Dishonesty, Apparent Coverup, and Horrible Customer Services regarding Ford Active Park

[Navyjoe]

If Ford HQ does not have a written signed acknowledgement waiver on file where the buyer waives their right to Active Park Assist Ford 2.0 (due to a chip shortage) the dealer implied Ford will not honor their warranty and Ford will apparently not provide OTA updates.

I received the attached waiver request four months after receipt of my car only when I filed numerous complaints at Ford Corporate and with the dealership to figure out what was going on why I have not received any updates since early September especially since I was accepted into early access program and numerous updates are available via a FDRS query under my VIIN.

I told the dealer I will not sign the waiver and that I expect them to install the updates and Active Park Assist 2.0.
The dealer agreed to the updates, provide a free loaner, and look into the Park Assist issue.

My main beef is with Ford HQ. I am a retired senior Naval Officer with 20 years of active service. Several leadership lessons I learned is that bad news does not get better with age and especially DO NOT LIE OR COVER UP bad news.

I understand that there can be chip shortages causing delays. It is not ok for Ford to apparently hide this fact or apparently withhold a warranty or apparently withhold updates due to their logistical problem in order to apparently extort customer into signing a waiver. The first time I ever heard that I was not receiving Active Park Assist 2.0 was today four months after receiving my car with the attached waiver request dated today.

Mike on this forum checked my VIIN via his FDRS and he posted that I had about a half dozen FDRS updates. I called the Ford HQ 800-392-3673 to complain why when my car is only four months old why are there no OTA updates that are available in FDRS not available to me especially since they agreed to provide early access? I spoke to an HQ individual with no technical background in a call center. I asked to speak to a supervisor and requested access to these files which are available via FDRS. After going round and round the Ford person said there is no record of my purchase or warranty in their system. They have a record of my car as a 2022 but no record of the exact purchase date. They said the dealer has to enter the date of the purchase. They said I had to contact the dealer and they would not help. I called the dealer and they said they had no idea what the Ford HQ person was talking about.

I called the 800 Ford hq number again and again asked to speak with a supervisor and told them the dealer had no idea what they were talking about. The Ford Hq manager Alex Rodriquez refused to call the dealer to resolve and refused to do a three way call with the dealership. This is unsatisfactory considering how much I paid for my GT. I only got the real answer after I contacted the dealer GM whose managers who were now in contact with Ford Corporate.

I really like my Mach-E and my dealer while not perfect has acted reasonably well. I cannot say the same for Ford Corporate. Ford corporate likes to blame dealers and sometimes their criticism is valid. In this case, it is a Ford corporate problem. This is my first Ford and if the corporate culture and apparent coverup policy does not change, many customers like myself will not buy another Ford. That would be a pity because Ford really has great engineers and designers. Ford please get your act together, this apparent behavior is a lawsuit waiting to happen. I say this as a licensed attorney, a Ph.D., and someone who really wants to see Ford succeed.

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[Logal727]

If Ford HQ does not have a written signed acknowledgement waiver on file where the buyer waives their right to Active Park Assist Ford 2.0 (due to a chip shortage) the dealer implied Ford will not honor their warranty and Ford will apparently not provide OTA updates.

I received the attached waiver request four months after receipt of my car only when I filed numerous complaints at Ford Corporate and with the dealership to figure out what was going on why I have not received any updates since early September especially since I was accepted into early access program and numerous updates are available via a FDRS query under my VIIN.

I told the dealer I will not sign the waiver and that I expect them to install the updates and Active Park Assist 2.0.
The dealer agreed to the updates, provide a free loaner, and look into the Park Assist issue.

My main beef is with Ford HQ. I am a retired senior Naval Officer with 20 years of active service. Several leadership lessons I learned is that bad news does not get better with age and especially DO NOT LIE OR COVER UP bad news.

I understand that there can be chip shortages causing delays. It is not ok for Ford to apparently hide this fact or apparently withhold a warranty or apparently withhold updates due to their logistical problem in order to apparently extort customer into signing a waiver. The first time I ever heard that I was not receiving Active Park Assist 2.0 was today four months after receiving my car with the attached waiver request dated today.

Mike on this forum checked my VIIN via his FDRS and he posted that I had about a half dozen FDRS updates. I called the Ford HQ 800-392-3673 to complain why when my car is only four months old why are there no OTA updates that are available in FDRS not available to me especially since they agreed to provide early access? I spoke to an HQ individual with no technical background in a call center. I asked to speak to a supervisor and requested access to these files which are available via FDRS. After going round and round the Ford person said there is no record of my purchase or warranty in their system. They have a record of my car as a 2022 but no record of the exact purchase date. They said the dealer has to enter the date of the purchase. They said I had to contact the dealer and they would not help. I called the dealer and they said they had no idea what the Ford HQ person was talking about.

