OTA Update Question

[itdwebman]

With the exception of Tesla (for the most part), ALL manufacturers offering OTA updates have issues. This is not a Ford only problem.

I'll never understand the long-term apprehension people have about working on their own vehicles. The resources to remedy the update problems exist. It is no different than someone who does their own oil changes or brake jobs on their driveways. The only difference is, you won't get any grime under your fingernails when doing updates.

Then there's the argument of "Why should I have to invest my time and money into doing something Ford should be doing?"

Good point; I guess. Then go ahead and continue to bleed tears on the forums and tagging the useless Ford account and thinking this is going to get any better any time soon. We're driving $70k/$80k/$90k trucks and for a few hundred dollars, a weekend and 12 pack or two of beer, your vehicle can be updated and you have a tool at your disposal that will forever liberate you from the crappy OTA process and most dealer dependencies.

Old school automotive DIYers like myself have all kinds of tools in their garage. With these EV's, 90% of issues are solved with a laptop and not a wrench. An OTA bricked your vehicle? FDRS will bring it back to life in minutes. An OTA broke bluecruise? FDRS can fix it in minutes. I'd rather pay $50 for a license to access FDRS and fix my problem in my driveway than have to go through a dealer; even under warranty.

Like most things in life: If you want something done right, then you have to do it yourself. At least Ford gives us the option to take matters into our own hands and do it ourselves. Most manufacturers do not, and for that, I am very grateful. Otherwise, my truck might still be on software from 2021 with no bluecruise, no full-screen phone capability, no cameras in motion, and none of the other cool stuff I have been able to add that my truck wasn't supposed to have thanks to the fact that it is up to date, but I digress.......to each their own.

Most respectfully - If Ford is trying to be a customer-focused Leader in the industry - they need to do a better job with OTAs, communicating OTAs (or lack of them), and offering a way to get them once they are out if missed.

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[rugedraw]

I understand that, and while I don't expect them to do software updates because my anxiety has FOMO, I would like them to take me serious when I say my dash randomly tells me to put my hands on the steering wheel driving 30 mph without cruise control on.

You truck is not reporting any codes that coincide with that issue. They would need to replicate the issue and run some pin-point tests to see what is causing it.

 

[rugedraw]

Most respectfully - If Ford is trying to be a customer-focused Leader in the industry - they need to do a better job with OTAs, communicating OTAs (or lack of them), and offering a way to get them once they are out if missed.

IMO, they are not trying to be customer focused anything. All they and any other manufacturers care about is selling vehicles and as many of them as possible to get as much market share as possible. None of the fat-cat corporate guys at Ford give a crap about our updates or lack thereof; and the same applies at other brands. The people that can do anything about the updates have to jump through hoops dealing with third party module vendors and internal bureaucratic policies to make a simple change in a line of code within a single module in a very complex strategic module network.

As the employee of a dealer who sells and services 9 different brands of which half of them offer OTA updates, I can tell you the grass is not greener on the other side. I don't think there's any manufacturer out there putting in the amount of work Ford is in terms of the amount of updates they release. I agree the deployment process of these updates is garbage. As someone who has owned 15 different Ford vehicle since I started driving, none of this OTA stuff will prevent me from buying another one. They provide the avenue for me to update it myself, and they facilitate that update process by making certain module updatable via USB so that you don't spend hours upon hours writing an update via CAN (which other brands also do not do).

While on the surface, it may look like the update process is a clusterfudge, they are light years ahead of competitors doing the same things.

 

[techmatters]

I agree that we shouldn't have to, but the fact that we can is a blessing and very liberating.

I'd be much more inclined to do the updates myself with FDRS if they actually got your vehicle fully up to date with all OTA updates that have been previously pushed. The fact that FDRS is just updating a bunch of modules that have no reference to what it's enabling/disabling/adding/removing is not very liberating. One example is owners who haven't gotten the % display in their instrument cluster but fully updated everything they can with FDRS must be frustrated after that "feature" has been added twice in prior OTA updates.

I saw the mention of price of vehicle and I agree it's ridiculous to charge such an absurd amount of money for a vehicle and tout it's OTA capability as a gamechanger and seamless experience all while on the backend the actual owners are wasting their time and energy trying to fix what Ford cannot.

I check this forum less and less often because it's overall frustrating to see everyone asking the same questions with no real answers other than Ford's ineptitude to deliver a product they advertise. "Coming soon" being a punchline is an insult to the whole community.

 

[rugedraw]

I'd be much more inclined to do the updates myself with FDRS if they actually got your vehicle fully up to date with all OTA updates that have been previously pushed. The fact that FDRS is just updating a bunch of modules that have no reference to what it's enabling/disabling/adding/removing is not very liberating. One example is owners who haven't gotten the % display in their instrument cluster but fully updated everything they can with FDRS must be frustrated after that "feature" has been added twice in prior OTA updates.

