Does Everyone With The Same Car/Model Receive The Same OTA Updates At Essentially The Same Time?

[HalifaxDC]

So I'm certainly no expert on how these OTA updates work, but in my casual reading over the last year on this forum, I'm getting the impression that two people who have essentially the same car/model may NOT receive OTA updates at the same time? Is this the case? If so, what is the reason that one person might receive the update and the other person might not?

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[AKgrampy]

I know some people are in the Early Access (EA) program so they get their updates earlier. Other than that I have no idea. I do not have BC and have had no updates since August. On the plus side I have also had no issues at all in two years of ownership so I am fine without the updates. I did notice the climate update did provide some benefit this winter.

 

[RickMachE]

So I'm certainly no expert on how these OTA updates work, but in my casual reading over the last year on this forum, I'm getting the impression that two people who have essentially the same car/model may NOT receive OTA updates at the same time? Is this the case? If so, what is the reason that one person might receive the update and the other person might not?

Ford sends out the updates when they decide to. Whether you get one or not depends on what version of that module you are updated to, and many other factors. So no, people with the same model / trim will NOT receive updates anywhere near the same time. Sometimes you sense a model year push, like older 2021s, but many times there is no pattern that you can detect.

People in EA get updates first to ensure they are stable.

 

[MinM]

According to my Ford dealer in EU, here they update with OTA, in batches. Like Google did for the android auto 10 update, same method. Some phones got the update early, others needed to wait.


The first reason for this, if they discover a bug, not all the cars are impacted, server upload strain and control of the software.

 

[GrayWolf]

People in EA get updates first to ensure they are stable.

I agree with your opening points but wanted to reply to this quoted bit.

I've noticed that this isn't a guarantee, either. I'm in the EA program and there seem to be others' cars that are ahead of mine but claim to not be in the EA program. There is no rhyme or reason to it, as far as I can tell. Do note that I am not posting this as a form of complaint. Just an observation.

 

[Mirak]

Maybe @Ford Motor Company can tell us differently, but it appears that Ford has now permanently discontinued OTA updating. Software is hard.

 

[medriver]

It's hard to figure out. My car has features when brand new that were updates from well after its date of manufacture. I have also got updates with update notes that are published almost nowhere else on the internet (github). It's not a very clear process. I've also got an OTA for a feature I already had that worked just fine. I expected a 2023 to have software X, maybe with a revision to software y for the "job 2" but it seems far more complicated then that.

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