Last time I trust PAAK

[portlandg]

Given all the issues that have been reported by you guys in the US with PAAK I am VERY surprised that anyone still relies on it to use their cars.
I am really glad that PAAK ISN'T an option in the UK. I can see why.

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[Murse-In-Airy]

At least your car was asking you to enter your start code. When I got stuck it never even asked for a passcode. So I was stuck. I knew my passcode. And my car didn’t care. (Granted that was quite a while back now and MAYBE it’s fixed).

 

[SnBGC]

Given all the issues that have been reported by you guys in the US with PAAK I am VERY surprised that anyone still relies on it to use their cars.
I am really glad that PAAK ISN'T an option in the UK. I can see why.

I use the fob most of the time but PaaK is kinda handy from time to time as well. I will lock my fob in the car and rely on Paak when going to the gym or exploring a trade show etc. (situations where having that fairly large fob in my pocket might be bothersome). It's also handy if the Mach-E is blocking another car that I want to drive instead so I can just move the MME without having to get the fob.

That being said......PaaK is about 50% reliable for me, or even less. But on the bright side, the great thing about PaaK is that I get lots and lots of practice using my door pillar and back up start codes so that is pretty cool.

I also keep a spare fob hidden in the car as a backup. Our key fobs come with a built in device that you can use to pry open the case in seconds. It's super quick to remove or re-install that battery. ?

 

[MarkP213]

Given all the issues that have been reported by you guys in the US with PAAK I am VERY surprised that anyone still relies on it to use their cars.
I am really glad that PAAK ISN'T an option in the UK. I can see why.

I’ve had my Mach-E since April 2021. I’ve only had my fob with me on the day I took it home, and the two times it went in for the recalls. It’s my daily driver and although PAAK can be quirky sometimes, it’s never locked me out or stranded me. 99% of the time it just works!

 

[phil]

I also keep a spare fob hidden in the car as a backup. Our key fobs come with a built in device that you can use to pry open the case in seconds. It's super quick to remove or re-install that battery. ?

Sounds like you use the same approach as I do - Phone Key first, enter codes if necessary, and hide a battery-removed key in the car just in case all else fails (I have trust issues). PaaK actually works for me 100% of the time now, but I would not "rely" on it.

But why would you put the battery back in the key? I just leave it empty, and it works fine.

 

[Blue highway]

Don't need a faraday bag. Just don't install the battery. Your key can still start the car if you put the fob in the slot in the center console. Most thieves wouldn't know this.

what a good idea.... this is really clever

 

[Blue highway]

Given all the issues that have been reported by you guys in the US with PAAK I am VERY surprised that anyone still relies on it to use their cars.
I am really glad that PAAK ISN'T an option in the UK. I can see why.

perhaps perspective is in order. there are many tens of thousands of these cars on the road, and there are many thousands of people signed up for the forum.

There is no point in posting, that in 18K miles, I have not used the fob. Except I just did.

 

[ShaggySS]

I keep my backup code in my password manager. I also bought one of those fancy faraday bags just so I could tell my friends about it. Guess I should relocate it from my glove box.

Only had to use the backup code once and it worked. Should test it every few months for piece of mind. Worth the hassle vs carrying a key IMO. Really wish Ford would issue keys that were the size of a credit card.

 

[KevinS]

I gave up on PaaK after about a week. I need to carry a house key anyway and every other car I've owned has required a key or a fob, so it's not a big deal.

I simply do not trust PaaK on this car. Maybe my next one!

 

[SnBGC]

Sounds like you use the same approach as I do - Phone Key first, enter codes if necessary, and hide a battery-removed key in the car just in case all else fails (I have trust issues). PaaK actually works for me 100% of the time now, but I would not "rely" on it.

But why would you put the battery back in the key? I just leave it empty, and it works fine.

There have been a few occasions where that was handy. I dropped off my car for some paintless dent repair and didn't want to give them my personal fob so I just pulled out that spare and put the battery back in for the day. There was another time where I needed someone from the office to bring my car out to a job site so I had planned ahead and pulled out the spare fob, inserted the battery for temporary use. Back when I had profiles set up....it was handy because that fob was the My Key item.

However, now I have all profiles deleted and run off Guest since that is the one that seems to load anyway.

 

[West1134]

I have been using PAAK 100% since I got the car. Yes, I've had a handful of glitches where it states "no key detected" (prob 4-5 times now) but the car still ran no issue and it never became an issue. I also have had to learn how to approach my car a bit slower to allow the BT to connect so when I press the door button it actually opens the first time vs pressing it multiple times. All of these things have been very minor inconveniences to overcome.

