Volt Meter / Gauge
10-04-2011, 07:46 PM
#12
Boost :)
Seriously? Do you have the 4.3" productivity screen in your gauge cluster? What trim level do you have? There is a trip A/B selection on that screen if you have it. The screen is entirely controlled via the left hand side of the steering wheel controls, so there is no traditional button for a trip meter that you might expect.
10-04-2011, 07:48 PM
#13
Boost :)
I've found on highway drives at night (which I do a lot with my job) it helps your eyes quite a bit to keep that screen dark and blank.
10-06-2011, 09:19 AM
#14
Got an email back from a Ford Engineer in which he advised that Ford decided to put a digital trasmission temp gauge into the LCD productivity screen instead of the volt meter because of the towing capabilities of the Eco Boost. He then stated that it was then just added to all the F150's that have the productivity screen. He further stated that all the vehicles have a volt and charging warning detection system that will display a red battery logo on the LCD screen if the vehicle is not charging correctly or the battery is low.
He did not answer any of my questions about a software update. He did however state that the blank screen in the Gauge mode of the productivity LCD screen was an error and not planned for anything.
He did not answer any of my questions about a software update. He did however state that the blank screen in the Gauge mode of the productivity LCD screen was an error and not planned for anything.
10-06-2011, 11:59 AM
#15
[Project Ironhide]
Got an email back from a Ford Engineer in which he advised that Ford decided to put a digital trasmission temp gauge into the LCD productivity screen instead of the volt meter because of the towing capabilities of the Eco Boost. He then stated that it was then just added to all the F150's that have the productivity screen. He further stated that all the vehicles have a volt and charging warning detection system that will display a red battery logo on the LCD screen if the vehicle is not charging correctly or the battery is low.
He did not answer any of my questions about a software update. He did however state that the blank screen in the Gauge mode of the productivity LCD screen was an error and not planned for anything.
He did not answer any of my questions about a software update. He did however state that the blank screen in the Gauge mode of the productivity LCD screen was an error and not planned for anything.
10-06-2011, 01:14 PM
#16
Just Another Member
Ford is missing a HUGE opportunity here. There's already a USB port on the truck, and although it's not wired to update the productivity screen, I have to imagine it wouldn't be that difficult to do. They could create a market for useful "apps" that you can add to your instrument cluster which would add value to owners and protect against future obsolescence when it comes to technology-heavy and dependent vehicles. FORD...ARE YOU LISTENING? We want tech toys in our trucks! Give me the ability to add gauges and apps to my screen!!!
Sorry to derail the thread, but I also see a really big missed opportunity for Ford in vehicle order tracking. It was SO F'ing frustrating for me, waiting for my truck, calling customer service every week to get a status update. Ford has all the back-end systems in place to track a vehicle order with some serious granularity - how expensive would it be to stand up a web interface that a customer can log into, enter a vehicle order number and get a status report themselves? GM does it, BMW does it, others do it... why not Ford? It would go a long way in customer satisfaction.
Again, my apologies for the derail, but I use the Torque app to provide me with missing information and I see all that wasted screen real estate on the "productivity" screen.
Rant over.
10-06-2011, 03:04 PM
#17
[Project Ironhide]
I couldn't agree with you more. As a software development manager, I see opportunities like this with both the productivity screen and SYNC, not to mention the full blown Nav panel (which I do not have). Heck, they could buy the code from the author of the Torque Android app and incorporate that - users could have whatever gauges they want!
Sorry to derail the thread, but I also see a really big missed opportunity for Ford in vehicle order tracking. It was SO F'ing frustrating for me, waiting for my truck, calling customer service every week to get a status update. Ford has all the back-end systems in place to track a vehicle order with some serious granularity - how expensive would it be to stand up a web interface that a customer can log into, enter a vehicle order number and get a status report themselves? GM does it, BMW does it, others do it... why not Ford? It would go a long way in customer satisfaction.
