Let's talk about a dangerous, and maybe deadly, BlueCruise flaw

[Chuck]

Warning TL;DR but you should read it.

I love Blue Cruise and I especially love the Hands Free part of Blue Cruise. I drive the freeways of Southern California. Some of the busiest freeways in the world are here and BCHF makes it a dream to drive them. But, over the last few months I've discovered a flaw that nearly killed me. It would be an easy software fix but Ford has not fixed it and I see no one talking about it.

Background: Ford does a good job at alerting the driver when action needs to be taken while using BC. For example, if your eyes drift for too long it lowers the volume on the stereo and plays a loud bong song to get your attention while showing a notice on the IP until it's satisfied you're looking at the road. It's annoying and should be. Similarly, when it drops out of Hands Free Blue Cruise into just lane centering cruise control the IP tells you to
put your hands on the wheel. It still keeps lane centering and keeps its distance from the car in front but after about 10 seconds it will lower the volume on the stereo and plays the loud bong until you put your hands on the steering wheel.

So far so good. Here's where the danger occurs...

While you're in BCHF and there's a mechanical failure there's inherent danger. By mechanical failure I'm referring to the radar or camera or a wire, for instance. When this type of failure occurs it does NOT lower the volume on the stereo and it does NOT give a loud bong warning until you respond. Instead it gives a pleasant "ding" sound that is NOTpossible to hear if music is playing. In addition to that it shows "Canceled" in orange around the car icon on the IP for less than 2 seconds. That's it! No warning that you must take control of the car and that you're in free fall. You now have no hands free, no lane centering, no distance control from the care in front of you. Nothing. If you are in Whisper mode the car doesn't even slow down.

So why is this dangerous? Because if you don't happen to notice the orange cancelled sign on the IP you'll never notice that it's dropped out of BC. Especially in whisper mode. The car is just driving aimlessly, literally aimlessly on it's own.

I had this issue. I had a mechanical failure, a bad wire, that would cause BC to fail when the car sat in the sun and got physically hot. This has happened well over 100 times in the last 4 months until my dealer just recently replaced the wire. Each occurrence shows up in a log in Ford Pass. The number of entries in my Ford Pass message log is in the 3 digits.

However, the first time was the nearly fatal one. Look at the photo below. As you can see the center divider walls in SoCal are very close to the vehicle. Maybe 18 inches. The photo doesn't show it but imagine I'm driving on a part of the freeway that is curving to the right. Now imagine I'm in BCHF at 78 mph. The car is basically pointing at that center divider and the only thing keeping the car from driving into the center divider is that BCHF is continuously turning the wheels toward the right to keep on the curve.

Now imagine, and I don't have to imagine because I experienced it, that BCHF cancels while on that curve while going 78 mph while you're looking at the infotainment screen changing the song and you never see the "canceled" notice and don't hear the ding over the music. Suddenly you're headed straight into that 7 foot tall concrete wall without notice. Fortunately, I reacted to the sudden change in direction in time to get back into my lane. I was literally only a couple of inches from that wall at 78 mph. I had an immediate adrenaline rush and my hands were shaking for a long time after that. It took me a while to trust BCHF after that. I eventually did but learned to never take my eyes away from the road and the IP while using BCHF.

This is a situation that Ford needs to fix before someone gets killed. It should be easy for them to fix via software. And because of the danger of this it should give a very dramatic notification. It should be equivalent to the notification that the car gives when it notices an impending crash to the car in front. It should be red, flashing and very loud.

I'm hoping that this thread will get the notice of a Ford representative. Likely, Ford won't comment on this until they have a fix in place. Doing so would create a negligence liability issue for them.

In any event you have been warned. If you ever see anything orange pop up on your screen you should immediately grab controll of the wheel.

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[RickMachE]

When I am in BCHF mode on a curve, and it goes to hands on mode, I hear nothing. But I'm ready for it to do so.

 

[Chuck]

When I am in BCHF mode on a curve, and it goes to hands on mode, I hear nothing. But I'm ready for it to do so.

First of all, that's a limitation of the version of BC you have. My version seldom shifts out of BCHF when on a curve. Secondly, when it does that for you it still has lane centering and distance control running. It doesn't cancel BC altogether, just the hands free portion. That's not deadly.

 

[RickMachE]

I have 1.3.

 

[Chuck]

I have 1.3.

I can't comment but I'm not at the same level.

