Wow, Ford Killing Vehicle health Reports

[Howie411]

Got this email tonight and so did my wife for her Cmax. What a kick in the nuts to stop supporting a feature of my 4 year old car.

 

 

We'd like to thank you for registering this email to receive complimentary Vehicle Health Reports for your 2014 Ford Fusion. We hope that you have enjoyed this service that we've offered over the years to Owners of 2008 - 2016 Model Year Ford SYNC^® -equipped vehicles. Unfortunately, the necessary decision has been made to discontinue this service and we want to make sure that you're aware of how this impacts your receipt of the reports. Consistent with the Terms & Conditions in the user agreement and starting August 1^st, 2018, this change will result in the following:

• Vehicle Health Information will no longer be sent through the mobile phone associated with this account
• Vehicle Health Reports will no longer be sent to this Email
• Vehicle Health Reports will no longer be available on the Ford Owner website

For more information regarding this change, including alternative ways to obtain Vehicle Health information, please review this Frequently Asked Questions page on the Ford Owner site.

Again, we appreciate you taking advantage of this complimentary service that we've brought to Ford Owners over the years and want you to know that you can still take advantage of the many technology features available in your vehicle. If you are not already aware of these features, click here and select the Year, Make, and Model of your vehicle to find out what options are available.

Thank you for being a member of our Ford family and we look forward to our next opportunity to serve you!

[mwr]

I ran the report a few times but never really saw the point or value of it.

[md13ffhguy]

I ran the report a few times but never really saw the point or value of it.

Agreed. It was so generic as to be totally useless to me for my 2013 and 2014 vehicles. Told me nothing I didn't already know. Edited April 17, 2018 by md13ffhguy

[Zathrus]

The VHR was useful to display the Oil Life Monitor (% of life remaining before oil change).

 

Looks like Ford is indeed abandoning support for Sync 2 users. I also received email today from Ford stating Vehicle Health Report for Sync 2 users will be discontinued effective August 1, 2018. More info available here:

https://owner.ford.c...inued-faqs.html

Really bad move on Fords part. I'm pretty sure continuing this existing feature would not cost them much money. What will cost them money is people remembering Ford's poor support of Sync 2 when they decide to purchase their next vehicle (from someone other than Ford).

[murphy]

The VHR transmitted data to Ford using the customer's cell phone which means the customer paid for the transmission.

I have a 2013 Fusion Energi with My Ford Mobile, which uses a built-in data transceiver on the AT&T cellular network, to transmit data to and from the car. That transmission is on Ford's dime so far. Will that be next on the chopping block?

 

Ford, who I worked for at Philco-Ford back in the 60s, is falling behind. The Energi just bumped its electric range from 21 miles to 25 miles after 5 years. Meanwhile the 2018 Honda Clarity PHEV is rated at 47 miles in all electric mode. I wonder if the 4 mile bump was so the Clarity wouldn't be more than double the Energi range.

 

I expected there to be a much more capable Energi by now. Instead my other car is a Tesla model S.

[sschnath]

The VHR was useful to display the Oil Life Monitor (% of life remaining before oil change).

 

 

Same data is available via a couple of button pushes on the steering wheel. Always felt it was more work to generate the report and then have to review it online than to look at the data in the car directly.

Edited April 17, 2018 by sschnath

[ethermion]

 

Same data is available via a couple of button pushes on the steering wheel. Always felt it was more work to generate the report and then have to review it online than to look at the data in the car directly.

 

Yup.

[Zathrus]

 

Same data is available via a couple of button pushes on the steering wheel. Always felt it was more work to generate the report and then have to review it online than to look at the data in the car directly.

 

Interesting. The OLM data is not available on any of my 2013 CMax menus (pretty sure I went through all in car menus). I'll check on the CMax forum if someone there knows menu path. Thanks.

Edited April 18, 2018 by Zathrus

[lolder]

I think the point is the report was sent to your designated Ford dealer which now will not be done. Ford has been going downhill since CEO Malally left in '14. All they care about now is making big profits from the pickups and SUVs.

[murphy]

The report has been sent to my email address, when I ran the VHR, for the last 9 years. The only time my Ford dealer has seen it is when I printed it out and showed it to him.

The first time he did not know what it was or where I got it.

[Waldo]

I think the point is the report was sent to your designated Ford dealer which now will not be done. Ford has been going downhill since CEO Malally left in '14. All they care about now is making big profits from the pickups and SUVs.

 

Remember this only affects older Ford vehicles, the ones that are out of warranty where very few people ever go back to the dealer anyway.

 

Ford's stated they will have modems in 100% of the cars sold in the US in 2019. That system will provide much, much better data to the dealers (when authorized by the customer).

[lolder]

OK.

[Timewellspent]

 

Remember this only affects older Ford vehicles,

 

I wouldn't call 2016 old and out of warranty. Also I don't think the VHR was even an option on 2017 or newer. I don't see what benefit they gain by stopping this option.

 

I didn't use it that much, but it was nice to have the Recalls show when running the report.

[Waldo]

 

I wouldn't call 2016 old and out of warranty. Also I don't think the VHR was even an option on 2017 or newer. I don't see what benefit they gain by stopping this option.

 

I didn't use it that much, but it was nice to have the Recalls show when running the report.

 

My guess is that it would require updates of some sort to be compliant with the latest privacy/security protocols and they decided it wasn't worth spending money to keep it updated.

 

Recalls for my 2014 show up on the FordPass app.