ECU module programming guide using FDRS

[speedracercjr]

Its bad when you can’t rely on your dealer to fix recalls. Then they clearly flat out lie and say they updated it to fix the recall. I doubt they even tried to do the BlueCruise update because they parked the truck in their back lot for 7 hours before they even touched it.

I hate stealerships more than most people but I don't think they are willfully lying about the trailer module at least. They see a TRM module in FDRS and think that's the update and then mark it complete. They should go the extra mile and confirm that the software version matches the right level as shown in the recall.

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[MitchCox]

I hate stealerships more than most people but I don't think they are willfully lying about the trailer module at least. They see a TRM module in FDRS and think that's the update and then mark it complete. They should go the extra mile and confirm that the software version matches the right level as shown in the recall.

Oh they flat out lied to me. I dropped it off at 7:56am. It sat in the drop off area for 10 min. At 8:12 they drove it to the back lot and it sat for 7+ hours. Meanwhile at 8:15 they say the BlueCruise update could take a while. They have it hooked up now but it could take up to 16 hours. I didn’t know at the time they were lying to me. Only found that out after I picked it up and reviewed my dahs cam footage.

 

[speedracercjr]

Oh they flat out lied to me. I dropped it off at 7:56am. It sat in the drop off area for 10 min. At 8:12 they drove it to the back lot and it sat for 7+ hours. Meanwhile at 8:15 they say the BlueCruise update could take a while. They have it hooked up now but it could take up to 16 hours. I didn’t know at the time they were lying to me. Only found that out after I picked it up and reviewed my dahs cam footage.

Oh they lied about BC, I was more meaning the TRM update. They probably just didn't pay attention properly on that.

 

[Jesse-Infotainment]

Anyone in the Lexington, KY area that has the equipment and experience want to help me out. I’ll pay you for your troubles.
Figured it didn’t hurt to ask. Right?

There is nothing wrong with wanting help or someone that’s been through it.
I hope you find someone. If not I can always log in with teamviewer and help out

 

[Snakebitten]

If I need to blame someone for my truck not having all the features it could have or was promised to have, then sure, there's always Ford or the dealership or both.

But neither gets me what I desire.

I'm just thrilled that I am able to solve the problem if I really want to.

I can defend both Ford and the dealership, to be honest. Ford has the gonads to embrace the new model and implement it. I doubt seriously that they intended it to be such a bumpy start, but it's a brave new world approach to product development.

The dealerships?
After using this forum to solve the problem myself I am more than aware now that the current dealership service model is way too legacy for this platform. No way is a mechanic going to tie up a service bay and sit in my truck for 2-3 days.

I'm not mad at anyone. The advantages this new approach to vehicle design offers is more than worth the early adopter pains.
That is since this thread exists and the licensing of the tools is available to Joe public.

 

[RellIk&5]

If I need to blame someone for my truck not having all the features it could have or was promised to have, then sure, there's always Ford or the dealership or both.

But neither gets me what I desire.

I'm just thrilled that I am able to solve the problem if I really want to.

I can defend both Ford and the dealership, to be honest. Ford has the gonads to embrace the new model and implement it. I doubt seriously that they intended it to be such a bumpy start, but it's a brave new world approach to product development.

The dealerships?
After using this forum to solve the problem myself I am more than aware now that the current dealership service model is way too legacy for this platform. No way is a mechanic going to tie up a service bay and sit in my truck for 2-3 days.

I'm not mad at anyone. The advantages this new approach to vehicle design offers is more than worth the early adopter pains.
That is since this thread exists and the licensing of the tools is available to Joe public.

I'll chime in here as an IoT architect. OTA is extremely difficult to implement correctly, especially when it's based on different configurations. Regions, as-built BOM, and in some cases, entitlements (licensing) play a key factor in the OTA process. Watch what happens when all these Blue Cruse free trials expire. Hopefully Ford will have things figured out by then. Otherwise, it could get pretty messy.

The problem that can be sometimes difficult to overcome is OTA failures, as most here have already experienced. Typically, it requires someone to manually go in and "clean things up" on the server, as many platforms haven't quite figured out how to correctly and automatically deal with failures after the specified timeout window. A little extra thought and effort is required to address failed assets within an update campaign. The edge client running within Sync should be a bit more proactive in communicating relevant data back to Ford and then Ford needs to be more proactive in automatically analyzing that data to determine cause of failure, and initiating action based on the determined reason. For example, they potentially have the ability to know if your hardware is faulty based on multiple retry failures. They could have their systems automatically recognize this and immediately send you all the information you need to then have your dealer initiate a warranty replacement.

My consulting firm was actually in talks with Ford a couple of years ago to help them implement their OTA software. We, ultimately, didn't win, so I'm not sure which underlying edge technology they chose to implement within the Sync system. As such, I don't know the breath of it's capabilities or limitations. But I do know that when I architect a system where OTA is a requirement, the system works as designed.

 

[JEB]

I'm not sure which underlying edge technology they chose to implement within the Sync system.

The cheapest one.

 

[MitchCox]

If I need to blame someone for my truck not having all the features it could have or was promised to have, then sure, there's always Ford or the dealership or both.

