When Good Software Updates For Electric Cars GO BAD

When Good Software Updates For Electric Cars GO BAD

Overthe software updates are now very much an expected feature for any new EV not only can your car learn new tips and tricks as are developed by your automaker but if there’s a particular issue with your vehicle that would traditionally require an in-person recall visit to a dealership to have

Your vehicle reprogrammed you can often have that same issue fixed via an overthe a software update recall campaign I’m not going to get into the ins and outs of this okay technically we can use software update or recall but recall is to fix something that is in violation of

Official safety standards for the country where the vehicle is in let’s just leave it there and let legislators and Regulators battle out if and when changes to that definition are required while Tesla wasn’t the first automaker to offer remote telematics and connectivity for its Vehicles Mercedes-Benz Cadillac and a few others

Were doing that in the late 1990s Tesla was the first to offer overthe a software update in a large volume production vehicle if you own a Tesla made since 2012 and in the case of some older Teslas you opted to have the modem upgraded to an LTE version so you could

Still make use of onboard telematics when its respective 3G network was deactivated your car can still get OTA updates since Tesla first started otaa it’s been joined by most rival automakers in the EV space with everyone from rivan and Lucid to GM and Ford offering over theair software updates

For the most part otaa updates take place seamlessly often at night when you’re not using the vehicle although the specifics of how each update is applied does depend on the exact vehicle you have any preferences pertaining to OTA updates you may have set up and who

It was who made your car but over the recent holiday period we heard of the ultimate Horror Story for anyone whose car is capable of OTA a failed update that left an owner’s car in an undrivable state so today I’m going to examine this particular update one of a

Ford Mustang Mark E examine some of the past software updates that have caused glitches for various automakers and ask if there’s anything you can do to help avoid becoming someone whose car breaks itself Otaa updates are all the rage these days everyone’s doing it and they can help both automakers and owners reduce the number of service visits and improve overall vehicle operability without otaa for example many EV owners today won’t be able to look forward to a future where they could with the help of an

Adapter make use of any Tesla superchargers as seamlessly as they might use other charging stations from other providers don’t worry Kate’s doing a video All About That very spoon I mean soon without overthe a update they may not be able to pull the switch on some feature or other that shipped with their

Cars but was deactivated at the point of sale something like Tesla FSD beta or perhaps as in the case of my truck adaptive headlights and without otaa updates we wouldn’t so easily or quickly get improved charging curves or tweaked battery management software all designed to let our cars drive further charge

More quickly and have a longer happier life and it’s here that we turn our attention to Ford and it’s over theair software update system A system that allows customers cars to receive Ford power up software updates through either the vehicles built in data modem or by connecting your car to a local Wi-Fi

Networ Network Ford has been offering power up for some of its vehicles for some time and both its current electric vehicle lineup as well as some of its newer internal combustion engine Vehicles can receive them just about two weeks ago we started to hear stories of Ford Mustang mark ease that effectively

Became bricks meaning they couldn’t move under their own power after Ford’s PowerUp software version 6.8 not failed to properly finish loading in infected cars and that meant the center touchscreen display showed a warning message that read quote unfortunately a recent software update was not successful your vehicle cannot be driven

End quote it then gave the telephone number for Ford’s customer relationship Center and displayed onscreen instructions designed to instruct tow truck operators on how to properly and safely put the car onto a flatbed tow truck for transportation to a local dealership because Ford pushes its updates in waves to its credit Ford was

Able to Halt the process of pushing updates to any more vehicles and we are actually filming this the first day back after the New Year break and as at the time of filming and editing haven’t yet heard back from Ford as to what exactly happened but Ford is pretty responsive

To Media inquiries so when we do hear back we’ll let you know browse forums like Mark E forum and you’ll see a few people affected by the story but for any issue like this there are also going to be owners who aren’t Forum members who are likely having the same issue according to

