Electric Vehicles and towing

[Starscream]

Thanks for the update. All great information from a real owner.

Yes there is a lot of hate for EVs. I don't understand why.

I recently had a loaner car from my dealer with the self driving stuffs. It is really weird to let go of the wheel and look around. It nagged me to touch the wheel every minute or so. Very cool tech.

Touch-the-wheel systems are good, but you gotta try real hands-free. Our Nissan has ProPilot, and that one requires hand-on-the-wheel interaction every 30 seconds or so. It's like you have to drive the car and someone else is also driving the car. Propilot certainly helps driver fatigue, but it's nowhere near what a hands-free system does. I think GM has supercruise, which is hands free as well. I was surprised to learn from a friend with a model Y (no self-driving option) that Tesla's AutoPilot also requires driver interaction with the wheel or other vehicle control every 30 seconds or so. I can't say enough good things about Ford's BlueCruise, except for the fact that they're planning to subscription-charge for it in the future, and that it waits a bit long to brake for stopped traffic ahead, longer than I would wait as a driver who can see and understand that there's a line of stopped traffic coming up. The fact that it's truly a sit-on-your-hands system is great, and it's much more accurate at steering than ProPilot. The Ford just centers itself in the lane perfectly and consistently, and steers through some pretty sharp turns. The eye-detector can see through sunglasses, and it just asks that you look at the road ahead every half minute or so. If you don't, you get a beep, and if you ignore that, you get a brake-check after another 30 seconds or so. After that, I think it assumes you're having a medical crisis and puts the 4-way flashers on and brings the truck to a stop. Haven't tested that part out yet. BlueCruise also disconnects at highway interchanges, although it still steers through the interchange it requires a hand on the wheel just in case. Apparently the new version of BlueCruise will drastically reduce the number of disconnects, and I'm looking forward to that.

[Russ]

Wow, the Ford BlueCruise system sounds amazing. I wonder why they don't advertise it more. I honestly have never heard of it or capabilities like seeing through sunglasses. That is incredible. I'm geeky enough to sway me to buy one just for that feature.

My brother-in-law's Tesla requires hand-on-the-wheel interaction but he fools it by placing a small bean bag weight on the wheel. I think he said certain features like recognizing stop signs etc. are an up$ell.

The loaner Mercedes I got from my dealer had "Steering Assist" which was buried as a setting in the head unit instead of an easy on/off setting on the dash. It required a hand on the wheel else it would nag you with a loud alarm after so many seconds. It can also be fooled like the Tesla with a weight, although I didn't try.
The lane tracking system is another feature that at first is alarming. When drifting slightly it will vibrate the steering wheel, which is good. However, if you drift (or change lanes) without using the turn signal it will vibrate the wheel and apply the brakes in a rumble method harder and harder which scared my wife when it went off.

The BlueCruise sounds well implemented. I'm now tempted to visit a Ford dealer and try it.

[Starscream]

Wow, the Ford BlueCruise system sounds amazing. I wonder why they don't advertise it more. I honestly have never heard of it or capabilities like seeing through sunglasses. That is incredible. I'm geeky enough to sway me to buy one just for that feature.

My brother-in-law's Tesla requires hand-on-the-wheel interaction but he fools it by placing a small bean bag weight on the wheel. I think he said certain features like recognizing stop signs etc. are an up$ell.

The loaner Mercedes I got from my dealer had "Steering Assist" which was buried as a setting in the head unit instead of an easy on/off setting on the dash. It required a hand on the wheel else it would nag you with a loud alarm after so many seconds. It can also be fooled like the Tesla with a weight, although I didn't try.
The lane tracking system is another feature that at first is alarming. When drifting slightly it will vibrate the steering wheel, which is good. However, if you drift (or change lanes) without using the turn signal it will vibrate the wheel and apply the brakes in a rumble method harder and harder which scared my wife when it went off.

The BlueCruise sounds well implemented. I'm now tempted to visit a Ford dealer and try it.

I never thought I'd be a Ford fan-boy, but the last two Fords I've had were really, really good.

I had a 2018 pathfinder and a 2018 Fusion PHEV, and the Fusion was miles ahead of the Nissan in every respect. Now we have a 2022 Pathfinder and the Lightning, and once again the Ford is way, way ahead. Little things, like the quality of the backup camera for example, make a big difference. Also, the seat and control positioning is perfect in the Ford, but poorly done in the Nissans. The Ford Auto-High beam system was flawless, never making a mistake between a vehicle and a house or sign, while both the 2018 and 2022 Nissans thinks every light or reflector is a car.

