Software Updates
Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 3,770
Likes: 2,178
From: SE Michigan
Mine was built in April 2021 and I bought in Sept 2021 also. All OTAs came through fine until 3.5.3 Got stuck halfway through and now won't complete....guess I'll have to wait until Ford resends since I'm unwilling to spring for a Mongoose. Why should we have to manage this ourselves and reward Ford for sloppy maintenance procedures?
You don't necessarily have to "manage this yourself", but you might have to have someone else service it. These vehicles aren't named 'Jesus'. 😀
P.S. - Many times, Ford resending an OTA update won't address the root cause of why they are failing.
Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2023
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
From: Leander, TX
Just bought a 21 Platinum PowerBoost and seems to be still on 2.7.3, I had my auto update scheduled to run at 1am last night and connected to my home wifi. I don't see anything changed this morning, could someone lookup my vin?
1FTFW1ED6MFA94687
1FTFW1ED6MFA94687
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 117
Likes: 16
Just bought a 21 Platinum PowerBoost and seems to be still on 2.7.3, I had my auto update scheduled to run at 1am last night and connected to my home wifi. I don't see anything changed this morning, could someone lookup my vin?
1FTFW1ED6MFA94687
1FTFW1ED6MFA94687
Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2023
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
From: Leander, TX
Someone will chime in with your results from your VIN but the updates don’t come just because you set up your auto updates and connect to wi-fi. Read through this complete thread to see what everyone has been through to get theirs to update. Yours will come in time as long as it’s not stuck.
We do understand it needs to be issued in order for the update to take
Thanks for the update
Last edited by onilink67; Feb 12, 2023 at 12:12 PM.
Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 3,534
Likes: 2,586
From: Livonia, MI
Read a bunch of it but no not going to read 424 pages, so far cliff notes are Ford has an interesting update process which we don't fully understand but we do have observation data. Just bought the truck so hard to know if updates failed or it's stuck which was the reason for the request.
We do understand it needs to be issued in order for the update to take
Thanks for the update
We do understand it needs to be issued in order for the update to take
Thanks for the update
Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2023
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
From: Leander, TX
Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 3,534
Likes: 2,586
From: Livonia, MI
Yeah, I mean I would be lying if I said the version wasn't a bit odd. I scrolled through my FordPass history and I got 2.7.3 in June, and 2.7.4 came a couple days later.
There isn't a sign of any failed updates, those would appear still in the page and give a reason, like low battery voltage. This just goes back to there being no obvious rhyme or reason why some get updates immediately and some don't. I was a few months behind it seemed most other '21 owners getting BlueCruise by OTA. Then when the full screen CarPlay updates came around, I seemed to be one of the earlier ones (at least based on this site). So I dunno.
There isn't a sign of any failed updates, those would appear still in the page and give a reason, like low battery voltage. This just goes back to there being no obvious rhyme or reason why some get updates immediately and some don't. I was a few months behind it seemed most other '21 owners getting BlueCruise by OTA. Then when the full screen CarPlay updates came around, I seemed to be one of the earlier ones (at least based on this site). So I dunno.
Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2022
Posts: 10
Likes: 0
Software. Ford didn't want to push back the release of the new F150's, so they shipped them to dealers with the promise that the missing features would work once they got the updates over the air. The problem is, their OTA process was new and untested, and as it turns out, it sucks and it sucks hard. So one early update in particular, 1.7.1, was causing trucks to get stuck and not receive any more updates. To this day, Ford still hasn't sent out a fix for these trucks. The only way to get the truck past that update is to update manually using FDRS. Due to how new they were and lack of knowledge and training from the factory to the techs that work in dealers, most dealers didn't know how to fix the issue. After you try to update the APIM a few times and the update fails, it locks you out of it for 20 days (I think it's 20) before you can even attempt to update it again. That's if you were even able to convince the dealer to try and update your truck, because Ford doesn't pay dealers labor hours to update modules unless very specific conditions are met, so owners are just getting the run around and BS excuses from their dealers.
