Optional Product Improvement Program 21G01 - BlueCruise Programming

[Jimrpa]

Who are you talking with when you call your dealer? Ask for the Service Manager (look his/her name up). This isn't an optional thing.

Hahaha! My dealer is onto that ploy! When I called this morning, after first trying to deny the existence of the letter, they changed their tune to “we are studying what is required to do this and will call you back once we have it figured out.” ?????
Perfect save for them - they can’t be accused of denying to do it (because they didn’t), and trying to escalate is equally useless (we’re still figuring it out so that we do not break people’s cars ?)
I’d like to nominate my dealer’s service department for the passive-aggressive response reward ?????

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[Gullwingdmc]

Hahaha! My dealer is onto that ploy! When I called this morning, after first trying to deny the existence of the letter, they changed their tune to “we are studying what is required to do this and will call you back once we have it figured out.” ?????
Perfect save for them - they can’t be accused of denying to do it (because they didn’t), and trying to escalate is equally useless (we’re still figuring it out so that we do not break people’s cars ?)
I’d like to nominate my dealer’s service department for the passive-aggressive response reward ?????

Oh I’ll nominate mine for that if we’re handing out awards.

 

[E_Double]

Have an appointment 4-25 for the glass recall. If I don't have the OTAs by then I will inquire about this then

Careful with the glass update… when they did mine, the glass removal machine malfunctioned cutting into the metal of the car. That added another week to the update.

 

[TRP]

Careful with the glass update… when they did mine, the glass removal machine malfunctioned cutting into the metal of the car. That added another week to the update.

Ooooh, that would suck so much

 

[BMT1071]

Hahaha! My dealer is onto that ploy! When I called this morning, after first trying to deny the existence of the letter, they changed their tune to “we are studying what is required to do this and will call you back once we have it figured out.” ?????
Perfect save for them - they can’t be accused of denying to do it (because they didn’t), and trying to escalate is equally useless (we’re still figuring it out so that we do not break people’s cars ?)
I’d like to nominate my dealer’s service department for the passive-aggressive response reward ?????

Seriously?!?!? You called the morning after the initial internal communication was sent out. You don't think it is possible they might not have seen it yet? I'm not saying your dealer doesn't suck, cause there certainly are some out there that do. Seems like you are being a bit unreasonable in this situation though.

 

[Jimrpa]

Oh I’ll nominate mine for that if we’re handing out awards.

The annoying thing is that most of the people at the dealer are good to GREAT! There are even “competent” service writers. I just don’t spend enough time in service ?

 

[mikeinet]

“Your dealer is authorized to provide a rental vehicle for your personal transportation at no charge (except for fuel, insurance, and tax) while your vehicle is at the dealership for this update. Please see your dealer for guidelines and limitations.”

wow. That’s pretty surprising ford is even willing to fork dollars out for rental cars!!

 

[OnceYouGo]

Wife’s car is going in for glass work in a couple weeks. I’ll have them install BlueCruise then.

I just brought mine in today for the glass and they automatically are performing the update 21G01.

 

[Mike G]

So they’re saying I can go to my dealer and request BlueCruise for my job 1 non-EA car?

Yes. Yes they are.

Are you booked in yet?

Mike

 

[Mike G]

I agree, I looked at the procedure and it does seem complex with a large potential for problems if the dealer doesn't follow the instructions exactly.

I am tempted to wait for the OTA, I've had enough problems in the past with getting things installed at the dealer (Due to 1.7.1 lock issues), it makes me worried about going through that again.

And I'm here to tell you that certain modules like the IPMA and others that require sometimes three hours using a dedicated power supply while when the tech is updating are not things I would want to trust to an OTA process. I would think that you'd want to make sure it gets done right the first time, and at a location where if anything goes wrong, they can fix it.

Mike

 

[Mike G]

This is awesome! My only worry is how complex this update is. When I brought my car in to have 21P22 done they did 5 of the 12 modules and then tried to get out of doing anything else. I don’t think they ever read the instructions. I could see them laughing me out of the service department with this list.

