First OTA update for Mach-E coming March 18 tomorrow

[JamieGeek]

I only read release notes on something I really, really care about, and depend on, and have problems with that I'm anxiously awaiting a fix for. Very few phone apps meet that standard. But my Mach-E does. I can't say I've ever spent 16 months discussing a phone app daily like I have the Mach-E.

But have you ever waited 16 months for a phone and/or specific app? I'm guessing no....

Sponsored

 

[SteelMach]

Assuming they don't publish a release notes repository, perhaps we could crowd-source one here?

Post up software part #s before and after the updates, etc.

 

[dbsb3233]

But have you ever waited 16 months for a phone and/or specific app? I'm guessing no....

Nope. That's my point... I'm far more invested in this car than any phone app. Thus release notes on updates for it would be of far more interest.

Although even if we don't get them, we'll all be figuring out what it fixed and what it didn't pretty quickly by comparing notes here, I suppose. That won't stop now.

 

[Nikos]

What's your make?

I have a Genie.

It took me an hour and trying different methods but I got it to work and it's now perfect.

I had to hold the garage door remote button for 10 seconds. THEN I had to simultaneously hold the remote and Homelink button I wanted programmed. Then I had to hit the program button on the unit itself and then again simultaneously hold remote and Homelink buttons. Programmed.

Thank you. The Genie works now.
I can open the barn door remotely now.
Now....if I ask....Okay Ford Open the Garage Door...will work.????

 

[jeffdawgfan]

What's your make?

I have a Genie.

It took me an hour and trying different methods but I got it to work and it's now perfect.

I had to hold the garage door remote button for 10 seconds. THEN I had to simultaneously hold the remote and Homelink button I wanted programmed. Then I had to hit the program button on the unit itself and then again simultaneously hold remote and Homelink buttons. Programmed.

Those exact instructions are in the manual for my truck. Standard Homelink communication setup.

 

[mixduptransistor]

Man, Ford really should reveal exactly what is being updated. As someone who loves tech, I want this information. This is something Tesla does exceptionally well and I guess I expected the same from Ford. I hope this is not the OTA model we're going to be getting through the life of the car.

What? Tesla has no-note "bugfix" updates all the time. They only ever have release notes for major features, and can have 5 or 6 or more releases between release notes

 

[Ponypower50]

All I want is to be able to charge my FE with 240 volts.

 

[ajmartineau]

I hope this changes soon.

 

[bellyer]

But have you ever waited 16 months for a phone and/or specific app? I'm guessing no....

As someone who was a loyalist to Windows Phone for the entirety of its existence, yes, yes, I have waited for 16+ months for certain apps, just crossing my fingers that someday I would have access to certain apps that iOS and Android users had. ? Best phone OS I have ever used (honestly), but, sadly didn't get the traction with the developers or consumers that it needed.

As for Release Notes, I work in the tech world and spend a lot of time with my customers on feature and security updates and, while I know that there is not always a lot of information to be shared that customers would actually care about, what Ford is sharing here in the release notes is pretty sad really.

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

As someone who was a loyalist to Windows Phone for the entirety of its existence, yes, yes, I have waited for 16+ months for certain apps, just crossing my fingers that someday I would have access to certain apps that iOS and Android users had. ? Best phone OS I have ever used (honestly), but, sadly didn't get the traction with the developers or consumers that it needed.

As for Release Notes, I work in the tech world and spend a lot of time with my customers on feature and security updates and, while I know that there is not always a lot of information to be shared that customers would actually care about, what Ford is sharing here in the release notes is pretty sad really.

"pretty sad" perhaps but again very very common. you don't have to believe me. Open up your current smartphone's store and read the update information.

Twitter on iOS:

Tesla:

Hulu:

I tried to find official Tesla car-side release notes, but just found a bunch of third-party sites that talked about "undocumented changes" or other such stuff, and this page that only talks about major releases and not about the middle updates that come out very frequently:

Software Version 10.0 | Tesla

and by the way also says " Exact feature availability may vary based on car configuration and location. " which means you have no idea if it any particular item actually applies to your car or not.

so yeah even the "master of OTAs" does a garbage job here.

I don't have to be happy with the situation but nonetheless to suggest Ford is somehow weird here is just wrong.

 

[TheStig]

I’m a software engineer. We often just say things like “bug fixes and improvements” for many reasons.

1. The most common reason. we wanted to get the fixes out the door sooner and it takes upwards of a week to translate the release notes to all the different languages. We already have translations for “bug fixes and improvements”.
2. We didn’t actually document all the bug fixes we did.
3. Sometimes we just hand the binary off to marketing or somebody else and they take care of the rest.
4. Developers are bad at words and we aren’t trusted to make customer facing notes.
5. We don’t want to admit to bugs you didn’t know about and didn’t effect you.
6. We aren’t actually confident that we fixed everything even though we thoroughly tested.
7. A lot of time “bugs” are actually user error or users not understanding how a feature works.

 

[SMDJim]

I’m a software engineer. We often just say things like “bug fixes and improvements” for many reasons.

1. The most common reason. we wanted to get the fixes out the door sooner and it takes upwards of a week to translate the release notes to all the different languages. We already have translations for “bug fixes and improvements”.
2. We didn’t actually document all the bug fixes we did.
3. Sometimes we just hand the binary off to marketing or somebody else and they take care of the rest.
4. Developers are bad at words and we aren’t trusted to make customer facing notes.
5. We don’t want to admit to bugs you didn’t know about and didn’t effect you.
6. We aren’t actually confident that we fixed everything even though we thoroughly tested.
7. A lot of time “bugs” are actually user error or users not understanding how a feature works.

WE also skipped about half of the regression testing, but that should not be a problem. All of the patches are perfect and should not create any new problems!

 

[JCHLi]

 

[Nikos]

That is the kind of humor most of us were looking for. First update. I was fearing that might end up as a small disaster. Actually, FordPass is still slow and unresponsive lately. The administrator should take note. If the update was part to improve the App experience, they didn't do a good job on that front. Improvements needed quickly.

 

[MightyJawa]

I’m a software engineer. We often just say things like “bug fixes and improvements” for many reasons.

1. The most common reason. we wanted to get the fixes out the door sooner and it takes upwards of a week to translate the release notes to all the different languages. We already have translations for “bug fixes and improvements”.
2. We didn’t actually document all the bug fixes we did.
3. Sometimes we just hand the binary off to marketing or somebody else and they take care of the rest.
4. Developers are bad at words and we aren’t trusted to make customer facing notes.
5. We don’t want to admit to bugs you didn’t know about and didn’t effect you.
6. We aren’t actually confident that we fixed everything even though we thoroughly tested.
7. A lot of time “bugs” are actually user error or users not understanding how a feature works.

I’m also a software developer and I’m sure #5 is the main reason.

Sponsored