Hands-on Video: F-150 Lightning Infotainment System / Touchscreen Display

[theblunden]

Amazing video with great information and insight on features.

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[vandy1981]

Interesting. Configuring a 34x7x9 foot, 10,000 lb trailer only dropped the Guess-O-Meter by 33%. There's no way that range penalty will be anywhere close to reality but a kid can dream.

 

[vacasity]

Does the 12 inch screen cut anything off, or is the extra real estate on the 15 inch for the climate/radio controls?

 

[greenne]

Interesting. Configuring a 34x7x9 foot, 10,000 lb trailer only dropped the Guess-O-Meter by 33%. There's no way that range penalty will be anywhere close to reality but a kid can dream.

On a related note, it would have been interesting to see how the range dropped when he input a route to Colorado into the nav system. It is my understanding the Ford system is supposed to recalculate range along route based on factors such as speed limit, terrain, weather, etc. It would be interesting to see what the system seems to think the hwy range(70-75mph speed limit) is vs city/miixed driving.

Ford has claimed they shooting for a +/- 5% error on range from the time you enter the route in navigation to recharge time. That would be amazing accuracy if true....

 

[IdeaOfTheDayCom]

Does the 12 inch screen cut anything off, or is the extra real estate on the 15 inch for the climate/radio controls?

I drive a Mach-e with the 15" screen. It's a nice screen, but I'm getting the 12 inch for my Lightning.

Frankly, the big screen boggles my mind. It's big, it's bold, but it's also a pain in the neck doing some of the things I used to do with buttons.

For example, you need to swipe up and down to adjust the seat and air temperatures. While that doesn't seem that difficult, it was so much easier with buttons. It's a bit distracting, and one thing in particular drives me crazy. I often adjust the seats right after I get in my car, while I'm backing out of my driveway... but I can't because the cameras block nearly the whole screen, so I need to put the car back in park to actually do it.

I have the same problem when I park and ACCIDENTALLY turn off the car before remembering that I want to open the back trunk. There's no physical button, so I can't do it after I hit the power button because the screen is covered with prompts and the menu goes away. Even when I remember to keep the car running, I need to dig into about 3 menu options to find the button.

The other thing is that the HVAC, radio volume, defoggers, etc., are always taking up the lower 1/3 or so of the screen, so that 15" screen is wasted. I'd rather have 12 inches of dedicated screens, then grab my volume, HVAC, seats, defoggers, hatches, etc. with physical buttons.

What is crazy here is that physical buttons and dials are quite expensive to manufacture and install, yet they don't include that 15" screen in my $64,000 XLT which includes the $9500 312A package... meanwhile it costs them quite a bit more to include the physical buttons than it would to simply install a slightly larger screen.

Touch screens are a cost savings, so why are they only including it in $70,000+ models?

 

[SteffanG]

FYI, there is a frunk and tailgate release button on the Lightning.
I personally prefer the larger screen. Adjusting the temperature and seats (heat/ventilated as the other controls are buttons) is rarely ever touched by me. Unless these are actually good heated seats, my current ones just stay on Max year round (even in 30C weather as they only get a little warm).
I haven't touch the temperature adjustment controls in my car in months - the auto works so well that I don't need to (except for defrosting).
I dont know if you have watched a few videos about the truck and the inside, but it is very well laid out with a good amount of buttons still.

 

[IdeaOfTheDayCom]

Don't get me wrong, I love my 15" screen. Given a choice, I'd still want one, but I wish it had some more physical buttons and knobs too.

In a way, Ford made it easier for me. They don't offer it on the XLT, even with the $9500 312A upgrade which makes it only a bit less than the Lariat. I'd struggle deciding if it wasn't for the fact that on paper 15" sounds bigger than 12"... but since a big chunk of that screen is climate controls, the main viewing area is similar.

I get a kick out of the new games they added to the 15" screen, but I never use them.

I just get a kick out of the fact that physical buttons and knobs cost quite a bit more to manufacture and install than a single screen, yet they consider it an upgrade.

When I get into my car, the seats are either too hot if I started it remotely, or too cold when I don't, so I often need to adjust the seat. Lowering the temp while driving is not intuitive. With the button, you just tapped it once and it had 3 LEDs lit. Tap again, 2 are lit... tap... 1... tap... off. WIth the 15" screen, you need to tap once, then slide up or down which is distracting.

