New Car / Software updates

[HuntingPudel]

Many of the service departments are independent and not part of the dealership. They charge the dealership just like another customer. This is also happening to the parts departments. Both pay the dealership rent for space.

This is a great point. I am unsure if the service department at the nearest dealer to my office operates this way, but the same building and queue for service is for many different brands (most of which are under this dealership conglomerate’s umbrella, some may or may not be). ??

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[HuntingPudel]

I think it's more nuanced than that. They will generally not go searching for missing OTAs, and they won't get paid for installing OTAs. But they will install specific OTA's when they are doing some other work. Just yesterday I brought my Lightning for 2 software CSP's and I asked them to look at 2 specific OTA's. One has been stuck in unsuccessful install for a couple of weeks and the the other was Tesla SC plug and charge. They won't get paid for installing those, but they aren't charging me for those either.

It’s important to note that a dealer cannot affect or install any OTA updates. Those are strictly sent out by Ford’s servers. A dealer can install any of the individual software images for modules affected by an OTA package. Once the module images are installed, Ford’s servers will still not show that any specific OTA update has been completed successfully. The updates to the modules happened but the OTA still hasn’t completed. It’s a semantic issue, but it’s an important distinction. ??

 

[rugedraw]

(I know it's slightly more complicated when things go wrong...but...) I wish I could get paid for clicking 3 buttons on a screen and causing a huge fuss about it.

This really should just be business 101 vs every second being charged as labor

It's not that simple. It is the bottle-neck effect it causes within a service department by tying up one of the diagnostic laptops with FDRS they have at their disposal to perform module updates for free. A service department can have 20-50 (or more depending on the dealer) functional service bays and maybe 3-5 laptops with FDRS on them. If one laptop is tied up all day to do updates on one vehicle, the entire department is throttled back in terms of vehicles being actively worked on and vehicles sitting on the lot waiting to be worked on. Not to mention, the service manager will have to pay the tech shop time without being able to bill it to Ford which comes off of his bottom line.

It is not the dealer's responsibility to make sure your car is up to date......that burden falls on Ford. Unfortunately, their OTA process (while much better than it was 3 years ago when all this started) is less than perfect.

 

[Scott Barnfield]

Trading in the '21 for a '24 later this week

Asked the dealer to do me a solid and fully update all modules on the vehicle prior to picking it up.

They're giving me a runaround that "we can't just install an update unless told to do so by a publication from Ford or a recall."

Anyone have any easy wording to get around this? Seems silly.

When I was doing the purchase paperwork, we had updates put on the “We Owe / You Owe form. It became part of the transaction.
Dealership called yesterday, all updates are done, going Saturday to pick up the car.
Very good dealership!
1st vehicle bought from them.

 

[shutterbug]

It’s important to note that a dealer cannot affect or install any OTA updates. Those are strictly sent out by Ford’s servers. A dealer can install any of the individual software images for modules affected by an OTA package. Once the module images are installed, Ford’s servers will still not show that any specific OTA update has been completed successfully. The updates to the modules happened but the OTA still hasn’t completed. It’s a semantic issue, but it’s an important distinction. ??

I don't know. In my case, the dealer installed several updates. But the one that was failing, did show up in my Ford account as completed.

 

[YeOldeTraveller]

And dealers wonder why no one wants to do business with them.

 

[ZoNiE]

This is what sucks about Ford Dealers. They are stuck in the 1970's WRT customer service.
The ONLY reason we bought another Ford is that we actually liked the car, and At the time we ordered it (not a year later when we actually got it, already a model year old), nobody had anything like it.

We had a lot of hand wringing about getting this car after having three Lexus' and fantastic service.
Hoping Ford would "do better" on a $60K car (that isn't worth half what we paid now) was a mistake. Ford service still sucks ass.

They don't get the privilege of servicing my 2009 Adrenalin either.

 

[Mach1E]

This is what sucks about Ford Dealers. They are stuck in the 1970's WRT customer service.
The ONLY reason we bought another Ford is that we actually liked the car, and At the time we ordered it (not a year later when we actually got it, already a model year old), nobody had anything like it.

We had a lot of hand wringing about getting this car after having three Lexus' and fantastic service.
Hoping Ford would "do better" on a $60K car (that isn't worth half what we paid now) was a mistake. Ford service still sucks ass.

They don't get the privilege of servicing my 2009 Adrenalin either.

Before claiming the grass is greener, call your Lexus dealer and ask them if they send their new cars to the service shops to do updates before delivery without a warranty claim.

My bet is the answer is “no.”

I don’t doubt that overall the service you get from luxury car dealers tends to be better. But in this particular case, I don’t think any brand does this for the same reason- it costs the dealership money and the manufacturer won’t pay the bill.

 

[mikeinet]

Before claiming the grass is greener, call your Lexus dealer and ask them if they send their new cars to the service shops to do updates before delivery without a warranty claim.

My bet is the answer is “no.”

I don’t doubt that overall the service you get from luxury car dealers tends to be better. But in this particular case, I don’t think any brand does this for the same reason- it costs the dealership money and the manufacturer won’t pay the bill.

BMW does

my buddy has an iX and said even bringing it in just for a tire rotation they went ahead and did manual software updates

 

[ZoNiE]

The Luxury dealers do a better job overall. You are paying for that, after all. Not sure if a Lincoln dealer would be better than a Ford dealer. And yes, Lexus always checked and did any updates. The last car was a 2018 NX200T, It had a lousy track pad interface on the infotainment, but it worked.

The latest over the air update on the Mach-e changed our bluetooth again, and not for the better.

 

[leehinde]

Yea - i was hoping I'd get sales to have service do me a solid on a new car...

The service manager told me "it's illegal to update a car without instructions from ford" ... ha....

Well, you are learning a lot about that dealer.

 

[Mach1E]

BMW does

my buddy has an iX and said even bringing it in just for a tire rotation they went ahead and did manual software updates

Ford did my updates whenever I bring my car in for service as well (recall etc). Even picked my car up, gave me a brand new Mach E loaner etc.

But we aren’t talking about during service where they’re getting paid and can get paid on warranty service.

The question is before new vehicle delivery.

 

[Mach1E]

Well, you are learning a lot about that dealer.

While he could have worded it better, it actually is illegal (fraud) to file a claim for warranty service when it’s not a warranty item.

I’m guessing that’s what he was alluding to.

 

[Snakebitten]

In 2018, just how many vehicles, not including Tesla, were commonly receiving OTA updates?

I'm not saying Ford started this with the release of their 2021 models, but that does seem about the time that manufacturers rolled out this brave new world on a massive scale.

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