 

[bbulkow]

Warning TL;DR but you should read it.

I love Blue Cruise and I especially love the Hands Free part of Blue Cruise. I drive the freeways of Southern California. Some of the busiest freeways in the world are here and BCHF makes it a dream to drive them. But, over the last few months I've discovered a flaw that nearly killed me. It would be an easy software fix but Ford has not fixed it and I see no one talking about it.

Background: Ford does a good job at alerting the driver when action needs to be taken while using BC. For example, if your eyes drift for too long it lowers the volume on the stereo and plays a loud bong song to get your attention while showing a notice on the IP until it's satisfied you're looking at the road. It's annoying and should be. Similarly, when it drops out of Hands Free Blue Cruise into just lane centering cruise control the IP tells you to
put your hands on the wheel. It still keeps lane centering and keeps its distance from the car in front but after about 10 seconds it will lower the volume on the stereo and plays the loud bong until you put your hands on the steering wheel.

So far so good. Here's where the danger occurs...

While you're in BCHF and there's a mechanical failure there's inherent danger. By mechanical failure I'm referring to the radar or camera or a wire, for instance. When this type of failure occurs it does NOT lower the volume on the stereo and it does NOT give a loud bong warning until you respond. Instead it gives a pleasant "ding" sound that is NOTpossible to hear if music is playing. In addition to that it shows "Canceled" in orange around the car icon on the IP for less than 2 seconds. That's it! No warning that you must take control of the car and that you're in free fall. You now have no hands free, no lane centering, no distance control from the care in front of you. Nothing. If you are in Whisper mode the car doesn't even slow down.

So why is this dangerous? Because if you don't happen to notice the orange cancelled sign on the IP you'll never notice that it's dropped out of BC. Especially in whisper mode. The car is just driving aimlessly, literally aimlessly on it's own.

I had this issue. I had a mechanical failure, a bad wire, that would cause BC to fail when the car sat in the sun and got physically hot. This has happened well over 100 times in the last 4 months until my dealer just recently replaced the wire. Each occurrence shows up in a log in Ford Pass. The number of entries in my Ford Pass message log is in the 3 digits.

However, the first time was the nearly fatal one. Look at the photo below. As you can see the center divider walls in SoCal are very close to the vehicle. Maybe 18 inches. The photo doesn't show it but imagine I'm driving on a part of the freeway that is curving to the right. Now imagine I'm in BCHF at 78 mph. The car is basically pointing at that center divider and the only thing keeping the car from driving into the center divider is that BCHF is continuously turning the wheels toward the right to keep on the curve.

Now imagine, and I don't have to imagine because I experienced it, that BCHF cancels while on that curve while going 78 mph while you're looking at the infotainment screen changing the song and you never see the "canceled" notice and don't hear the ding over the music. Suddenly you're headed straight into that 7 foot tall concrete wall without notice. Fortunately, I reacted to the sudden change in direction in time to get back into my lane. I was literally only a couple of inches from that wall at 78 mph. I had an immediate adrenaline rush and my hands were shaking for a long time after that. It took me a while to trust BCHF after that. I eventually did but learned to never take my eyes away from the road and the IP while using BCHF.

This is a situation that Ford needs to fix before someone gets killed. It should be easy for them to fix via software. And because of the danger of this it should give a very dramatic notification. It should be equivalent to the notification that the car gives when it notices an impending crash to the car in front. It should be red, flashing and very loud.

I'm hoping that this thread will get the notice of a Ford representative. Likely, Ford won't comment on this until they have a fix in place. Doing so would create a negligence liability issue for them.

In any event you have been warned. If you ever see anything orange pop up on your screen you should immediately grab controll of the wheel.

When you say there is no indication you are out of bluecruise except for the orange indication for two seconds, the blue background and bluecruise also vanishes, right, so it's still in lane keeping and cruise control?

It would seem to depend a bit exactly what kind of mechanical electrical failure. If lane keeping is no longer effective and immediately disabled (and you might be heading "straight" toward a wall), yes, I would expect a vigorous response (similar to what it does when it decides you should be braking, red lights and big chimes, just like what it does after it decides you aren't paying attention and goes to red "take control" dialog), and I would agree with you it's a serious must fix safety issue. If the system has an integrity problem that it knows about, it should be pretty vocal in making sure you get your hands back on the wheel.