I had originally bought a faraday bag per recommendations here on the forum for the concept of carrying my key as a backup. However, I found the ones I bought DONT work. I've tested both of them and when inside the bag, I walk up to my car (leaving my cell phone on airplane mode and inside my house out of range) and the car still lights up to let me in etc. So I've abandoned using them.

I like the idea of just having the FOB in my car without the battery though. Might fall back onto that plan.

Anyways DO NOT buy these faraday bags: https://a.co/d/7sEUzc1

 

[SnBGC]

I have been using PAAK 100% since I got the car. Yes, I've had a handful of glitches where it states "no key detected" (prob 4-5 times now) but the car still ran no issue and it never became an issue. I also have had to learn how to approach my car a bit slower to allow the BT to connect so when I press the door button it actually opens the first time vs pressing it multiple times. All of these things have been very minor inconveniences to overcome.

I had originally bought a faraday bag per recommendations here on the forum for the concept of carrying my key as a backup. However, I found the ones I bought DONT work. I've tested both of them and when inside the bag, I walk up to my car (leaving my cell phone on airplane mode and inside my house out of range) and the car still lights up to let me in etc. So I've abandoned using them.

I like the idea of just having the FOB in my car without the battery though. Might fall back onto that plan.

Anyways DO NOT buy these faraday bags: https://a.co/d/7sEUzc1

I have been trying PaaK more and more for certain journeys. The most annoying thing that I notice is the kick to open lift gate hardly ever works with PaaK and that is a feature I use very very frequently. Also, I find that walk away lock is about 50/50 with PaaK. There are work arounds for both issues but I find myself grabbing the fob again for those two reasons. Sometimes I am too lazy to go inside to get the fob and I just wander off with just my phone and it gets the job done but isn't really as convenient as it was designed to be. I am glad that isn't our only way to use the car. We have 3 choices. Fob, phone or codes. That is more than most vehicles offer.

 

[West1134]

I have been trying PaaK more and more for certain journeys. The most annoying thing that I notice is the kick to open lift gate hardly ever works with PaaK and that is a feature I use very very frequently. Also, I find that walk away lock is about 50/50 with PaaK. There are work arounds for both issues but I find myself grabbing the fob again for those two reasons. Sometimes I am too lazy to go inside to get the fob and I just wander off with just my phone and it gets the job done but isn't really as convenient as it was designed to be. I am glad that isn't our only way to use the car. We have 3 choices. Fob, phone or codes. That is more than most vehicles offer.

So my 22 doesn’t have the kick to open tailgate function. And walk away lock I'd say works 98% of the time in my experience. I do however, always check my phone to see the notification and if not send the lock signal via the app. I just wish they would update the app to show a check mark on the current status of lock vs unlocked.

It is curious how different so many peoples experiences have been though with PAAK. Obviously things like what kind of cell phone (ie strength of BT antenna) or other factors play a role here.
Overall though while a bit buggy I still think it works well enough and just hope for further improvement over time as they collect more data.

 

[SnBGC]

So my 22 doesn’t have the kick to open tailgate function. And walk away lockOd say works 98% of the time in my experience. I do however, always check my phone to see the notification and if not send the lock signal via the app. I just wish they would update the app to show a check mark on the current status of lock vs unlocked.

It is curious how different so many peoples experiences have been though with PAAK. Obviously things like what kind of cell phone (ie strength of BT antenna) or other factors play a role here.
Overall though while a bit buggy I still think it works well enough and just hope for further improvement over time as they collect more data.

Bummer.
When I ordered my car, kick to open was a standard feature that I could care less about. Just like Active Park Assist. Turns out I use KTO much more than expected. I am actually surprised how useful that turned out to be for me. KTO works 100% of the time....with the fob. Same with Walk away locks. Works 100% of the time with the fob.

I would like to see FordPass grey out the Lock or Unlock buttons depending on what state the car is in. So, if it's locked.....then that button is greyed out and vice versa. That would be helpful to me so I can know at a glance if the car is locked or not.

 

[dtbaker61]

It’s possible. But we wrote them down and neither of ours are working. Seems more like they were erased.

not likely backup codes were erased unless you did a master reset in Sync

Did you test using Backup Code after setting it up with your fob 'far away', and your phone BT off?

Did you notice the the first letter in the backup code will be CAP-on by default and then the rest is lowercase? The code you entered may not be what you wrote down if you did/didn't notice exactly what was UPPER/lower.

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