PAAK concerns

[glenthompson]

While waiting for my GT to get here I’ve been reading the owners manual. While I like the idea of the PAAK I’m concerned that a minor glitch in the matrix could leave me stranded somewhere. Is this a valid fear or is the system robust enough to not worry?

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[bshaw]

You will always have the doorcode to get inside the car, and a backup password that will start and drive the vehicle. So, while it may be a couple of extra steps, a complete PaaK failure (or lost phone) will not make you stuck anywhere.

My experience has been that PaaK is *highly* dependent on your model of phone / OS version, and then also the settings within that phone. Find someone who has the same model of phone you have and ask them what their PaaK experience has been. There may be tweaks to make it work very reliably for you. (as mine does)

 

[MacherAWD]

I am 6 months in and never had a Paak issue, I stopped bringing keys when we go away for the weekend, and yes door code and backup password start if needed. My advice set it up and carry your keys in a faraday bag until you are comfortable with how it all works after that you are set and can leave the keys home, or as in my case both sets of keys are somewhere in my wife's purse, wherever that happens to be.

 

[RickMachE]

While waiting for my GT to get here I’ve been reading the owners manual. While I like the idea of the PAAK I’m concerned that a minor glitch in the matrix could leave me stranded somewhere. Is this a valid fear or is the system robust enough to not worry?

You may get stranded. Several have posted that they did.

You will always have the doorcode to get inside the car, and a backup password that will start and drive the vehicle. So, while it may be a couple of extra steps, a complete PaaK failure (or lost phone) will not make you stuck anywhere.

Not correct. While the doorcode will get you in, the pass code prompt may not come up, or it may have been deleted. Several people have experienced this.

While the likelihood of being stranded is small, it exists. A very knowledgeable forum member had to take an Uber to his home, get a fob, and take an Uber back.

I never travel without a fob.

 

[awp0]

I never carry a key fob. PAAK is frustratingly slow at times, but it has very consistently worked for me. I do make a point of testing the door code and password every now and then just to make sure it still works (after updates and profile changes and things like that). So far so good.

 

[mkhuffman]

You may get stranded. Several have posted that they did.



Not correct. While the doorcode will get you in, the pass code prompt may not come up, or it may have been deleted. Several people have experienced this.

While the likelihood of being stranded is small, it exists. A very knowledgeable forum member had to take an Uber to his home, get a fob, and take an Uber back.

I never travel without a fob.

I have had my car for almost a year now. 18k miles My Paak has never stranded me, and I have only used the passcode to start the car one time. And that was last winter.

However, I almost agree with Rick on this. I never take my fob with me if I am driving around town near my house. But my fob is wrapped in foil and hidden in my laptop backpack, which I always take with me when going out of town.

Why? Not because of a potential Paak failure, but in case I need a tow and need to give my key to a tow truck driver. Or drop my car off for an oil change and leave the key with Jiffy Lube. Or give it to the car wash kids. In none of those cases do I want to give out the emergency start code or my phone. Right?

Always be prepared. Hide a tin foil wrapped fob somewhere convenient and use PaaK without any worries. Like Mike does. Be like Mike. Not Rick. Rick and I never agree.

 

[reeflife]

I mainly have issues with getting an error while driving or Parked that says (No Key) also the mirrors are not auto folding or opening. The other day the car was forcing me to use the Guest and would not switch back to my profile without a reset and restarting the car. If you do a master reset or delete the phone as a key you will not be able to start the car using the backup password. However this is not easy but can be done.

 

[glenthompson]

Good information. Thanks for all the replies. I expect that 90+% of our driving will be local (less than 50 miles away). A PAAK problem wouldn't be disastrous in that scenario. I would definitely take a fob if going any real distance.

 

[HuntingPudel]

I don’t carry a key. Before I got my car I was in the “I won’t use PaaK” camp. I changed my mind after setting it up. I carried my key for a few weeks after setting it up then just put it away. ??

While it’s possible to have a PaaK failure, in my limited experience it’s highly unlikely. I was once unable to start my car using my phone, but this was because of a FordPass support rep insisting that I delete my Phone as a Key from my car (after my telling him multiple times that I did not have a physical key within 10 miles of myself he irritably told me to “JUST DELETE IT”). It was not a failure of PaaK but a failure of the agent to comprehend what I was telling him while trying to troubleshoot an unrelated problem and a failure on my part to tell him to p!$$ off. This deleted not only my PaaK but also the associated backup start code. This led to me having to spend a bunch of money on an Über ride round trip from my office to my home and back. ??

I have had a few instances where the car failed to connect to my phone and I had to enter my backup start code. These instances have been rare and I have not experienced one since before I went to get my dog from his breeder back in May. ??

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

Or drop my car off for an oil change and leave the key with Jiffy Lube.

Oil change? ???

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

I have PaaK setup and on occasion had minor issues with it, but never got stranded. However I now always carry my fob with me because I got an F150 fob with Frunk button (sorry @Jimrpa) which makes accessing this very useful storage area trivially easy. (Yes, you will be able to open it with the FP app, but trust me, it takes much longer and often doesn't work.)

 

[Motomax]

I’ve only used PAAK going on one year.
After all these recent power up updates, paak seems more consistent. The doors unlock everytime so far and I can keep my phone in my pocket now. Before I almost always had to put the phone under the screen. I’ve had to use the backup code probably about 10-15 times due to the vehicle refusing to connect to the phone. A reboot of sync and your phone would probably fix the issue as well.
The one downside of this new looser PAAK signal tolerance is that walk away lock is a little iffy now. You have to be about twice as far now. Which means that my vehicle doesn’t lock when I enter my home like it used to.

 

[SnBGC]

You might be stranded. Has happened before. If I remember correctly, there was a software update to FordPass that messed something up and people all over the country were stranded. Not even the backup start code worked.

When I first got my car, I tried out PaaK for a couple weeks. It worked most everywhere but not well. Some people even started to question if the car actually belonged to me because I was loitering around the doors hoping it would open. The one place where it did not work was 4 levels down in an underground garage. PaaK did not work. The door pillar code did work but the backup start code prompt did not.

My current phone does not have PaaK enabled. My previous phone does. I still have that old phone (just no cell service). PaaK works on that old phone as long as I am connected to WiFi. If I drive down the street (out of WiFi range from my house) then PaaK doesn't work. Backup start code did work though and I was able to drive home.

So, what it comes down to is if you are feeling lucky and want to deal with the occasional delays that PaaK only life brings. Anyone that says PaaK is flawless and/or just as good as the fob hasn't owned their car very long.

 

[Mach-Lee]

I use PAAK exclusively. Only once had an issue, and used the backup passcode successfully. With the current software it's pretty reliable. Most people griping about it haven't had their RFA module updated or have their phone settings wrong so it goes into a power save mode.

 

[SnBGC]

I use PAAK exclusively. Only once had an issue, and used the backup passcode successfully. With the current software it's pretty reliable. Most people griping about it haven't had their RFA module updated or have their phone settings wrong so it goes into a power save mode.

Yeah, I think that was the big issue for me. Apparently I needed to do something to my phone in order to deactivate the power save feature but when I did that then my battery would drain very quickly. My IT department at work said I couldn't use that setting since it was more important that my phone work as a phone vs working as a key. Since the phone belongs to them, I had to comply.

Shortly after I switched phones, Ford sent me this message with tips to using PaaK. Doesn't sound very convenient to me....

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