Having a camera doesn’t negate the need to shoulder check and use your eyes & mirrors.

>Their 360-degree rearview cameras may malfunction and display a blue screen that impacts the ability of a driver to see behind them.

That's not what this recall is about though.

I have been dealing with a faulty camera in my 2014 Ford Fusion for years now. It shows the picture in reverse which is almost more dangerous than not showing anything at all. My husband got rid of a 2013 Escape also with camera issues. This issue has been around long before 2020 models

Right, their screens were blue. So back up like people did before rear cameras were a thing.

It's exactly what the issue is.

You can't physically look over your shoulder use an analog mirror, the fix will obviously be to fix the camera / 'viewscreen', but perhaps dropping the ability to actually see behind you was a bad move.

Iirc the backup cam has been mandated in new cars for a while, so this may be something they're required to do by the government

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Yeah, if someone had their rear view mirror broken off, you wouldn't say the broken rear mirror caused the accident.

Most cars aren't built like they used to be. Windows are higher up and don't have the same amount of visibility since they crutch the camera. The back window is good for seeing headlights behind you while you drive, but it's a total blind spot in a parking lot.

Some new cars don't have rear view mirrors. Just a mirror shaped screen that shows the rear view camera all the time. Also some vehicles you just can't seeout the back. But yeah no excuse for not using mirrors and if the back up is acting fucky it would be worth a walk around to save a toddler or dog.

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Yes exactly. I have my almost entire cervical spine fused from c2-c3 to C7-t1, so my neck (it's essentially a long titanium bar) range of motion is extremely limited. I use my camera as an assistance, but always look as much as possible and use mirrors. I couldn't imagine just looking one place and being like, ok good to go.

The downvotes would indicate folks didn't understand my comment. I'm not complaining or faulting anything in the design... but you can't just say "turn your head and use your eyes; don't depend on the camera!" Because your view is obscured by the design.

Not made for anywhere that had snow in otherwords

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>since they crutch the camera

What does crutch mean in this sense?

What an odd malfunction.

They use the camera to compensate for lack of visibility.

Yep! I totally smashed the rear window of my car trying to back into a space using only the camera. Turns out there was a low-hanging pipe near the ceiling which would've been easy to see had my lazy-ass looked over my shoulder while backing in. Because the camera is plac3d in such a way that it only looks at the ground behind you, I missed seeing the high hazard and had to get the window replaced.

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See: The Rezvani Vengeance

With a back view so inaccessible, the rear view mirror is a screen that projects your rear camera image.

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Are we calling this bug The Blue Screen... of Death?

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Was going to say, they're huge now. I really wish the US had something akin to old-school smaller trucks. I had an old roommate who drove a Ford Ranger, I loved that thing. I would love to get an imported mini-truck, if I didn't have to worry so much about other drivers.

They use it as a crutch, basically are dependent on it to function.

Thanks. I’ve never heard it used as a verb. Wasn’t sure if it was new usage or an autocorrect!

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Why import one ? We have plenty of mini trucks in the us unless you want something that wasn't sold here

Just a software issue, but too bad they don't do automatic OTA updates.

My work van has no back windows. Hell it doesn’t even come with a rearview.

Panel vans are just a fact of life but yeah the other group is the new sports cars with tiny rear windows. Mustangs are spinny in good weather I'd love to see them in the snow.

Any high gp rear wheel car is shit in snow, not enough weight for the torque

The new Ranger is the size of the old F-150. I'm not sure what small trucks you're referring to.

Well to be fair I'd expect something like that to be in some sort of convoy instead of driving around by itself.

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Coincidentally the Ford Maverick is one example.

*Edit for spelling.

Maverick, Santa Cruz come to mind

1996 Ford Ranger (base model) wheelbase = 107.9"

1996 Ford F150 (base model) wheelbase = 116.8"

2023 Ford Maverick 2023 wheelbase = 121.1″

Sure. I've oddly enough had all 3 (well, early 2000's F-150). Did you pick the 2 door model by accident for the first 2?

>Wasn’t sure if it was new usage or an autocorrect!

It's been used as a verb for almost 400 years.

No and no - those were both the regular cabs.

Edit: misread your comment, yes, I picked the base model, which is two doors. Because that's what a small pickup used to be.

Ahh. That's your issue. The Maverick is a crew cab, and the standard size of the old ones nobody bought sales wise besides for fleet vehicles. The third door was where it was at :) haha.

That link only lists it in use as a noun.

1996 Ford Ranger (base model) wheelbase = 107.9"

1996 Ford F150 (base model) wheelbase = 116.8"

2023 Ford Maverick wheelbase = 121.1″

2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz wheelbase = 118.3"

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Explains why we got robocalled to stay home tonight.. gotta hear it through the tabloids first.. the people who actually build the cars are always last to know.. as always.. kinda ass backwards

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For anyone curious, this appears to be a software issue but cannot be fixed over the air like it would on a Tesla. It requires making an appointment going in to a dealership - a traditional recall.

