Double Honk with No Key Present - Feature Request

[CarpeCarne]

I have 2 years and 30,000 miles on my Mach E and I love it. I've needed no servicing, the mile estimation is great and I would recommend it to anyone. With that out of the way, let me share my complaint.

I use PaaK exclusively and though it's not perfect it's reliable enough for me that I never carry a key. I really like the PaaK feature minus one small issue. If I get in my car (again using PaaK to unlock it) and turn it on before waiting 30 seconds there is a high probability my car does a double honk alert and shows a message that says there is no key present to turn on the engine (or engine equivalent in an EV whatever that's called). I can almost always shift into drive within 2 seconds of getting that alert so I don't mind the slight delay between unlocking the car and unlocking the ability to drive.

I would love it if my car didn't honk for this alert.

I park in a driveway and stress every morning that my car is going to emit a double honk right next to my neighbors home at 7:00am when I'm heading out. Every time I drop off my kids at school I stress that my car is going to double honk and others parents are going to think I'm honking at them to hurry up. I stress late at night when I'm leaving the house that my car is going to double honk right outside my child's bedroom.

I can't imagine the honking alert is a safety feature. You don't need to be aggressively alerted that your car, in Park, is going to remain in Park.

Does anyone share this frustration? Many times I've had to roll down my window and shout out to a parent getting their kid out of the car that I'm not trying to rush them. I probably owe my neighbors an apology for all the early morning honks too.

@Ford Motor Company

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[rugedraw]

You can disable the double honk with FORScan in under a minute's time. Ford is not going to change that. It should not happen if you are using PaaK, but I would not hold my breathe for Ford to address that.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

If I get in my car (again using PaaK to unlock it) and turn it on before waiting 30 seconds there is a high probability my car does a double honk alert and shows a message that says there is no key present

Something is amiss. I've had my mme for 5 years and have exclusively used PAAK. Very rarely I’ll see a “No Key” message but never a double honk at start up.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

I have 2 years and 30,000 miles on my Mach E and I love it. I've needed no servicing, the mile estimation is great and I would recommend it to anyone. With that out of the way, let me share my complaint.

I use PaaK exclusively and though it's not perfect it's reliable enough for me that I never carry a key. I really like the PaaK feature minus one small issue. If I get in my car (again using PaaK to unlock it) and turn it on before waiting 30 seconds there is a high probability my car does a double honk alert and shows a message that says there is no key present to turn on the engine (or engine equivalent in an EV whatever that's called). I can almost always shift into drive within 2 seconds of getting that alert so I don't mind the slight delay between unlocking the car and unlocking the ability to drive.

I would love it if my car didn't honk for this alert.

I park in a driveway and stress every morning that my car is going to emit a double honk right next to my neighbors home at 7:00am when I'm heading out. Every time I drop off my kids at school I stress that my car is going to double honk and others parents are going to think I'm honking at them to hurry up. I stress late at night when I'm leaving the house that my car is going to double honk right outside my child's bedroom.

I can't imagine the honking alert is a safety feature. You don't need to be aggressively alerted that your car, in Park, is going to remain in Park.

Does anyone share this frustration? Many times I've had to roll down my window and shout out to a parent getting their kid out of the car that I'm not trying to rush them. I probably owe my neighbors an apology for all the early morning honks too.

@Ford Motor Company

First, I’m glad to hear the Mach-E has been solid for you otherwise, but I completely get the anxiety about the 7:00 AM neighbor wake-up call. Accidentally honking at other parents in the drop-off line is definitely not the vibe we are going for.

While the double honk is technically a safety alert (designed to let you know the car doesn't detect a key before you try to shift/start), it sounds like the real culprit here is the latency—the car isn't recognizing your phone fast enough, so it panics and honks before the connection catches up.

If you have to wait 30 seconds for it to register, that's too long.

I’d like to send this over to the Phone as a Key team to see if we can look at your specific module logs. It might be a Bluetooth handshake issue or a module that needs a nudge.

Can you shoot me a DM with your VIN and the type of phone you are using? I can open a ticket for them to investigate why it's lagging so much.

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

First, I’m glad to hear the Mach-E has been solid for you otherwise, but I completely get the anxiety about the 7:00 AM neighbor wake-up call. Accidentally honking at other parents in the drop-off line is definitely not the vibe we are going for.

While the double honk is technically a safety alert (designed to let you know the car doesn't detect a key before you try to shift/start), it sounds like the real culprit here is the latency—the car isn't recognizing your phone fast enough, so it panics and honks before the connection catches up.

If you have to wait 30 seconds for it to register, that's too long.

I’d like to send this over to the Phone as a Key team to see if we can look at your specific module logs. It might be a Bluetooth handshake issue or a module that needs a nudge.

Can you shoot me a DM with your VIN and the type of phone you are using? I can open a ticket for them to investigate why it's lagging so much.

Thank you Brian. Clear, compassionate, concise response with a very reasonable call to action.

Kudos!

 

[CarpeCarne]

Thanks Brian, I just sent you a DM. And thank you to everyone else for your help.

I'm sure whatever the team comes up with will be fine but might I suggest that this alert doesn't need a honk. It's not a safety issue to have to remain in Park and the visual alert on the screen of "no key present" should suffice. Then even if there is latency, while not ideal, it would be far less annoying.

Currently after it double honks I just shift into gear and it works so it recognizes the phone pretty quickly. The 30 seconds I mentioned (which was hyperbolic, maybe more like 10) is me waiting just to be extra safe before hitting the On button at all.

 

[AliRafiee]

That’s really odd. 4 years of using PAAK exclusively and never seen anything like this. But then again, disabling the double honk was the first thing I did, but because I wanted to leave the car with my phone and not get the double honk.

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