OTA Updates - What triggers them?

[CarGuy11]

This...

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[agoldman]

I dream of the day when updates are available "on demand", and not just when they feel like rolling them to small groups. unfortunately I doubt that will ever happen.

 

[david_quick]

Not really - WiFi is used to communicate vehicle data to Ford and to download certain files but not for installation due to hacking concerns.

All OTA updates are done thru AT&T cellular for security.

I have the same issue as the OP. I have no cell signal from any carrier at my home and use WiFi calling to call in and out. I also have great WiFi in my detached garage and get OTAs all the time even if the car has been parked for long periods.

 

[Snakebitten]

I don't know if the Mach-E differs from the F150, but as rugedraw pointed out, from 2020 (2021 model year) up until very recently, NO OTA updates were delivered to an F150 via Wi-Fi.

Wi-Fi has indeed supported some sort of packet exchange with Ford, and the router logs have been judiciously been analyzed by a few knowledgeable folks to confirm. But nobody has ever provided convincing evidence that Ford leveraged Wifi to deliver an OTA update.

Also, as rugedraw shared, recently Ford did leverage Wifi to edit the configuration of an existing onboard module. So technically that is updating a vehicle using Wifi.

PTS, I believe, has a column in the datagrid for OTA activity that is designated just for "Wifi required". For years it never changed its value (no) in that field. Until recently. Twice I believe it is marked "Yes"?

I'm going off of PTS memory.
@rugedraw can clarify I hope.

 

[Magnamover]

I haven't had an OTA update since August. AT&T reception is good and my car is connected to Wi-Fi most of the time. I also have it scheduled for updates at 10 am daily when it is out of the garage and charged the lvb up after commute. Will try turning off Wi-Fi per video.

 

[4sallypat]

I don't know if the Mach-E differs from the F150, but as rugedraw pointed out, from 2020 (2021 model year) up until very recently, NO OTA updates were delivered to an F150 via Wi-Fi.

Wi-Fi has indeed supported some sort of packet exchange with Ford, and the router logs have been judiciously been analyzed by a few knowledgeable folks to confirm. But nobody has ever provided convincing evidence that Ford leveraged Wifi to deliver an OTA update.

Also, as rugedraw shared, recently Ford did leverage Wifi to edit the configuration of an existing onboard module. So technically that is updating a vehicle using Wifi.

PTS, I believe, has a column in the datagrid for OTA activity that is designated just for "Wifi required". For years it never changed its value (no) in that field. Until recently. Twice I believe it is marked "Yes"?

I'm going off of PTS memory.
@rugedraw can clarify I hope.

I have been monitoring the data packets from the car with my router and can see a lot of data uploaded to Ford - mostly small packets each night. Then it stops and sleeps.

There are times I do get larger files that are transferred to the car but it does not coincide with any OTA updates.

I'd say that Ford would only install updates OTA via cellular and wait for a checksum or other confirmation packet to ensure safe installation of the files.

 

[Snakebitten]

I have been monitoring the data packets from the car with my router and can see a lot of data uploaded to Ford - mostly small packets each night. Then it stops and sleeps.

There are times I do get larger files that are transferred to the car but it does not coincide with any OTA updates.

I'd say that Ford would only install updates OTA via cellular and wait for a checksum or other confirmation packet to ensure safe installation of the files.

If you do just one or two updates with FDRS, and then review the log file for FDRS, it's incredibly granular and you can clearly witness the step by step procedure involved in fetching/delivering a Payload successfully. Of course you are reading text that each line represents maybe a few thousanths of a second with the timestamp.

So I'm not surprised that monitoring the traffic back and forth through the gateway (router) might imply "size". But is it? The combined weight of all those packets is likely much less than what would make up the actual Payload of an OTA update.

Or put another way, a full page of asci characters typed single space from top to bottom might look like a lot of packets. But it would weigh maybe 6kb?

Many of these OTA updates are multiple files and even the small ones can be a 100 meg. Far larger than the communication packet exchange that I admit can take place via Wi-Fi.

 

[johnnycombo]

I keep my car connected to WiFi, off in the driveway and connected a 15/3 amp 12 volt charger to the 12 volt battery, my 6/2 amp 12 volt charger wasn't enough! The 12 volt battery has to be approximately 70% charge or higher to get OTA updates. You can go to your Ford account and check the charge level of the 12 volt (if you don't have an account yet, sign up).
As you can see my 12 volt is at 92%.
Hopefully after my dealer gets the parts in and does the recall work this won't be necessary anymore.

 

[Jerrytball]

This...

Definitely trying your tips, but I’ve had the problem of the arrows that go up and down communicating with Ford disappearing like every other time I start the car and I either have to wait about a half hour and go back out and try it again cause I’m not gonna start pulling fuses like I did before But I have full bars on my phone for AT&T

 

[CarGuy11]

Definitely trying your tips, but I’ve had the problem of the arrows that go up and down communicating with Ford disappearing like every other time I start the car and I either have to wait about a half hour and go back out and try it again cause I’m not gonna start pulling fuses like I did before But I have full bars on my phone for AT&T

Have you tried resetting Sync? Long hold Vol down and track forward.

 

[Jerrytball]

Have you tried resetting Sync? Long hold Vol down and track forward.

No I’ll try now I just went back out there after 15 minutes and all I got is a Wi-Fi signal so once I get those arrows moving up and down, I’ll turn off Wi-Fi well Wi-Fi doesn’t need to be on anyways but.

 

[Jerrytball]

Have you tried resetting Sync? Long hold Vol down and track forward.

Resetting sync fixed that issue but I do not have a connection showing to AT&T although I have four bars and 5G on my phone. I’ve got Wi-Fi turned off on my phone and Wi-Fi turned off on the car. Is there something I need to do to show up?

 

[CarGuy11]

The ATT bars didn’t show up until a later version of Sync. Not sure what rev you are on.

 

[Jerrytball]

Where can I look that up at?

 

[CarGuy11]

Where can I look that up at?

General, About Sync

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