Who do you trust?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_ignition_switch_recalls

> if they decide it's cheaper and more profitable to let you burn to death.

Yes, I've seen fight club, too.

Why a wheelbase comparison as opposed to total length comparison?

Wheelbase is the usual way to compare cars, but if you Google the length over all the rankings don't change. I'm on my phone right now though but you can look it up.

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The issue is they don't make small (like the two door models) anymore. Half my friends in high school had small two door trucks like that, but they were a bunch of nobodies, so maybe half right.

Looks like something from the Crackdown games.

2018 and later I believe. My 2017 doesn't have one.

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> too bad they don't do automatic OTA updates.

That's actually a good thing. Imagine if Ford was hacked and someone was able to push a virus to every car remotely.

My 2014 Ford does not let you look at the rear camera while driving forward. Only works in reverse.

Lol wait, you get robo calls telling you to stay home?

Still spinny in snow. We have a 13 charger and when it snows it doesn't move from the driveway. 4500lbs and rwd with a V8, snow/ice is not friendly. I can make it to work, but we just mainly use the awd Ford edge in snowy weather. Much better handling.

Fight club was the first thing I thought of.

"Figurative sense of "a prop, a support" is first recorded c. 1600. As a verb, from 1640s."

So, about 400 years. From OP link.

This is why I don’t allow my smartphone to ever access the internet. Someone might push a virus to me remotely.

That can't be legal to make you drive that thing, surely?

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Have you never seen a work van? Most work vans don't have back windows.

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its him from the future

> Honda, Toyota, and Dodge

One of these things is not like the others 🤔

I know it's irrational but I've never trusted the camera. I back out the old fashioned way every time bc I'm convinced there's always something just out of the camera frame.

Honestly surprised they havent recalled every single car from 2012 onwards. Every single ford my family has purchased in the last 12 years have had the rear cameras fail or had a lot of issues with it. Ford backup cameras suck ass.

Yes.. they send everyone a call to not show up.. it’s a real woman’s voice but they mass send it out to us.. how I get downvoted lol

Edit: Still getting paid normally though so idc lol just sucks they don’t communicate with us

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Ok boomie

They might tell you to not drive, but I can't imagine then explicitly saying you need to stay home. That's ludicrous.

Have you ever seen a 95 Chevy s-10 or a 98 Toyota Tacoma. You can fit one person and a bag in those things.

ASAIK, only the front driver/passenger mirrors, windows, and front windshield are required on vehicles. Everything behind the driver can be entirely solid.

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Its a brand new Ford Transit 350 and it has a camera and sensors. But I still check my side mirrors as well.

Now youre speaking my honda crv language, its not that small of a rear window but its still small and optically it looks like people are tailgating me.

OTA updates aren't necessarily a good thing without significant security and QA assurances. The fact that Tesla rolled out a major braking OTA patch within days of being notified of an article critical of their braking should be concerning to you, as there is no way such a major system was significantly road tested. OTA updates should be tightly controlled

Hell chargers and mustangs are only decent in a straight line on a GOOD weather day

Sadly getting rid of it soon, but I have an '03 Ranger. Visibility is amazing as your essentially in a Turret with big windows in every direction.

Exact same issue here on mine. Mine malfunctioned in the first two or three years and they had the gall to try to charge me to replace it because it “wasn’t warrantied”

They are junk and outrageously expensive (500-600$). They fail all the time. cheap china junk. a $20 netcam from bestbuy is a better product.

common camera failure also..

sideswiped a lamp post base with a late model navigator once for same reason. can't see squat out the back of these new cars.. I'll stick to my 04 oddessy till the doors fall off, great visibility.

Have the exact same issues on a 2012 explorer , 2014 fusion and 2014 escape.

There was an article in an automotive magazine years ago about how an inch changed car design. It pointed out auto makers had to raise the hood off the engine for pedestrian safety and when that happened it changed all the lines on cars. The raised hood changed where it intersected the windshield and carried the body lines to the back essentially slanting the windshield and raising the hips. With everything lifted higher it meant the proportions were off and they had to stuff larger wheels in the now huge wheel wells. Now I gotta find the article.

Yup. And in some places, it's an either/or situation. If you don't have a passenger sideview mirror, you need a rearview on the glass. One or the other is required at minimum.

Okay, I fucking hate contemporary vehicles... but that I'd buy if I wasn't making a professor's salary.

That seriously looks like the SUV before you get the spider jump. I love it.

Seriously, visibility out of these new vehicles is terrible. I used to think the Chrysler 300 had bad visibility, but it's like having bay windows around you compared to newer models.

