Things You Would Like to See in the Explorer / Aviator

[Forddealz]

If anyone have any Russian friends that might be able to code the active park assist so that it can be pressed with a remote control. If it could self park with a press of a button, they can do it via remote control too.

 

[peterk9]

I think a mod to enable remote parking could be an insurance issue and possibly a lawsuit in waiting in case of an accident. In 56 years of driving I can't recall ever wishing for or needing such a feature.

Peter

 

[twindadST]

If anyone have any Russian friends that might be able to code the active park assist so that it can be pressed with a remote control. If it could self park with a press of a button, they can do it via remote control too.

You would need to have a transmitter connected to that feature, which I'm going to go out on a limb and say Ford made sure to not connect those two things together. With the security issues with cars being able to be hacked remotely from Jeep and others, security is a bigger deal in newer cars than people may think.

 

[Forddealz]

I think a mod to enable remote parking could be an insurance issue and possibly a lawsuit in waiting in case of an accident. In 56 years of driving I can't recall ever wishing for or needing such a feature.

Peter

They have it in BMW 5 series sedan. You can park your car with a press of a remote control while being close to the car standing outside. They would have lawsuits going on too if one of the sensors failed and it would collide with another vehicle outside.

 

[peterk9]

They have it in BMW 5 series sedan. You can park your car with a press of a remote control while being close to the car standing outside. They would have lawsuits going on too if one of the sensors failed and it would collide with another vehicle outside.

In that case the lawsuit would be against the manufacturer not the individual for an unauthorized modification.

 

[dstewart51]

- Software update to allow full screen camera views.
- More information displayed on the dash, boost, battery voltage, trans temp
- A way to disable the sound augmentation
- Retain disabling the backup auto braking system (scares the crap out of me when I have my Mountain Bike on the back and forget to turn it off), I turn it off in the driver assist settings, but it does not retain after a re-start

 

[themishmosh]

-full screen CarPlay
-USB for third row
-retain disable Auto Start-stop
-retain manual shift setting until car turned off
-retain drive mode
-music equalizer settings rather than just bass and treble.
-voice commands more like natural speech (ie. Siri, Google, Alexa)
-lower ride height for ST
-electronic variable shocks
-throttle pedal more forward
-driver's seat: more adjustability, more side bolsters
-less cheap plastic for the interior
-more extension for the steering wheel
-recording capability for front and rear cameras (like TeslaCam)
-full LED lighting for entire car
-keep same hvac settings. for some reason, every time I start the car A/C is on.

 

[Wilkinda65]

-full screen CarPlay
-USB for third row
-retain disable Auto Start-stop
-retain manual shift setting until car turned off
-retain drive mode
-music equalizer settings rather than just bass and treble.
-voice commands more like natural speech (ie. Siri, Google, Alexa)
-lower ride height for ST
-electronic variable shocks
-throttle pedal more forward
-driver's seat: more adjustability, more side bolsters
-less cheap plastic for the interior
-more extension for the steering wheel
-recording capability for front and rear cameras (like TeslaCam)
-full LED lighting for entire car

All of these are great. Additionally I'd like to see when under say 5 mph the 360 view cameras come on automatically to full stop and then go off over 5 mph

 

[blwnsmoke]

-retain manual shift setting until car turned off
-

If you hit the M button, it does stay in manual mode.

 

[UofMEngineer]

-voice commands more like natural speech (ie. Siri, Google, Alexa

Shoot me some examples of things you’ve tried that don’t work.

 

[themishmosh]

If you hit the M button, it does stay in manual mode.

No it doesn't. If you reverse and go back into drive, it goes back to auto. Sometimes i am just pivoting out and don't want to lose manual.

 

[TonyST]

I know there are contacts at Ford (UofMEngineer - efforts appreciated) and others that are in this forum but will these lists get passed back to Ford Engineering to seriously think about adding capabilities??

 

[themishmosh]

Shoot me some examples of things you’ve tried that don’t work.

To me, you shouldn't have to memorize certain keywords from the manual. I asked Siri to navigate to a local store and it did it easily. i said the same thing and the Sync didn't understand me. I believe I said something like "navigate to the Home Depot in Strongsville."

