Bronco does not have Lane Centering

[gryphon1231]

I am quite surprised that the Full Size Bronco does not have Lane Centering and only has the useless Lane Keeping, unlike the Bronco Sport. It also lacks the Stop & Go feature useful in traffic.

For information, Lane Centering is the equivalent of the basic Tesla Autopilot. Your car will drive itself on the highway, taking turns without issue and stay in the lane and slow down or accelerate as needed. Consumer reports praises the Ford Lane Centering system as one of the best in the industry, behind Tesla. I recently test drove a Bronco sport and I can confirm the Lane Centering with Intelligent adaptive cruise is game changing for long road trips.

Interestingly the more expensive Bronco full size only has basic adaptive cruise with Lane Keeping. Most people including myself find the Lane Keeping system useless and intrusive, all it does is alert you and send corrections in the steering when being too close to a lane. I always deactivate this feature on my rentals.

A lot of people on this forum do not like automated / advanced safety features and that's fine. But for those of us who like it it's disappointing to see that the much more expensive and newer Full Size Bronco doesn't have the most advanced feature of the little Sport.

Isn't that what the driver is for

Sponsored

 

[Toccoa]

Where I am going with my Bronco, there are no lanes.

 

[Pancho Kornwallace]

Fun fact: In 2015, Ford actually embedded a Flux Capacitor option in the Build and Price for Fiesta and Focus... available on "Back to the Future Day" (the day that Marty was suppose to go to). It was only $1.21M, not bad for 1.21GWs.

"From October 21 to 26, customers will be able to visit the Ford "build & price" online tool and select the flux capacitor option for the additional price of $1.21 million (about £781,000, AU$1.7 million)."

https://www.cnet.com/news/for-back-...acitor-option-promises-time-traveling-fiesta/

 

[Efthreeoh]

Yea, this is total BS, Ford has lost me.

How else am I going to safely drive through MOAB while sipping on a iced Caramel Macchiato and catching up with friends on the hands-free if the stupid POS Bronco doesn't automatically steer for me?

I'm an attentive driver, it's all the OTHER people that make driving dangerous. Thankfully I let the car steer for me as it's drastically more capable of paying attention to my driving than I am.

Since the Bronco is incapable of operating itself safely on Americas roadways, may I suggest using mis-information to try and beguile others so they drive much more safely around you? This might reduce your insurance rates as well.

And onto related news:

https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2020/11/iihs-study-underlines-the-perils-of-driver-disengagement/

" It turns out there’s a name for the false sense of security provided by modern driving aids. According to researchers with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s AgeLab, the phenomenon is called “driver disengagement” and it’s assumed to be a contributing factor to roadways fatalities. The duo recently published a rather basic study examining how evolving automotive technologies might be eroding safety under the guise of progress. "

Wait... are you saying that because the Bronco has a steering wheel and a brake pedal, THAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO DRIVE IT? Really?

You MUST be crazy.

 

[DryYourTears]

I know, RIGHT?!?

I was on the Mach-E forum the other day, and when I casually mentioned missing the wash-out drain plugs available here on the Bronco, I got HAMMERED by a bunch of software-coding nerds from California, calling me a “Darwin-award” candidate, whatever that means!

/s

I'm one of those software-coding nerds and I work for a silicon valley based company. Clearly I'm not man enough to own a Bronco, especially if I like tech features / newer safety features.

Granted, I do my own vehicle maintenance and repair, am restoring a '51 Ford F-1 with a 390 and toploader 4-speed, do my own home improvements, and can school you on most all aspects of rebuilding and tuning 70's-90's air-cooled flat-twin BMW motorcycles (and riding them) so I guess maybe I'm a little manly. Guess I won't cancel my order. Sorry those of you with reservations after early morning 7/14.

Seriously though, how hard is it to ignore a thread if it's something you're not worried about / interested in?

 

[Efthreeoh]

Exactly. Some people in this thread are extremely narrow minded who think the world needs only what they need.
As I said in my OP, if you don’t need the feature FINE. AMAZING FOR YOU. We are all so happy you can steer your car. It’s not because you don’t want it that other people don’t.

It’s like saying cruise control is useless because I am capable of pressing the accelerator myself.
It’s like saying having a remote car key is useless because I can just turn the key in the door myself to open the car.
It’s like saying Swaybar disco on Badlands is useless because I can disconnect it manually myself.
WTF seriously... some people are here to troll.

When driving hours to the trail, intelligent adaptive cruise with centering reduces fatigue a lot. It’s just nice to have for a lot of people and it’s a shame Ford did not include it in the Lux package. A package which sole purpose is to offer features like this. BTW order stats shows Lux package is the most popular one...

I may be a troll, but my belief is the highest tech piece of equipment is the human in the driver's seat. If you don't want to make the effort to keep your car centered in the lane, or keep it at the proper distance behind the vehicle you are trailing, then take an alternate form of transportation. No technology is infallible. You can either take the responsibility to not crash into things, or take the responsibility to hope the tech doesn't crash into things, but by law it is still your responsibility.

Logic pretty much dictates that adding in a secondary function to control a situation increases the chance of failure. I'd rather rely on myself for my own safety and other drivers that share the road with me. It's called self responsibly. A commodity severely lacking now is most aspects of life.

