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Truck won't stay in tow haul mode

WXman

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When I hook the trailer to my truck the truck automatically goes into tow haul mode. But then if I shut the truck off and turn it back on again it doesn't stay in tow haul mode it defaults to normal. Why is that?

Also I'm noticing that I get frequent messages that the trailer has been disconnected and it has set the alarm off on my truck even though the trailer is still connected. What's going on?
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Heliian

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Drive mode defaults to normal on a power cycle.

If the trailer says disconnected randomly then your trailer wiring is going bad. For some faults it will tell you what circuit but a ground fault just disconnects. I just had to put a new flat 4 on my utility trailer due to this.
 

P-38

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The drive mode defaults back to normal no matter what on a power cycle. No great reason, just the way it is. It has been speculated the it has to do with EPA and MPG testing.

No idea on your second question.
 

bmwhitetx

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Ford had to do a recall (via OTA) a few years ago when they allowed drive modes to stay across key cycles. This allowed folks to start up in Off-Road mode. And that’s a big no-no with the NHTSA because that mode disables Electronic Stability Control (ESC) aka traction control. ESC has to be enabled on key start.

Rather than just fixing Off-Road and allowing others, Ford took the quick path and just made Normal the default.

Lots of posts about this. Mainly because folks want it to stay in Sport mode. But your tow mode gets axed too unfortunately.

The MachE allows modes to stay since they don’t have Off-Road.
 
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WXman

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Well that's a bummer!!

As far as the trailer wiring it works 100% fine on this truck and on every other truck in terms of lights, etc. So don't know why it would be tripping the alarm on the truck. Oh well...
 

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tls

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The drive mode defaults back to normal no matter what on a power cycle. No great reason, just the way it is. It has been speculated the it has to do with EPA and MPG testing.

No idea on your second question.
There's no need to speculate; the reason is well documented. The truck used to stay in whatever mode you put it in, but because some of the modes disable traction and stability control, this violates Federal regulations. Ford had to issue a recall over this, which was mostly addressed by OTA.
 

Altivec

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There's no need to speculate; the reason is well documented. The truck used to stay in whatever mode you put it in, but because some of the modes disable traction and stability control, this violates Federal regulations. Ford had to issue a recall over this, which was mostly addressed by OTA.
You stated the reason, however, the chosen path to fix the problem is flawed and dangerous. The only mode that was an issue was "off road". Instead of finding a solution for that one mode they chose to default all modes to normal. I say it's dangerous because, most drivers expect to have things how they left them (ie. physical dials and buttons). I like sports mode for my daily driving but every once in a while I miss the prompt to keep it in sports mode but still think I'm in it. When I let go of the accelerator and keep coasting, I get a quick freak out of what's going on. I also do a lot of towing and I think that the truck defaulting to normal is just as bad as the original "off road" problem. You are towing a 10k trailer, you put it in tow haul, go for a bite to eat and you come back in, you are talking to the passenger and miss the prompt and its back in normal. That's absolutely ridiculous.

The towing app is also a mess and buggy. I was picking up loads of rock. I arrive with an empty trailer so my trailer brake gain is a low 5 or 6. Once I load up the rock, I need to do some slow driving to figure out what to set the gain to but it completely locks me out. Most of the time it works, but most of the time is not good enough when you are towing a trailer.

The software is smart enough to know when a trailer is attached and detached. Then need to go in several menus to select the trailer and make it active. The dash then goes nuts with a million warning (ie. no blind spot, no cross talk, range has changed, etc). Fine, I can live with that. But then every time the truck gets started, you have to go through all these warnings again. I start my truck a million times a day on the construction site, do you know how annoying it is to go through a million warnings every time so you can get to the bottom of the list to be asked, would you like to keep in tow/haul mode. "Yes I do" The truck knows that I never detach the trailer. How in the world did I live this long when I drove trucks that had a physical dial and it stayed in tow haul until I change it.

My question, is the lightning trailer app specific to the lightning or is this used in the ICE f150's too? My previous F150's never had any of this and I haven't driven the newest ICE F150's yet. If this is the same system in the ICE f150's, I can't imagine that complaints are coming in strong.
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