Ford pass app and Forescan

[buckingup]

In my earlier posts I wanted to be assured my AEB system was really working.
A few days back, I changed settings for ACC and automatic vehicle hold with Forescan. I received a few warnings before I wrote these changes to my Bronco.
When I started the Bronco up, I had warnings on my dash that AEB was not working.
I reset those changes back to their original settings.
After returning these settings to how they were before Forescan, those warnings went away on my dash.
A few days later, I actually had the collision warning appear on my screen. This was the first time it appeared to be working.
When I got home, I opened my Ford Pass app, and I had messages on the app, from the day I had done the reset, telling me AEB was turned off.
I did not get more messages on the app that said things are fine now.
So I am curious about what this means? Clearly the App had become aware of changes.... I'm curious how?
Can I assume that if the app IS NOT sending me more messages, that everything is working properly?
I didnt think Ford Pass would be so useful as to report changes. It did not report any of my other forescan changes, such as seatbelt
Stereo, etc.

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[raptorusmaximus]

hmm, is it sending it to ford?

 

[buckingup]

hmm, is it sending it to ford?

Obviously that’s one concern. Considering that the dealership completely misrepresented what copilot 360 does and does not do, in order to upsell the vehicle, and that the. Service department was unable to explain the features of the car, and their proper functioning, I think troubleshooting the vehicle to know what it’s capable of, I think it’s not unreasonable to use an advanced diagnostic tool.

 

[flip]

The owners manual explains in detail how the advanced safety features operate as well as their limitations. That said, if your modem is activated, the vehicle will communicate to Ford and vice versa. If the vehicle has a fault, it will send it to Ford, Ford routes that information to the FP app servers and you get the notification. There is generally other data in the VHR (what we can see on the dealer end) that doesn't always trigger a notification nor are designed to.

I recently had a conversation with my FSE regarding people, me included, that have enabled/disabled things with Forscan and the problems that can cause. He said he was able to see some of these things since he's currently on the programming team. In the past, the vehicle software was "slave" to Ford's servers, when FDRS was created that relationship changed. Once programming is done, that is uploaded to Ford's servers so changes made with Forscan would be uploaded to Ford the next time FDRS is used for programming.

Long story short, they fixed this problem but his explanation of how the servers check for this by pinging the vehicle was over my head. Basically, if they didn't write or upload it from an update, it won't write it to the server, or something like that.

This is your vehicle so take what I say at face value. Forscan is not an advanced diagnostic tool. It has it's niche and good for things like changing lighting, audio or other creature comforts. You can check and clear codes, etc. The problem is when you start messing with safety systems which are interconnected with other systems and all rely on the other to work correctly. I would never suggest someone messing with any of this stuff without sufficient prior experience. There is a higher probability of messing something up more than not and once you get past what someone on the internet said to do, you can really screws stuff up and end up with a hefty repair bill to undo things. Again, if you want to know how ADAS systems or other toys work, read the owners manual. A lot of tech and engineer headaches have been caused by people messing with these things. Hours and hours end up being wasted trying to find the line and redo the coding to get vehicles fixed.

 

[Squatch]

Everything that @flip said and I won't go into how I believe Ford's servers are handling this, but...

You made a backup before you started changing everything in Forscan, right?

 

[buckingup]

The owners manual explains in detail how the advanced safety features operate as well as their limitations. That said, if your modem is activated, the vehicle will communicate to Ford and vice versa. If the vehicle has a fault, it will send it to Ford, Ford routes that information to the FP app servers and you get the notification. There is generally other data in the VHR (what we can see on the dealer end) that doesn't always trigger a notification nor are designed to.

I recently had a conversation with my FSE regarding people, me included, that have enabled/disabled things with Forscan and the problems that can cause. He said he was able to see some of these things since he's currently on the programming team. In the past, the vehicle software was "slave" to Ford's servers, when FDRS was created that relationship changed. Once programming is done, that is uploaded to Ford's servers so changes made with Forscan would be uploaded to Ford the next time FDRS is used for programming.

Long story short, they fixed this problem but his explanation of how the servers check for this by pinging the vehicle was over my head. Basically, if they didn't write or upload it from an update, it won't write it to the server, or something like that.

This is your vehicle so take what I say at face value. Forscan is not an advanced diagnostic tool. It has it's niche and good for things like changing lighting, audio or other creature comforts. You can check and clear codes, etc. The problem is when you start messing with safety systems which are interconnected with other systems and all rely on the other to work correctly. I would never suggest someone messing with any of this stuff without sufficient prior experience. There is a higher probability of messing something up more than not and once you get past what someone on the internet said to do, you can really screws stuff up and end up with a hefty repair bill to undo things. Again, if you want to know how ADAS systems or other toys work, read the owners manual. A lot of tech and engineer headaches have been caused by people messing with these things. Hours and hours end up being wasted trying to find the line and redo the coding to get vehicles fixed.