Secondhand evidence posted on some forums and on Facebook it appears other Ford models also had some recent issues with software updates Ford Broncos and F150s all appear to have been affected to some extent and Ford is working to get all affected vehicles fixed and back on the road what does that look like

Well after being towed to a local dealership Ford technicians have to manually connect the onboard computer to a laptop reset some software fail codes set by the failed update codes which are setting error conditions and prevent further attempted over theair updates until cleared and then manually update the vehicle system using fdrs Ford’s

System that allows mechanics to repr program modules in Ford vehicles using a laptop and a special dongle both ones with and overthe a software update capabilities run the same software we don’t know how many vehicles were affected by the issue I did ask Ford but again we haven’t heard back yet

But one thing that does confuse me is how I was originally told Ford’s Mustang Mark E onboard update system would work back in 2019 at that point I seem to recall Ford told journalists that the Mustang Mark E would use a system similar to The Dual bios systems found in some high-end

Gaming computers downloading the software update in the background and then flashing it to the car’s computer system but then and only when you turn the car back on would it switch to using the new software update which seamlessly ensured that even if there was a failed

Update you could go back to the previous version and you’d not be left with a bricked vehicle now that’s clearly not what we got in the production vehicle and maybe it’s me maybe I misunderstood The Briefing during the car’s launch or indeed something changed with the production vehicle which was released a

Full year after the reveal event that I attended I’m not a technician and I don’t know the differences between the Prototype and production model but what I should note again is that I have asked Ford for clarification and you’ve guessed it we’ll let you know as soon as we hear

Something regulars to the channel will also know that I’ve experienced my own issues with Ford’s overthe a software update system namely a faulty 12volt battery prevented my truck from carrying out a particular over-the-air software update but after I had that 12vt accessory battery replaced under warranty everything updated as it should

And I’ve not had any further problems updates so far have taken place as planned and I’ve had a few software updates since that point that have updated without any problems at all but look it’s obviously not particularly good to have a car you rely on become an expensive paperweight and

While those who’ve had their cars towed to the dealerships are now starting to get their cars back all fixed the chances are you probably don’t want to get yourself this situation in the first place so I’m going to give you some tips and tricks to avoid becoming someone

With a bricked vehicle in a second but let’s just tackle the elephant in the room OTA update failures are rare but they happen and they happen to many different types of car we’ve heard of Tesla otaa updates fail in the past and not so long ago rivan pushed an

Over-the-air software update that caused some pretty big headaches takes for its customers pretty much every automaker to date who uses OTA has at some point or another had a failed update or something go wrong but luckily even if an update has the potential to cause problems it

Doesn’t always mean it will why do those failures happen it could be for any number of reasons it could be a lack of testing at the automaker in question or maybe an error compiling the final update for a particular set of vehicles or frankly even a cosmic ray sometimes an error in

Transmission can even cause the problem sometimes it’s literally just bad luck and I’m not kidding about the cosmic ray if you are not a super nerd and you don’t already know about cosmic ray bit flips Google it and I’ll also leave a link to a video in the down

Belowing that you can blow your mind with it’s really mindblowing you usually if an overthe a update is foar don’t look that one up if you are with someone of a nervous disposition it doesn’t actually cause problems because various software protections such as check summing will flag the problem long

Before it is actually thrown into the car as an official update but sometimes this will happen and then you’re left calling a tow truck should you worry about this worry about it happening to your vehicle not accept software updates you shouldn’t worry software updates usually carry out just fine and dandy but just

Like the occasional software update can cause your smartphone laptop or tablet computer to just behave a little wonky so too can a software update cause unexpected problems for your vehicle especially if you happen to have personalized settings that are a little different or perhaps weren’t tested against by the development team

Obviously if you are 100% dependent on your vehicle for whatever reason then yeah I I get your concern but also there’s not a lot you can do about it if you want to drive a newer vehicle EV or or not most cars now have OTA which brings me to the actual process of