I called the 800 Ford hq number again and again asked to speak with a supervisor and told them the dealer had no idea what they were talking about. The Ford Hq manager Alex Rodriquez refused to call the dealer to resolve and refused to do a three way call with the dealership. This is unsatisfactory considering how much I paid for my GT. I only got the real answer after I contacted the dealer GM whose managers who were now in contact with Ford Corporate.

I really like my Mach-E and my dealer while not perfect has acted reasonably well. I cannot say the same for Ford Corporate. Ford corporate likes to blame dealers and sometimes their criticism is valid. In this case, it is a Ford corporate problem. This is my first Ford and if the corporate culture and apparent coverup policy does not change, many customers like myself will not buy another Ford. That would be a pity because Ford really has great engineers and designers. Ford please get your act together, this apparent behavior is a lawsuit waiting to happen. I say this as a licensed attorney, a Ph.D., and someone who really wants to see Ford succeed.

You do know just because it available in FDRS, it doesn’t mean it will roll out OTA right away, right? I admit I don’t know any specifics of your vehicle, but it’s pretty normal for OTA to take way longer than FDRS to be available.

 

[Neil4Real]

I get a bit lost in your post and what you’re actually after, but I definitely think you’re making a bigger deal than is needed. Park assist sucks, it can only park you by other cars because it doesn’t watch lines. Either way, being an attorney, you should have known to verify? You didn’t even know it was missing and now you’re mad?

I’m also 100000% certain the dealer is lying about you not getting OTAs because of the waiver. Unless they’ve somehow delayed submitting the car as sold for this long due to the waiver? If FordPass works and all connected services, OTA should to. More like they’re in hot water because they didn’t get it signed and are trying to straight up con you to sign. Just don’t sign it and go on your way. That’s it.

Lastly, the fact you didn’t know it was removed is certainly on your dealer, lol. They’re just blaming Ford. Ford took all orders out of the queue until the dealer called the customer and told them park assist was out. Your dealer clearly didn’t tell you and just moved the order back to active. They were obviously supposed to get you to sign this waiver at time of purchase or when they called to tell you about it.

FDRS available updates do not equal “why doesn’t my car have these OTA.” Just read about OTAs here. No need to get riled up calling low level customer service agents, when you should just push to actually have the dealer do the updates if you want to work out a deal to sign the waiver.

Your dealer has done a great job convincing you to waste time barking up the wrong tree, that’s for sure.

Please explain what you’re after. Time is money and it sounds like you’re wasting an insane amount of time for nothing. You probably could have bought all the equipment to do FDRS updates yourself.

 

[Navyjoe]

I understand that FDRS is quicker than regular OTA access, but not that much faster than early access.

The main point is that car was advertised with Active Park Assist Ford 2.0. Active Park Assist Ford 2.0 was not installed on my car and the first time I was notified of this fact was four months after delivery. This is a problem. Furthermore, Ford corporate acknowledged that I was not receiving OTA updates because of a warranty registration problem between the dealership and corporate not because of normal OTA delays. The dealership implied in their email that the way to resolve my warranty / OTA problem is to sign the Active Park Assist Ford 2.0 waiver.

So I am curious how many others have seen the Active Park Assist Ford 2.0 waiver I posted? How many have signed it? Of those that have not seen it or not signed the waiver have you experienced delays in OTA updates or warranty issues?

 

[Navyjoe]

What I want is Ford to do produce better quality products and be honest about what they do.

It is not hard to post an update in a timely fashion.
Tesla does this all the time. If Ford is going to succeed they need to fix this problem.

If Ford is going to take away or delay a capability they should not obfuscate it. This is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

I understand that FDRS is quicker than regular OTA access, but not that much faster than early access.

The main point is that car was advertised with Active Park Assist Ford 2.0. Active Park Assist Ford 2.0 was not installed on my car and the first time I was notified of this fact was four months after delivery. This is a problem. Furthermore, Ford corporate acknowledged that I was not receiving OTA updates because of a warranty registration problem between the dealership and corporate not because of normal OTA delays. The dealership implied in their email that the way to resolve my warranty / OTA problem is to sign the Active Park Assist Ford 2.0 waiver.

So I am curious how many others have seen the Active Park Assist Ford 2.0 waiver I posted? How many have signed it? Of those that have not seen it or not signed the waiver have you experienced delays in OTA updates or warranty issues?

Active park assist is no longer available. It was deleted due to supply chain constraints ages ago. You’re not going to get park assist whether or not you acknowledge that. The document you’re being asked to sign simply acknowledges that the feature isn’t available and that you’ll get a $325 credit for not having it. You’re not waiving anything. Refusing to sign the document will not get you active park assist.

If you’re not getting updates because either your car has module issues or you’re refusing to acknowledge the state the car was in when delivered — no active park assist, and thus the car wasn’t properly sold. Your dealer should’ve told you at or before sales time about the deletion of this option. You either refused to sign or they dropped the ball telling you. Either way, the car should’ve remained with the dealer until all required paperwork was signed.

