This all has me worried. I took my car in for TSB 23-2040. When I got the car back, the dealer told me that they ran into problems and need to replace the APIM which they have ordered. Am I going to lose the updates I have now (4.1.2) when they replace it?
That TSB doesn’t involve the APIM? I would be hesitant to allow them to replace it unless there’s a very good reason. Why are they replacing it? Does everything work fine right now?
Good questions. As far as I can tell, all is well at the moment. I’ll try to find out more before I let them do the replacement.
Well if you can’t update to what’s out now, I don’t see how you’d get any future versions unless someone at Ford manually allows it
There are probably only a couple people at Ford that can manually override missing updates in FDRS, but we have no idea how to contact them. The dealer techs, support hotline, and BEV team don’t seem to know either. Maybe only a few field service engineers have the contacts for it, but it’s many layers deep.
How can Ford have the system you outline (where versioning is tied to the VIN with no way to actually compare versions present on the module) and then have parts in their supply chain that only have the old software on them? That's a real gap in their process.
It does compare versions, but Ford is especially picky about APIM updates for cybersecurity reasons (they have some weird security rules). They probably restrict it so you can’t keep updating the same VIN with the same APIM update multiple times for fear of someone modifying the software or probing their update process. Or it could just be an unresolved software glitch with the update process. Who knows, but it impacts serviceability.
Oh interesting, so the APIM is treated differently. Still this is a big gap, the APIM is prone to fail and need replacing, and it sounds like there is no way to increment a new APIM with older software to get back on the update train.
After thinking about this more, I wonder if it would be worth having someone run my VIN to see if there are any clues as to why they think my APIM needs replaced?
you mean instead of the ~4 years we'll be stuck at whatever ver Ford stops updating our non Android Car SYNC OS?
At least your dealer told you they were going to replace it. Mine has skirted around what has been done to my car when asked. "Hope to have you done this week"
