"Bong" Type Chime When Towing

[FirstFord]

I think If figured it out.... and my apologies to all of those who told me to turn my Trailer Routing OFF. I was adamant that Trailer Routing was off - and it was. But I had a hunch, and went to test my hunch. I got in the truck and double checked that Trailer Routing was, indeed, off, as I had so belligerently previously expressed. It WAS off. Then I hooked up my trailer. Shazam! Trailer Routing was ON, like magic. Apparently Trailer Routing ON it is the default setting. It never even occurred to me that the trailer had to be plugged in. Doh! There is so much technology on these trucks that sometimes I feel like an idiot. The final test will be when I hook the trailer back up (for real) and drive to a larger metro area. If after I hook up and turn off Trailer Routing, and it still bongs, then I am back to square one.

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[780]

I think If figured it out.... and my apologies to all of those who told me to turn my Trailer Routing OFF. I was adamant that Trailer Routing was off - and it was. But I had a hunch, and went to test my hunch. I got in the truck and double checked that Trailer Routing was, indeed, off, as I had so belligerently previously expressed. It WAS off. Then I hooked up my trailer. Shazam! Trailer Routing was ON, like magic. Apparently Trailer Routing ON it is the default setting. It never even occurred to me that the trailer had to be plugged in. Doh! There is so much technology on these trucks that sometimes I feel like an idiot. The final test will be when I hook the trailer back up (for real) and drive to a larger metro area. If after I hook up and turn off Trailer Routing, and it still bongs, then I am back to square one.

Does your truck have connected Nav or are you still under the free trial?

If you're under the free trial, once it expires you won't be able to access the Sync Nav menu to disable trailer routing.

 

[FirstFord]

Does your truck have connected Nav or are you still under the free trial?

I'm 1-1/4 years into a 3 year service agreement. Your warning to get it turned off prior to expiration has been heeded.

 

[780]

I'm 1-1/4 years into a 3 year service agreement. Your warning to get it turned off prior to expiration has been heeded.

I don't think it will matter if it's turned off prior to expiration.
As soon as you hook up a trailer again, it will default to being on...

 

[{tpc}]

laugh yes...saved YES i for one want a HEADS up in the navigation, wish it would give more notice or pop up for more than a second.

there is a 2 lane highway coming up to schulenberg texas you cross under a rail road bridge
with no warning all the sudden you see a sign LOW bridge 13 feet ,,,,,,with no way to turn off or stop
hwy 77 north
bus is 12.7 i about crapped as we went under at 55 mph
i knew the ac was going to be gone
lucky for us it was 13 not an inch to spare

Isn't the trick here to stop, deflate all the tires a bit...go safely under and then find a place to inflate again? Though i have no idea how much one would have to deflate them to make a difference, but i did stay at a holiday inn express...

 

[powerboatr]

Isn't the trick here to stop, deflate all the tires a bit...go safely under and then find a place to inflate again? Though i have no idea how much one would have to deflate them to make a difference, but i did stay at a holiday inn express...

yup if i had time to stop and it was within 6 inches i can dump the suspension down to bump stops and idle through. but i was getting it on a road i had never traveled. even my garmin was silent

 

[780]

I think the Semis in our city need to come equipped with the height restriction feature.
This happened on a major route in our city June 16, so 5 days ago:

https://globalnews.ca/news/9773939/whitemud-drive-anthony-henday-drive-semi-collision-june-2023/

https://edmonton.citynews.ca/video/...-anthony-henday-drive-shut-down-by-collision/

The semi is gone. But this happened 4 days ago and the excavator is still there while engineers assess the bridge...

 

[Cobraman428]

That's good to know about the Nav setting. I was looking for the bong too.

 

[FirstFord]

BTW, great GIF file @780 - true frustration!!!!

Update:
I went back to the location where I keep my trailers and "plugged in" again, to make another test. It was educational. I am humbled, and again offer apologies to all who tried to steer me in this direction, but it was never spelled out to me (or if it was, I missed it...) that the trailer had to be plugged in for any of the information to be accurate, or for these changes to take effect.

While plugged in, I went to the Nav screen, and Trailer Towing. I selected one of the trailers in my Trailer Profile to begin my changes and test.

And focused on the section option "Avoid While Towing:

And found that these were all checked!!!!!

