Fantastic Car, but PAAK, Phone Integration, FordPass and overall Software is an Abomination

[Kabish]

In the last 10 days FordPass has used 4% of my battery on iOS. I keep the app running all the time and even use the, pretty much useless, journeys tracker.

I use PAAK 100% I don’t use the fob at all. This latest update I’ve not had PAAK fail a single time. I’ve also notice when you send commands it’s INSTANT now.

All that said, I agree the software is awful, but at least there are some improvements seen. Now if they could fix synch so it’s not laggy as hell and resetting my radio presets.

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[fmcgirt]

Well, I patiently waited 9 months for our MME, and as a car, it is phenomenal. In the meantime, I also bought a 2021 Ranger. Also, for context, been an engineer in the software/tech business for 35 years and I've seen it all, built tons of cool stuff and broken more than my fair share of tech products. Worked on aircraft, networks, chips/ASICs, software (including mobile) and lots more interesting stuff.

First of all, mobile phones as all around platforms where you need to RELY on them as things like car keys is simply dumb. Yep, trendy and we're all used to using "apps", but phones and the wireless networks that they leverage are not now, and likely will never be as reliable as a simple key fob. FordPass is basically useless, as I had 3 cars on it, now down to 2 (sold my Mustang GT), and it just has almost zero value. On my Ranger, it does nothing other than unreliably and slowly lock/unlock or remote start the car. Why couldn't they give me remote start on the Fob like EVERY other car and manufacturer on the earth. On the MME it is simply stupid for Ford, which just produced a tour-de force in the Mach E, to destroy the ownership experience with this idiotic and banal Phone As A Key idea. FordPass is filled with garbage that I, and I assume almost everyone else, doesn't care about. I constantly have new "messages", which basically is just more garbage notifications about nothing. If they ever put something important in there, I'll never see it, because I don't have 30 minutes a day to scroll through, read and delete mindless marketing dribble from some random Ford marketing unit that has nothing better to do than "engage" with their "Ford family".

The PAAK implementation is horrendous. I have a choice, either leave the app running all the time and drain my phone battery, have the phone and the car confuse each other all day when I walk by it with my phone in my pocket or leave it in proximity, OR disable the app until I need it, and wait 10 minutes for it to get itself organized, then wait another 5 minutes for the car to decide it likes the phone, then wait for the car to give me an error message "no key detected", shut itself off, then restart the FordPass PAAK thingy, then wait another 10 minutes, then maybe, just maybe, I can reliably leave my house. Yesterday, it took 45 minutes of this idiotic dance before I literally lost it, went into the house, grabbed the single Fob (which my wife uses as she has no patience for garbage tech), then left the house. Just awful and its literally like this EVERY single time. It is shameful that of all the places that the MME/Ford team decided to remove cost, was in the basic and absolutely crucial area of having a reliable KEY to start and use your car. OMFG.

Next, phone integration is wildly inconsistent, even when its working well. Its not just me. Just read the threads here (and other MME forums) about phone problems regardless of which phone brand you have. Apple/Android... doesn't matter. Sometimes it connects, other times nothing. Sometimes wired works, other times, nothing. Sometimes wireless Carplay/Android Auto works, other times nothing. Its monstrously distracting and frustrating. More than that, its incredibly UNRELIABLE, which Ford of all companies should be sensitive to, as it got killed years ago in JD Power surveys for the notoriously fickle My Ford Touch that they eventually killed after bad publicity and litigation. It can take me 20-30 minutes sometimes simply to get Google Nav to work reliably on the glorious screen in the MME. I have to pull over, plug, unplug, reboot the phone, shut the car off, open and close the door, then start the phone, wait for it to completely boot, then restart the car, then pray. Over and over and over again. I know that Android Auto and CarPlay can work, as they work in our other cars. Android Auto works fine (mostly) in my Ranger as an example (not 100%, but fairly reliable). But in the amazing Mach E, who knows? Now this is not all on Ford, as Google and Apple, in their most profound arrogance, really don't care about their software quality anymore as they have plenty of nasty bugs all over the place, and their billions of users can't escape them. But it is on Ford to ensure that the CAR I bought from them works like a car, and not like a mutant phone/toaster/TV/car hybrid contraption.

Finally, overall software is totally wonky. Ford should try to be Ford, and not Tesla. I don't care about all sorts of goofy features, but the ones that make a car actually work. I just want to be able to change the damn radio channel without nearly crashing while I'm trying to figure out how to get back to the Sirius station I was on before I accidentally hit some random arrow and ended up on an non broadcasting AM band blaring static. I have to pull over so I don't crash while I figure out how to get back to Sirius, and then figure out how it ended up on Sirius channel 53 when I was previously listening to channel 9. How can this be so terribly executed.... Same with lots of other basic car features.

Out of the 122 cars I've owned over 40 years, the MME is amongst my 3 or 4 favorites (up there with the incredible Aston Martin Vantage that I recently sold). I'm totally sold on the CAR part of the MME, but the software part is an abomination. And I hope that Ford doesn't have another case of My Ford Touch lurking in the shadows. They need to rethink how they're doing this software, what's important, and how they can make it RELIABLE every.....single..... time.

