Lightnings that an updated PSCM (steering) firmware was released to reduce the amount of ping ponging in certain kinds of lanes, especially wider lanes or ones with really thick lane line boundaries: https://www.fordservicecontent.com/...3-2073/US/EN/~UEmployee/default.aspx?VIN=&ver

But honestly at this point, it looks like we are a month or two away from a BlueCruise 1.4 OTA rollout. It might not be worth the trip to the dealership at this point to get the PSCM update.

I am supposedly up to date on all of my TSB and recalls. But honestly, the dealers seem to be clueless overall. Dont think it relates to the EV, but I am in search of a new dealer to work with.

 

[bellyer]

Just drove to the airport and it was a bit steadier, but when I was passing a big truck, I had to pull the steering wheel as it seemed to be targeting it. Also, no one pulled in front of me while engaged, so I did not notice a difference on that front.

My Tesla Autopilot was far superior to this experience. I find I have to keep my hands on the wheel anyway because every few minutes of driving it tells me to return my hands to the wheel. I typically just disable it based on the behavior.

In both my Lightning and my Mach-E, the only times that I am asked to put my hands back on the wheel with BlueCruise are when I am going through tolls or when I am on somewhat sharp curves. Other than that, I feel that the hands-free with BlueCruise is quite excellent really. At least up until this seemingly recent ping-ponging behavior after my accident.

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