Expensive F150 tail-lights ... How crazy is this?

[wtd]

FordTechMakuloco just put out a new video about a 2018 F150 Limited that had water intrusion into the taillights which caused the vehicle to not start and run and the total repair to fix it was $5,600. Talk about crazy. Modules for the taillights were on national backorder but he was able to find some but if he wouldn't have, this truck would have been dead in the water.

 

[Rand]

Limited edition......
lets put computer parts out in the rain.

Seems like a defect that water can get in both taillights.

 

[researcher]

and people ask me why I like old school lights.. and this is why! Or it could just be that Ford is being Ford again (cheap)..

 

[DGXR]

This is obviously a design flaw and should justify a recall, or at least a TSB.

 

[tcp71]

If you need 360degree cameras, proximity sensors, radar this and video that, you will pay to play.

 

[PandaBear]

Not surprised about back order of any parts, but failing tail lights causing no start is a ridiculous engineering failure.

 

[The Critic]

Not surprised about back order of any parts, but failing tail lights causing no start is a ridiculous engineering failure.

It brings down the entire CAN bus. A lot of modules have the potential to do this. Similar issue on Ram pickups.

 

[MSCH]

Not surprised about back order of any parts, but failing tail lights causing no start is a ridiculous engineering failure.

yes, it is. My Brother is an engineer at Borg Warner, I was asking him why my Mopar truck locks out the cruise control and the 4wd system if there is an ABS failure... and he went around and around in his head trying to rationalize why Mopar did it that way, but he couldn't... same applies here to Ford... it doesn't make sense but if that is the solution, then that is what it was.. I remember going around and around with one of our vendors who was installing communication equipment on some of our vehicles, and we had an issue on one particular vehicle where the communication stuff got connected and it caused the ABS to go haywire and the Check Engine light to come on and the Speedometer to act like a tachometer... ... the vendor insisted it wasn't the fault of his equipment but he couldn't explain how the problem went away when we disconnected his communication equipment..

 

[MSCH]

It brings down the entire CAN bus. A lot of modules have the potential to do this. Similar issue on Ram pickups.

exactly... instead of engineering the stuff to work and disregard the faulty module, they let the module be in charge of the whole vehicle..

 

[PandaBear]

It brings down the entire CAN bus. A lot of modules have the potential to do this. Similar issue on Ram pickups.

I guess they didn't build it right then. I remember there should have been redundancy in CAN bus but if it is "flooded" it should have been easy to disconnect and not preventing the car from starting.

 

[researcher]

exactly... instead of engineering the stuff to work and disregard the faulty module, they let the module be in charge of the whole vehicle..

Sounds like poor network engineering. Then again (yep going to beat on Ford, again) sounds like typical Ford, just have to wonder who these low skilled engineers are making the decisions.. Wait.. forgot about the bean-counters in management disregarding the engineer's advice! Anyone remember the Explorers where Ford told Firestone they knew better about air pressure in tires? Tried throwing Firestone under the bus but Firestone fired back that Ford intentionally set the air pressures low, knowing it could cause tire failure!

here we go again.. poor engineering choices, regardless if it's engineering or bean-counters..

One more thing to think about.. if they have a tailight that's connect to the CAN bus system, which shouldn't be allowed to take down the system.. What happens when they add OTA (over the air) software updates.. I bet they didn't even think of network security for public networks, either! Just wow..

 

[Opelman]

Some vehicles are being stolen by thieves accessing the CAN bus through a light and fooling the system into "seeing" the key fob and just driving off.

 

[Kurtatron]

If you have an older car, keep it as long as you can. I don’t see this engineering electrical overloading slowing down any less.

 

[eljefino]

Isn't there a Mercedes that doesn't run if an outside rear view mirror gets knocked off?

 

[I<3oil]

Looooooooooooooooooooloooooooooooooooool

 

[MNgopher]

I think to the point - it isn't as simple here as "the taillights cost X" or the tailights being connected to the Can-Bus took down the network.

The lamps themselves are $1400ish from Ford. That does not include the BLIS module, brackets, and connectors. On this truck, the connectors and BLIS modules went bad, and the backfeed from the BLIS module is what took down other modules on the network.

Since he never shows the original taillamps, its tough to say that the tail lamps were faulty and led to the cascade of issues. It is entirely possible the original taillamps were damaged in some way.

Side note - on my F150, these similar taillamps are sold at Auto Recyclers here all day long for around $450, BLIS module included.

 

[wtd]

I think to the point - it isn't as simple here as "the taillights cost X" or the tailights being connected to the Can-Bus took down the network.

The lamps themselves are $1400ish from Ford. That does not include the BLIS module, brackets, and connectors. On this truck, the connectors and BLIS modules went bad, and the backfeed from the BLIS module is what took down other modules on the network.

Since he never shows the original taillamps, its tough to say that the tail lamps were faulty and led to the cascade of issues. It is entirely possible the original taillamps were damaged in some way.

Side note - on my F150, these similar taillamps are sold at Auto Recyclers here all day long for around $450, BLIS module included.

If you watch the end of the video, he shows the original taillamps laying on the tailgate with water in the one.

 

[vwmaniaman]

If I can keep finding parts I will keep my oldies running. Finally got my old 1990 Ford Ranger XLT back on the road. Rides like a buckboard but is easy to get in and out the AC works good and it is pretty comforable to sit in. 2.9 V6 is getting 22mpg. Not great but could be worse.

 

[vwmaniaman]

Oh, and it has ordinary filament bulbs.

 

[D60]

If you need 360degree cameras, proximity sensors, radar this and video that, you will pay to play.

The nanny state will eventually mandate all of it. First was TPMS, then backup cameras. Next will be BSM (blind spot monitoring) or something else like radar to avoid front end collisions. Or maybe even rain-sensing wipers.

Don't worry, it's all safe and effective like other things we've seen mandated lately.

I agree all these options should be optional if the buyer wants them. We don't need legislation requiring them.