F-150 Lariat Motion Alarm

[Walter Townsend]

Had an interesting experience this morning.

We were taking the Kootenay Lake ferry this morning, longest free ferry in the world, first one of the morning 6:30 departure, so was still a bit dark out, we were the first ones in the lineup, drove onto the boat right to the front of the ferry, so had a good view of the path ahead, parked the truck, got out and locked up to go into the cafe.

A few minutes after the ferry started moving, deck hand came looking for me, the alarm was sounding, lights were flashing making it hard for the Captain to see, turned off the alarm with the key fob, then a few minutes later it sounded again. Haggard deck hand again comes looking for me, this time I knew I had not accidentally hit the button in my pocket. Stood outside on the car deck for the rest of the trip, making sure not to get close enough to the truck to trigger the approach lights. All was fine until the ferry came in to dock, and the reverse thrusters fired, and beep beep beep goes the alarm. Shut the alarm off then opened and got into the truck ready to disembark.

Deck hand said that the Ford trucks, and even worse were the German made Mercedes, VWs etc. that had sensitive motion alarms in them were going off regularly and suggested leaving the truck unlocked in the future, not like anyone can steal it while on the boat. Driven many Ford trucks over the years, been on this and other ferries many times, always lock the truck when I get out of it and this is the first time I have ever experienced this.

Previous trucks were all XLT FX4 trucks, this is the first time in a Lariat package. Guess the alarm system must be better in this truck than the XLT's.

Rest of the trip was without incidence and managed to pick up our precious cargo, two small barn cats (OK 16 lbs so not that small, LOL) that needed a new home.

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[Kodiak]

I do not know if it is for our trucks or not so you may have to dig. I believe there used to be a setting in Advanced Vehicle Setting for the sensors. In the menu there was something like Perimeter and Ask On Exit. If you set it to Ask on exit it will let you turn it off when you exit the truck.

This was old information and may not even apply to the Sync 4 anymore but it is worth looking. It may not be labeled the greatest so it could be easy to miss.

Nice work for those "little" kitties. These are 2 ferals that lived a somewhat tragic kittenhood but now as you can see have it made as far as ferals go. They run the neighborhood and have a heated house they live in on my deck.

The little black one "Blackie" is a real hunter and no mouse will stand a chance with her around. That is the deal. I feed them and give them a heated house and they provide the best perimeter rodent deterrence that money can buy.

 

[Kodiak]

Also I just looked and there is a section under Security in the pdf owners manual that specifically mentions Motion Sensors. This is good to know if you take ferries or even the auto train. Best turn it off when you exit the vehicle.

 

[fordtruckman2003]

You are referring to the internal sensors in the cab on overhead console.

I think your issue is the external height sensors supposed to alarm if truck is jacked up. Rocking boat could fool sensor into thinking truck being lifted.

What did your FordPass say?
When I've triggered alarm it had the cause listed.

 

[Walter Townsend]

You are referring to the internal sensors in the cab on overhead console.

I think your issue is the external height sensors supposed to alarm if truck is jacked up. Rocking boat could fool sensor into thinking truck being lifted.

What did your FordPass say?
When I've triggered alarm it had the cause listed.

No notices on FordPass that I can see. Last message was Jan 6 when the Forward Collision sensor was blocked with ice build up and I had to figure out where it was hidden to clean it off.

 

[Walter Townsend]

Also I just looked and there is a section under Security in the pdf owners manual that specifically mentions Motion Sensors. This is good to know if you take ferries or even the auto train. Best turn it off when you exit the vehicle.

Thanks, will review it, just took me by surprise and really could not deal with it on the ferry, in the middle of the lake, especially when ferry captain was running "dark mode" and flashes of light throw off the night vision.

 

[imnuts]

The difference is the European vehicles typically have a button or switch to be able to temporarily turn off the tilt alarming to avoid this. My '03 Audi had one, though I never used it. I had the same issue when we took my truck on a ferry a little over a year ago. We eventually just went back and sat in it since it kept going off and stayed in it the whole time on the trip back.

 

[fordtruckman2003]

I'm not aware of how to turn off the Lariat and up alarm. Does leaving unlocked leave alarm off?

 

[imnuts]

Yeah, there's no way to disable vehicle motion from setting off the alarm temporarily, just the interior motion sensors. I'm pretty sure I tried turning them off on our trip but the alarm still went off as the boat rocked.

 

[9663mu]

The same thing happens when camping to me. My tent is right next to my truck and keys are in my tent but because the FOB is close to the truck, every few min the parking lights will come on and turn back off. Is there a way to disable that ? Something to do with sensor ?

 

[Walter Townsend]

Yeah, there's no way to disable vehicle motion from setting off the alarm temporarily, just the interior motion sensors. I'm pretty sure I tried turning them off on our trip but the alarm still went off as the boat rocked.

WHAT ARE THE ALARM SECURITY LEVELS

You can select two levels of alarm security, all sensors and perimeter sensing.
All Sensors
All sensors is the standard setting.
In all sensors, all equipped sensors are on when you arm the alarm.
Note: Do not arm the alarm with all sensors if passengers, animals or other moving objects are inside your vehicle.
Perimeter Sensing
In perimeter sensing, the interior sensors are off when you arm the alarm.
All the other equipped sensors activate when you arm the alarm in this mode.


SWITCHING ASK ON EXIT ON AND OFF

1. Press Settings on the touchscreen.

1. Press Vehicle.

1. Press Alarm System.

1. Switch Ask on Exit on or off.

From the manual, it says to switch the interior sensor off by doing the ask on exit routine if there will be passengers, animals or moving objects inside the vehicle when it is locked. From posts in the MME forum, even taping over the interior sensor does not totally work as motion will still set it off. Next time I go for a ferry ride, I will try the ask on exit route, but that may be awhile as I do not take the ferry that often.

 

[Walter Townsend]

The same thing happens when camping to me. My tent is right next to my truck and keys are in my tent but because the FOB is close to the truck, every few min the parking lights will come on and turn back off. Is there a way to disable that ? Something to do with sensor ?

EXTERIOR ZONE LIGHTING SETTINGS

1. Press Features on the touchscreen.

1. Press Zone Lighting.

1. Press the settings menu in the upper right-hand corner.

1. Press a setting.

Enable Autolamp Override
This setting allows your vehicle to override the autolamps when using zone lighting.
When you access zone lighting for the first time, you can choose this setting. You can change this setting at any time.

Think this is where to turn on and off the welcome lighting as you approach the truck.

 

[Kodiak]

The same thing happens when camping to me. My tent is right next to my truck and keys are in my tent but because the FOB is close to the truck, every few min the parking lights will come on and turn back off. Is there a way to disable that ? Something to do with sensor ?

Have you tried to stick the key in a faraday pouch and see if the blocks the signal?

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