Factory turn signal mirrors...and a rant

[linkovich]

Side turn signals are mandatory in every country on earth except those on the North American continent.

Some may disagree with me, but IMHO, side turn signals are a critical safety feature (I have my reasons), so please bear with me. And I've bought 20 brand-new Fords in my life, my current one is a 2020 Explorer XLT that quite clearly showed, in both 2020 Order Guides, that XLT models had turn signal mirrors. Imagine my surprise when my Explorer arrived and I didn't have them.

Lately, Ford has been on a mission to carve away every nickel and dime from vehicles with sticker prices that keep rising over $40,000, $50,000, and even $60,000. Away go turn signal mirrors, glove box lamps, SecuriCode keypads, dual-note horns, and even a single freaking LED behind a START button. The 2020 Escape Titanium in US trim had turn signals on the mirrors, then Ford got rid of them for 2021+ on all Escapes. No power fold, no approach lamps. But in Mexico, an Escape mirror has turn signals, approach lamps, and power folding. In Mexico. And back home in the US, 2019 Edge Titaniums had illuminated sill plates. 2020+? Gone. And our neighbor drove home a $55,000 Edge ST in 2019, only to find that it had a single-note horn that sounded like a 1991 Cavalier. Ford thinks nobody notices that these things go away. Well, Ford's sales have gone away. And every car line at Ford was profitable, so what else would they do but cancel almost every model and destroy owner loyalty. OK, now I'm ranting. Back to my point.

The Bronco Sport and Maverick share exterior mirrors. And, AFAIK, the Bronco Sport and Maverick are manufactured in only one factory: Hermosillo, Mexico.

So Bronco Sports and Mavericks shipped to Brasil, for example, HAVE turn signal mirrors. My blood boiled when I saw the video below. And another post somewhere here (I'll edit this phone post later) showed, quite clearly, a Ford turn signal module and mirror cap that we could (and SHOULD) have in North America. I wanted to buy a Bronco Sport for my wife, but it has no option for mirror turn signals. And now I know for a fact that Ford is simply keeping them from us.

Here's the video. Watch the mirror at around 17:32, and how bright it is from the side and back, especially in broad daylight, at around 18:00 and beyond. Ford gives these mirrors to customers in Brasil, on both the Bronco Sport and Maverick, but not to anyone in North America. I have a right to say that I'm tired of the cost-cutting. Sick and TIRED of it.




As a lifetime Ford owner, Ford is finally pushing even me away from the brand. In fact, they're SHOVING me away.

A freaking EQUINOX with one option package can have turn signal mirrors, heated rear seats, cooled front seats, and even FOUR 360-degree cameras, ALL features not available on any Escape or Bronco Sport. That's EMBARRASSING. My $47,000 2020 Explorer XLT has only heated rear seats, and, even worse, both the Explorer and the Escape have rear wheel openings bulging so far outward over the tires that the passenger-side mirror CANNOT see the rear tires from any angle, making curb parking total guesswork.

Please excuse the rant. I know Ford is working on EVs, but, at least for me, by the time they get there, they'll be trying to sell a cost-cut Ford to me when they already forced me to go elsewhere. And once brand loyalty is broken and those of us who were pushed away discover interesting things on other brands, it will be way too late. In only three years, Ford has given a giant middle finger to their own customers by discarding the Fiesta, Focus, C-Max, Taurus, Flex, MKZ, MKS, MKT, Edge, Transit Connect, and most incredibly, the Fusion, and literally gift-wrapped those valuable categories to their competitors as if they were annoying table scraps, as well as cutting off their revenue. Brilliant. What's left at a Ford Dealer? An F-150 and an Explorer? Just what a Camry buyer is looking for. WAIT, DON'T LEAVE! WE'LL PUT THE FORD LOGO ON THE HOOD AND MAKE THE EXPLORER LOOK LIKE A SEDAN!

[faceplant]

While this was "just" about a turn signal mirror, it's also enough to make me buy someone else's car. And make no mistake, Ford, other people are doing the same thing with other things Ford thinks are "minor" but customers think are important, a HUGE gamble when you cut away almost your entire lineup.

CEOs are literally the DUMBEST human beings in some organizations. Hackett hacked away at Ford, and Farley is carving the headstone.

And this Ford loyalist can't stand watching it anymore.

