FordPass in Europe

[Bojler]

Hey, Bronco fans!
A few days back, I finally got my Wildtrak Bronco imported to Europe and I'm now facing an issue with the FordPass app. I'm unable to activate the vehicle in the app. It always says "Connection Error". All the needed functions are enabled in the car, but no luck with activation.

My best guess will be, that the car is just not online in Europe because it's a US-only model, but Ford does have many other models here working with the FordPass app without a problem. Any thoughts anyone?

I'm aware it will be very hard to get help in this regard from you guys in the US, but maybe...!

Thank you in advance for your time.

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[flip]

You have a FP account set up and working correctly from both the phone and desktop/laptop? It's possible they have these geofenced to North America or mac/IP but I've seen this error a few different times when trying to activate modems here.

Let me dig through some of FP info to see if it says anything about exclusion zones.

ETA: DM your VIN so I can see if it's showing VHR data.

 

[RagnarKon]

FordPass needs the AT&T cellular network to activate… which obviously is unable in Europe. FordPass is available in Europe but in their European vehicles they use the EU cellular network providers, and it has caused me issues when trying to activate modems on European imported vehicles. I doubt Ford has roaming contracts setup to allow an AT&T vehicle modem operate on an EU network… which effectively would geofence the vehicle.

If it is locked out… theoretically you should be able to swap the modems. I know that works for many manufacturers but admittedly I’ve never tried on a Ford. I believed Ford has their modem located in the Telematics Control Unit module. But… yeah… I don’t even know if that’s possible for the Bronco. (I would lean on @flip for that.)

 

[flip]

I saw the ATT network reference in some of the FP training stuff but if you google search the question it acts like FP will work outside the country. I assume that means you can see data from the vehicle in NA if your are outside, but didn't say if it went the other way.

I wonder if it was activated in the US first, then exported, would it work? My guess is the lack of the ATT network is the answer for export problems but if I can see VHR, that would mean there's another mode of the data getting to Ford. If the OP sends me his VIN, location and FP account number I can send something to FP support for help.

 

[RagnarKon]

I saw the ATT network reference in some of the FP training stuff but if you google search the question it acts like FP will work outside the country. I assume that means you can see data from the vehicle in NA if your are outside, but didn't say if it went the other way.

I wonder if it was activated in the US first, then exported, would it work? My guess is the lack of the ATT network is the answer for export problems but if I can see VHR, that would mean there's another mode of the data getting to Ford. If the OP sends me his VIN, location and FP account number I can send something to FP support for help.

In the training I saw it specifically said that “access to the AT&T network is required for activation”. But I assumed that was just geared towards those handful of rural dealerships who are sitting in a dead zone. So I don’t know for sure.

I’ll ask my father when he wakes up. He was on the team that did a bunch of field testing for the telematics systems. But he’s been retired for several years at this point so my guess is he’ll have no idea. Also pretty sure he retired before FP was released in Europe, so FP support is probably going to be way more helpful than he will be.

 

[Bojler]

Thanks for the very fast responses!

I can see the car in both web/desktop and mobile FordPass applications. Member ID is 1803170123.

I sent you the VIN number via DM and thanks a lot for your willingness to help me! /bow

 

[Bojler]

My best guess would be that the car is just not online, because things like OTA updates is also not working. If changing the modem would be a possible solution, I will do it. But is Ford using the same modems in Europe?

 

[RagnarKon]

My best guess would be that the car is just not online, because things like OTA updates is also not working. If changing the modem would be a possible solution, I will do it. But is Ford using the same modems in Europe?

You would be correct. This all happens over the cellular network so without that working OTA updates and Sync activation won’t work properly.

In the past the modem hardware was basically the same, just programmed to the region the vehicle was sold in. All of this is (was?) within the TCU module. BUT…. the EU passed a bunch of new privacy regulations, and they also have additional safety requirements such as eCall to dial 112 automatically. More recently I remember reading that they passed a law in Europe that basically requires an event data recorder to be installed on a vehicle. We don’t have any of those requirements here in America… so my hunch is the hardware is now different and Europe may have completely different TCUs… but I don’t know for sure.

I guess to prove out this theory someone could look up the TCU module part number for the Ford Escape here in NA and compare that to the TCU module part number for the Ford Kuga in EU. But… I no longer have access to Ford’s internal systems and I don’t know if it is possible for @flip to look up the up European parts on the dealer side.

 

[RagnarKon]

Father texted me back.

“I have no idea, why are you moving to Europe?”

Explained the full story to him so he no longer thinks I’m moving to Europe. But… yeah… he doesn’t know. He’s activated several modems manually before, and confirmed it requires GSM cellular access to activate the vehicle. But he doesn’t know if it is restricted to just AT&T or not, and he retired a few years before FordPass was released in Europe.

 

[Bojler]

Thanks for trying!

 

[Bojler]

Hello, dear Bronco fans!

I'm reopening this topic, as I believe you guys @RagnarKon @flip might be able to help me.

I'm exchanging my Wildtrak for the Raptor. The car is still in Canada, so I can ask the dealer to do whatever is necessary to get the car activated before it will go on the boat, so I can then use Fordpass in Europe, and avoid what happened to me with the Wildtrak (please, see OP).

Please, can you suggest what have to be done, so the car will be activated, and the Fordpass will then work? It is maybe a silly question, but I don't know the process and want to be sure it's done properly, before it's too late.

I can send the VIN if needed.

Thank you very much for your time and help. Cheers from Europe!

 

[flip]

I don't think it will work because it uses the AT&T network. The people I contacted at Ford and Ford Pass also confirmed this. Is it completely impossible to get something to work either on the software or network side, maybe not but would require someone that understands how the modem, network and software engineering.

 

[RagnarKon]

I'll defer to @flip on this one, as the information I have is back from before FordPass was available in Europe.

But if you want any shot at getting it to work, you'll need to log into your FordPass account, and add the VIN to your account. Then you need someone in the vehicle in Canada to click the "Activate" button when you go to activate FordPass in the app.

Once it gets to Europe though, I suspect it won't work. FordPass works on the AT&T network in North America, which is obviously not available in Europe. And I would be shocked if Ford/AT&T signed roaming agreements for the cellular providers in Europe. You best bet is probably to wait until the Bronco is launched in Europe, and then start swapping out modules with the European equivalents. But even then... not sure it'll work.

 

[flip]

Yea, the phone will have to be in the vehicle, in Canada to pair, then ship and see what if any functions work when it gets to the destination and tries to find the cell network. Another unknown for me is if the modem could be "jailbroken" by some type of programming, will the vehicle or app care what cell network it sees for lock/unlock/start/location to function? I dunno.

 

[Bojler]

Thanks a lot for your answers. I will try to activate the car with the help of the dealer and then I will let you know what will happen in Europe Thanks again.

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