But neither gets me what I desire.

I'm just thrilled that I am able to solve the problem if I really want to.

I can defend both Ford and the dealership, to be honest. Ford has the gonads to embrace the new model and implement it. I doubt seriously that they intended it to be such a bumpy start, but it's a brave new world approach to product development.

The dealerships?
After using this forum to solve the problem myself I am more than aware now that the current dealership service model is way too legacy for this platform. No way is a mechanic going to tie up a service bay and sit in my truck for 2-3 days.

I'm not mad at anyone. The advantages this new approach to vehicle design offers is more than worth the early adopter pains.
That is since this thread exists and the licensing of the tools is available to Joe public.

I stopped by my dealer a week earlier and asked them If they had the capabilities to update the system to enable BlueCruise. I gave them the Bulletin that came out in Jan saying dealerscould update the system. And by the end of 1st qtr 2022 trucks would have BlueCruise. Theywent back and talked to the techs. They assured me they could do it. Then to see they didn’t even try and just parked my truck in the back of the lot for 7+ hours. That’s what I am more upset over.

If you can’t do it. Just tell me you can’t. Not lie to me and have me bring my truck in and then park it for 7+ hours. Just to call me and say, “we tried twice and it failed”. Knowing they didn’t even try at all. That’s the frustrating part.

 

[BHunted1]

For folks that have the ability in their Fordpass app, the function called Securealert. Its really kind of useless because the schedules never seem to work.
When I take my truck to the dealer for work, I turn it on. You’ll know when they enter the vehicle and the map in the FP is accurate enough to mark the truck's location.

 

[speedracercjr]

For folks that have the ability in their Fordpass app, the function called Securealert. Its really kind of useless because the schedules never seem to work.
When I take my truck to the dealer for work, I turn it on. You’ll know when they enter the vehicle and the map in the FP is accurate enough to mark the truck's location.

Yes this. You’d think they would know we can basically “watch” the truck from afar. It tells every time any door or hood is opened yet they still want to bullshit us.

 

[MitchCox]

For folks that have the ability in their Fordpass app, the function called Securealert. Its really kind of useless because the schedules never seem to work.
When I take my truck to the dealer for work, I turn it on. You’ll know when they enter the vehicle and the map in the FP is accurate enough to mark the truck's location.

Yeah. I found that feature works sometime when I don’t want it to. Lol.
My dash cam footage is what I used to see that the just parked in the back lot. Didn’t touch it again till 7+ hours later.

 

[turbopilot]

Success. GWM finally loaded followed by a new APIM update that loaded fine as well. Took three days before Ford would allow the final GWM update that turned on BC.

Thanks to all on this thread that made it possible for an FDRS newbie to get this done. I started this process just to get the APIM/TCU unstuck for OTA updates. I got it unstuck with FDRS but overnight no OTA action so I decided to proceed to get BlueCruise working. Two full days of turning the truck off and on.

Things I learned:

* Best to have a fast, up to date Windows 10 computer.
* Fast USB thumb drive
* Fast internet connection
* A power maintainer to keep voltage over 13.
* A lot of patience.
* If you are starting from the stuck 1.7.1 update there is no way to bring the truck up to BlueCruise using the $50 two day FDRS license.

I have a tech background but no experience with FDRS or Ford module updates. Everything I learned for this effort came from this forum. Thanks to everyone giving me a hand.

 

[Snakebitten]

Success. GWM finally loaded followed by a new APIM update that loaded fine as well. Took three days before Ford would allow the final GWM update that turned on BC.

Thanks to all on this thread that made it possible for an FDRS newbie to get this done. I started this process just to get the APIM/TCU unstuck for OTA updates. I got it unstuck with FDRS but overnight no OTA action so I decide to proceed to get BlueCruise working. Two full days of turning the truck off and on.

Things I learned:

* Best to have a fast, up to date Windows 10 computer.
* Fast USB thumb drive
* Fast internet connection
* A power maintainer to keep voltage over 13.
* A lot of patience.
* If you are starting from the stuck 1.7.1 update there is no way to bring the truck up to BlueCruise using the $50 two day FDRS license.

I have a tech background but no experience with FDRS or Ford module updates. Everything I learned for this effort came from this forum. Thanks to everyone giving me a hand.

Congratulations!

Now everytime you venture into one of those threads regarding OTA and TSB...... And you read post after post of failure and livid customers regarding, YOU will know what it takes and why the dealerships are failing.

Put another way, you now know that you know what they don't know.

 

[turbopilot]

Put another way, you now know that you know what they don't know.

I thought the fine print warning was interesting at the bottom of the BlueCruise welcome. Apparently you have to keep current with updates to keep BlueCruise alive. Hope that is all OTA.

 

[imnuts]

Anyone in the Lexington, KY area that has the equipment and experience want to help me out. I’ll pay you for your troubles.
Figured it didn’t hurt to ask. Right?

I was looking at doing a Bourbon tour in Kentucky, though it'll probably be next year. Maybe I could do a road trip and help you out if you're still waiting by then?

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