Keeping yourself free of problems and hopefully making sure your vehicle doesn’t end up a brick with a failed update but but first let me be clear software updates are generally good you should generally apply them just like a security update for your computer OTA updates for your car should be treated

As something that you should probably apply but just like hopefully you don’t have your computer set to automatically update whenever there’s a new operating system update you really shouldn’t set your car to automatically update whenever there’s one available a knowledgeable computer user knows that it’s usually a good idea to wait a few

Days after an update is posted before you click to initiate that upgrade a knowledgeable computer user knows that it’s worth reading the software update release notes to see what’s actually changed and why the update was needed in the first place on the computer you should check that the update is friendly

With the software you use on a daily basis and keep your eye on social media on user forums for any issues that other people have experienced oh and keep a known good backup just in case things go wrong yeah sure if the update includes a zero day exploit patch or some other

Really important security update that really is something you should apply immediately yes go ahead but otherwise sit and wait a while let other people be the testers let them test the update first as it were obviously when it comes to an automotive update it’s not usually possible to make a

Backup that you can boot from if things go wrong but again there are some really simple steps to avoid a heartache set your car to carry out daily checks for software updates and many telematic systems will actually even notify you if there is an update for your vehicle via

Companion smartphone apps next set your car to not update automatically when there’s an update available and in instead to only update when you tell it to that way you’ll know that when there is an update the car won’t apply it unless you say it’s cool then well play it cool and keep it

Safe keep your eyes peeled for other owners having issues and having read the release notes yeah I I know Ford and many other AIO makers really suck at writing release notes get together Ford set aside some time when you don’t need to use your vehicle make sure you’re at

Home and that your car has a good internet connection to the update server either using its built-in Cellular Connection or Wi-Fi then and only then should you follow the update procedure and assuming everything goes according to plan you’ll get some shiny new software to play with and if

You are someone who applies updates when you’re away from home or someone who Gods forbid just lets the vehicle do it when it wants to you are playing a very dangerous and slightly exciting game oh and there’s one more thing familiarize yourself with your car’s recommended Turing instructions this includes how to get

The car into neutral just in case the worst happens and you should also be sure that you know the software update revision number before you click update write it down put it on your phone is if it goes wrong you’ll need that when you call for backup there you have it

Practice safe software updates for your car don’t be left out in the cold don’t take silly risks with your pride and joy thanks for joining me today and if you’ve got thoughts make sure you leave them Below in our Discord chat room or you can reach out to us on

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You want more the mighty algorithm thinks you’ll like this video but we think that this one is also worth a look see you soon and as always keep evolving I’m not going to go into the ins and outs of this okay software update is to fix something that’s in violation of official

Good yeah yeah yeah I’m going to have to go right okay

Modern electric cars have the capability to add new features and fix faults using over-the-air software updates. Even some internal combustion engine models are now getting OTA updates. But what happens when an OTA update goes wrong? What happens next? And how can you insulate yourself from potential problems?

Let’s take a look at the Ford Mustang Mach E failed updates from the tail end of last year to find out more…

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00:00 – Intro
02:36 – OTAs are Awesome!
03:28 – OTA updates for EVs are even more awesome!
04:12 – The case of the bricked Mustang Mach E
04:57 – Ford was able to react
06:40 – What remains unkown.
08:07 – Nikki’s experiences with PowerUp updates
09:11 – OTA update failures are rare – but they do sometimes happen
09:47 – What causes them?
11:46 – Good OTA update practice for computers…
13:28 – Automotive OTA update practices are similar…
15:44 – Thanks, and Goodbye!

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Watch our FUDbusting playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0tVAP7GqUpYUZHzCe3IrKzCHGp4CH2BT

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Script: Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield
Presenter: Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield
Editor, Colorist: Michael Horton
Art and Animation: Erin Carlie
Producer: Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield
© Transport Evolved LLC, 2024

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