Factory Reset How-To: Procedure and Steps

[DevSecOps]

Preface:

I haven't seen anyone post a topic about a factory reset and I had never done one until recently. So, here's the things I learned, what steps you need to take and what to avoid doing. One day everyone will likely move on to another vehicle so this is probably something that you should be aware of. In time, this procedure may change, but as of 11/2023 this is how it's done.

Things to do before a reset:

Once you factory reset the vehicle you will be locked out of the connected services section of the Ford website. Therefore, it's important to first remove the subscriptions from the vehicle otherwise you won't be able to remove your credit card. If you factory reset and then attempt to remove your credit card it will say that the card is associated with subscriptions and you can no longer access those subscriptions so therefore you're kinda screwed. If you reset the vehicle first you'll need to add the vehicle again to cancel the services.

Log into the Ford website and go to connected services. Make sure that you cancel all of the connected services for the vehicle before resetting it. The BlueOval charge network is probably one of the most important ones to cancel because it has plug and charge. When I was testing this I was able to factory reset the vehicle and still plug and charge after the reset. Therefore, cancelling this service before resetting the car for ownership transfer is important. Once you cancel this service you should be able to remove your credit card on file.

If you have trials of BlueCruise, Navigation and Alexa you should be fine leaving those active since they don't actually have a billing profile associated with them until the trial ends.

What doesn't get reset?

When you perform a reset within the car there's a couple things that don't get reset.

1. The HomeLink visor settings do not get reset
2. Your door code doesn't get reset
3. PaaK doesn't get completely cleared out

Resetting HomeLink:

In order to reset the HomeLink system you'll need to hold both the #1 and #3 buttons simultaneously for approximately 20 seconds until the light flashes rapidly. Once it starts flashing you can release the buttons and the system will be reset.

Resetting the Door Code:

In order to reset your door code you'll need to do the following:

1. Enter the factory-set five-digit code.
2. Press and release 1•2 on the keypad within five seconds.
3. Press and hold 1•2 for two seconds. ...
4. All personal codes are now erased and only the factory-set five-digit code will work.

Ford gives no confirmation that this actually did anything, but it works. Try your door code now and you'll see it doesn't work anymore.

Clear PaaK and Remove the vehicle from FordPass:

Go into your FordPass app and we first want to remove the vehicle from FordPass. If you reset the car first, you won't be able to remove the vehicle from the "garage". Go to your profile click on reset, scroll to the bottom and click on Remove Vehicle. You should get 2 email confirmations that PaaK was removed and that the vehicle has been removed from FordPass:

Factory Reset Within the Vehicle:

Now it's time to reset the vehicle. Go to your vehicle and click on the toggle icon (which Ford strangely uses for settings), then go to General and Reset. Factory reset can be found in the drop down.

You should now receive a couple more emails:

Follow Up Items:

On your phone remove the Bluetooth connections and WiFi connections.

If you log into your Ford account online you should see that the car has been removed. If it's still there then you didn't do the step within FordPass to remove the vehicle. There's a delete option within the Ford website, but it doesn't work. Therefore the only way to remove the vehicle would be to connect FordPass again and go through the steps to remove it.

Removing or Swapping EAP:

If you are in EAP you have the option to swap vehicles, remove vehicles or leave the program. You can login to the EAP program at https://www.earlyaccess.ford.com/ and it should prompt you to take one of those actions:

Deleting Your Ford Account:

Once all of the above items are done you can completely delete your Ford Account by going to:

{name} Account -> Account Settings -> Delete My Account

This will then ask you to confirm the deletion:

 

[ctenidae]

Nice one.

 

[21st Century Pony]

This ia worthwhile information.

Any way to get it "sticky-pinned" on this forum?

 

[AKgrampy]

Thanks as always! If you are moving on your sage advice and opinions will be missed!

 

[Jetsurly]

Will resetting help to resolve the lag when trying to change the temperature and fan settings, along with moving between menus? Also, has anyone noticed any additional OTA updates come through after a reset?

 

[DevSecOps]

Will resetting help to resolve the lag when trying to change the temperature and fan settings, along with moving between menus? Also, has anyone noticed any additional OTA updates come through after a reset?

I don't think you'll have much luck getting any improvements by resetting. The main reason for the post was to outline the procedure when selling, trading or transferring the vehicle to another person.

 

[ChehRob]

This sounds kind of like servicing a pump I had. There were innumerable parts, o-rings, and odd adjustments to be made, then It would work again for 2-3 years. After which I entirely would have lost the knack for doing it quickly. So I paid to get it done - a 15 minute job. This sounds like the sort of thing that a dealship should do.

 

[DevSecOps]

This sounds kind of like servicing a pump I had. There were innumerable parts, o-rings, and odd adjustments to be made, then It would work again for 2-3 years. After which I entirely would have lost the knack for doing it quickly. So I paid to get it done - a 15 minute job. This sounds like the sort of thing that a dealship should do.

It's your data, that's something I think you should have control over and be responsible for.

Second, dealerships barely know how to turn on headlights. I think it's highly unlikely that you'll find one that knows how to do a reset.

 

[ChehRob]

Allow me to disagree. There is an entire trend that using a TV, a phone, a car simply cannot be done unless you are not only computer literate, but also a computer nerd. Most of us just want the damn things to work. Manuals are poorly written, wordy and verbose to boot. I far prefer to spend my time reading wonky nonfiction.

I am working with a friend who has some memory issues. His expensive new TV is so easy to press a wrong button and have the whole thing locked up. I was asking around, what TVs have a simpler couch potato device with on/off, channel selector, and volume control. Maybe all this at the upper part, and everything else on the lower part - which we could label 'keep out'. LOL

 

[DevSecOps]

Allow me to disagree. There is an entire trend that using a TV, a phone, a car simply cannot be done unless you are not only computer literate, but also a computer nerd. Most of us just want the damn things to work. Manuals are poorly written, wordy and verbose to boot. I far prefer to spend my time reading wonky nonfiction.

I am working with a friend who has some memory issues. His expensive new TV is so easy to press a wrong button and have the whole thing locked up. I was asking around, what TVs have a simpler couch potato device with on/off, channel selector, and volume control. Maybe all this at the upper part, and everything else on the lower part - which we could label 'keep out'. LOL

I think you're missing the point. I can agree with you that technology is sometimes challenging for certain people. Included in that group of people who are challenged by it are those who work at Ford dealerships.

Modern vehicles have a ton of personal data, from contacts, saved locations, telemetrics, access to garage doors, gates and more. Leaving that information in the hands of someone who doesn't care about it, or know how to remove it, is dangerous.

This is one of many reasons why the forum is a great place to have "how-to" tutorials. If you follow the easy steps outlined in the first post then you should be able to remove all of the personal data associated with your vehicle. In your original post you said it should be left to the dealer, I strongly disagree with that argument. I think people should be informed on how to take action on their own behalf.

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