Why Ford, Why?

[2sleep]

Hey Ford, If you are listening. Why do the consumers of your products have to buy scanners and dongles and other devices to get your products to work as intended? From what I understand, companies have been doing over the air updates for some time. Why wouldn't all Lariat Lightnings get the same updates all at the same time? Would you offer some sort of option to go to a ford dealership and have all the updates for the month downloaded manually? Just a thought.

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[F150ROD]

Hey Ford, If you are listening. Why do the consumers of your products have to buy scanners and dongles and other devices to get your products to work as intended? From what I understand, companies have been doing over the air updates for some time. Why wouldn't all Lariat Lightnings get the same updates all at the same time? Would you offer some sort of option to go to a ford dealership and have all the updates for the month downloaded manually? Just a thought.

The same reason all Teslas don’t get updates at the same time?

 

[Maquis]

The same reason all Teslas don’t get updates at the same time?

Yeah, there’s never been a product made where every one in the field gets updated at the same time.

 

[Jseis]

Our ‘21 MME has had numerous OTA updates and my schedule is for nighttime updates and they were all seamless. No issues and we live in rural western US with 2-3 bar cell service and barely ok fiber. The features, including efficiency improvements, were far better than expected. I expect the same as the MME updates didn’t show up much till the 9-10 months after initial rollout. I’d expect Lightning updates to start soon.

 

[2sleep]

I can understand if its a bandwidth issue but it seems as though everyone should be updated resonably close together. Unless they send it out to a few guinea pigs to see if their vehicles stop working or explode.

 

[swajames]

The risk is that an OTA update has unintended consequences that don't become apparent until it's been pushed out to the field, and the drip feed approach reduces the risk of a fleet wide issue impacting all Lightnings at once.

Anyone who works in software development will tell you that no matter how well you test your product you can a) be sure that it's never enough and b) that there will always be issues that don't show up at all in testing but do the minute your release is pushed out to your end users. That's really all Ford is trying to manage.

As an aside with Forscan/FDRS etc you can identify and apply updates yourself, but, as always, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing so caveat emptor...

 

[Lytning]

Hey Ford, If you are listening. Why do the consumers of your products have to buy scanners and dongles and other devices to get your products to work as intended? From what I understand, companies have been doing over the air updates for some time. Why wouldn't all Lariat Lightnings get the same updates all at the same time? Would you offer some sort of option to go to a ford dealership and have all the updates for the month downloaded manually? Just a thought.

Because they would all fail to install at the same time?

 

[Calvin H-C]

Our ‘17 FFE has been waiting for an OTA update to its TCU that has been available and has been pushed out to other FFEs since Novenber '22. This is to fix a problem with a bug in the TCU software that was applied when the car's 3G modem was replaced with a 4G modem in March '22. The bug disabled preferred charge times and Go Times (cabin per-conditioning).

The issue is explicitly spelled out in Supplement #2 of Customer Satisfaction Program 21B09. The memo states it us available in an OTA update or through dealers. Since I hadn't received it via OTA, I asked a dealership where I was getting recent service done to see if they could apply the update. They could, but they had to contact @Ford Motor Company to see if they would cover the labour, and we're told no.

At this point, it seems this sort of thing is something Lightning owners can look forward to in the future.

 

[Mike G]

Our ‘21 MME has had numerous OTA updates and my schedule is for nighttime updates and they were all seamless. No issues and we live in rural western US with 2-3 bar cell service and barely ok fiber. The features, including efficiency improvements, were far better than expected. I expect the same as the MME updates didn’t show up much till the 9-10 months after initial rollout. I’d expect Lightning updates to start soon.

Sorry...but are you saying that you expect to get OTAs in your '22 Lightning 9-10 months after the updates were rolled out, or is it 9-10 months after the truck was built,...and so far you haven't gotten any? Or am I misunderstanding what you're saying?

 

[cwstnsko]

When new trucks roll off the line, the software they are loaded with commonly has software loaded that has not been rolled out to the fleet yet, so it is common to not receive OTA updates fo several months after you take delivery of an ordered vehicle.

A big part of the challenge is that the current generation of Ford vehicles does not have a single common software architecture supported by a single set of code. Ford have dozens of modules, from many suppliers, that are coded by the suppliers. Ford doesn’t even own the IP for the code the modules run and they are not all coded using the same programming language. The Ford OTA updates are packages of code from a variety of sources, that are targeted to the individual modules. It’s not like a software update on your cell phone….

 

[Mike G]

When new trucks roll off the line, the software they are loaded with commonly has software loaded that has not been rolled out to the fleet yet, so it is common to not receive OTA updates fo several months after you take delivery of an ordered vehicle.

A big part of the challenge is that the current generation of Ford vehicles does not have a single common software architecture supported by a single set of code. Ford have dozens of modules, from many suppliers, that are coded by the suppliers. Ford doesn’t even own the IP for the code the modules run and they are not all coded using the same programming language. The Ford OTA updates are packages of code from a variety of sources, that are targeted to the individual modules. It’s not like a software update on your cell phone….

Well I can tell you that my Lightning as well as my recently acquired Mach-E GT both had updates available in FDRS the day I brought both of them home. It did take a while after those initial updates for any newer software or feature updates to appear. But they both were not completely up-to-date when they left the plant.

 

[cwstnsko]

Well I can tell you that my Lightning as well as my recently acquired Mach-E GT both had updates available in FDRS the day I brought both of them home. It did take a while after those initial updates for any newer software or feature updates to appear. But they both were not completely up-to-date when they left the plant.