If the failure is a wire in the two cameras which pay attention to your face, and the lane keep and speed is still just as operational at the same level as before - but it can't "nanny" you - I would expect the same behavior as when it can't tell if you're paying attention, which you claim its not doing. That would seem like a flaw but a smaller one.

Reading your long post, I was a little unclear what case happened. You said there was a fault, then you were heading "straight" for a wall, but was that because it was in a curve (my BC 1.3 runs me much closer to walls at speed and I don't trust it in some cases and speeds - I wouldn't use it at 78mph with a wall inches away (the picture you have is the lane is a full car distance, not "inches").

Color me a bit confused.

 

[moog]

Pretty sure EVERY time BCHF canceled lane centering and distance control still functioned.
Not sure what's going on with the OP.

Seems odd.

 

[Tampamike]

I agree with Chuck. In airplanes, when the autopilot kicks off for any reason there is a LOUD, unmistakeable siren. Wasn’t always the way but that was a lesson learned in blood. I’m also of the opinion that if “hands-free” mode disengages for any reason, there should be a LOUD warning - something that would startle you enough to take the wheel on reflex.

 

[njb]

You are supposed to be paying attention though. So even if you didn't hear the sound or see the brief warning, you should notice that all the prominent BC graphics go away. Even the lane centering bubble going away is very noticeable when I am driving locally. When I'm driving with lane centering on and it drops in places (sometimes oddly so) I may not hear the chime but I am paying attention and ready to fully guide the car. I don't need it to drift across the lane lines to notice that it's gone. When I'm driving with BC my hands are in my lap just under the steering wheel, never occupied with other things, and my foot is near the pedal and my eyes are on the road with the driver screen being part of that. It is not full self driving or auto pilot and it's not perfect. It's a better driver than most people even with the flaws.

But maybe because your failure was mechanical those graphics remained???

 

[azerik]

Pretty sure EVERY time BCHF canceled lane centering and distance control still functioned.
Not sure what's going on with the OP.

Seems odd.

Nope, mine will drop fully when it cancels, sometimes. I actually think it's the side cameras having an issue. And usually in the HOV lane. Perhaps the IPMA is getting confused as to a solid yellow line and the dirt on the side of the road so it kicks out. But when it does I'm in whisper and it's still just going where ever last pointed. Lately (with BC 1.2) I get the 'Resume control' and it shuts off only HF. I can hear that. But the 'Canceled' sucks. I'm not canceling so I expect to be made aware IT canceled. It used to happen to me in a specific area, that area used to have a lot of RF interference (It'd even cause CP to fully disconnect). Now with the latest IOS my phone doesn't disconnect (or even freeze for that matter) but BC kicks out 50% of the time I drive through that underpass.

I've also got what appears to be the camera/coax issue as well as my car just gives me all the BC failure notices from time to time. It could be related to the whole thing shutting down.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

I can't comment but I'm not at the same level.

BC of any sort or version number requires continual monitoring of the car and automation status at all times. Some people are ready for that, others not so much. Expecting something to hiccup should be the norm.

As for version numbers, there's not a substantial difference between 1.3 and what your car may be operating under.

 

[music_cities]

Warning TL;DR but you should read it.

I love Blue Cruise and I especially love the Hands Free part of Blue Cruise. I drive the freeways of Southern California. Some of the busiest freeways in the world are here and BCHF makes it a dream to drive them. But, over the last few months I've discovered a flaw that nearly killed me. It would be an easy software fix but Ford has not fixed it and I see no one talking about it.

Background: Ford does a good job at alerting the driver when action needs to be taken while using BC. For example, if your eyes drift for too long it lowers the volume on the stereo and plays a loud bong song to get your attention while showing a notice on the IP until it's satisfied you're looking at the road. It's annoying and should be. Similarly, when it drops out of Hands Free Blue Cruise into just lane centering cruise control the IP tells you to
put your hands on the wheel. It still keeps lane centering and keeps its distance from the car in front but after about 10 seconds it will lower the volume on the stereo and plays the loud bong until you put your hands on the steering wheel.

So far so good. Here's where the danger occurs...

While you're in BCHF and there's a mechanical failure there's inherent danger. By mechanical failure I'm referring to the radar or camera or a wire, for instance. When this type of failure occurs it does NOT lower the volume on the stereo and it does NOT give a loud bong warning until you respond. Instead it gives a pleasant "ding" sound that is NOTpossible to hear if music is playing. In addition to that it shows "Canceled" in orange around the car icon on the IP for less than 2 seconds. That's it! No warning that you must take control of the car and that you're in free fall. You now have no hands free, no lane centering, no distance control from the care in front of you. Nothing. If you are in Whisper mode the car doesn't even slow down.

