2017 Electronic Nannies and Misc. Stuff Are Going To Drive Me INSANE!!!!!

[Tony407]

New owner of a 2017 Sport, which involuntarily replaced my 2015 Sport after it was totaled. The 2017 is a Canadian model if that matters, the '15 wasn't.

Dear Ford Engineers:

1) Do not EVER allow my Explorer's engine to automatically shut off. EVER. If I start my car, run the darn engine until I press the OFF button or I run out of gas. Between trying to take a nap in my Explorer (engine shuts off, I wake up instantly), trying to leave my dog in the Explorer for a while with the engine running and the heat or A/C on (this might kill a dog in the summer and thank God I figured this out ahead of time!!!!), and trying to diagnose aftermarket audio issues (engine shuts off and my laptop disconnects from my Audio Control processor and I lose any settings since the last save)....I'VE HAD IT. This turns a 30 minute project into a lengthy logistical nightmare (more below). Can the dealership turn this feature off? I'm pretty sure the police packages don't do this.

2) I have a secondary battery for the audio system with a battery isolator. DO NOT tell me I need to shut off the stereo when the engine is off to conserve battery power. I've got that taken care of. Furthermore, there seems to be separate arbitrary time limits when the stereo automatically shuts off whether you're listening to the stereo after you've parked and shut the engine off, if you have the ignition in the ON position (there is no ACC position on my Explorer) and listening to the stereo, or if the ignition is off and I've pressed the stereo ON button. 3 different time limits when the stereo shuts off without any warning whatsoever. Again, when I'm trying to tune my system this is an infuriating and frustrating endeavor. System tuning takes hours and hours in and of itself. Don't make it something I don't look forward to please.

3) When I rotate the headlight switch to the OFF position, TURN OFF MY HEADLIGHTS!! If the transmission is in drive, I cannot turn off my headlights no matter what I do. First car I've ever owned that does this. The reasons I might want to turn off my headlights are plentiful. Allow me to demonstrate my human intelligence by allowing me to control when my headlights are on and not you, an inanimate object.

4) When parked with the engine running and I turn off my headlights the DRLS stay on no matter what. Again, the reasons I might want my vehicle to be dark when parked are plentiful. Try going to a drive-in (the only way to watch movies on the "big screen" since COVID) and trying to explain to the people in front and beside me why my super-bright, white DRLS are ruining the movie for them. I had one person angrily tell me that if I can't turn off my DRLs I shouldn't be coming to the drive-in. Hard to argue with that, I get it. It's like bringing a baby to the movies, which I don't do.

5) Ford decided to make the two LED screens in the instrument cluster much brighter than the speedometer. The speedometer is the most important gauge in the car. In order to see it well at night I have to turn the gauge brightness up, and then the two flanking screens are so bright they interfere with my night vision. Same thing with the nav screen. Way too bright. I solved this by adding some window tinting to the nav screen and the two LED screens. Again, this is the first car I've owned with this problem. Even the numbers on the speedometer aren't uniformly lit.

6) Someone up the ladder decided to make the LED headlights on this vehicle at 6,000K. 6,000K is for appearance only, something I outlived in my youth. Now at 49 years old I just want bright headlights that I can - you know - see at night? No problem I think, I'll just swap out the bulbs for some 4,300K bulbs. NOPE! Ford decided to use a proprietary bulb, non-user-friendly. I live in Portland, OR. It rains a lot. At night with these headlights, most of the time I can barely even tell they're on. And while the halogen high beams are "sufficient" in their own right, the stark color contrast between low and high beams make it very difficult for my eyes to adjust when switching between the two.

Okay, I'm done. I needed to vent. If anyone feels my pain and might have some solutions, I'm all ears. - Tony

 

[peterk9]

Hi Tony.
#1. I believe this is considered a Safety related item to keep the vehicle from accidentally running. There have been reports of deaths from a vehicle left running in a garage while the residents were in the house. I myself on 2 occasions thought the engine was shut off when I was in a hurry. Theonly thing that alerted me was the double honk when I closed the door.
#2. This is to prevent the battery from running down. Not everyone has a setup like yours. It doesn't take much to just hit the radio ON button again. The Battery Saver program will turn everything OFF, except Parking Lights after 10 minutes following ignition OFF.
#3. Due to the fact that you have an Explorer built for the Canadian market DRLs are mandatory and therefore there is no setting to allow you to turn them OFF when in gear. I know that the U.S. models can have them enabled/disabled by using Ford's IDS or FORScan tool.
#4. I believe the DRLs only come on when in gear. If you are in Park, I believe what you are noticing is that the Signature lighting is ON, not the DRL which are I believe on the low beams. Signature lights are also used as Parking Lights when the engine is on. You may have to modify the wiring as I don't believe FORScan can disable them.
#5. Never noticed this on my 2017 Platinum. Everything appeared to be uniformly lit.
#6. I had HID in my 2011 Limited and LED in my 2017 Platinum and really had no complaints about the light output. Turning on the high beams actually felt like it was more 'restful' for my eyes.
I understand that some of these things can be irritating in given situations but most have been implemented for a reason.

Peter

 

[Tony407]

Two more:

Zero audio frequency response above 16KHz. Nada. It just drops off instantly, no tapering. Never had a OEM system that didn't have a strong 20KHz presence. This is pretty standard. Why?

