What's wrong with this picture?

GreaseMonkey

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Results were simulated here, but the range can suddenly update if conditions change, in particular if you encounter a thunderstorm, go up a mountain, or have a lot of BMS error at the bottom of the pack. It can also recalculate if you miss a turn or exit. The point is, you're probably not going to notice when the numbers swap places!





Yes. First of all, the numbers should NEVER switch places. Second of all, the charger or destination should turn RED if it becomes further than the range of the car. Ford knows about it, but I don't see much chance of them fixing it.



Native nav, and it's a flag with 3rd-party navigation apps (you need the charger icon to display in order for preconditioning to work). I can't use Apple Maps for road trips because (in addition to not preconditioning) it has a fit and sends you on a wild goose chase if you're going to arrive with less than 20% (I shoot for 10% to save stops), and there's no way to change it.
I never experience wild goose chases with Apple Maps below 20%. I’m typically monitoring the % battery at arrival and adjusting where to stop accordingly. No preconditioning for me. I lost hope that Apple -Ford will ever play nice together.
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Jimrpa

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Mach-E Confusing Range.jpg


You're on a long trip trying to make it to the next charger. Top number is bigger, so you're good right? This could ruin your day if you don't notice it in time... ?

See the issue?
OMG! Is this really a thing? I agree - the UI should make that entire area boldface, flashing RED! In fact, forget about the stupid car avatar - put up a non-dismissible box saying “charge NOW you idiot!” Or something similar.
 

Jimrpa

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I’ve always treated the battery meter as a “fuel gauge” and I get antsy when it gets down to 20%, the same way I do when I’m driving an ICE car and the fuel gauge drops down below 1/4.
 

rreddy3

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Results were simulated here, but the range can suddenly update if conditions change, in particular if you encounter a thunderstorm, go up a mountain, or have a lot of BMS error at the bottom of the pack. It can also recalculate if you miss a turn or exit. The point is, you're probably not going to notice when the numbers swap places!





Yes. First of all, the numbers should NEVER switch places. Second of all, the charger or destination should turn RED if it becomes further than the range of the car. Ford knows about it, but I don't see much chance of them fixing it.



Native nav, and it's a flag with 3rd-party navigation apps (you need the charger icon to display in order for preconditioning to work). I can't use Apple Maps for road trips because (in addition to not preconditioning) it has a fit and sends you on a wild goose chase if you're going to arrive with less than 20% (I shoot for 10% to save stops), and there's no way to change it.
Thanks for the background explanation and shining a light on this issue.

Is this display issue something new, from a recent OTA, and/or confined to a particular MY?

Everyone agrees the displays and readouts for important and critical information should not move around. As others noted, this is too easy to miss and can -> “pilot error”. Even I know that’s not good.
 
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Mach-Lee

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Thanks for the background explanation and shining a light on this issue.

Is this display issue something new, from a recent OTA, and/or confined to a particular MY?

Everyone agrees the displays and readouts for important and critical information should not move around. As others noted, this is too easy to miss and can -> “pilot error”. Even I know that’s not good.
As far as I can tell, it's done this from day 1. We just didn't notice it. It explains why I've had a couple unexplained "Oh sh**" moments on trips when I've suddenly realized I had a negative buffer instead of a positive one, despite me paying attention to it the whole trip (I always thought the range just tanked at the end when I wasn't looking, turns out it was probably the number swap that caused me to miss it, or both in combination).

If this happened on an airplane, it could honestly cause a plane crash. Imagine if fuel numbers switched places on a pilot display. The result could be something similar to the famous Gimli Glider incident where the plane ran out of fuel because of pilot confusion over units (pounds vs. kilograms).
 


rreddy3

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Thank you Lee. I am sure everyone on the forum appreciates you flagging this Lee. I’m trying to, figuratively speaking of course, burn this lesson into my retinas .

I have no idea how difficult it is, or is not, to re-program software to correct this issue. Perhaps fixing this might be a good project for a Ford summer college intern of the appropriate discipline.

In the air, absolutely could be fatal. For us, not so likely unless you run out of electrons in the middle of nowhere without your sat phone or sat communicator.
 

Jimrpa

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As far as I can tell, it's done this from day 1. We just didn't notice it. It explains why I've had a couple unexplained "Oh sh**" moments on trips when I've suddenly realized I had a negative buffer instead of a positive one, despite me paying attention to it the whole trip (I always thought the range just tanked at the end when I wasn't looking, turns out it was probably the number swap that caused me to miss it, or both in combination).

If this happened on an airplane, it could honestly cause a plane crash. Imagine if fuel numbers switched places on a pilot display. The result could be something similar to the famous Gimli Glider incident where the plane ran out of fuel because of pilot confusion over units (pounds vs. kilograms).
I was thinking exactly of the airplane analogy! Not only enough fuel to get to your destination, but enough to go on to your diversion airport with a reserve. That’s why I have my “20% rule” - to approximate that ?
 