So why is this dangerous? Because if you don't happen to notice the orange cancelled sign on the IP you'll never notice that it's dropped out of BC. Especially in whisper mode. The car is just driving aimlessly, literally aimlessly on it's own.

I had this issue. I had a mechanical failure, a bad wire, that would cause BC to fail when the car sat in the sun and got physically hot. This has happened well over 100 times in the last 4 months until my dealer just recently replaced the wire. Each occurrence shows up in a log in Ford Pass. The number of entries in my Ford Pass message log is in the 3 digits.

However, the first time was the nearly fatal one. Look at the photo below. As you can see the center divider walls in SoCal are very close to the vehicle. Maybe 18 inches. The photo doesn't show it but imagine I'm driving on a part of the freeway that is curving to the right. Now imagine I'm in BCHF at 78 mph. The car is basically pointing at that center divider and the only thing keeping the car from driving into the center divider is that BCHF is continuously turning the wheels toward the right to keep on the curve.

Now imagine, and I don't have to imagine because I experienced it, that BCHF cancels while on that curve while going 78 mph while you're looking at the infotainment screen changing the song and you never see the "canceled" notice and don't hear the ding over the music. Suddenly you're headed straight into that 7 foot tall concrete wall without notice. Fortunately, I reacted to the sudden change in direction in time to get back into my lane. I was literally only a couple of inches from that wall at 78 mph. I had an immediate adrenaline rush and my hands were shaking for a long time after that. It took me a while to trust BCHF after that. I eventually did but learned to never take my eyes away from the road and the IP while using BCHF.

This is a situation that Ford needs to fix before someone gets killed. It should be easy for them to fix via software. And because of the danger of this it should give a very dramatic notification. It should be equivalent to the notification that the car gives when it notices an impending crash to the car in front. It should be red, flashing and very loud.

I'm hoping that this thread will get the notice of a Ford representative. Likely, Ford won't comment on this until they have a fix in place. Doing so would create a negligence liability issue for them.

In any event you have been warned. If you ever see anything orange pop up on your screen you should immediately grab controll of the wheel.

Let me tell you about the ice-on-the-front-radar problem. It eventually tells you that it can’t see, but not until it tries to kill you at least once.

anyway, I agree that if BC hands free disengages suddenly, and knows enough to turn off the blue background, it should bong loudly.

 

[macchiaz-o]

Thanks for posting this, @Chuck.

I had a similar scare on my way home from work just tonight, coincidentally. While in hands free BlueCruise, I drove over a minor pothole during a curved portion of the freeway. The car immediately suspended cruise control, lane keeping, and recentered the steering wheel, aiming me directly towards the car in the lane to my right. I had barely any time to react.

The first thing I notice is the rapid deceleration. Especially when it happened tonight, because the car was in Engage instead of my preferred Whisper. (This is a separate bug.) Due to the junked up IPC graphics, I have a hard time realizing when the car is in Engage since they look so similar now (yes, another separate bug).

Fortunately though, this has only happened maybe a few dozen times during the last year or so for me? I'm bringing it into service on Tuesday and hopefully will have it properly fixed (i.e. parts replaced and/or software remediated). I've tried adjusting the coaxial connection to the front facing camera to different angles -- this really did help quite a bit thus the few dozen occurrences instead of hundreds. But the safety factor of this has me concerned enough to get it fixed.

I can trigger this issue hitting the headliner near the sunglass holder while cruise control is active (even while it's not in hands free mode). You could try that on your car if you're curious.

 

[Flashgolfer]

Ok, so again BCHF is a 'driver assist' feature...the driver is still 100% responsible for driving the car. Knowing BCHF is an assist, you must always be 100% on top of it and be aware of use case. It would only be dangerous if the failure caused the car to not respond to the driver's commands. This is not the case here, nor in any other post I have read. On remote highways (or low congestion roads), it is a great driver assist; in local heavy/commute traffic, it is a a good driver assist requiring more monitoring and attention. You cannot blame the tool.

 

[Space_Pony]

When I see an unknown approaching curve, I pause bc and resume after the curve.

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