What happens when Ford stops supporting our connected services?

[Kamuelaflyer]

With CarPlay you don’t need connected services.

As long as you’re ok with no preconditioning.

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[DYohn]

What happens? Well, in my case, I'll either
A) Keep driving the car without them, or
B) Buy a new car

 

[phil]

As long as you’re ok with no preconditioning.

And also no BlueCruise, right?

I have no use for any of that stuff.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

And also no BlueCruise, right?

I have no use for any of that stuff.

There are zero BlueCruise roads on this island, and never will be. So I’ve literally paid no attention to how it’s integrated now.

My sole experience with BC in the Mach-e was when I rented a 23 (via Turo) at SFO maybe a year ago and used it during my drive from Burlingame to Aptos. It was nice enough on 101 and 17 considering I haven’t driven either of those roads in about 10 years. But how Ford packages BC now? No idea.

 

[DarkHorseRunning]

It's part of the continuing trend towards subscription services to secure a monthly cash flow. Chevy has already announced that they are removing CarPlay and AndroidAuto from all their cars in the next few years. Why? So they can force you into services they can charge you for.

My answer? Get a phone mount and use my phone like I do with my older cars. I'm already paying a monthly subscription for my phone. Not paying again for redundant services from an auto manufacturer. So sad that the big-ass infotainment screen will become just controls.

My Chrysler PHEV has already moved to a monthly subscription for connected services. I just don't use them -- I unlock with the key fob and schedule charging through the EVSE instead of the car. Will it annoy me when the Ford app wants to charge and I turn it off? You betcha. Will it get me to buy a new Ford? Definitely not. Heck, I bought my current Mach-E three years used.

 

[n2585722]

Premium Connectivity and connected navigation are subscriptions. On mine Premium Connectivity only lasted 1 year and connected navigation last 3 years.

 

[emichnov]

I need precondition feature that Ford tied to the services, if those stops - no precondition,

Google Maps through Android Auto will precondition the car even without a connected services subscription ( at least my car does).

 

[david_quick]

I suppose this is an issue for pretty much any modern car, but what happens when Ford decides that it no longer wants to put resources towards updating and maintaining the connected services that are available on the Mach E? I get that the infotainment screens that don't require services would continue to function as they do today, but my car constantly has the little icon at the top showing that it's communicating with some services and I'm one of those weirdos who prefers the built-in nav. I'm sure the day will also come when Apple or Google decides that they want to update the requirements for CarPlay and Android Auto and our Mach E's will no longer support it. Just the world we live in now, but it makes me sad to think that people could be getting rid of vehicles that are good for hundreds of thousands more miles just because they can't use a lot of the infotainment features. A phone is one thing, but a car?! Maybe there third-parties will step up and provide upgrades?

This actually happened to 2 of my vehicles. Though not Fords both my 2016 Ram truck and my 2013 Chevy Volt were cut off from services when the Cell providers killed of the G3 network that enabled connectivity. Chevy had no solution. For the Ram I was able to buy a 4g modem that plugs into the ODBII port.

I would not expect to see any difference for our vehicles as they age.

 

[Ninjaguy]

Google Maps through Android Auto will precondition the car even without a connected services subscription ( at least my car does).

How can you tell? Is there an icon that shows you it's preconditioning? I don't even know what to look for.

 

[ChrisO]

It seems a few of the manufacturers don’t seem to understand (or don’t care) of why Android Auto is so important to people. Sure if you only plan to keep a car for a few years it isn’t a big deal but if you keep cars for a long time it becomes a big issue to worry about. I will note that Ford sells a 7 year subscription for both BlueCruise and Premium connection services, so they do plan to support it for that long.

 

[emichnov]

How can you tell? Is there an icon that shows you it's preconditioning? I don't even know what to look for.

I have a OBDLink connector and the car scanner app that will show me when the car is preconditioning. I verified it was preconditioning on a trip 2 weeks ago.

 

[phil]

But how Ford packages BC now? No idea.

It is one of their "Connected Services".

 

[oljun]

It seems a few of the manufacturers don’t seem to understand (or don’t care) of why Android Auto is so important to people. Sure if you only plan to keep a car for a few years it isn’t a big deal but if you keep cars for a long time it becomes a big issue to worry about. I will note that Ford sells a 7 year subscription for both BlueCruise and Premium connection services, so they do plan to support it for that long.

That's one reason why when shopping for car for my wife that we decided against GM. No Android Auto, no deal. If enough people make similar decisions, they might catch on.

 

[Mach1E]

There’s no money in supporting updates and technology services for 15 year old cars. Planned obsolescence. They want you to buy a new one.

 

[ChrisO]

There’s no money in supporting updates and technology services for 15 year old cars. Planned obsolescence. They want you to buy a new one.

And I absolutely get it from their perspective, but of course I buy cars from my perspective.

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