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[Bronco Blue]

Those are like barely even there on that Maverick, might as well do without since no one is going to see that during the day. Maybe at night, but not during the day. I don’t know, I haven’t had turn signal indicators on my mirrors since I think the Impala I had once. My parents have them on their ‘16 Escape and they have to put tape over them before going to the carwash because moisture gets inside them otherwise.

 

[RiotfunK]

Outside of my Rubicon. This is the only vehicle I’ve owned in the last 10+ years that hasn’t had signals in the mirrors.

 

[linkovich]

I respectfully disagree about the brightness. In both the video above, and the one below, the mirror signal is, from the rear (where it's most effective for other drivers), brighter than both of the rear tail lamps.




What bothers me even more is that the driver and passenger door modules in the Bronco Sport have an FET for the turn signal mirrors, and even the wiring leading to the main mirror connector. I know this because my 2020 Explorer had the module and the wiring...all I had to do was use Forscan to enable the turn signal FET in each module:

Driver Door Module (DDM):
740-02-09 --- 0001-0000-5AAD (disabled)
740-02-09 --- 0101-0000-5AAE (enabled)
Passenger Door Module (PDM):
741-02-09 --- 0001-0000-5AAE (disabled)
741-02-09 --- 0101-0000-5AAF (enabled)

Those are EXACTLY the same for the Bronco Sport, the Escape, and the Maverick, which all use the same DDM and PDM, which have working pins for power folding and approach lamps as well.

Adding the turn signal LED module and the alternate mirror cap to my Explorer was literally a snap-in job, although the door panels need to be pulled away to get to the bolts securing the mirror (not a bad job at all, and no parts break removing the panels). I had to buy the factory mirror caps and LED modules, two 3-pin connectors for the LED modules, plus a pin for each of the mirror-side main mirror connector, and I did need to solder the LED connector to the wiring (+ side to the mirror pin, - side to the common ground in the existing harness in the mirror) and add the pin for the main mirror connector on the mirror, but those are all standard parts. IIRC, I paid about $150 for all of the parts. It is a perfect factory retrofit, not a barn job. Plus, the mirror cap is gloss black, not textured flat black plastic. And the signal from its most important angle is very bright.

The problem with doing this on the Bronco Sport is that while the signal mirror cap does appear to be available (right M1PZ-17D742-A, left M1PZ-17D743-A), the part number for the LED module should be M1PZ-13B374-A (right, or NZ6Z-13B374-A using the Maverick prefix) and M1PZ-13B375-A (left, or NZ6Z-13B375-A), and those parts show up as non-existent in Ford's US parts base.

When you look for Maverick and Bronco Sport parts on Ford's "parts.ford.com" website, which is different from the website design shared by Ford dealers, the mirror caps with signal cutouts clearly describe themselves this way, even though the part number is a Bronco Sport (M1PZ):

Search for a 2022 Maverick:
"RH, 08/16/2021, Maverick 2022-, Ext Mirrors Moulded-In Color, Dual Power Signal Mirrors"
"LH, 08/16/2021, Maverick 2022-, Ext Mirrors Moulded-In Color, Dual Power Signal Mirrors"

Search for a 2021 Bronco Sport (not 2022)
"RH, 10/26/2020, BRONCO SPORT (C430N), Dual Power Htd/Sig/Auto Fld/Pd Lamp;RH, 10/26/2020, BRONCO SPORT (C430N), Dual Power Adj/Power Folding/W/BLISS"
"LH, 10/26/2020, BRONCO SPORT (C430N), Dual Power Htd/Sig/Auto Fld/Pd Lamp;RH, 10/26/2020, BRONCO SPORT (C430N), Dual Power Adj/Power Folding/W/BLISS"

There it is, folks. This mirror is available with power folding, turn signals, BLISS, and even a puddle lamp (approach lamp) under the mirror.

Ford's engineers did their work, Ford's cost cutters cut it away.

Here's the image next to the cover when searching for a 2021 Bronco Sport:

The LED module isn't shown anywhere in the available parts, but you can see it quite clearly in this image.

I'm not done digging into this. There's a fully-loaded Bronco Sport Badlands on the lot at a dealer near us, and because of the sticker price, it hasn't had an offer yet. I want the turn signal module, and if I can get power folding and a puddle lamp as well and enable them with Forscan, even better. And at the end of my Explorer lease, I may buy a second Bronco Sport if I can successfully change the first one.