Again, my apologies for the derail, but I use the Torque app to provide me with missing information and I see all that wasted screen real estate on the "productivity" screen.
Rant over.
Sorry to derail the thread, but I also see a really big missed opportunity for Ford in vehicle order tracking. It was SO F'ing frustrating for me, waiting for my truck, calling customer service every week to get a status update. Ford has all the back-end systems in place to track a vehicle order with some serious granularity - how expensive would it be to stand up a web interface that a customer can log into, enter a vehicle order number and get a status report themselves? GM does it, BMW does it, others do it... why not Ford? It would go a long way in customer satisfaction.
Again, my apologies for the derail, but I use the Torque app to provide me with missing information and I see all that wasted screen real estate on the "productivity" screen.
Rant over.
10-06-2011, 03:40 PM
#18
ETTYOCEO ®
I couldn't agree with you more. As a software development manager, I see opportunities like this with both the productivity screen and SYNC, not to mention the full blown Nav panel (which I do not have). Heck, they could buy the code from the author of the Torque Android app and incorporate that - users could have whatever gauges they want!
Sorry to derail the thread, but I also see a really big missed opportunity for Ford in vehicle order tracking. It was SO F'ing frustrating for me, waiting for my truck, calling customer service every week to get a status update. Ford has all the back-end systems in place to track a vehicle order with some serious granularity - how expensive would it be to stand up a web interface that a customer can log into, enter a vehicle order number and get a status report themselves? GM does it, BMW does it, others do it... why not Ford? It would go a long way in customer satisfaction.
Again, my apologies for the derail, but I use the Torque app to provide me with missing information and I see all that wasted screen real estate on the "productivity" screen.
Rant over.
Sorry to derail the thread, but I also see a really big missed opportunity for Ford in vehicle order tracking. It was SO F'ing frustrating for me, waiting for my truck, calling customer service every week to get a status update. Ford has all the back-end systems in place to track a vehicle order with some serious granularity - how expensive would it be to stand up a web interface that a customer can log into, enter a vehicle order number and get a status report themselves? GM does it, BMW does it, others do it... why not Ford? It would go a long way in customer satisfaction.
Again, my apologies for the derail, but I use the Torque app to provide me with missing information and I see all that wasted screen real estate on the "productivity" screen.
Rant over.
10-06-2011, 03:51 PM
#19
Just Another Member
Indeed Coog. But have you actually seen Ford's order tracking system at the dealer? Dude, it's like MSDOS ported to WinXP. It's about as *** ugly and non-intuitive system as they get. Ford's doing a lot of things right, but IT and UX Design is not one of them. I think Ford needs to just hire us to run that ***** for them!!!
They could easily leave the existing system intact, do an ETL into Oracle or SQL Server and throw a nice interface on it for read-only access. Considering that we're talking about FMC, it would be small change for them.
Me being really selfish, now that I have my truck I am far less concerned with their ordering system than with the wasted potential of the systems they have in place in the truck. However, as an IT consultant and developer, I am interested in anything systems related.
Either way you are correct, they don't do IT very well.
10-06-2011, 05:07 PM
#20
'11 FX4 SCREW 5.ohh!
The blank screen is for just that. Those of us that don't want anything displayed on the screen while you are driving. The green MPG bar and all that info can be a bit distracting for some, so they put a blank screen on there so you can have nothing displayed there while driving if you want.
I've found on highway drives at night (which I do a lot with my job) it helps your eyes quite a bit to keep that screen dark and blank.
I've found on highway drives at night (which I do a lot with my job) it helps your eyes quite a bit to keep that screen dark and blank.
When I drive at night on the HWY, I set cruise, dim all the dash lights (off), and even flip my Pioneer deck open so it's no longer lit (still plays). It is so much nicer on my eyes. This is on my current vehicle, I don't have a f150 yet, but it would be nice to have that option.
I do agree also that it would be really cool if cluster screen was upgradeable.