If this feature is your line in the sand, you should have walked away, you’re not getting it now or, in all likelihood, ever. At this point, if you want to fight over this, I’d ask Ford to buy back the car or hire an attorney. Neither is a guaranteed fix and one can cost you an enormous amount of money.

Or you can sign the paperwork and move on, just as thousands of other Ford customers did.

 

[Jiji]

Does the window sticker show the $325 credit for the missing hardware? That waiver should have been completed by the dealer at the closing if the vehicle lacked the complete parking assist hardware.

And as far as the EA program goes it doesn’t seem to accord any special benefits so don’t think that you are special being in EA program. As far as I can tell EA just gets you early access to their surveys.

 

[Maquis]

Tesla does this all the time.

Sounds like it’s time for you to buy a Tesla!

 

[Navyjoe]

Sounds like it’s time for you to buy a Tesla!

I might. I would prefer Ford Management get its act together and post timely updates and not cryptically take away or delay a capability without proper notice. It hurts the brand and its not hard to fix.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

I might. I would prefer Ford Management get its act together and post timely updates and not cryptically take away or delay a capability without proper notice. It hurts the brand and its not hard to fix.

They neither took away nor delayed a capability without notice. You weren’t watching. Many thousands of people bought their 2022s without the feature and moved on. Your anger is misplaced. Time to move on to something else if this bothers you so much.

 

[Mach-Lee]

The main point is that car was advertised with Active Park Assist Ford 2.0. Active Park Assist Ford 2.0 was not installed on my car and the first time I was notified of this fact was four months after delivery. This is a problem. Furthermore, Ford corporate acknowledged that I was not receiving OTA updates because of a warranty registration problem between the dealership and corporate not because of normal OTA delays. The dealership implied in their email that the way to resolve my warranty / OTA problem is to sign the Active Park Assist Ford 2.0 waiver.

This is a dealer issue, not a Ford issue. The memo about the deletion of active park assist from the Mach-E along with the form you signed was released on March 25, 2022. Dealers were instructed to have you sign that form at the time of purchase, and you would get the $325 credit reflected on the window sticker to compensate you for the loss of the feature.

If you did not receive OTAs, it's possibly because the dealer did not properly mark the vehicle as sold. My dealer did this correctly and I got an OTA a couple days after purchase. Again, blame your dealer for that.

Signing that wavier does not activate your OTAs, the dealer has no idea what they're doing. You should have signed a FordPass Connected Services agreement to activate your vehicle modem. If not then you need to contact a FordPass Guide so they can fix that for you.

You need to do this if you haven't: https://www.ford.com/support/how-to...o-i-activate-my-ford-vehicle-to-use-fordpass/

Active Park Assist will require a replacement IPMA which contains the feature. It's not clear if those will ever become available due to ongoing chip shortages, the feature has been completely removed from 2023's with no future promises.

 

[Navyjoe]

I am not angry. I just hold people and organizations accountable. I am quite successful at what I do. I won't sign the waiver and I expect to either get the park assist installed or be further compensated. I keep my part of the bargain, I paid the agreed price Ford should keep up their end. When one rolls over and accepts a dishonest or inferior outcome it only hurts the Ford community at large.

Just so you now, discussion of the topic of this topic by a third party is not proper notice. Ford has an obligation to provide notice in a clear fashion which they did not do in my case.

 

[Jax_GT]

I don’t recall signing that waiver, but I did get an email from Ford stating that the option was removed, $325, yada yada yada.
Email came around the same time as when they scheduled the car to be built.
Hope you get more money, but I don’t think you will.

 

[macchiaz-o]

Just so you now, discussion of the topic of this topic by a third party is not proper notice. Ford has an obligation to provide notice in a clear fashion which they did not do in my case.

You probably purchased the vehicle from a franchisee (a dealership) and not from Ford, but even still, the Monroney window sticker should've indicated a credit/adjustment of $325 or whatever the amount was, for the "active park assist prep kit" or however they called it. Yours doesn't show this?

 

[Mach-Lee]

I am not angry. I just hold people and organizations accountable. I am quite successful at what I do. I won't sign the waiver and I expect to either get the park assist installed or be further compensated. I keep my part of the bargain, I paid the agreed price Ford should keep up their end. When one rolls over and accepts a dishonest or inferior outcome it only hurts the Ford community at large.

FYI you're not going to get more money back, and you're going to be pissed to learn that you will have to pay more money to get it installed later if it's ever released. Here's what the memo says about that:

UPGRADE
Future communications are planned to reach out to customers who have the Active Park Assist Prep Kit to notify of when modules are available for purchase and dealer installation. The Mustang Mach-E can have Active Park Assist 2.0 functionality restored with an all-new module if the customer chooses to purchase the feature.

A new IPMA currently runs $2600 so that might be what you have to pay to get active park assist unless Ford gives you a credit for trading in your old module (hopefully they do this).

If you didn't want to sign the agreement and agree to the terms, you shouldn't have bought the vehicle and should have sued Ford instead. Your hands are sort of tied now if you bought it.

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