Now, months and months after the fact, it is more common knowledge and dealers have gotten better at getting these trucks out of OTA purgatory. The thing is, by the time Ford and dealers figured out what was going down, the online community had already figured out the problem and how to fix it. The problem is, the tool you need to update your truck is not cheap, and on top of that, you need to pay Ford for access to their software to be able to use the tool and update it yourself. So basically, you have to reward Ford for their ineptitude by giving them money in order to fix the truck they should be fixing themselves. Here we are with people taking delivery of their 2023 trucks, a refresh coming for 2024, and people like you still don't have the truck they paid for. It's ridiculous, and Ford ought to be damn ashamed of themselves.
Now, months and months after the fact, it is more common knowledge and dealers have gotten better at getting these trucks out of OTA purgatory. The thing is, by the time Ford and dealers figured out what was going down, the online community had already figured out the problem and how to fix it. The problem is, the tool you need to update your truck is not cheap, and on top of that, you need to pay Ford for access to their software to be able to use the tool and update it yourself. So basically, you have to reward Ford for their ineptitude by giving them money in order to fix the truck they should be fixing themselves. Here we are with people taking delivery of their 2023 trucks, a refresh coming for 2024, and people like you still don't have the truck they paid for. It's ridiculous, and Ford ought to be damn ashamed of themselves.
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: May 2021
Posts: 218
Likes: 98
OK, after 4 months after a short drive I got 2.8.1 downloaded to my truck a second time. I just attempted to get it to load (10A battery charger connected, hood closed, doors locked after initializing it, parking break set, voodoo doll of Ford engineer ready to get skewered). It failed a few minutes in as it did last October. I am going to wait one hour to make sure the battery is fully charged before trying again.
Not sure if it means anything but last week I did a reset of the Battery Management system (BMS). It is still the original battery.
Vin - 1FTFW1E84MFA54210
Not sure if it means anything but last week I did a reset of the Battery Management system (BMS). It is still the original battery.
Vin - 1FTFW1E84MFA54210
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: May 2021
Posts: 218
Likes: 98
I don't believe it, after 4 months I got 2.8.1 to load!
I let the battery get fully charged before the second attempt today. With the battery charger and VOM connected, I started the update. This time while watching the volt meter, when I noticed the battery voltage dropping down to around 12.5V I kicked the battery charger from 10A to 50A setting. Battery voltage came up to about 13.6V. The screen was still showing the "Preparing Updates" spinning circle. Then for the first time I got to the actual update screen with the bar graph on the bottom. I changed the charger back to 10A, and the battery voltage stayed about 12.7V until the update was done.
So 2 years after my truck was built, 22 months since taking delivery, I hope I finely catch up with the updates. Back in October I tried to get this to load over a dozen times, several times with the battery charger connected set at 10A. Note I had the truck into the dealer recently and specifically asked them to test the battery, which they claim it tested good. If my battery is good, there is NO WAY this update can be done without a battery charger. I suspect the update does a load test on the battery before kicking off the update (which I got past by switching the charger to 50A).
I let the battery get fully charged before the second attempt today. With the battery charger and VOM connected, I started the update. This time while watching the volt meter, when I noticed the battery voltage dropping down to around 12.5V I kicked the battery charger from 10A to 50A setting. Battery voltage came up to about 13.6V. The screen was still showing the "Preparing Updates" spinning circle. Then for the first time I got to the actual update screen with the bar graph on the bottom. I changed the charger back to 10A, and the battery voltage stayed about 12.7V until the update was done.
So 2 years after my truck was built, 22 months since taking delivery, I hope I finely catch up with the updates. Back in October I tried to get this to load over a dozen times, several times with the battery charger connected set at 10A. Note I had the truck into the dealer recently and specifically asked them to test the battery, which they claim it tested good. If my battery is good, there is NO WAY this update can be done without a battery charger. I suspect the update does a load test on the battery before kicking off the update (which I got past by switching the charger to 50A).