Obviously, I unchecked them...

I then backed out of the screen, went back to Nav, and unplugged the trailer. I then shut down the truck. I waited a moment or two, and then started it back up and plugged the trailer back in. I went back to the same screens to see if anything turned back "ON", and it didn't. Further, I went to change other trailers that I had listed under Trailer Profile, and discovered that the changes that I made to the one trailer were made applicable to ALL trailers.

So again, the true test is to load up and go back to a metro area and see if it works. I have a feeling it will.

@780: The fact that the setting changes "stuck", might give you hope. But you might have to re-subscribe to Nav (at least once) to affect these changes....

 

[grubbster]

Congratulations! It will be interesting to see if you still get the bong for weight restrictions as I do not see a check box for that. Let us know.

 

[FirstFord]

Congratulations! It will be interesting to see if you still get the bong for weight restrictions as I do not see a check box for that. Let us know.

Yeah, there were some posts mentioning weight restrictions being the source of the "bong" alert/warning, but (without going back and reviewing each individual posting) it seems to me most were directed at bridge height. The good news is that the bridge height "answer" seems to be the right one - for me - for now (and of course, subject to change, as this is ongoing until I pull a trailer through a metro area gain).

With respect to "weight restrictions", the only thing that I saw relative to weight was in the Trailer Profile, where each trailer has its own load listing. I have presumed that the data that the screen was looking for was the max towing load (cargo weight + trailer weight), so when I was setting up the trailer profile, I put in the max weight for that trailer. I reasoned that I could go back and adjust that number for each specific payload that I may be hauling at that time. That was my thought at the time of set-up, but the funny thing is that I've never done it... either out of laziness, forgetfulness, or just being in a hurry to get going. Nowhere else have I seen anything regarding weight. But hey, if I didn't figure out that the trailer has to be plugged in to make some of these adjustments until now, then clearly I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer!

 

[780]

BTW, great GIF file @780 - true frustration!!!!

Update:
I went back to the location where I keep my trailers and "plugged in" again, to make another test. It was educational. I am humbled, and again offer apologies to all who tried to steer me in this direction, but it was never spelled out to me (or if it was, I missed it...) that the trailer had to be plugged in for any of the information to be accurate, or for these changes to take effect.

While plugged in, I went to the Nav screen, and Trailer Towing. I selected one of the trailers in my Trailer Profile to begin my changes and test.

And focused on the section option "Avoid While Towing:

And found that these were all checked!!!!!

Obviously, I unchecked them...

I then backed out of the screen, went back to Nav, and unplugged the trailer. I then shut down the truck. I waited a moment or two, and then started it back up and plugged the trailer back in. I went back to the same screens to see if anything turned back "ON", and it didn't. Further, I went to change other trailers that I had listed under Trailer Profile, and discovered that the changes that I made to the one trailer were made applicable to ALL trailers.

So again, the true test is to load up and go back to a metro area and see if it works. I have a feeling it will.

@780: The fact that the setting changes "stuck", might give you hope. But you might have to re-subscribe to Nav (at least once) to affect these changes....

Good catch. I never unchecked those items. Just unchecked trailer routing in Nav. You're right. Might have to resubscribe to uncheck those items and hope that does the trick.

 

[wayne b]

Thanks for this thread, I have had the truck for 2 years and could never figure this out. It seems deeply flawed to have a chime and then no indication on either screen why it chimed? If the nav is open will it show what's causing it. When it chimes for "school zone" it pops up a message on the touchscreen, I'd expect something similar "Towing: Height Restriction Underpass" etc

 

[Aron]

I’ve been towing a bunch these past two weeks, and I’ve learned that they DO provide a visual indication of that chime…provided that you have the on-board nav screen turned on. Most of my chimes are related to low clearance warnings (despite truck knowing that the trailer height is not that high), but it will also chime for tight corners or restricted bridges.

 

[CarbonTremor]

I called and spoke to Ford support about this issue. 2 hours on the phone and no resolution other than "Pay the $80, go in and turn those settings off, then call back in for a refund"
Ford support has no way of giving a trial extension.

Teams that I spoke to:
Connected Apps
OTA Updates
Customer Resolution <-- call got disconnected here, will have to call back

The features are discussed in the user manual under 'Trailer Towing Navigation'

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