FDRS supersedes the OTA process. Anything pushed out OTA can be done with FDRS and more as there are certain updates only available with FDRS; not the other way around. Every update that gets sent OTA has an FDRS equivalent. You are correct that FDRS does not provide release notes like an OTA does. That's why just do them all until there are no more showing and anything you were due OTA would be installed.

That % display is an IPC update and it can be done with FDRS. I did it for another member of this forum who lives in Miami, and I would do it for anyone that logistically lives close enough to me for me to help. If someone updated fully with FDRS and was not able to get the IPC update that gives you that feature, I have the resources to help with that problem even from afar. I would have just needed to know about it when it happened. Even if the IPC update is not available on the server, it can still be done if the person is willing to go a little deeper into the module programming rabbit hole.

I see these threads pop up all the time, too, and most of the time, I don't opine because I know my views on these things are not in line with the masses. I used to complain about OTA's, too. I owned my truck for 3 months before I bought a Mongoose. Had I known then what I know now, I would have ordered the Mongoose from the dealership as soon as I signed the paperwork.

 

[Shiftcomma3]

That does suck! Mine sat on the lot from November until three weeks ago when I bought it with only 33 miles on it. I think when I got in to test drive it there were only 18 miles on it, so it hadn’t been driven in a while. Got my first two updates the first week and then got a third yesterday. I think the most frustrating thing is we have all grown so accustomed to updates for our phones and all the other tech in our lives, this new model seems so foreign to us.

My dad got his truck 3 or so weeks ago, looks like it was an October build. It got two updates the first week and one yesterday.

 

[BabyDoc1012]

My dad got his truck 3 or so weeks ago, looks like it was an October build. It got two updates the first week and one yesterday.

Maybe it’s a build date thing. Mine was an October build as well.

 

[pkirby11]

FDRS supersedes the OTA process. Anything pushed out OTA can be done with FDRS and more as there are certain updates only available with FDRS; not the other way around. Every update that gets sent OTA has an FDRS equivalent. You are correct that FDRS does not provide release notes like an OTA does. That's why just do them all until there are no more showing and anything you were due OTA would be installed.

That % display is an IPC update and it can be done with FDRS. I did it for another member of this forum who lives in Miami, and I would do it for anyone that logistically lives close enough to me for me to help. If someone updated fully with FDRS and was not able to get the IPC update that gives you that feature, I have the resources to help with that problem even from afar. I would have just needed to know about it when it happened. Even if the IPC update is not available on the server, it can still be done if the person is willing to go a little deeper into the module programming rabbit hole.

I see these threads pop up all the time, too, and most of the time, I don't opine because I know my views on these things are not in line with the masses. I used to complain about OTA's, too. I owned my truck for 3 months before I bought a Mongoose. Had I known then what I know now, I would have ordered the Mongoose from the dealership as soon as I signed the paperwork.

Well even though I think it's stupid, I am going to try my hand at FDRS so wish me luck. Bought the Mongoose adapter and a power supply and should be here Friday.

 

[rugedraw]

Well even though I think it's stupid, I am going to try my hand at FDRS so wish me luck. Bought the Mongoose adapter and a power supply and should be here Friday.

Keep me posted throughout the process.

 

[mr.Magoo]

Well even though I think it's stupid, I am going to try my hand at FDRS so wish me luck. Bought the Mongoose adapter and a power supply and should be here Friday.

Just remember that there's a hold/stop on powertrain updates until "soon" / June.
https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...programming-guide-using-fdrs.8249/post-388795

 

[rugedraw]

Just remember that there's a hold/stop on powertrain updates until "soon" / June.
https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...programming-guide-using-fdrs.8249/post-388795

@pkirby11 Send me your VIN so I can pull your truck up in FDRS and see what you're showing.

 

[pkirby11]

@pkirby11 Send me your VIN so I can pull your truck up in FDRS and see what you're showing.

1FT6W1EV3PWG14096

 

[rugedraw]

1FT6W1EV3PWG14096

Oh, you're good. Your truck is already on the latest Sync version and 6.4.0 is the last power-up update you got. The SCCM is 6.5.0. Once you do that, it should release an IPC update which would be 6.8.0 and give you the % on the cluster if you don't already have it. The CMR is OTA 6.13.0/CMR-FX.

The powertrain updates that @mr.Magoo mentioned seem to have been pulled from FDRS so you don't have to worry about avoiding any updates. The BCM update will ask you for a password and you won't be able to do. This is due to an issue Ford needs to fix.

Bearing no issues, you have about 6-8 hours worth of updates to do. The CMR will take 45-60 minutes. The PSCM and IPMA are tied to each other and the IPMA takes 3 hours, so don't start either one unless you have time to see them through. The PSCM/IPMA updates are part of the package for Bluecruise 1.4. Because you decided to take the FDRS plunge, once you update your truck, I will tell you what you need to do to activate BC 1.4.

You can count on my support throughout the process. Message me when you're ready to start. Which power supply did you order? That piece of equipment is very important.

 

[mr.Magoo]

I will tell you what you need to do to activate BC 1.4.

I didn't realize that was a possibility, do tell !?

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