Dealer Service Using PAAK

[nivlem]

I had an issue today and am curious if anyone has experienced a similar problem. I took my Mach E to the dealer for a minor issue and got an education in the process. (Note: I use PAAK; the Key Fob belongs to my wife.) Lesson I learned; you can not get a repair using PAAK. I'm told the dealer must have the Key Fob in his possession; he can not access codes in Valet mode, nor is there a way to access them unless he has your phone while they are working on the car. (Unacceptable). The only choice I had was go and retrieve my wife's Fob. Luckily she was not traveling or otherwise unavailable. This could have been disastrous if I were on a trip, or otherwise, in a location where the Fob was unavailable. Ford needs to fix this issue or people could be stranded on the road. They should either provide a second Fob to go with the car, or update software to allow access in valet mode or PAAK mode without the phone.

Ford has decided to provide me a second Key Fob, at no cost. I have been in discussions, meeting, arguments etc. with Ford representatives about the deficiencies of PAAK since I posted the above. My compliant was PAAK has design deficiencies and its capabilities were mis-represented by to us by Ford. We were told that we did not need a key fob; our phone would become our key fob. We know that representation is simply untrue. The dealer must have your Key Fob to work on your car, or you must surrender your phone (unacceptable!) As I stated above my wife does not use PAAK; the Fob is her key and we did not agree to share a key when we purchased the car.

I requested that Ford give me second Key Fob correct the problem. I talked to personnel at the Dealership up to and including the GM. I also spoke with Ford Customer Relations. Dealership: not my issue, talk to Ford. Not willing to spend money to fix something they didn't cause. Ford Customer Relations: Talk to the Dealer. Both recommended that I buy a Key Fob and have it programmed, which I refused to do. I did get results when I brought the issue to the Ford Regional Management Office and the COO of Autogroup that owns that dealership. I have just been informed that I will be receiving a second programmed Key Fob, at no cost. It was also mentioned that Ford will be including a second Key Fob with future vehicles.

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[Finkerton]

Amazing. Who can I contact to talk to at length about the PaaK problems (including the recall not fixing them)? I'd be happy with a second fob being the result.

Right now I'm in this death spiral of you need to program PaaK to create a backup password (AFAIK). But PaaK massively drains my phone battery since FordPass 3.24 (not fixed in 3.25). So I have to have phone drain for PaaK which only sometimes works (lots of no key detected issues) because the alternative is a password which I'm fine with but also needs PaaK configured, draining my phone...

 

[nivlem]

Amazing. Who can I contact to talk to at length about the PaaK problems (including the recall not fixing them)? I'd be happy with a second fob being the result.

Right now I'm in this death spiral of you need to program PaaK to create a backup password (AFAIK). But PaaK massively drains my phone battery since FordPass 3.24 (not fixed in 3.25). So I have to have phone drain for PaaK which only sometimes works (lots of no key detected issues) because the alternative is a password which I'm fine with but also needs PaaK configured, draining my phone...

All of my conversations about the PAAK/Key Fob problem were a waste of time until I spoke with the Autogroup COO and Ford Regional Management Office. That's when I got a second Fob. Maybe something like that might will work again.

I also got the impression that Ford sees two Fobs as the fix for the PAAK problem. (Mach E's will start getting two Fobs).

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