And I hope Ford is watching. I'd pay for this mirror in an option package. And if Ford already has the parts, there's no reason these shouldn't be AT LEAST available on a Bronco Sport or Maverick if I can get power-folding mirrors on a KIA Sportage.

 

[linkovich]

Here's a Brasilian Bronco Sport, mirror turn signal at 2:48:




And another Maverick:

 

[linkovich]

And another Bronco Sport, mirror turn signal really showing off from 15:41 to 16:12:




There's no reason these shouldn't be available in the US and Canada, Ford.

NO REASON.

 

[Glamdring70]

Ford, Chrysler and largely GM (the "big 3") is also one of the last to adopt amber turn signals in the rear in the US market. Personally, I like the all-red scheme (a lot), but I understand why they're trying to idiot-proof the regulations. Well, I guarantee that of all the things society can build, a bigger idiot is the easiest possible thing to produce. Add 1,000 regulations, add $10,000 to the base cost. Price most people right out of car ownership, and they'll still develop a stronger idiot to defeat the regulations (for free).

They put the mirrors where they're regulated. If you want to change the regulations, write your representatives and pray (unless you have millions to spend on the issue). Is it that important? Then iIt's way less to just mod it yourself, either with the mirrors themselves, or the pop-in sidemarker lights that many of us have added to the otherwise useless plastic trim piece.

 

[kyle_conrad]

 

[Wolf256]

So the parts are available if you have a WildTrak, live in Brazil and speak Portuguese. I have a few Brazilian friends. I wonder if I can get them ordered and shipped to the U.S.? By rights, and parts department should be able to get them, but they’ll tell us they can’t (I’m guessing here). Does anyone have a link to a Ford parts supplier in Brazil? Maybe Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo?

Curious, has anyone considered or tried these?

 

[bobdod]

So the parts are available if you have a WildTrak, live in Brazil and speak Portuguese. I have a few Brazilian friends. I wonder if I can get them ordered and shipped to the U.S.? By rights, and parts department should be able to get them, but they’ll tell us they can’t (I’m guessing here). Does anyone have a link to a Ford parts supplier in Brazil? Maybe Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo?

Curious, has anyone considered or tried these?

there’s a few threads out there on them.

https://www.broncosportforum.com/forum/threads/tectico-led-fender-light-side-marker-install.6707/

I like the idea of them! And make that spot on the car actually functional.

 

[Bronco Blue]

Idk I watched those videos and I still don’t see the purpose of seeing them from the rear is. I was taught to look at the rear end/tail lights when I’m behind someone, not the sides. Their purpose would probably be for merging to see from the side, if the other drivers can’t see the front or rear turn signals, or from the front as well when someone is turning and you can see the front end, but if I’m behind someone, I’m gonna pay attention to those tail lights more than anything else.

 

[13MikeH]

1) move to Brazil. Upside is standard mirrors with coveted signal markers and beautiful tropical weather. Downside learning Portuguese can be tricky and laws are not the same as northern American countries.

2)Buy a blazer, jeep, VW, BMW, Audi, Porsche et.al alternative brand that includes them standard. Those are sharp. I'd say it's worth buying anything but a shitty ass piece of nickel and dime stealing part cutting American hating Ford...(sprinkled with sarcasm)
Next complaint? Now servicing customer 138.

 

[69cuda340s]

Thats a lot of typing. How long did that take to key all of that in?

With Ford dealer lots empty across the country and world wide car shortage crisis ongoing anyone who currently owns a Bronco Sport right now is damn lucky. And if you have one and it hasn't blown up left you on side of road stranded your damn lucky again.

Another good thing if you have one and don't like it sell it to Carmax for what you paid go buy a better vehicle.

 

[69cuda340s]

Ford sells every sport that hits their empty car dealer lots no discounts and if your lucky you paid MSRP. Ford has more buyers then vehicles to sell. Yes they raise prices and remove features but aint none sitting on lots waiting for buyers. So Ford does not care if buyers go elsewhere they don't need any more buyers its not a problem.

 

[BigPhatPaulie]

So all we have established is you wish it had mirror mounted turn signals and Ford does not tend to do that on most of its vehicles in North America? I get wanting a specific feature really badly and being annoyed (or angered beyond belief apparently) and not wanting to buy that brand again but I think you are preaching to the wrong choir my friend

Also if you think ford is the only one cost cutting you are in for a rude awakening lol

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