Daytime Running lights?

[milleron]

Good luck, & I mean that sincerely. I've wasted hours & driven at least 100 miles to various dealers around Columbus OH. None of them can figure out how to enable my DRLs, & they all eventually spout the Ford corporate line: "DRLs cannot be enabled on your vehicle." I'm at the epicenter of incompetence in the Ford world.

If anyone has a clue about why this task is so drop-dead easy for many Ford dealers & impossible for others, I'd certainly appreciate hearing it. Around here, I'd have better luck asking these dillrods to stand on their heads while juggling chainsaws.

[milleron]

(Duplicate post entered in error)

Edited December 22, 2013 by milleron

[Eddie Sessum]

Question here, have you checked with a Lincoln dealer? The mkz has a drl option on the window stickers and they may know where it is.

[acdii]

Good luck, & I mean that sincerely. I've wasted hours & driven at least 100 miles to various dealers around Columbus OH. None of them can figure out how to enable my DRLs, & they all eventually spout the Ford corporate line: "DRLs cannot be enabled on your vehicle." I'm at the epicenter of incompetence in the Ford world.

If anyone has a clue about why this task is so drop-dead easy for many Ford dealers & impossible for others, I'd certainly appreciate hearing it. Around here, I'd have better luck asking these dillrods to stand on their heads while juggling chainsaws.

If you are ever in Chicago, give me a PM and I can set you up with my dealer who can do it without any issues.

[Howie411]

Just got my DRL turned on for my '14 FFH Titanium. Was having my HD radio fixed and asked them to turn it on. The service tech looked at me and said he didn't think my car had them. I handed him a print out of where they were in the system from one of the other posts.

 

Anyways when I got my car an hour later they HD radio was fixed and the DRL were on.

[acdii]

Pretty sad when a forum member knows more about a car than the tech working on it does. :)

[GrySql]

"The service tech looked at me and said he didn't think my car had them. I handed him a print out of where they were in the system from one of the other posts.

Anyways when I got my car an hour later they HD radio was fixed and the DRL were on."

 

I love it when 'the forum strikes again'.

I know what Ashley told me about the DRL's but I also know that many Dealerships don't have people that are good enough at their jobs.

Of course the Dealerships are privately owned but the professionalism, training and supervision is what counts.

Edited December 26, 2013 by GrySql

[FordService]

Hi, everyone.

 

I'm looking into this now to see what, if anything, we can do about the varying responses you've been getting from your dealers. Hang tight for a bit while I investigate. :detective:

 

Ashley

[milleron]

Hi, everyone.

 

I'm looking into this now to see what, if anything, we can do about the varying responses you've been getting from your dealers. Hang tight for a bit while I investigate. :detective:

 

Ashley

That is very, very much appreciated, Ashley. If you can call some of the dealerships that forum members have indicated can get this task done easily, it might be possible to compile a set of explicit instructions for the know-nothing techs some of us are encountering. I've even provided a printed list of four dealerships where DRLs are easily enabled, and the techs here in Columbus don't even have the gumption to ring them up for instructions. They just call Ford, get told that FFHs "don't have DRLs," accept that information which cannot possibly be true, even when I show them posts from this forum disproving it, and immediately give up.

Like Howie411, I printed out the details given early in this thread, but it did no good because the techs, including the EV-certified guy and the Service Manager, couldn't even find the menu entries. Therefore, I'm suspecting that part of it may be that the dealerships are sloppy in keeping their service laptops' software current, If you're looking into it by talking to service centers that CAN get this done, ascertaining the software version on their laptops, would be mandatory. I don't see any reason other than obsolete software that could explain why enabling DRLs could be drop-dead simple for so many techs and totally impossible for others, even when we put printed instructions right into their hands.

 

Thanks again. Your participation is exactly what we need.

[Former Expedition owner]

I'm bringing my '13 FFHTi in for it's first oil change tomorrow and will be asking them to turn on the daytime running lights.

 

I have a copy of GrySql's post with the Body Control Module>Daylight Running Lamps>program Module>Re-test location to provide to the Service Dept.

[murphy]

I'm bringing my '13 FFHTi in for it's first oil change tomorrow and will be asking them to turn on the daytime running lights.

 

I have a copy of GrySql's post with the Body Control Module>Daylight Running Lamps>program Module>Re-test location to provide to the Service Dept.

That instruction is a little misleading.

What it says is go to

Body Control Module > Daylight Running Lamps

and program the module to enable the lights

and then test to verify that the procedure worked.

 

My dealer couldn't be bothered to even try.

He said he didn't have the "resources" which may mean his computer system is not up to date.

[milleron]

That's the same printout I gave my service manager. No joy here, but good luck.

[milleron]

That's the same printout I gave my service manager. No joy here, but good luck.

[Former Expedition owner]

I picked up my '13 HyTi at the dealer today after an oil change and can report that they turned on the daytime running lights for no charge. I included a copy of GrySql's post in the night time drop envelope with my key. No calls, no questions, no excuses, just done. No problem!