 

[Wilkinda65]

I tried “play artist Marilyn Mansion” and it didn’t understand. The System in my 2015 Mustang LE is easier to use voice commands

 

[UofMEngineer]

To me, you shouldn't have to memorize certain keywords from the manual. I asked Siri to navigate to a local store and it did it easily. i said the same thing and the Sync didn't understand me. I believe I said something like "navigate to the Home Depot in Strongsville."

That one should work, assuming Strongsville is in-state. We’re limited to the chain names HERE identifies at that top level. It’s the added step of “Find a Place in Strongsville” that is needed for the more specific locations, like doctor offices, arenas, etc. Main reason it’s not available for specific locations is, since it’s embedded only, it’d drag down processing times massively and accuracy for everything else.

 

[UofMEngineer]

I tried “play artist Marilyn Mansion” and it didn’t understand. The System in my 2015 Mustang LE is easier to use voice commands

Where do you have your media? Phone or thumb drive? There was a rare bug where sometimes the data for music wasn’t getting sent to generate the commands. You can check if that’s the case by saying “browse all artists” and if it parrots back nothing is found, force the database to rebuild via settings -> media player or add/delete a file to force a re-index. When the latest update is pushed out this shouldn’t be an issue anymore.

Also, FYI you don't need to say "Play Artist <X>", there's more flexibility. You can just say "Play X", or things like "Play my music by <X>", "Play a song by <X>", "Switch to music by <X>", etc. There is additional command flexibility as well in subsequent releases.

 

[Wilkinda65]

Where do you have your media? Phone or thumb drive? There was a rare bug where sometimes the data for music wasn’t getting sent to generate the commands. You can check if that’s the case by saying “browse all artists” and if it parrots back nothing is found, force the database to rebuild via settings -> media player or add/delete a file to force a re-index. When the latest update is pushed out this shouldn’t be an issue anymore.

Also, FYI you don't need to say "Play Artist <X>", there's more flexibility. You can just say "Play X", or things like "Play my music by <X>", "Play a song by <X>", "Switch to music by <X>", etc. There is additional command flexibility as well in subsequent releases.

It’s on my iPhone

 

[UofMEngineer]

It’s on my iPhone

That could be impacted for the case above. One thing to note is that iOS has a bug now where there can be a mismatch in the media database. So you request song A and get B. Not sure when that’ll get fixed. I’ve had it happen recently with Siri too. It seems like it’s mainly specific to song or podcast names from the times I’ve hit it.

 

[neocvera]

I definitely feel portrait screen owners should have more control of the content and the amount of realstate dedicated to apps. Everything feels like an afterthought or like quick fix to accommodate the screen orientation.

Like the home area is silly - what’s the point of the phone section there? It doesn’t really do much. Music is generic there as well. Most of the time I’m in the music section and the top 2/3rds of the screen aren’t used very well.

- side mirrors should have an option for turning downward when reversing (software update - possible)

- roof shade should have a one-touch FULL OPEN and CLOSE (software change would be maybe allowing quick double tap on the button to execute this)

- silly picky but here it goes: match the vehicle represented in the info images on screen to your actual vehicle (match the paint/ model) - I doubt it would be a big overhaul, just load paint images and match up to the vin data - I dunno maybe get with the fordpass team on the code)

- clean screen mode/ wallpaper customization

 

[RayoVac]

As others have noted, another here chiming in on the 10.1 Portrait mode screen. This is supposed to be a "Premium Upgrade" yet we have far worse view capability for things like the Cameras, CarPlay and AA.

It feels like this was rushed to market and Ford software folks only got the time to work on optimizing the Navigation portion to utilize the screen properly. Everything else on the screen seems to be a mash up of trying to fit the content that would exist in the 8.4" Landscape screen into a MUCH smaller upper 1/3 of our 10.1" portrait screen.

For me CarPlay is completely worthless. And I am frustrated every time I put it in reverse and see 2/3 of the screen showing the stupid outline of my vehicle with park sensor info.

I am certainly hoping this was all a rush to market scenario and that behind the scenes the Sync folks are diligently working on making this the Premium upgrade it was supposed to be.