Kamuelaflyer

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where the plane ran out of fuel because of pilot confusion over units (pounds vs. kilograms).
More an inoperative soc gauge where the soc was calculated from an OBD reading plus an oddball electrons delivered reading, like BTUs or megajoules, and then using the wrong conversion chart because the DCFC gave it to you in old units instead of new units, and adding it up anyway, cause you always used old units.

Moral of both these stories? A proper gauge works best.
 

RickMachE

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I have seen in more than once. To be fair, Ford did have a warning message, but management said no. It displayed, in red, "you're F'd".

Early in our 2021 ownership, we drove from Michigan to Cape Cod, and then back. At more than one point, it displayed a message like "you had better charge now, moron". Then, when I didn't, it said "wow, you are stupid". My wife saw that message and amplified it.

I coasted into the charger with like 1%, and it failed to start charging repeatedly. Tech was there fixing the location, and got it going, and it was free. We'll, not free, given the grief she gave me...
 

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Yes. First of all, the numbers should NEVER switch places. Second of all, the charger or destination should turn RED if it becomes further than the range of the car.
exactly.

since i encounter mountain passes on most trips that will require charging i see this a lot, especially in the winter. first time i noticed it was one of my first winter trips and thought i was doing well and then noticed suddenly... i wasn't. ugh.

Ford knows about it, but I don't see much chance of them fixing it.
not switching places is something they definitely COULD do with an OTA. coloring one or the other maybe not.

it's these little quality UX tweaks that COULD be done via an easy OTA but aren't that really let me down on the ford promise.
 

JohnFoxeSheets

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I can't use Apple Maps for road trips because (in addition to not preconditioning) it has a fit and sends you on a wild goose chase if you're going to arrive with less than 20% (I shoot for 10% to save stops), and there's no way to change it.
They appear to have fixed that. Today we drove the last couple hundred miles home on a single charge, arriving with 12% left. A couple time Apple Maps suggested adding a charge stop, but it didn't do the stupid insistence of adding a charge stop. As we drove, the estimated battery level at the end of the trip bounced around a bit, getting as low as 10%. When it was 15% (I think) or less, it was yellow, when it got to 10% it was red, but it still didn't insist that I add a stop.

Of course they've not fixed the lack of preconditioning. ? That said, our charge stops all accomplished the charging we needed in less time than we needed to do other stuff, so it didn't matter (but we're talking summer in CA, not winter in WI!).

Edit: I should also mention that the distance to destination icon on the IPC is different, but I think that's because I'm using Apple Maps to take me to the charger, rather than letting Apple Maps route me to a charging stop. I.e., it is just taking me to my destination, not to a charging stop. It looks like this:
Ford Mustang Mach-E What's wrong with this picture? IMG_3241

But here you can see that Apple Maps will flag that the battery level at destination will be (very) low, but it isn't forcing a charging stop:
Ford Mustang Mach-E What's wrong with this picture? IMG_3245

(For the purposes of the above, I put in an arbitrary location not too far away to show what I was seeing earlier as I was driving.)
 
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Mach-Lee

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They appear to have fixed that. Today we drove the last couple hundred miles home on a single charge, arriving with 12% left. A couple time Apple Maps suggested adding a charge stop, but it didn't do the stupid insistence of adding a charge stop. As we drove, the estimated battery level at the end of the trip bounced around a bit, getting as low as 10%. When it was 15% (I think) or less, it was yellow, when it got to 10% it was red, but it still didn't insist that I add a stop.

Of course they've not fixed the lack of preconditioning. ? That said, our charge stops all accomplished the charging we needed in less time than we needed to do other stuff, so it didn't matter (but we're talking summer in CA, not winter in WI!).
Hmm, well I can give Apple another shot. But it needs to be okay with my selection of chargers (seems hard to find and input manually), and the arrival percentage dipping down below 10% without auto rerouting or being majorly annoying. I just want a single warning and a red number on the display. It's still seems to be targeting arrival to chargers with 25%, which is extremely conservative and causes unnecessary charging stops.
 

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This could all be fixed with a new flux capacitor Marty!

Ford Mustang Mach-E What's wrong with this picture? Screenshot_20250720-222242
 

JohnFoxeSheets

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Hmm, well I can give Apple another shot. But it needs to be okay with my selection of chargers (seems hard to find and input manually), and the arrival percentage dipping down below 10% without auto rerouting or being majorly annoying. I just want a single warning and a red number on the display. It's still seems to be targeting arrival to chargers with 25%, which is extremely conservative and causes unnecessary charging stops.
All I can say for sure it that it didn’t get upset today, and it was very different behavior compared to the last time I tried it , albeit that was over a year ago. Previously it was annoying AF as it wanted to force unneeded charge stops.
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