FordPass Complaint

[tommy]

I start off by admitting to being old and relatively in the dark ages concerning computers and I phones.
Shortly after buying my 2021 Bronco Sport Badlands, I signed up for FordPass.
That was no problem and I have used it for nearly three years.
Ford has apparently decided that I no longer need, nor want, FordPass.
A week or so ago, when I clicked on the FordPass logo on my I Phone, I was informed that I had to first install the latest update.
When I did as directed, I was told that I needed to install ISO 16.0 before proceeding.
Alas, my old I Phone 7 does not have ISO 16.0, but ISO 15.8.3 as it's latest and most advanced update.
I have no desire to spend $$$ on a new and larger I Phone that I do not need for anything except FordPass.

I have been very happy with my Bronco Sport Badlands, but Ford has finally found a way to piss me off.

I think they reformatted Ford Pass, the front page looks much different. You don't have to have a large phone to get Ford Pass, I have an iphone SE with iOS 17.6.1, it's small; 2 3/4" wide by 5 5/8" long in its case, so no worries, I love the app especially being able to easily start it up from anywhere and know exactly how much gas I have, tire pressure ect.
Yes, Ford can piss me off as well, replace the battery yourself and you'll see...

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[Jrl]

I think they reformatted Ford Pass, the front page looks much different. You don't have to have a large phone to get Ford Pass, I have an iphone SE with iOS 17.6.1, it's small; 2 3/4" wide by 5 5/8" long in its case, so no worries, I love the app especially being able to easily start it up from anywhere and know exactly how much gas I have, tire pressure ect.
Yes, Ford can piss me off as well, replace the battery yourself and you'll see...

Hum , I was just saying I need to replace my 3 .5 year battery. We will see. Thanks for the warning !

 

[tommy]

Hum , I was just saying I need to replace my 3 .5 year battery. We will see. Thanks for the warning !

You HAVE to remove the complete air box to replace the battery.

 

[Dannyp56]

Can Ford pass be used to roll the windows up or down? I would really like to see this feature.

 

[Dude]

Can Ford pass be used to roll the windows up or down? I would really like to see this feature.

Not for the Bronco Sport

 

[Dannyp56]

Not for the Bronco Sport

Thank you

 

[petegee77]

One day I received a message that my phone did not support the new Ford Pass version. Next thing I knew it uninstalled the version I had. So now I have NOTHING. Adios ! Well in another year I will say Adios to my Ford.
PS I have an Android not an iphone.

 

[hellb0y]

One day I received a message that my phone did not support the new Ford Pass version. Next thing I knew it uninstalled the version I had. So now I have NOTHING. Adios ! Well in another year I will say Adios to my Ford.
PS I have an Android not an iphone.

time to upgrade there - Android has a terrible record for security and if Ford removed support for your device, your device is likely a security risk

 

[coopny]

Well, this is an interesting thread.

In terms of iOS updates, iOS 15.8.3 was the last version to support rthe iPhone 6S versions, first gen of the SE, and the iPhone 7 versions... these are 7-8 years old, and these phones received new iOS major iOS versions through 2021. That is a looooong lifetime in terms of phones (many Android OEMs don't even do three years of updates.

In terms of why Ford would increase the minimum iOS version, it's likely that there were capabilities in newer SDK target releases that were only available on iOS 16 minimum.

In terms of consumer facing apps, virtually no major companies release their Android apps as standalone APKs. It's a nightmare for user experience - you can't guarantee the user gets updates, they can be tricked into downloading a malicious APK with malware, and because OEMs dragged their feet on updates, Google took so much out of base Android and wrapped it into Google Play Services that in general most apps require Play Services which only (officially) ships on certified Android devices... which ship with the play store anyways. So much of the experience is tied in.

I'm not aware of any other auto manufacturer that openly provides Android APKs for their connected car services (and other auto manufacturers generally charge a monthly subscription for them after a complimentary trial period).

In terms of data collection, I am accepting quite a large privacy tradeoff for the conveniences of FordPass. Having worked about a decade ago with connected equipment (much more expensive and larger), they utilized the modem and utilized operating parameters of the equipment correlated with warranty repair data to do predictive analytics. If a set of parameters meant that $10M+ piece of equipment had a 95% chance of breaking, they could stage the repair part to be shipped (sea/ground transport only) near where the equipment was, and then if it did fail, you could tell the owner of the equipment that he was getting equipment fixed in hours or days, not weeks.

