How do I learn this thing?

[Tinnemaha]

My new Lightning ('24 ER Lariat w/max tow) is like a spaceship inside; I can drive it just fine & I basically love it so far (only 24 hrs), but I've just spent an hour or so inside the vehicle trying to learn the touch screen with intuition; A lot of it makes sense to me, but also got lost in the owner's manual & am feeling overloaded with information. Is there a better way to learn all of things it can do? I'd imagine there is a thread or three that can answer this question, but I don't want to spend hours searching through threads for a subject that may or may not be there. Any recommendations?

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[potato]

Congrats on the truck

Personally I didn't worry too much about knowing everything about it. Just drove it and learned as I went.

It is kind of annoying the owner's manual has a bunch of "if equipped" irrelevant stuff and is not customized to what you actually have installed. If they're going software-only on the manual, they could tailor it to remove stuff that's not relevant.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I'll second the congratulations on your new Lightning!

• Allow yourself time to learn about it a little at a time:
• tweaking driver / vehicle assistance features
• Charging & Departure time schemes,
• Navigation tools
• How to manually open the frunk,
• etc.

Many of us have contributed to threads about many topics.
They are organized in major themes on this forum:
https://www.f150lightningforum.com/forum/

 

[Maximum Effort]

I picked up my 2024 a week ago. Today I received a message in ford pass saying congratulations and telling me about ford pass points. There was also a link to contact a ‘lightning specialist” that would answer any questions and go over the truck. I did not use it as I had a 2022 so there wasn’t anything new enough that I needed help.

 

[climateguy]

I picked up my 2024 a week ago. Today I received a message in ford pass saying congratulations and telling me about ford pass points. There was also a link to contact a ‘lightning specialist” that would answer any questions and go over the truck. I did not use it as I had a 2022 so there wasn’t anything new enough that I needed help.

Can you post this contact link to a "lightning specialist"? We've had our 2024 a month and a half. I've made a few calls to Ford and I only remember one where I was talking to someone who knew Lightnings.

 

[Heliian]

Just keep driving and experimenting with the controls. It took me a few weeks to master everything about the truck. It is a spaceship!

 

[Scorpio3d]

Congrats!!!
I would completely agree with the above posts about learning about it.-take your time with learning all the ins and outs of the touchscreen. It will become second nature in no time. It drives just like any other vehicle except a hell of a lot faster!!
There may be a larger learning curve, depending on what you were driving before, as far as all the tech features and menus and all that stuff, but the driving basics are not much different. It pretty much has the same steering wheel, gearshift, brake pedal, accelerator, seats, etc.
I love my spaceship!!

 

[ChrisInVegas]

Congrats!

Youtube... Youtube is your friend. You can find some great how-to videos out there.

And as long as you can get from A to B, don't sweat knowing EVERY feature. Enjoy when you learn something new after months of ownership. In my last truck, I didn't realize it had rear heated seats until 2 years in. lol In my defense, I never really sat back there.

I recommend you get the safety settings, passcode for the door, Fordpass app, and PAAK set up. With those, you are good.

Also... Make sure you know how to fast charge before you need it. Don't wait for your first road trip to try to figure it out.

 

[Steveel]

Can you post this contact link to a "lightning specialist"? We've had our 2024 a month and a half. I've made a few calls to Ford and I only remember one where I was talking to someone who knew Lightnings.

I did three guided virtual tours and they were Great when I just got the truck. They are on the Ford website not the app. After you create a log in search on guided virtual tours and it should pop up. They were 30 minutes each while I was in the truck, I gave permission and they could see the display and talk me through my questions. By the third one I felt comfortable on my own.

 

[Maximum Effort]

Can you post this contact link to a "lightning specialist"? We've had our 2024 a month and a half. I've made a few calls to Ford and I only remember one where I was talking to someone who knew Lightnings.

Unfortunately I deleted the message from the app. And I do not see a way to retrieve it. But it looks like Steveel has the solution.

 

[Maximum Effort]

Congrats!

Youtube... Youtube is your friend. You can find some great how-to videos out there.

And as long as you can get from A to B, don't sweat knowing EVERY feature. Enjoy when you learn something new after months of ownership. In my last truck, I didn't realize it had rear heated seats until 2 years in. lol In my defense, I never really sat back there.

I recommend you get the safety settings, passcode for the door, Fordpass app, and PAAK set up. With those, you are good.

Also... Make sure you know how to fast charge before you need it. Don't wait for your first road trip to try to figure it out.

All excellent points! Especially the passcode for the door. The 2024 process is not like the 2022 was. There is no longer a card with the code. There is a whole process with both key fobs just to get the factory code. Helpful hint, have your cell phone camera ready to take a picture of the code when it appears on the gauge cluster. It isn’t there for long and you need the code to add your own.
I say this because I left the truck “running” while charging at a fast charger because i was standing near it. At some point the doors locked themselves and both sets of keys were in it as I had just picked it up earlier that day. Fortunately I was able to unlock it with ford pass or it would have been road side assistance situation.

 

[RickLightning]

Read the manual.

Download the PDF version of the manual to your phone, tablet, and PC.


Also, sit in the vehicle and go through every option on every screen, clicking the "i" button.

 

[FirstF150InCasco]

Read the manual.

Download the PDF version of the manual to your phone, tablet, and PC.


Also, sit in the vehicle and go through every option on every screen, clicking the "i" button.

That's what I did. Some of the topics I "learned" I didn't remember weeks / months later, when I actually needed that topic. But I knew the info was in there so I refreshed myself on that topic.

Also, although I've had the truck since June, 2022, I still read this forum daily. Two years on, I'm still learning new stuff from other users.

Enjoy the truck. It's freaking amazing.

 

[GDN]

Gear shifter, pedals, mirrors, locks. Don't need too much more day one.

Honestly a good majority of it is non-sense and BS. Ford should have just hidden it, it's unnecessary. The things that are worth learning you'll figure out over the next month or two as you check out the manual and sit it in to push buttons.

Edit to add one good example - just as soon as you learn to set radio station presets Ford will send you a software update and they will disappear. You'll learn well how to set them through repetitiveness.

 

[RocketGhost]

Really the best way to learn the screen controls is to sit there and play with it. You'll get it after awhile.

The one thing that confused me is it's layout/structure. There is no "home" screen like your phone or desktop computer. There's always an app running and the "home" button really should be called "Apps." When you select an app, it switches the one running to the new one. Settings is a popup on top of the running app; it's not itself an app.

The most recently used apps are shown as shortcuts on the bar above the climate controls. That allows for quicker switching.

I really wish there was a true home screen that you could put widgets on, like a mini-map, radio station/song, etc. My 2018 F150 had this.

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