Love & Hate my 2021 in snow

[94GT]

I gotta say the improvement from my 2017 to 2021 is awesome with the selectable modes. Living in Ohio and we have had 2 major storms in the last 3 weeks both dumping a ton of snow, rain, freezing rain at us. What I love is the "slippery road" setting, it seems like the truck is much more stable on adverse road conditions than with the previous option of "2/4H/4L"...not sure but it feels like it, also the "Deep Snow/Mud" allowed me to drive through 18" of snow on an unplowed roadway with ease. -- Now to the part that I hate about the truck- Every time I am out driving in a storm, and every single time I try to stop, or turn on the car I get the "Pre-Collision Assist" or "Rear Assisted braking" is not available and its gets to be a pain in the azz at every stop sign, especially when it pops up over your nav screen and you have to click close.....I get it, it needs to warm you about that, but is there a way to turn that notification off after you have seen it once? It would be great of Ford could add a "don't show me this again" button, after you acknowledge it the first time during a start/stop cycle.

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[psambrose]

I agree. Of course the sensors and cameras are going to have trouble in snowy conditions, but there needs to be a way of stopping the constant pop-up notifications. It is very distracting, especially when you are already trying to deal with bad weather conditions ahead of you.

 

[nsbreeding]

Unrelated to snow, if I have my tailgate down (to take out the trash to a nearby dumpster, I I live in the country), the truck beeps 7 different warnings to let me know the tailgate is down, cameras aren't working, backup assistant is off, or whatever else, it is a bit excessive. If not a "turn off warnings" at least a mute audible alerts would be nice. We don't get much snow in North Louisiana, but it is good to hear how well the slippery/snow modes work for when we do.

 

[Mash150]

I gotta say the improvement from my 2017 to 2021 is awesome with the selectable modes. Living in Ohio and we have had 2 major storms in the last 3 weeks both dumping a ton of snow, rain, freezing rain at us. What I love is the "slippery road" setting, it seems like the truck is much more stable on adverse road conditions than with the previous option of "2/4H/4L"...not sure but it feels like it, also the "Deep Snow/Mud" allowed me to drive through 18" of snow on an unplowed roadway with ease. -- Now to the part that I hate about the truck- Every time I am out driving in a storm, and every single time I try to stop, or turn on the car I get the "Pre-Collision Assist" or "Rear Assisted braking" is not available and its gets to be a pain in the azz at every stop sign, especially when it pops up over your nav screen and you have to click close.....I get it, it needs to warm you about that, but is there a way to turn that notification off after you have seen it once? It would be great of Ford could add a "don't show me this again" button, after you acknowledge it the first time during a start/stop cycle.

Totally agree with you on your post. Living near the US / Canada Border, winter can start as early as November and last well into March. With the PB the additional battery weight toward the rear helps a bit with the traction. But, those darned sensors are a pain as the truck has the whole package of all th sensors and cameras. When covered in ice/snow , it’s not uncommon to have them all going off at the same time when shifting into drive sitting in the middle of the driveway. Had to turn off everything I could find in the menus to be able to drive for a few days before I was able to get all the sensors cleared to stop the beeping. And sometimes the sensors go off with no apparent obstructions.

 

[Jus Cruisin]

I don't care how good the truck is in the snow..... I hate snow...... I really try to avoid driving in that crap...

 

[discothan]

Unrelated to snow, if I have my tailgate down (to take out the trash to a nearby dumpster, I I live in the country), the truck beeps 7 different warnings to let me know the tailgate is down, cameras aren't working, backup assistant is off, or whatever else, it is a bit excessive. If not a "turn off warnings" at least a mute audible alerts would be nice. We don't get much snow in North Louisiana, but it is good to hear how well the slippery/snow modes work for when we do.

Now where is that @Ford Motor Company person to help grab your VIN # and closes dealership to help you get this fixed for you.

 

[Shooter56]

2021 Lariat Powerboost with 501a package. I live in Colorado. Only one snow storm so far this year. 8” last week, so I used the slippery setting. It worked fine. Maybe a little better feel than 4A. Never used deep snow/mud setting or 4H. I had no warnings pop up until a few days later when my washer fluid got low.

I’ve never had a warning or noises telling me my tailgate was down either. I wish it did let me know. I lost a bucket of tools by driving off with the tailgate down. Had to kick my own ass for that move. I now wonder if the tailgate open warning might be a setting that can be turned on or off. I’ll have to check that.

 

[GolfR]

I completely agree with this. It's downright distracting that every time you put it in reverse/drive it throws the same warnings. When the front parking sensors get frozen over, I get warnings every time I slow down as it thinks that I'm parking and going to hit something.