Oh, did I mention the matrix headlights on the new Ford? They turn with the car around bends, and you can leave your high-beams on in traffic and they just bend the beam around the other cars, leaving everything but the traffic illuminated. I think matrix lights are now legal in the US so the 2024's are probably going to be delivered with them. People with 2022 and 2023 Lightnings have been enabling the matrix beams with ForScan, and loving them.

The only thing that Ford does really, really poorly is software. They have an app called FordPass that feels like it was written by a grade 10 computer science class. They've basically admitted that it's bad, and they can't seem to fix it. The problem is that with an EV, the driver gets to be pretty software dependent and needs to know real data about charging speeds, instantaneous and average efficiency, projected range, and so on. FordPass is just total garbage, and that's sad because it takes away from an otherwise great vehicle. Their CEO has explained why, and it has to do with being a legacy automaker that doesn't control the software in the supply chain. So for Tesla, it's easy for the onboard computer to roll down a window on its own (ever seen a Tesla lightshow? It's hilarious), or open the charge port door, or any other control, while the Ford onboard computer can't do that. Or maybe it can, but Ford software engineers can't. Don't know.

The Nissan also has that annoying lane correction and vibration feature, and when it engages everyone in the car hears the "stick-shaker" like a 737 in a death-stall, and then it applies some rear brakes to try to prevent the drift. It's totally ridiculous. The Ford just gives a gentle hum through the wheel that doesn't point out to all occupants that you're an idiot, and won't try to correct it unless you have BlueCruise enabled. After a few drift events it politely suggests that you stop for coffee, with a coffee-shaped warning light on the dash. A nice humerous touch.

I do wish Ford would fix their app, and give drivers access to more actual information. Their range-meter is terribly inaccurate, and the truck won't directly give you important info like current charging speed or instantaneous energy consumption.

If you try BlueCruise, it has to be on a separated highway that has been previously mapped. Otherwise you have to keep a hand on the wheel while BlueCruise is driving, which ruins the experience. I've found that every single 2-lane highway in Quebec has been mapped, but no single-lane highways have been. Another nice thing that Ford did is make the BlueCruise engagement a single button-press.

Oh, another downer: both the Ford and the Nissan have speed-limit recognition, which is pretty cool. However, the Nissan will ask when the speed limit changes, while the Ford just changes the limit. Too often, it will read the speed limit sign from a parallel service road when it's still on the highway, and that creates a seriously dangerous slowdown. So dangerous that it should be a recall, in my opinion. It would take a few seconds for a good programmer to add the "ask before changing" feature, like the Nissan properly does. I think every single Lightning owner has turned off the feature because of this. The speed limit is still displayed, but the car doesn't do anything about it with the setting off.

[Russ]

Wow. You describe 2 different softwares. It sounds like the BlueCruise is vastly superior to anything else out there. Strangely, I've never heard of it. Ford (and other makers) don't seem to be marketing their vehicles very well. All that cool tech should be out there.

Meanwhile, social media is bashing EVs with false information and negativity. I bet if you ask the average consumer, they will claim EVs catch fire all the time and that autonomous driving causes many crashes. Both are quite the opposite. Gassers statistically catch fire more often per capita. It is true that EVs are harder to put out though. I worry more about crashes from people texting more than autonomous driving.

Those matrix headlights are pretty cool. Why is the US slow to adopt cool stuff like that? The loaner I had recognized speed limit signs and adjusted my speed automatically. I didn't like that. Should be the driver should have the option.

It sounds like some of the software is outstanding and other parts are not. My B-I-L's Tesla has some cool software. Can program the sound the horn makes. He plugs in a portable hard drive and it is the ultimate dash cam, recording all the cameras as he drives. He was showing me some events the cameras recorded on a recent trip. When he parked it at the airport, the car texted him when someone came near the car and he turned on cameras to see.

It's really really hard to run out of charge in a Tesla. The car will nag you when you are low and the range to the nearest charger. He says if you ignore it, eventually the car goes into limp mode and won't exceed 25mph and will display a map to nearest charger. Apparently, the car won't let you drive out of range of a charger.

He bought the Tesla out of pure economics. He commutes a great distance and between no maintenance costs and fuel savings he is saving a bundle. I just took my car in for 10,000 mile maintenance for $500. EVs have no oil, no alternators, no starters, no fuel system and the brakes last forever. I hear Tesla is working on new battery tech that is not lithium based and will change everything.

Thanks for the info on your Lightning. I would love to test drive one.