 

[PhoenixM3]

I am quite surprised that the Full Size Bronco does not have Lane Centering and only has the useless Lane Keeping, unlike the Bronco Sport. It also lacks the Stop & Go feature useful in traffic.

For information, Lane Centering is the equivalent of the basic Tesla Autopilot. Your car will drive itself on the highway, taking turns without issue and stay in the lane and slow down or accelerate as needed. Consumer reports praises the Ford Lane Centering system as one of the best in the industry, behind Tesla. I recently test drove a Bronco sport and I can confirm the Lane Centering with Intelligent adaptive cruise is game changing for long road trips.

Interestingly the more expensive Bronco full size only has basic adaptive cruise with Lane Keeping. Most people including myself find the Lane Keeping system useless and intrusive, all it does is alert you and send corrections in the steering when being too close to a lane. I always deactivate this feature on my rentals.

A lot of people on this forum do not like automated / advanced safety features and that's fine. But for those of us who like it it's disappointing to see that the much more expensive and newer Full Size Bronco doesn't have the most advanced feature of the little Sport.

The costs go into the vehicles capability. Does the Wrangler offer this feature?

 

[PhoenixM3]

I may be a troll, but my belief is the highest tech piece of equipment is the human in the driver's seat. If you don't want to make the effort to keep your car centered in the lane, or keep it at the proper distance behind the vehicle you are trailing, then take an alternate form of transportation. No technology is infallible. You can either take the responsibility to not crash into things, or take the responsibility to hope the tech doesn't crash into things, but by law it is still your responsibility.

Logic pretty much dictates that adding in a secondary function to control a situation increases the chance of failure. I'd rather rely on myself for my own safety and other drivers that share the road with me. It's called self responsibly. A commodity severely lacking now is most aspects of life.

I like your style.

 

[jaspercasidino]

Seriously though, how hard is it to ignore a thread if it's something you're not worried about / interested in?

It is impossible. They must express how much better they are at driving than every other driver on the road. I wonder what happens when two are on the same road at the same time...

I bet they don’t even use cruise control on long trips. It would take away from the driving experience...

 

[jaspercasidino]

The costs go into the vehicles capability. Does the Wrangler offer this feature?

Terrible argument. Could be a great way to further differentiate and attract more buyers. Make it an option and charge for it to offset cost.

 

[Rick Astley]

I'm one of those software-coding nerds and I work for a silicon valley based company. Clearly I'm not man enough to own a Bronco, especially if I like tech features / newer safety features.

Granted, I do my own vehicle maintenance and repair, am restoring a '51 Ford F-1 with a 390 and toploader 4-speed, do my own home improvements, and can school you on most all aspects of rebuilding and tuning 70's-90's air-cooled flat-twin BMW motorcycles (and riding them) so I guess maybe I'm a little manly. Guess I won't cancel my order. Sorry those of you with reservations after early morning 7/14.

Seriously though, how hard is it to ignore a thread if it's something you're not worried about / interested in?

Harder than holding back to ask about that FE of yours! Send a PM with some info on it, i'm genuinely interested in how you're building it out. ?

Obviously i've got a FE in the '61 T-bird and we've built a few in our shop, plus have a few spare blocks waiting for donor chassis.

 

[Dral97]

Someone just make a poll thread at this point:

-I wish I had more tech
-I hate more tech; drive ur damn self.

 

[chownd]

@broncosor thanks for the heads up. I assumed it was there but hadn't really went looking. Glad to know it isn't. Obviously doesn't change my decision at all

 

[Efthreeoh]

Terrible argument. Could be a great way to further differentiate and attract more buyers. Make it an option and charge for it to offset cost.

Being a hardware nerd, my issue with this sort of tech is how it affects the hardware. Lane keeping can be accomplished via individual wheel braking through the ABS-S system. Lane centering requires active steering inputs from a steering system that controls the position of the steering rack. EPS allows for computer controlled steering inputs because the electric motor can move the rack, whereas a hydraulic system can't.

If the design and componentry to make the EPS rack capable of moving on its own is built into all Bronco steering racks and the lane centering function is merely addition of or activation of software code, then the increased hardware cost to have lane centering is spread across all Bronco models regardless of content. Further, if the design elements of a self-steering rack make the rack more susceptible to failures, then self-driving humans, such as myself, are paying for the capability they don't want.

Just insights from a troll

 

[jaspercasidino]

Being a hardware nerd, my issue with this sort of tech is how it affects the hardware. Lane keeping can be accomplished via individual wheel braking through the ABS-S system. Lane centering requires active steering inputs from a steering system that controls the position of the steering rack. EPS allows for computer controlled steering inputs because the electric motor can move the rack, whereas a hydraulic system can't.

If the design and componentry to make the EPS rack capable of moving on its own is built into all Bronco steering racks and the lane centering function is merely addition of or activation of software code, then the increased hardware cost to have lane centering is spread across all Bronco models regardless of content. Further, if the design elements of a self-steering rack make the rack more susceptible to failures, then self-driving humans, such as myself, are paying for the capability they don't want.

Just insights from a troll

Good insight! Perhaps not worth the development costs, base cost increase or not enough take rate to justify its inclusion. I was mainly replying to the argument that Jeep doesn’t have it, so why should the Bronco.

Sponsored