Ford Early Access Program

[Nu2SDF350]

Anyone ever participate in Ford's Early Access Program, if so, what was your experience?

 

[donmatteo]

Anyone ever participate in Ford's Early Access Program, if so, what was your experience?

I'm part of it now.

It's been good so far. Nothing has bricked or done anything unexpected so far. I did get an email yesterday about 3 new releases in the next week or so. Looks like they are fixing a couple of things. The only thing is to give them very detailed feedback. Screenshots, details, things you notice. It's not like Apple where you don't have to give feedback. They will drop you if your feedback is lacking or you don't provide any.

This are the beta updates coming. Release notes aren't out yet.

SU13 is composed of three separate module updates:

• ECG (Central Computer)
• TCU (Connectivity)
• SYNC (Center Touchscreen)

Identifying the updates
Each will be delivered via its own over-the-air (OTA) update, and the heading in the release notes for each of these three updates will explicitly say "Software Update 13."

When to provide feedback
As always, you will receive an automatic email survey immediately after each module has successfully installed. Read through the OTA release notes in-vehicle or in your Ford App to identify any highlight features that can be tested and evaluated including what is working well, any improvements you notice, or any issues you encounter.

 

[Nu2SDF350]

Hey Donmatteo, thanks for the detailed response. I'm wondering if/when the trucks baseline SW configuration gets restored as the tests conclude? Do you end up with some unique off-cycle SW version? Do they ever inform you there could be an update that could set a OBD code, etc. or are these just for "nice to have" feature testability, like for example, the center screen functions? Thanks.

 

[donmatteo]

They are all OTA and get swapped out when the retail version is released. They aren't removed.

Some are nice to have's. Some are fixes. It depends. It's not limited to sync. It's various modules too.

It's also not Forscan friendly with the exception of TPMS from what I've found. It resets everything at times if the update applies to a specific module.

And yes, they still reset the middle screen on some updates and yes, I give that feedback every single time.

If you join, make sure your truck is connect to a home wifi. They tend to fail using the cellular connection from time to time.

 

[donmatteo]

Got a beta installed today. Update was limited to “enhanced central gateway”

Happy to report it did not reset screens or settings. Took a while to download and install.

I suspect the TCU should be installed shortly followed by the sync updates

 

[Nu2SDF350]

Thanks for the update !