Basically they will end up doing updates on every module with the possible exception of the door modules and rear camera.

Many of these updates are linked updates. As an example you can update the Gateway module by itself, and the Telematics Unit, but as soon as you select something like the Power Steering unit you get notified that other updates will be done during the process because they all have to work together.

These folks are still working on vehicles using the standard "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" method of vehicle maintenance. Meaning that tech operates under the rules that unless the customer says there's something wrong with the way this car steers...he can't unilaterally go and just update something and charge it to warranty without something that shows it's paid for. That's why that memo 21G01 is so important. It means that Ford is telling dealerships that they can charge the program to do this update for customers.

If I were you I'd get an appointment and print off a copy of the memo and take it to them. The techs need to update all the modules and keep updating them until the list of available SW Updates in FDRS is blank. Then you'll have a working BlueCruise.

Mike

 

[Gullwingdmc]

And I'm here to tell you that certain modules like the IPMA and others that require sometimes three hours

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the IPMA OTA update is quoted to take around 2.5 hours, but most people reported it only taking about half that time. I thought it was because updating via the OBD2 port is so much slower than doing it from the gateway module. Either way I’d be concerned about the 12v battery though.

As far as my dealer, they never connected my car to external power, and the way they described updates failing on other cars because the battery got too low, it sounds like they never did it with other cars either. So dealers aren’t a sold bet.

If I were you I'd get an appointment and print off a copy of the memo and take it to them.

I did this with 21P22. I had the instructions in my hand pointing to the line that said “All other modules available will have to be programmed individually.” and the service tech flat out told me they can’t pick what updates it installs. I nearly lost it on them, I was so mad I was shaking.

 

[Mike G]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the IPMA OTA update is quoted to take around 2.5 hours, but most people reported it only taking about half that time. I thought it was because updating via the OBD2 port is so much slower than doing it from the gateway module. Either way I’d be concerned about the 12v battery though.

As far as my dealer, they never connected my car to external power, and the way they described updates failing on other cars because the battery got too low, it sounds like they never did it with other cars either. So dealers aren’t a sold bet.


I did this with 21P22. I had the instructions in my hand pointing to the line that said “All other modules available will have to be programmed individually.” and the service tech flat out told me they can’t pick what updates it installs. I nearly lost it on them, I was so mad I was shaking.

Well you can PM the Ford reps that are somewhere on this forum and give them your VIN and share a copy of the 21G01 Program memo dated 28 January 22 and ask them to explain what it means to your dealers service manager who can then explain it to the service tech.

Personally I think Ford needs to resend that memo out and include "service technicians" in the "targeted audience" section this time so maybe they'll finally get onboard. And somebody needs to tell the techs that if they're waiting for a "BlueCruise" software package to arrive to update Job 1 vehicles they're looking in the wrong place. They just need to start updating things like the GWM, TCU, and then once they pick something like the Power Steering it will chain the other software module update requirements together. There is no "BlueCruise" package....it's a collection of all the different software updates for all the modules that are involved in the hands-free automatic driving process. Once they do them all, you get BlueCruise. I had a tech tell me that if the BlueCruise update was available it would be on his service system homepage as an announcement. So clearly, we have a problem with the basic understanding of what this all entails.

Sure glad I got that FDRS license....

Mike

 

[Gullwingdmc]

Personally I think Ford needs to resend that memo out and include "service technicians" in the "targeted audience" section this time so maybe they'll finally get onboard.

I think a lot of the problems come down to training, or lack thereof. If more was done to make sure that every tech that knows how to change oil also knew how to properly run updates the dealerships would be better equipped to handle large scale updates like these.

 

[BMT1071]

I think a lot of the problems come down to training, or lack thereof. If more was done to make sure that every tech that knows how to change oil also knew how to properly run updates the dealerships would be better equipped to handle large scale updates like these.

They mostly come down to money.

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