Ford employees have made it clear that at least diagnostic information is visible to dealers like trouble codes, the terms include quite a bit more. If you aren't using FordPass for any reason (like not being provided an APK or your iPhone being too old to run modern iOS releases) or you otherwise think the privacy concern is larger than the conveniences , I would generally recommend that you pull the telematics fuse. Ford plainly calls out the specific fuse and at that point the telematic control unit is unpowered. If you're really concerned you could futz behind the instrument cluster to unplug the TCU itself. From what I've read, pulling the fuse won't trigger error codes, allegedly.

 

[Beachin Bronco]

Dude - I appreciate your comments and understand that I can likely switch to an I phone 11 or so at little or no cost.

Hey Keith, I can help you out...DM sent

 

[EvenTallerDude]

Not for the Bronco Sport

It does for mine. I can roll windows down or up, plus remote start. I think it is model dependant.

 

[Dude]

It does for mine. I can roll windows down or up, plus remote start. I think it is model dependant.

Are you referring to the keyfob that can be used to roll windows up or down plus remote start? Because I was responding to use of the FordPass App in regards to roll the windows up or down for Bronco Sport models.

The question was: “Can Ford pass be used to roll the windows up or down?”

Some Fords do support windows up/down with FordPass App per these instructions:

To roll down the windows of a Ford vehicle using the FordPass app, you can do the following (if supported by the vehicle):

1. Log in to the FordPass app
2. Go to the Vehicle screen
3. Select the Controls button
4. Tap the Windows Down control

 

[EvenTallerDude]

You're right .. I was getting it mixed up with remote lock and unlock THe FOB I use to roll windows up and down .

 

[KidWiff]

First off... i sort of dislike tech and truly despise (mostly) the direction it is headed, but put up with it. It's just a more sophisticated snake oil pitch, as far as i'm concerned. If Ford wants to track my location or send me ads based on my location, good luck. I'm not worth tracking.

Honestly, if there was ever a real person tasked with checking in on my data, they'd die of boredom or, more likely, speed the process on their own.

As for buying whatever crap they'd be hawking on an infotainment screen... I can't recall the last time i purchased a product based on advertising... i've got a gas station a golf course and a grocery store between home and work so.... good luck with that.

 

[coopny]

The problem with data is that it can be aggregated, sold, and analyzed en masse. Ford at this point basically says they collect a wide variety of data, including the words you utter via voice commands, for product development and improvement.

Location data is valuable en masse. It's also a valuable potential point for getting location data via a warrant (although I'd argue the most attractive target for anyone is cellular triangulation data since most people carry mobile phones, but the car's location data would be more precise GPS instead of just general triangulation of what tower(s) are in range).

GM got in trouble a few months back because newer GM owners sued saying that they did not know that newer GM Onstar vehicles were selling his driving data to LexisNexis. An excerpt from the NY Times article linked in the Ars Technica Story:

What it contained stunned him: more than 130 pages detailing each time he or his wife had driven the Bolt over the previous six months. It included the dates of 640 trips, their start and end times, the distance driven and an accounting of any speeding, hard braking or sharp accelerations. The only thing it didn’t have is where they had driven the car.​

​

On a Thursday morning in June for example, the car had been driven 7.33 miles in 18 minutes; there had been two rapid accelerations and two incidents of hard braking.​

​

GM claimed it was essentially opted into as easier behavior based driving for personalized insurance pricing (many people said they had not consented and would not have consented if asked), and GM realized this was bad PR and killed the data sharing with LexisNexis.

FordPass collects the same sort of driving data and does share it with Ford. Ford lists a laundry list of purposes of how they can use the data, but only shared with third parties if you specifically authorize it. They could amend their terms, but there's no signs of them (at present) using the data with insurance companies. However, such information could be used by Ford in the future. Maybe they see you're redlining in the first 1500 miles on the odometer and deny a warranty claim.

Or, even beyond that, maybe there's a question of how fast you were going in a crash and when you tried to break. Another driver's insurance company might subpoena Ford for the connected car data.

All of these are tradeoffs we have to weigh, but if you are using FordPass, your vehicle is constantly sending a lot of data that many would consider valuable back to Ford. For me the benefits outweigh the perceived risks and I use FordPass. However, if I did not use FordPass - I would immediately pull the fuse for the telematics control unit.

In terms of advertisements on infotainment screens, I think consumers would staunchly reject it. Patenting something is relatively cheap and the patent lasts a long time so companies will just throw crap at the wall and maybe check if it stuck later.

For example, Sony's "Say McDonalds to end commercial" from 2009 patent never had a market impact, and despite what many have jokingly decried as the "wage cage" being patented by Amazon in 2018, there's no sign of that coming to market either.

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