Rant complete

I have had most of the same work experience that you had over 30 plus years and what continues to amaze me is just how bad the Mach-E, FordPass, etc software continues to be, version after version - it doesn’t get any better. For example, with the previous version of FordPass it was unable to find my location; now with the latest version I get the continuous header “Something went wrong. Please try again later.” I don’t even know what is wrong. Yesterday SXM was fine and I turned off the car to go into a store, came back, started the car and there was a loud pop in a speaker and only static. Changed to FM which was fine and then back to SXM and all OK. Glad that has happened only once. With each version they seem to introduce more new problems than fix old ones.

Wonder do they even have any sw quality control people who know how to approach finding problems. Sometimes you have to look at modules line by line looking for subtle stuff like uninitialized pointers, etc. If the space program had these people doing their sw we would never have gotten anything off the ground.

Anyway, we are a two MME family, each with its own two fobs, no PAAK, minimum use of FordPass and hoping to survive the Ford sw incompetence until they realize “it’s the software, dummy.”

 

[MAP70]

I have a decent experience with PAAK. Is it perfect? No. But anyone in the tech business for as long as you, should know when to cut your losses if it doesn't work for you. If you expect Tesla software from Ford, you will be disappointed. Hell, I have been in IT for over 25 years and I know that software on EVERY platform (yes even Tesla) can be buggy. You of all people should know how to deal with it or don't use it. Buy another FOB if you don't want the issues.

PAAK has been okay with me.. Perfect? No.. But what software these days is perfect or even works as advertised 100% of the time? Gone are the days that you need 20 floppy disks to install Wordperfect and it works because it HAD TO WORK. There were NO updates until the next version. These days we are ALL Beta testers. Some software is better than others, that's all..

I would hope they focus on SYNC and how it can be more customizable with shortcuts for stuff you want to get to with one tap. I would like that more than worrying about PAAK and if it works or not. It's new tech and it will have bugs, let's hope Ford keeps their end of the bargain and provides updates more than once a year.

I am sure they know about the bugs.. Ford is a car company making software and Tesla is a software company making cars.. I would rather have the former and hope they can get it together..

 

[Carsinmyblood]

As EVs become second nature, the novelty of having a way to babysit a car long distance (the kitchen) will wear off.

For me, it wore off the third time I charged it. I can remember a number as easily as I remembered what the gas gauge read when pulling in the driveway. - ah, the good 'ol days.

 

[Garbone]

What is this PAAK you speak of?

 

[TRP]

In the last 10 days FordPass has used 4% of my battery on iOS. I keep the app running all the time and even use the, pretty much useless, journeys tracker.

I use PAAK 100% I don’t use the fob at all. This latest update I’ve not had PAAK fail a single time. I’ve also notice when you send commands it’s INSTANT now.

All that said, I agree the software is awful, but at least there are some improvements seen. Now if they could fix synch so it’s not laggy as hell and resetting my radio presets.

No noticeable battery usage in my case and I too keep FP running all the time, 24/7.

100% PAAK user both wife and I, only had no key message pop up once and it quickly went away and car started just fine. I'm no fool however, I do keep the fob in a faraday pouch in the glove box just incase of an emergency. Valet or dealer visit it comes in handy for too.

Journeys........I turned it off, cool novelty but basically useless unless you get the insurance through Ford and they use the info for your rate.......I'll pass

Since the FP update and I bit before actually, the Home Screen is difficult to get to refresh, the vehicle screen works very well. Charge logs is vastly improved and more accurate. It used to have the letters all jumbled and overwritten now it's clear and readable.

?‍ maybe I'm an outlier, but overall its working as designed, as far as I can tell anyway.

 

[ncaadam]

Journeys........I turned it off, cool novelty but basically useless unless you get the insurance through Ford and they use the info for your rate.......I'll pass

I’m with you guys in the journeys functionality. How ridiculous is it that the car needs to use your phones GPS to track journeys…unless I’m misunderstanding and this isn’t the case.

Either way, to me, this should be built into the car. with the ability to look at everything journeys provides plus more like efficiency over time, regen, SOC over time, etc.(similar to other EVs).With the ability to review any journey, ever on either your phone or in the car.

Seems kind of like a no brainer to me.

 

[JoeDimwit]

No noticeable battery usage in my case and I too keep FP running all the time, 24/7.

100% PAAK user both wife and I, only had no key message pop up once and it quickly went away and car started just fine. I'm no fool however, I do keep the fob in a faraday pouch in the glove box just incase of an emergency. Valet or dealer visit it comes in handy for too.

Journeys........I turned it off, cool novelty but basically useless unless you get the insurance through Ford and they use the info for your rate.......I'll pass

Since the FP update and I bit before actually, the Home Screen is difficult to get to refresh, the vehicle screen works very well. Charge logs is vastly improved and more accurate. It used to have the letters all jumbled and overwritten now it's clear and readable.

?‍ maybe I'm an outlier, but overall its working as designed, as far as I can tell anyway.