Were they both orders, or were they inventory vehicles?
I think I may have been quite common for the 22 Lightnings to sit on a storage lot for months after they rolled down the line, waiting for parts to become available.
My early 2023 Lightning seemed to flow right down the line, to shipping and delivery. For the 1st few months, I read on the Forums about updates and they were referring to features that my truck had loaded at delivery.

 

[Jseis]

Sorry...but are you saying that you expect to get OTAs in your '22 Lightning 9-10 months after the updates were rolled out, or is it 9-10 months after the truck was built,...and so far you haven't gotten any? Or am I misunderstanding what you're saying?

We purchased the MME in July of ‘21, it was built April of ‘21. about and 5 months or so after the December 2020 1st retail availability. We were essentially Job 1. But as the car production features including software progressed, different OTAs are affecting different production run stages. We started getting updates within 5 months and (late fall of 21) then I’d estimate every 2 months after.

Thus, I don’t expect LT updates till maybe fall. Here’s an interesting example of how updates can change a car.

We purchased the MME off the lot. It was pretty basic with a manual hatch and no button release for the frunk. I discovered it had folding mirrors BUT the retail sheet indicated it didn’t have folding mirrors. They sure as heck folded.

In about Jan-Mar of ‘22 that feature “disappeared” after an update. So if you play back production the scenario is obvious. The MME is going down the line. There are bins of mirror types. If the basic mirror bin is empty and you’re starting a model run of folding mirror options (a model Group usually) then “our“ MME has the folding mirrors AND the software to operate them. Then a software update shows up and it doesn’t “see” the build “error”, it just sees the build sheet.

I wasn’t perturbed by this though rectifying the software to the build sheet was surprisingly effective.

With the LT I’ve no idea what Job we are. 1.5? 2.0? I’ll have to
check the build date. We were a special order Lariat with the “Scale Delete”.

Upshot. I don’t expect OTAs till fall at the earliest. FordPass tells me when they happen.

I'm following the OTA section of this forum to get a sense of updates with respect to build/model dates. I’m currently clueless on that with respect to the LT.

One final thought. Software updates are pretty damned cool. But if I was Ford I’d group them together as well as get consumer feedback. That’s both a hassle & opportunity for “customer engagement & service”. Because our dealer sees us as “early EV adopters”, I get questions regarding customers problems like charging, , mobile charging, EA charging, charge at home, wireless access points, etc. I answer as best I can but usually “Be patient”. I’ve seen some pretty interesting situations at DCFC stations.. 9/10 it’s customers lack of patience with tech. Imagine a new plugin-hybrid owner locked out of her car. The solution? Call the toll free number on the DCFC station, give them the charger I.D. number & 10 seconds later the charger is disconnected remotely and she can get back in her car. Then successfully reconnect and charge up. That’s when she said “1st time I ever tried charging“. As much as automakers want to sell EVs… The learning curve is pretty steep and yet I’m amazed how humans are adapting.

my gearhead friends ask me endless questions about the LT.

 

[Mike G]

We purchased the MME in July of ‘21, it was built April of ‘21. about and 5 months or so after the December 2020 1st retail availability. We were essentially Job 1. But as the car production features including software progressed, different OTAs are affecting different production run stages. We started getting updates within 5 months and (late fall of 21) then I’d estimate every 2 months after.

Thus, I don’t expect LT updates till maybe fall. Here’s an interesting example of how updates can change a car.

We purchased the MME off the lot. It was pretty basic with a manual hatch and no button release for the frunk. I discovered it had folding mirrors BUT the retail sheet indicated it didn’t have folding mirrors. They sure as heck folded.

In about Jan-Mar of ‘22 that feature “disappeared” after an update. So if you play back production the scenario is obvious. The MME is going down the line. There are bins of mirror types. If the basic mirror bin is empty and you’re starting a model run of folding mirror options (a model Group usually) then “our“ MME has the folding mirrors AND the software to operate them. Then a software update shows up and it doesn’t “see” the build “error”, it just sees the build sheet.

I wasn’t perturbed by this though rectifying the software to the build sheet was surprisingly effective.

With the LT I’ve no idea what Job we are. 1.5? 2.0? I’ll have to
check the build date. We were a special order Lariat with the “Scale Delete”.

Upshot. I don’t expect OTAs till fall at the earliest. FordPass tells me when they happen.

I'm following the OTA section of this forum to get a sense of updates with respect to build/model dates. I’m currently clueless on that with respect to the LT.

One final thought. Software updates are pretty damned cool. But if I was Ford I’d group them together as well as get consumer feedback. That’s both a hassle & opportunity for “customer engagement & service”. Because our dealer sees us as “early EV adopters”, I get questions regarding customers problems like charging, , mobile charging, EA charging, charge at home, wireless access points, etc. I answer as best I can but usually “Be patient”. I’ve seen some pretty interesting situations at DCFC stations.. 9/10 it’s customers lack of patience with tech. Imagine a new plugin-hybrid owner locked out of her car. The solution? Call the toll free number on the DCFC station, give them the charger I.D. number & 10 seconds later the charger is disconnected remotely and she can get back in her car. Then successfully reconnect and charge up. That’s when she said “1st time I ever tried charging“. As much as automakers want to sell EVs… The learning curve is pretty steep and yet I’m amazed how humans are adapting.

my gearhead friends ask me endless questions about the LT.

So have you seen this site? If you check the dates for when the OTA were released for the Lighting I think you'll find the first one rolled out in July of last year. 3.1.0

My truck was a first wave order and got delivered on 6 June 22. My first MME was also an order.

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