Similar thing happens when you have a trailer attached that shifting into reverse gets the "cross traffic/rear brake assist not enabled" warning. It's downright maddening when trying to position a trailer that hitting this once doesn't disable the warnings. EVERY FREAKING TIME you shift into reverse you have to hit OK at least once.

I did notice last weekend when driving through some snow that the front collision/adaptive cruise control sensor goes a little crazy before deciding that it's iced over. The truck almost rear ended a car that changed lanes in front of me while doing a weird accelerated/break sequence. After I hit the breaks, the adaptive cruise threw the disabled warning and wouldn't turn back on. The plastic pieces to the left and right of the front license plate were crusted with ice/snow which I'm sure was the cause.

I found that the deep mud/snow/sand setting wasn't the best for deep snow. It worked great on sand when I was at the beach this past summer but on snow it breaks the tires loose too quickly. Shifting into 4L while in mud/snow/sand seemed to be the best solution for the deep snow.

I will admit that I had a lot of fun in 4H with the traction control turned off in a iced over mall parking lot. You have to hold the traction control button down so the system is completely disabled because the stability system will randomly decide to try to straighten you out which can be dangerous if you are drifting ;-)

 

[kb2755]

2021 Lariat Powerboost with 501a package. I live in Colorado. Only one snow storm so far this year. 8” last week, so I used the slippery setting. It worked fine. Maybe a little better feel than 4A. Never used deep snow/mud setting or 4H. I had no warnings pop up until a few days later when my washer fluid got low.

I’ve never had a warning or noises telling me my tailgate was down either. I wish it did let me know. I lost a bucket of tools by driving off with the tailgate down. Had to kick my own ass for that move. I now wonder if the tailgate open warning might be a setting that can be turned on or off. I’ll have to check that.

I popped my tailgate with the truck still running to let some guys get out and grab their stuff. As I was about to take off again, the truck kept flashing "check tailgate" at me even though it was firmly closed. Couldn't make it go away after opening/closing a few times, until I just drove off and it disappeared. Not the most confidence inspiring experience.

 

[Booms]

I agree with everything on this post.
I am also in OH. Before moving to OH lived in northern WI for 40 years. Driving in the snow is not an issue, I find it extremely fun!
However, one thing drives me crazy with the f150. With any snow on the ground if the rear wheels slip the traction control kicks in. Which is good. What is bad that if it continues to sense slip the truck stops spinning the wheels all together. I had my foot on the gas and I was sliding backwards down our driveway with the rear wheels not even trying to go up. The programming for the traction control is terrible. Seems like the ABS system is being used to break versus varying the RPM.
Frustrating.
Our other vehicles made it up the driveway with two wheel drive.

 

[nsbreeding]

I completely agree with this. It's downright distracting that every time you put it in reverse/drive it throws the same warnings. When the front parking sensors get frozen over, I get warnings every time I slow down as it thinks that I'm parking and going to hit something.

I realize there may be some liability the Ford lawyers are trying to cover, but how about an agreement screen that you understand, yada yada, yada, or put an indicator light on the dash show the cameras, backup assists etc are disabled, then it is the user's fault not Fords when we back into something.

 

[MN_Hockey_Fan]

I haven't noticed the notifications continuing to hound me during the same trip. Just once at startup when the front and/or rear sensors are ice covered.

In the two snow storms I've driven in thus far, both have completely covered the tailgate and bumper in hard packed snow that isn't easy to remove. Neither would brush off completely and took a warm snap or a trip to the do it yourself carwash to completely remove (and clear the Rear Assisted braking message. I never recall as much snow accumulating on my prior 2009 and 2014's.

I love the 4A setting, should try the drive modes.

 

[GolfR]

I agree with everything on this post.
I am also in OH. Before moving to OH lived in northern WI for 40 years. Driving in the snow is not an issue, I find it extremely fun!
However, one thing drives me crazy with the f150. With any snow on the ground if the rear wheels slip the traction control kicks in. Which is good. What is bad that if it continues to sense slip the truck stops spinning the wheels all together. I had my foot on the gas and I was sliding backwards down our driveway with the rear wheels not even trying to go up. The programming for the traction control is terrible. Seems like the ABS system is being used to break versus varying the RPM.
Frustrating.
Our other vehicles made it up the driveway with two wheel drive.

I've noticed this too. It's a dangerous situation if you are trying to pull out of an intersection. It's like the accelerator pedal goes dead. The first time it happened, I thought the truck shut off.

 

[EricR]

FWIW, topping and clearing the snow off the radar sensors in the bumpers makes the warnings go away for us.

 

[psambrose]

FWIW, topping and clearing the snow off the radar sensors in the bumpers makes the warnings go away for us.

Yes, until the blizzard you are driving through covers them up again.

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