BlueCruise marketing call

[EasyPass]

I took a phone call today from Ford Motor Co, not my dealer but from a corporate representative. I was informed that the office there was taking input from known MME customers regarding the use of the hands-free BlueCruise feature, and was I aware that my 2021 Premium 4X was able to leverage this technology. I explained that I had used v1.0 of BC between sometime in the middle of 2023 and December of last year and felt that at that revision level this was an unfinished product and not justified for an expenditure of a subscription fee at this time in my case. The person on the line explained that a update version was "on the way" but could not be committed to a time frame for delivery. I explained that the postal letter I received in the mail at the end of last summer essentially stated the same thing with status quo being the order of the day currently. My rep on the phone went on to explain that unless I had an active subscription for BC the updates for new revisions for BC would not be delivered to my vehicle. I responded to that with it felt like a Catch 22, however I'd likely stand pat with my current status. They further related that BC updates would be forthcoming as part of the general OTA program, which to me just made the entire conversation an exercise in confusion.

I'll say that this effort of outreach is welcome and unexpected, but the result of the conversation did little to influence my viewpoint on the situation. Ford has at every turn botched the handling of hands-free BlueCruise from a public relations standpoint and continues to do so right up to today. My opinion on this subject comes from an owner who is otherwise a completely satisfied customer with the vehicle and have no complaints in general except for this.

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[New2EV]

Completely agree. HFBC 1.0 is awful. They've been promising an upgrade since last summer. I won't subscribe without updates first. Maybe not even then.

Even the hands-on BC is bad in it's current state. I constantly find myself fighting the lane keeping as it wants to over correct and ping pong down the lane. Feels like I'm steering with a heavy crosswind.

 

[TruWrecks]

I had had an active BC 1.0 subscription. I renewed 103 days ago. I am still not seeing anything new in my MME. At this rate it will be up for renewal again by the time I get 1.4 in my MME.

 

[JCHLi]

I had this type of call a year and a half ago (maybe more, it was just as the newer version with lane changing was coming out on newer cars).

I believe my feedback was that they should offer us this upgrade. It's nice that they ask and listen, but I really wish they would actually do something about it.

 

[troublebot]

I got this call a few weeks ago, I'd let BC lapse after the free period ended, and I likely would either not upgrade until the new version was released because the current version doesn't present a ton of value at that price point. They couldn't commit to a date. They offered a 30-day trial to "remind" me of what it was like, but I haven't gotten much use of it.

I have a major cross-country drive coming up and might pay the $75 for a month because it works pretty well on long straight freeways and will reduce some fatigue a little bit, but honestly the active cruise control with lanekeeping does 95% of the job with fewer dropouts/more coverage, and I tend to keep my hands on the wheel unless I actively remind myself to let go, so I might skip it altogether until 1.4 is delivered (and I hear that others are happy with it).

 

[ChehRob]

Tesla, if I heard this right, has just dropped its monthly fee to about $100. Given that Tesla does a lot more, I would say Ford should not be charging more than $60/month, or $600 a year.

 

[Mach-Lee]

They just need to drop the price, period. They are charging much more than the value of the service provided. Simple economics.

And yes, Tesla just cut the price of FSD in half to $99/mo. BlueCruise can only do about a quarter of what FSD can do, and only in very limited areas, so should be priced accordingly (<$25/mo).

 

[Scarpia]

Completely agree. HFBC 1.0 is awful. They've been promising an upgrade since last summer. I won't subscribe without updates first. Maybe not even then.

Even the hands-on BC is bad in it's current state. I constantly find myself fighting the lane keeping as it wants to over correct and ping pong down the lane. Feels like I'm steering with a heavy crosswind.

I use BC 1.0 a lot on my way to work on freeways, and I find it works very well. I am interested to see the improvements when we finally get updates, but I am not at all unhappy with the current 1.0 version.
As a 2021 Job 1 owner, I am supposed to get the $600/3 year renewal when my current subscription expires, and will most certainly renew.

 

[Nerwyn]

Hey Ford marketing, a big reason people aren't renewing their Blue Cruise subscriptions because you promised us it would cost $200 a year and then price gouged it to $800 year right before anyone could actually renew it, screwing over everyone who bought it for the first three years except for the very early adopters who you let renew at the original price.

 

[Naren]

$20 per month or $200 per year for BC is resonable.

 

[Deezul]

I considered a 2023 Job 1 build over the 2023 Job 2 build I did purchase, because the Job 1 build came with three years of BC. But over the one month I've had the car, I've been on two roads that can use BC. I only did that because I wanted to have some acceleration fun. Before I had my MME, I would be lucky to go on one of those two roads once a week. I'm not going to renew at $900 a year for at most 10 hours month of usage.
I go through a song and dance with SiriusXM every year when it's renewal time. I say I'll cancel; they give me lower offer. I say it's still not worth it, they come back with another lower offer. I know SiriusXM is different from BC, but with SiriusXM, all they are doing is allowing my radio to receive a signal that's going out to everyone anyway.
Any money I pay for BC that goes to research benefits everyone. So why not lower the cost to $300 a year, and you might end up with 4 subscribers at that price point instead of 1 at $900. You've now just made more, and you can up the price in 3 years to me to $400. I probably won't hesitate if I see clear advances over those three years. And even if in that time one person drops, you have one or two new buyers who will sign up. So you're still able to increase fees to make up for inflation, but you're also getting people excited who will sell the tech to friends and family.

 

[Mirak]

I took a phone call today from Ford Motor Co, not my dealer but from a corporate representative. I was informed that the office there was taking input from known MME customers regarding the use of the hands-free BlueCruise feature, and was I aware that my 2021 Premium 4X was able to leverage this technology. I explained that I had used v1.0 of BC between sometime in the middle of 2023 and December of last year and felt that at that revision level this was an unfinished product and not justified for an expenditure of a subscription fee at this time in my case. The person on the line explained that a update version was "on the way" but could not be committed to a time frame for delivery. I explained that the postal letter I received in the mail at the end of last summer essentially stated the same thing with status quo being the order of the day currently. My rep on the phone went on to explain that unless I had an active subscription for BC the updates for new revisions for BC would not be delivered to my vehicle. I responded to that with it felt like a Catch 22, however I'd likely stand pat with my current status. They further related that BC updates would be forthcoming as part of the general OTA program, which to me just made the entire conversation an exercise in confusion.

I'll say that this effort of outreach is welcome and unexpected, but the result of the conversation did little to influence my viewpoint on the situation. Ford has at every turn botched the handling of hands-free BlueCruise from a public relations standpoint and continues to do so right up to today. My opinion on this subject comes from an owner who is otherwise a completely satisfied customer with the vehicle and have no complaints in general except for this.

You “welcome” a telemarketer lying to you that you won’t get an updated version unless you subscribe to the outdated version? That would make me feel… not welcoming at all.

I hope Ford gets crushed at $800/yr and finally comes to its senses. As another noted, Ford is trying to charge FSD-level prices for a fraction of the functionality. It’s a joke.

 

[EasyPass]

You “welcome” a telemarketer lying to you that you won’t get an updated version unless you subscribe to the outdated version? That would make me feel… not welcoming at all.

I hope Ford gets crushed at $800/yr and finally comes to its senses. As another noted, Ford is trying to charge FSD-level prices for a fraction of the functionality. It’s a joke.

I was trying to stay positive, but really agree with you in your general assessment.

 

[hartmms]

I saw an electronic billboard ad yesterday on the 202 in Phoenix for Blue Cruise. I thought it was rather interesting.

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