Thank you for that info. I do backups. Everything is functioning as it should. The warning lights for the aeb, now function..where as they did not before.

 

[raptorusmaximus]

The owners manual explains in detail how the advanced safety features operate as well as their limitations. That said, if your modem is activated, the vehicle will communicate to Ford and vice versa. If the vehicle has a fault, it will send it to Ford, Ford routes that information to the FP app servers and you get the notification. There is generally other data in the VHR (what we can see on the dealer end) that doesn't always trigger a notification nor are designed to.

I recently had a conversation with my FSE regarding people, me included, that have enabled/disabled things with Forscan and the problems that can cause. He said he was able to see some of these things since he's currently on the programming team. In the past, the vehicle software was "slave" to Ford's servers, when FDRS was created that relationship changed. Once programming is done, that is uploaded to Ford's servers so changes made with Forscan would be uploaded to Ford the next time FDRS is used for programming.

Long story short, they fixed this problem but his explanation of how the servers check for this by pinging the vehicle was over my head. Basically, if they didn't write or upload it from an update, it won't write it to the server, or something like that.

This is your vehicle so take what I say at face value. Forscan is not an advanced diagnostic tool. It has it's niche and good for things like changing lighting, audio or other creature comforts. You can check and clear codes, etc. The problem is when you start messing with safety systems which are interconnected with other systems and all rely on the other to work correctly. I would never suggest someone messing with any of this stuff without sufficient prior experience. There is a higher probability of messing something up more than not and once you get past what someone on the internet said to do, you can really screws stuff up and end up with a hefty repair bill to undo things. Again, if you want to know how ADAS systems or other toys work, read the owners manual. A lot of tech and engineer headaches have been caused by people messing with these things. Hours and hours end up being wasted trying to find the line and redo the coding to get vehicles fixed.

If they would allow us to change settings like "ass" and "honk when you get gas" people wouldn't have to use forescan to fix STUPID decisions on their part that were clearly added for legal protections in the off case of an idiot doing an idiot thing. I've been joking every since I got mine when asked what model it is I tell them its a WARNING mobile and for the life of me.....why do I get a green seat warning that stays on for a FULL minute that everyone IS buckled????? I drive rentals almost every week, all kinds, nothing even comes close to the plethora of warnings we're subjected to.

 

[Brian_B]

When you make changes (Forscan or anything really) -- codes get set. Mostly it's just junk because the computer is re-initializing things and it's no big deal. Happens a lot unplugging connectors and stuff doing mods as well - totally normal to get random DTSC codes if you unhook the HVAC to get back at and install a radio harness and want to test the amp before you put it all back together, for instance.

Some codes will stop alarming and shut off the CEL (or other warnings) if the condition clears. Some lock in and won't clear until you go in and reset them. I think ~all~ codes get sent to the mother ship, if you leave telemetry on (there are options in Sync to turn some of that off, not sure if they really do it or not...) Many codes get sent to Ford Pass as well. But Ford Pass won't tell you if a code cleared, for instance. Just that it flagged.

Even once cleared, the computer will keep the event code in memory until you clear it with a tool. Forscan is one such method of resetting codes. You can also pull the battery cable for a few minutes to force a reset. Most OBD2 code readers can reset, etc.

 

[flip]

If they would allow us to change settings like "ass" and "honk when you get gas" people wouldn't have to use forescan to fix STUPID decisions on their part that were clearly added for legal protections in the off case of an idiot doing an idiot thing. I've been joking every since I got mine when asked what model it is I tell them its a WARNING mobile and for the life of me.....why do I get a green seat warning that stays on for a FULL minute that everyone IS buckled????? I drive rentals almost every week, all kinds, nothing even comes close to the plethora of warnings we're subjected to.

To show my age, I remember changing tire sizes with NGS. There were some other changeable parameters but those escape me right now. With the evolution to SBDS, WDS, IDS and now FDRS, they've essentially taken everything away from the dealer but not given the owners more control of their features and functions.

Everyone at Ford knew the bronco was going to be Mr. Potato Head which is why they came out with a ton of bronco specific accessories. There was also a 100% chance people were going to do wheel/tire size changes, after market lighting, lifts body panels, etc and didn't build in access to easily make it work electronically. If they're hell bent to keep adding more modules and network dependency, they need to give us the ability to turn non safety related options on and off. This way, they still maintain "clean" software at the server level and reduce the chances of corrupt coding creating diagnostic headaches on their end as well as ours.

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