Frunk and tail buttons are a MUST to me. Since I'll have a 12" screen, I know for sure I'll have them and I think they should do the same for the 15" version.

 

[sotek2345]

Don't get me wrong, I love my 15" screen. Given a choice, I'd still want one, but I wish it had some more physical buttons and knobs too.

In a way, Ford made it easier for me. They don't offer it on the XLT, even with the $9500 312A upgrade which makes it only a bit less than the Lariat. I'd struggle deciding if it wasn't for the fact that on paper 15" sounds bigger than 12"... but since a big chunk of that screen is climate controls, the main viewing area is similar.

I get a kick out of the new games they added to the 15" screen, but I never use them.

I just get a kick out of the fact that physical buttons and knobs cost quite a bit more to manufacture and install than a single screen, yet they consider it an upgrade.

When I get into my car, the seats are either too hot if I started it remotely, or too cold when I don't, so I often need to adjust the seat. Lowering the temp while driving is not intuitive. With the button, you just tapped it once and it had 3 LEDs lit. Tap again, 2 are lit... tap... 1... tap... off. WIth the 15" screen, you need to tap once, then slide up or down which is distracting.

Frunk and tail buttons are a MUST to me. Since I'll have a 12" screen, I know for sure I'll have them and I think they should do the same for the 15" version.

Have you tried the auto setting on the heated seats in the Mach-e? That works great for me!

 

[IdeaOfTheDayCom]

Yes, but sooner or later the car and seat need an adjustment, and I miss the way my old F-150 seats used just a tap.

On the plus side, since it's just software, they can simply make the (always visible) icons work like the old buttons. Each tap cycles from 1, 2, and 3, instead of needing to pay attention to sliding it to a specific position.

I'll miss the big screen... It drive me nuts when I realized my $64,000 XLT order didn't have the same screen as my Mach-e, but I realized that since the lower third is mostly climate controls, that I'm not missing out on that much.

It still seems odd that they don't make it standard. It's clearly cheaper to manufacture and install a single screen than it is for all those buttons and knobs.

 

[sotek2345]

Yes, but sooner or later the car and seat need an adjustment, and I miss the way my old F-150 seats used just a tap.

On the plus side, since it's just software, they can simply make the (always visible) icons work like the old buttons. Each tap cycles from 1, 2, and 3, instead of needing to pay attention to sliding it to a specific position.

I'll miss the big screen... It drive me nuts when I realized my $64,000 XLT order didn't have the same screen as my Mach-e, but I realized that since the lower third is mostly climate controls, that I'm not missing out on that much.

It still seems odd that they don't make it standard. It's clearly cheaper to manufacture and install a single screen than it is for all those buttons and knobs.

My guess is that for the Pro they wanted buttons and knobs so that workers could use them with gloves on. The price is also less than you think since they have everything from the parts bin anyways.

 

[IdeaOfTheDayCom]

My guess is that for the Pro they wanted buttons and knobs so that workers could use them with gloves on. The price is also less than you think since they have everything from the parts bin anyways.

I totally understand the benefits of a solid parts bin to lower costs, but as a fan of Sandy Munro's videos I can guarantee fewer parts trumps cheaper parts every time, especially when you factor in the labor in both building the parts, and installing them.

In many cases the major savings would be to re-use an existing part rather than designing and making a new one, but they did both. They re-used the Mach-e screen, and they're re-using the knobs, buttons and screens from the Sync 4 versions in the high end ICE versions.

Since they already did the tooling to mount the Mach-e screen on the F-150 dash, it would save them a ton of money if EVERY F-150 used it (ICE or Lightning). Think of all the saved parts across a million trucks. I've seen videos where Sandy Munro looks at a single part change that saves a manufacturer $20... find 4 more $20 changes and that $100 cost savings per vehichle translates into $100 million in profit. He finds dozens of these kinds of changes when he tears down cars and looks at every part. It's fascinating. He tore apart the Mach-e (which he loves), and found all sorts of savings.

That said, I'm comfortable with getting the 12 inch version. It just seems so odd that it's the only option in such an expensive configuration.

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