Owners of new Ford F-150 Lightning cannot control it with the FordPass app

Those lucky few who managed to get hold of Ford F-150 Lightning have noticed one of its cooler features is missing. However hard they try they cannot get the car to work with FordPass, an app designed to unlock and control the electric truck. Ford dealers are being instructed to tell new owners the function is not yet activated.

The FordPass has been around for a while, it is a "Phone as a Key" system that lets the driver lock and unlock the car, lower the windows or open the trunk or frunk and even start the car remotely - all just by using the app on a phone. It’s available and it works fine on the Ford Mustang Mach-E, few Lincoln models and other petrol and diesel Fords. But unlucky F-150 Lightning owners have to wait until later in the summer for this function to be supported.

Members of Lightning Owners’ Forum have been speculating that this is due to a recently discovered vulnerability in the Low Energy Bluetooth protocol that can leave passive entry systems exposed to an external hack. Many other cars such as Tesla Model S and F-150 use the LE Bluetooth to discover the presence of the driver near the car so after authentication it can unlock the door.

That presence sensing protocol is an issue and it was shown to be exposed to attack. Ford so far has denied that the delay was linked directly to this vulnerability, but at the same time confirmed that more work is required to ensure the reliability of this system.

It’s actually good news, it means Ford is paying attention to loopholes in the latest electronic systems and communication equipment and is trying to protect its customers. For time being owners of the F-150 Lightning will have to revert to old school vehicle control - with a remote.

Is it annoying that the latest EV truck from Ford cannot be opened with a phone? It surely is, but wouldn’t it be more annoying to find it gone after only having it for a week? Heck, I’d even use the ancient method of door opening with a key - new generations of thieves probably have no idea what key is. Just like my kids - no idea how to operate anything that hasn't got a touch screen…

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