My tow vehicle hits me.

[jbmaine]

I know this is miniscule in the grand scheme of things, however, it's just a little bit annoying to me.

Our tow vehicle is a 2020 Ford Edge with a factory tow package. This is our second Edge and we absolutely love it. It tows our 16" Lund with out complaint and is perfect for us.

 However, it does have one quirk, which as I said kind of annoys me.

 Our Edge has the foot activated power lift gate. I thought it would be kind of gimmicky, but we now use it all the time. Here in lies the quirk . Ford engineers decided to put the trailer wiring plug right underneath one of the lift gate sensors. So when I lean down to plug or unplug the trailer lights, it activates the lift gate. If it's open, it closes. If it's closed, it opens. As my head is right by the lift gate at the time, more often than not it hits me, Not hard, but as I said, just enough to annoy me. 

  I discovered this not too long after we bought the car last fall, and called Ford about it, but they never got back to me. 

 I looked at rerouting the wiring harness, but it looks like the best place for it is where it is. I'm sure in time I'll get used to it. Until then maybe I'll put a "Reminder Duck" note on the plug.

 Well, thanks for listening and for letting me vent some.

 On a side note:  If you are ever at the boat launch and happen to see someone getting whacked by their car, stop by and say hi, it's probably me.?

                         Jim

[Glenn]

Before attaching/removing the plug, take the remote FOB out of your pocket and place it at least 4 feet away from the vehicle (maybe on the rear boat deck).  It's a hack, but solves the problem.

 

[Deephaven]

Have you looked through the manual?  Many of those sorts of things can be shut off.  If not, get in the habit of putting your car keys in your boat near the motor when rigging up like Glenn offered.

[galyonj]

Should be an option in the settings menu to disable the automatic lift gate.

 

Get to that through the arrow keys on the left side of the steering wheel.

[TnRiver46]

Mechanical problems I can abide. Bell and whistle problems make my blood boil 

 

(my truck has manual windows, locks, and transmission because I don’t like my blood boiling) 

[J Francho]

I think we need video of this happening....sounds like a Bill Dance moment.

[A-Jay]

Open the lift gate before you bend down.

Need to be smarter than your rig JB

A-Jay 

[Tim Kelly]

AJ would get his head bumped when the tailgate closed. Another video opportunity. ?

[jbmaine]

Thanks everyone, I'm thinking putting the FOB in the back of the boat is the way to go.

4 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Open the lift gate before you bend down.

Need to be smarter than your rig JB

A-Jay 

Thanks, A-Jay, only problem is if the lift gate is up, plugging or unplugging the wires activates it to come back down.

[A-Jay]

20 minutes ago, jbmaine said:

Thanks everyone, I'm thinking putting the FOB in the back of the boat is the way to go.

Thanks, A-Jay, only problem is if the lift gate is up, plugging or unplugging the wires activates it to come back down.

I was trying to be a funny guy.... interesting design.

Seems that particular engineer might not do much towing  ?

?

A-Jay 

[jbmaine]

19 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

I was trying to be a funny guy.... interesting design.

Seems that particular engineer might not do much towing  ?

?

A-Jay 

Thanks A-Jay, I got it now. I actually stopped by the Ford garage and showed it to the service manager. He was scratching his head over the poor design.

[BigAngus752]

I'm going to tell you this because you will find it if you continue your internet searches for an answer.  I am NOT suggesting you do it.   

 

All current Ford systems can be manipulated using free, downloadable software called FORScan.  It's very popular and you can use it to do all sorts of things, including turning on and off options you have or don't realize you have.  It does work for shutting off the foot controlled liftgate on a Ford Edge. 

Here is the main issue with it....MANY dealers will declare your FACTORY WARRANTY VOID if they do a diagonstic and discover something has been manipulated with FORscan.  Many dealers don't care.  Ford DOES support those dealers that void your warranty for it so Ford won't rescue you if you lose your warranty.  If you choose to use FORScan you should ask your dealer first.  

 

https://forscan.org/home.html

[schplurg]

I have such a program for my Toyota but have never used it. Need a USB thingy too.

 

You can use it to activate the alarm system in some vehicles. All minivans of my type have an alarm, but it is not activated on the low end models. You can do that yourself haha.

 

You can do a lot of things with the software. Not recommending it though, and I've never tried it. Toyota one is called Techstream.

[galyonj]

23 hours ago, J Francho said:

I think we need video of this happening....sounds like a Bill Dance moment.

 

Oh man. I have so much to do but I really want to spend a while watching Bill Dance blooper clips.

[TnRiver46]

10 minutes ago, galyonj said:

 

Oh man. I have so much to do but I really want to spend a while watching Bill Dance blooper clips.

I’ve got the cassette 

[galyonj]

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

I’ve got the cassette 

 

Do you have a player?

 

Edit: Betamax or VHS?

Edited May 19, 2021 by galyonj

[TnRiver46]

14 minutes ago, galyonj said:

 

Do you have a player?

 

Edit: Betamax or VHS?

Darn skippy 

[Boomstick]

On 5/18/2021 at 9:53 AM, J Francho said:

I think we need video of this happening....sounds like a Bill Dance moment.

I was literally going to comment almost the exact same thing.

[Yeti]

Seeing as the issue is the key fob getting too close and triggering the lift/close gate ability, maybe one of those Faraday cage key fob covers would work? Just slip the key inside when you're going to be working there. Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MDF5TX9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_W6YTAAP7YP8DG1ZHZFC4

[E-rude dude]

Crawl under the vehicle and unplug the sensor or install a plug.