Edited January 2, 2014 by Former Expedition owner

[FordService]

Hi everyone,

 

So, tonight I get to be the bearer of bad news. :(

 

I'm unable to get involved in the DRL issue because they are only supposed to be activated for those who have ordered cars through fleet sales. Technically, your dealers aren't supposed to be activating them for you. I definitely can't stop you from telling one another where to go or how to do it, but I'm not able to facilitate any of it. I've made it very clear that this is something you guys want changed, so we'll just have to see what happens down the road.

 

Ashley

[GrySql]

Hi everyone,

So, tonight I get to be the bearer of bad news. :(

I'm unable to get involved in the DRL issue because they are only supposed to be activated for those who have ordered cars through fleet sales. Technically, your dealers aren't supposed to be activating them for you. I definitely can't stop you from telling one another where to go or how to do it, but I'm not able to facilitate any of it. I've made it very clear that this is something you guys want changed, so we'll just have to see what happens down the road.

Ashley

Thanks for telling it straight but your answer is not unexpected.

I hope Ford listens to you, an option for the customer in the Settings of the left Display can't be that hard.

I sure see a lot of Fusions in my travels that have them turned on.

 

As for those outlaw Dealers that turn them on, it seems simple to me.

Dealers that make their customers happy get return business.

[hybridbear]

Hi everyone,

 

So, tonight I get to be the bearer of bad news. :(

 

I'm unable to get involved in the DRL issue because they are only supposed to be activated for those who have ordered cars through fleet sales. Technically, your dealers aren't supposed to be activating them for you. I definitely can't stop you from telling one another where to go or how to do it, but I'm not able to facilitate any of it. I've made it very clear that this is something you guys want changed, so we'll just have to see what happens down the road.

 

Ashley

Very sorry to hear this, but thank you very much for trying. I hope that our requests won't fall on deaf ears and that soon Ford will release information to dealers of how to turn on DRLs for Fusions if the customer requests it.

[corncobs]

I agree with GrySql and HB that this a very sad statement by Ford. I never understud what DRL have to do with fleet orders. That the option is just a checkbox bit somewhere in the car's computer system is clear to everyone that knows just a little bit about modern technology.

 

It's not even an additional piece of hardware like most today's European Ford models have (LED DRLs in the area of the fog lights) For the US model it's just the headlight at 50% power.

 

I would really like to know why Ford NA is so against activating DRLs ( at least that's what it seems like) while they are adding more and more awesome active safety feature to our cars. Why is it so hard to provide the most basic passive safety feature there is IMO > DRL.

Edited January 3, 2014 by corncobs

[murphy]

It's really sad that Ford will not support a known safety feature for non-fleet orders. Why is it okay for a fleet car but not a retail car? The car has the capability. It's required in Canada. Most (all?) GM vehicles have had DRLs for years. This position makes no sense at all since it is trivial for someone that knows what they are doing to enable them. Maybe it's time to get them made a requirement for all cars in the USA.

[mrobinso8]

Someone up the food chain who probably has someone else drive them probably made the decision. Just like congress and its rulings. The decisions do nothing about their life. GrySql has it right about dealers. I have keep my 13 hybrid due to the dealer trying to fix problems and not the quality of the car. They try to fix issues, not dodge them.

[acdii]

State Law, Headlights must be on when raining and in Fog. Well, if you have automatic headlights, you dont even think about turning them on, and if the rain isnt enough to trigger the wipers, the headlights wont go on. You would think that Ford would welcome the fact that owners WANT something like this, and not have it forced upon them by Congress.

[Former Expedition owner]

I called my insurance company this morning and had them note that I have daytime running lights on my '13 HyTi.

 

This reduced my annual premium by $17.

[acdii]

I never even thought about that. I should do the same, see if I can get it reduced.

[gkinla]

Hi everyone,

 

So, tonight I get to be the bearer of bad news. :(

 

I'm unable to get involved in the DRL issue because they are only supposed to be activated for those who have ordered cars through fleet sales. Technically, your dealers aren't supposed to be activating them for you. I definitely can't stop you from telling one another where to go or how to do it, but I'm not able to facilitate any of it. I've made it very clear that this is something you guys want changed, so we'll just have to see what happens down the road.

 

Ashley

 

 

After reading Ashley's post, I got to thinking about fleet sales. GrySql and I bought our cars through Autoland and were able to have the DRL turned on without problems. Autoland purchases autos through the fleet sales department. The people that are getting, we can't turn on the DRL, I'm wondering if they were straight dealer purchases and not through a fleet sales, Maybe this has something to do with it. I know one of my contacts at my dealer is a fleet sales manager. I'd be curious to know those that are getting refused and those that are getting the DRL turned, on how the car was purchased, fleet or dealer sales?

Edited January 4, 2014 by gkinla

[Eddie Sessum]

Talking about DRL's and the laws. DRL's are NOT enough for the lights in the rain law. The rear lights on the car dont come on therefor it doesnt help on that one.

 

 

Does anybody here remember the whole GM lawsuit in the late 90s over the DRL's? They lost a ton of money on a couple of wreaks that involved the person driving at night with just DRL's and no taillights. Im sure there is many more issues that were caused by this with tickets but it didnt get much attention in the media.