What is the point of keeping the fob in a faraday pouch? Either PaaK works, or it doesn’t. If you need to keep the fob handy, that’s a failure.

 

[nanohead]

You sound like a smart guy. Be smart, and stop using what you have clearly elucidated as a bullshit marketing feature that will never work correctly. Put the FOB in your pocket and you'll save yourself all of that frustration and angst. Buy a second FOB for $300 - it's cheaper than the psychotherapy you are going to need if you keep trying to use PaaK

Made me laugh!!

 

[TRP]

What is the point of keeping the fob in a faraday pouch? Either PaaK works, or it doesn’t. If you need to keep the fob handy, that’s a failure.

Because all you people complaining about how bad PAAK is I wanted an insurance policy incase your bad vibes rubbed off.

Or to better explain..........why do you need a tire repair kit, either the tire works or it doesn't

 

[Lelandjn]

I've had my Mach E4x since late May and like many posters have been very frustrated with PAAK and I have even posted about it, but now have to give credit where credit's due. Ever since deleting and adding back FordPass about a month ago I haven't had any problems, so either the reset fixed it or Ford has improved PAAK's reliability. Granted, sometimes I have to pull my phone out of my pocket and unlock the screen in order for PAAK to activate, however, I still have to pull my key out of my pocket to unlock my 2016 Sierra so it's not a big deal. I also really like the walk away lock feature to a fault, as I'm now forgetting to lock our other cars after parking. I'm loving this car more everyday and think Ford has a real winner here.

 

[timbop]

I also really like the walk away lock feature to a fault, as I'm now forgetting to lock our other cars after parking. I'm loving this car more everyday and think Ford has a real winner here.

same here

 

[Jeffvisor]

In the last 10 days FordPass has used 4% of my battery on iOS. I keep the app running all the time and even use the, pretty much useless, journeys tracker.

I use PAAK 100% I don’t use the fob at all. This latest update I’ve not had PAAK fail a single time. I’ve also notice when you send commands it’s INSTANT now.

All that said, I agree the software is awful, but at least there are some improvements seen. Now if they could fix synch so it’s not laggy as hell and resetting my radio presets.

Since I got my car end of July I only used PAAK. I keep FOB in a Faraday bag hidden in the car just in case. Never used it though except to setup PAAK. In the beginning PAAK hardly ever worked to open the front door I always had to open back passenger door first. Then i heard to disconnect the neg cable on 12V battery for a minute I did that and it fixed the problem now with another few updates and doing that PAAK works 99% of the time and battery drain got much better in the last 24 hrs with a lot of driving on 9% of battery used by Fordpass and I keep it open always in background. The other thing I would mention is I don't use Carplay even though I use a iPhone. I do wonder if that impacts performance of the bluetooth and performance of opening the car. Now I ma very happy with PAAK and always been very happy with the car even when PAAK wasn't working. Let face it we bought a brand new car with tons of technology on the first year it was released that means we are early adopters and with that issues will always be there in the beginning. It will keep improving. With the new exec hire from Apple to lead software I am confident they will improve quickly. They have to with the F150 Lightning coming.

 

[nanohead]

An update on the MMEs spectacular software stack

Android Auto continues to be horrendous. Works basically fine in my 2021 Ranger, but in the MME, its a trainwreck.

It had been running ok, but my thinking now is that Ford may have made a change that causes Android Auto to not run correctly and crash on the car. Android Auto (Carplay as well) basically makes the car's display the control panel for the phone AA enabled apps, and the car runs its display twin for the phone. In the MME, with the large display, a portion is dedicated to AA or Carplay.

Wired or wireless, it doesn't matter, its just a train wreck. Sometimes, it says its connected on the phone, but literally nothing shows on the MME screen. Other times, it says connection failed, but it seems to work. Yet other times, it says wireless connection failed, when in fact its actually working correctly wirelessly. And yet other times, plugging in the wire causes the MME screen to mostly go black.

I've recorded the last event on video, but not sure I can upload it here

 

[timbop]

An update on the MMEs spectacular software stack

Android Auto continues to be horrendous. Works basically fine in my 2021 Ranger, but in the MME, its a trainwreck.

It had been running ok, but my thinking now is that Ford may have made a change that causes Android Auto to not run correctly and crash on the car. Android Auto (Carplay as well) basically makes the car's display the control panel for the phone AA enabled apps, and the car runs its display twin for the phone. In the MME, with the large display, a portion is dedicated to AA or Carplay.

Wired or wireless, it doesn't matter, its just a train wreck. Sometimes, it says its connected on the phone, but literally nothing shows on the MME screen. Other times, it says connection failed, but it seems to work. Yet other times, it says wireless connection failed, when in fact its actually working correctly wirelessly. And yet other times, plugging in the wire causes the MME screen to mostly go black.

I've recorded the last event on video, but not sure I can upload it here

That's not my experience at all. For me waze, MLB, and podcast addict work all the time with a minimum of fuss. I used waze wirelessly for 4 and half hours today with my pixel 5. How old is your phone, and which android OS are you running?

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