It's not irrational. Cameras, those "cross traffic warning" beeps, automatic highbeams you can "leave on", etc. all promote bad behavior when driving instead of being careful and aware of your surroundings.

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Yep. They don't corner worth shit. But they sure are fun.

They never should have partnered with Microsoft to develop SYNC. Now they have a SYNCing feeling

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You don’t think that would’ve been done to Tesla by now? To Windows? There are an incredible amount of failsafes for things requiring this level of security.

Not show up to what? To Ford?

>We have plenty of mini trucks

The only 2, came out in 2021. You'd have to go back to the 90's for anything comparable. "Plenty" is a stretch by any definition of the word.

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I have one of these. I think mine did the bug once when I put the car in reverse the camera just didn’t work. I was like wtf then put the car in park and back into reverse and it worked. I can’t remember if the screen was blue though.

And then those damn pillars have gotten so massive it's hard to see pedestrians.

If my camera works why wouldn’t I trust it? I can literally see what my bumper sees. I don’t even turn my head when I go into reverse between my rear view mirror and my backup camera

You sound like an old person ranting on Facebook. Software updates need more than one approval for changes, they get internally tested up until release, they get rolled out slowly and not all at once.

I was told that as well. Honestly every ford owner should start a class action against them for the back up cameras.

It should be the goal to not need mirrors

You can backup without a rearview, but it does require a manual inspection of what's behind you before starting. As long as someone doesn't dart behind before you start, it should be safe.

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Its crazy how big trucks have gotten. The Ford Maverick is considered a "compact truck," but it's similar in size and capability to an F-150 from the 80s!

Yes.. they tell us not to show up to the plant and to come back the next scheduled work day.. and we get paid like normal either way.. I’ve been building these Corsairs and Escapes for 8 years and the past 3 we’ve consistently had part problems

F-150's are basically what 250's or commercial trucks used to be as well. I remember my dad's F-150, that thing was small in comparison to modern SUV's and trucks, same with the Nissan squarebody as well.

I was reversed into, while stationary and honking my horn for attention, by a young driver in a huge-ass SUV whose excuse was that she couldn't see me.

If you're not 100% certain what's behind your car, you do NOT reverse. If in doubt: Stop, get your lazy ass out of the car and check, then go back into the car while keeping an eye on your surroundings for anything that might enter the space you're reversing into.

Why is it that the dumbest drivers always feel like they must have the biggest cars with the most tech? If every SUV driver were forced to drive a Fiat Panda, the world would be a better place.

Did their mirrors suddenly stop working?

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I wonder if this is same issue neighbor had with his new Ranger. Seems 3 months after he got his truck, the rear cam would go out. Sometimes it was fine. After week or so at dealer, they gave it back with a shrug, "dunno, can't duplicate". 2 months after that, he get a call to come back to dealer. All they said was something about water intrusion causing it and there was a remediation. Hasn't had problem since.

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Right!? How are people taught to drive anymore?

I have to imagine mirrors still work if your head and neck don't.

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You make a fair and accurate point, but it still doesn't alleviate the responsibility of the driver. The parent comment relates to the need for cautious driving if visibility is low. If you can't see clearly, the driver should back out very slowly until they can verify it is clear to back out completely. Pedestrians and passing vehicles have plenty of time to avoid you or alert you to their presence. I'm speculating of course but I'd guess these accidents are caused by drivers moving too quickly without visual confirmation that the path is clear. This is always the driver's responsibility with or without camera assistance.

*edit: spelling

That sounds like an easy fix to make. It's almost like Ford jumped the gun with backup cameras and still has no idea what they're doing.

Is it because of the model year? A car from 2019 should not have such problems.

I wouldn't downvote this guy. 'He's right, you know.'

I have no fucking clue how those cars got out of the factory with inadequate brakes.

Fucking hilarious dude, glad you got to stay home even if you didn't want to

Let me fix it for you. In this case its cheap American junk buys cheap camara from French supplier Valeo. China isn't the only country supplying cheap junk.

The crew gained weight.

They also mostly exist as status symbols for suburbanites now.

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Plenty of armchair developers here to tell you what is and isn't feasible.

Well that took some searching. How is this article over 10 years old? I swear I was just reading it in the doctor's office, oh god it's me that's getting old.

Depends. Quick rollout isn't necessarily a bad thing. A small bug can easily be fixed in that time.

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F-150 is a nice vehicle. I think the new crew cabs are larger than old ones.

Thanks lol getting paid to play Far Cry 6 right now.. everyone said it sucks but it’s awesome so far

Only a tinge of jealousy, today was a good day to hide indoors and shoot up a fictional country for the rebellion 🤣

Something I noticed in LA one day. The S-10 is actually smaller than a modern Camry.

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Maybe America needs to update the driving test.