Audio lag for watching YouTube videos via Bluetooth. At least a one second delay. Makes watching music videos, etc pointless. Seems like a Sync 3 issue that there's no fix for, at least from what I read online. Seriously? Tesla can pretty much redesign their cars' features and operations via wireless updates, and Ford can't solve a Bluetooth issue after 5 years of Sync 3? Ugh.

 

[suzook]

Damn, seems like everyone from Oregon are insane.

 

[Rick]

New owner of a 2017 Sport, which involuntarily replaced my 2015 Sport after it was totaled. The 2017 is a Canadian model if that matters, the '15 wasn't.

Dear Ford Engineers:

1) Do not EVER allow my Explorer's engine to automatically shut off. EVER. If I start my car, run the darn engine until I press the OFF button or I run out of gas. Between trying to take a nap in my Explorer (engine shuts off, I wake up instantly), trying to leave my dog in the Explorer for a while with the engine running and the heat or A/C on (this might kill a dog in the summer and thank God I figured this out ahead of time!!!!), and trying to diagnose aftermarket audio issues (engine shuts off and my laptop disconnects from my Audio Control processor and I lose any settings since the last save)....I'VE HAD IT. This turns a 30 minute project into a lengthy logistical nightmare (more below). Can the dealership turn this feature off? I'm pretty sure the police packages don't do this.

2) I have a secondary battery for the audio system with a battery isolator. DO NOT tell me I need to shut off the stereo when the engine is off to conserve battery power. I've got that taken care of. Furthermore, there seems to be separate arbitrary time limits when the stereo automatically shuts off whether you're listening to the stereo after you've parked and shut the engine off, if you have the ignition in the ON position (there is no ACC position on my Explorer) and listening to the stereo, or if the ignition is off and I've pressed the stereo ON button. 3 different time limits when the stereo shuts off without any warning whatsoever. Again, when I'm trying to tune my system this is an infuriating and frustrating endeavor. System tuning takes hours and hours in and of itself. Don't make it something I don't look forward to please.

3) When I rotate the headlight switch to the OFF position, TURN OFF MY HEADLIGHTS!! If the transmission is in drive, I cannot turn off my headlights no matter what I do. First car I've ever owned that does this. The reasons I might want to turn off my headlights are plentiful. Allow me to demonstrate my human intelligence by allowing me to control when my headlights are on and not you, an inanimate object.

4) When parked with the engine running and I turn off my headlights the DRLS stay on no matter what. Again, the reasons I might want my vehicle to be dark when parked are plentiful. Try going to a drive-in (the only way to watch movies on the "big screen" since COVID) and trying to explain to the people in front and beside me why my super-bright, white DRLS are ruining the movie for them. I had one person angrily tell me that if I can't turn off my DRLs I shouldn't be coming to the drive-in. Hard to argue with that, I get it. It's like bringing a baby to the movies, which I don't do.

5) Ford decided to make the two LED screens in the instrument cluster much brighter than the speedometer. The speedometer is the most important gauge in the car. In order to see it well at night I have to turn the gauge brightness up, and then the two flanking screens are so bright they interfere with my night vision. Same thing with the nav screen. Way too bright. I solved this by adding some window tinting to the nav screen and the two LED screens. Again, this is the first car I've owned with this problem. Even the numbers on the speedometer aren't uniformly lit.

6) Someone up the ladder decided to make the LED headlights on this vehicle at 6,000K. 6,000K is for appearance only, something I outlived in my youth. Now at 49 years old I just want bright headlights that I can - you know - see at night? No problem I think, I'll just swap out the bulbs for some 4,300K bulbs. NOPE! Ford decided to use a proprietary bulb, non-user-friendly. I live in Portland, OR. It rains a lot. At night with these headlights, most of the time I can barely even tell they're on. And while the halogen high beams are "sufficient" in their own right, the stark color contrast between low and high beams make it very difficult for my eyes to adjust when switching between the two.

Okay, I'm done. I needed to vent. If anyone feels my pain and might have some solutions, I'm all ears. - Tony

Thanks for reminding me why I won't own a new vehicle.

Drivers need to be smart, not their cars, or their phones.

 

[Tony407]

One more, and I would love it if someone could check this out in their 2017 to see if mine is a fluke.

The fader control on the stereo looks like it works as described: you turn the fader to the front speakers and the rear speakers shut off and vice versa. Not in my Explorer!!! When you turn the fader all the way to the front the rear door speakers shut off as predicted but the tweeters in the back, in the D-pillars, they keep on playing even when the fader is set 100% up front. Apologies for the politically incorrect, but that's retarded. WTH????

Also, when you turn the fader to 100% up front, the subwoofer shuts off. This is also quite silly. Why in the world would I want the sub to stop playing just because I don't want rear full-range speakers playing? This is (was) an issue because when I put my aftermarket stereo equipment in and turn the fader all up front (no rear speakers for me!), the subwoofer outputs shut off and my signal processor doesn't get a sub signal.

Anyway, I cut the wires at the Sony amp to ALL the rear speakers so I can keep the fader in the middle position and still feed a sub signal to my processor. Both of these issues weren't present in my 2015.

 

[BKennedy]

So, why did you purchase that car you seem to despise?