Issue Towing TT with Lane Centering

[Dinozero]

Thanks for that input. I have really hated not having a hard copy of the owner's manual. I need to resolve that.

I agree the owners manual thing stinks. Everyone is copying the worst parts of Tesla business practices.

I had a Tesla and didn’t like a lot of things some was cool.

I’m pretty sure even Tesla says don’t use autopilot when towing. And they are the most lenient with that kind of stuff.

I’d say it’s just not tested under those conditions. Could be the trailer sway technology interferes with it.

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[jvbronco]

Out of curiosity, I tried lane centering while towing my 21ft (bumper to hitch) single axle travel trailer. Same results as op described.

I suspect results would be slightly better with dual axle trailer as the single axel has always been a bit more touchy regarding sway.

 

[flatag]

Glad I saw this thread as I’ll be towing next week. My lane centering is now turned off. You would think Ford would automatically turn it off when a trailer is detected.

 

[uavmx]

Towed 300 miles last weekend, 24ft TT, could not use lane centering at all, it just builds up sway....

 

[FdTow]

I have the 2021 Platinum 4x4 with all options including max tow upgraded from the 2019 Platinum mainly for new technology to help with towing. I have a propride hitch and tow a 2020 Airstream Classic 30’. I loved the lane assist in my 2019 but you felt like it was bouncing off boundaries like a roomba but it saved me a few times so we’ll worth it. The adaptive cruise is also a must have for driving and towing. They never scared me. I was happy to try my new Ford and found the lane centering on the highway awesome. I loved the new tech. Can’t wait for the self driving update to try it too.

Im on my first trip with the airstream and on the highway, enabled cruise. Immediately had the wobble and it freaked out both my wife and me. Hit the brake and recovered. We tried it several times and stopped. She found this forum. She went through menu on the 12” screen and under cruise disabled lane centering. We then could engage adaptive cruise which I also love. Still trailer wasn’t quite right so assumed it was my propride hitch that needed adjustment. I thought maybe we put too much in the trailer for a 3 week trip. After several stops nothing really improved. My 2019 never had this issue. It made driving tense. Then in Louisiana the roads were under construction and as I was maneuvering lane narrowing and the truck took off. In the construction zone it picked up a 75 mph sign. You would think I was stupid for not having my foot on the pedal my wife did. We’ll I did have it on there but the truck took off anyway. I didn’t even know cruise was on at that point. So again on the 12” screen under cruise we disabled the Intelligent Speed.

Now I’m frustrated as I feel I lost new technology I just paid to get and my truck is still acting like it’s overloaded. After driving about 1000 miles and trying everything we could think of we went to Pilot to weigh truck and trailer. Trailer weighed 8800# front truck axle 3300 rear axle 3680. My tongue weight was 850#. So I’m not overloaded.

We took off again still with poor control. I thought sway control and decided to turn it off. That made a huge difference. I feel like I’m back where my 2019 was with towing but still without lane assist. I tried to get my wife to turn it on to see if it was sway control affecting lane centering but there was too much traffic. We will if we can find a safe spot. I think it’s the sway control. I have used sway control since 2010 when we got it first on our Expedition and never thought or had issues with it. I really didn’t need sway control with my $3000 propride hitch so it’s not a loss to me and my truck is much better to drive towing the Airstream. I was about to trade and get a f250 or a Ram 2500 and may still if the lane assist can’t be used. I’m afraid the 2022 will use the same lane centering since it is a connected truck.

if Ford didn’t think these features were safe why do they not disable them when you put it in tow/haul mode. A warning in a nonexistent hard copy manual is not a good idea. They have done something to the sway control or it’s interaction with other features cause a problem. With all the commercials they have towing Airstreams you would think they would have experienced this. I’m very disappointed with Ford. I bought it to tow within their limits and feel their limits are not realistic. I am personally thinking the truck weight is not enough to keep a heavy trailer in control. My trailer gvwr is around 10000# I’m glad I’m no where close to being fully loaded.

Lastly try and get the camera for the trailer? I don’t think it exists and even though I paid for the ability to have it I don’t think it’s wired for it. The manual says see the dealer for the trailer mounted camera but it is not available. I can use the trailer pro back assist with my propride hitch and it works well. Did not work on my 2019 bc the propride simulates a fifth wheel by moving pivot point 5’ under the truck. It’s an awesome hitch

 

[xtraman122]

I'll have to check, but I think you can leave the lane departure assist feature enabled, which is what your 2019 would have had, but leave lane centering off, if you want to recreate the experience you had with the 2019.

 

[Redskins5]

Thanks for that input. I have really hated not having a hard copy of the owner's manual. I need to resolve that.

you can go online and download a PDF and then print it out, it's huge

 

[BLoflin]

This bears repeating (as others have replied):

There is a BIG difference between Lane Keeping and Lane Centering.

Lane Keeping has been around since at least 2015. You can turn it off or on at will. It has no relationship to cruise control. You can have it give you a warning, or actually try to do a small correction. This is a "fail safe" control when you are not paying enough attention. It should only be used "once" (meaning once you get 1 warning/correction you start paying better attention). It will NOT by itself allow you to have it keep you continuously in the lane. It doesn't even trigger until your wheels are on the lane divider. If you tried to let it correct more than once, you would be bouncing from right to left like a marble going down a wider chute, with catastrophic results, and obviously even worse with a trailer.

Lane Centering is ONLY available when Adaptive Cruise is on. It attempts to keep you with minimum (very small) side to side corrections directly in the center of the lane.

The confusion continues as the OP talked about 3 trials of trying to tow with Lane Centering on, but only the first trial with Adaptive Cruise. That actually means he only really did one trial with Lane Centering. The other 2 trials were only using Lane Keeping, which AGAIN is not something you would ever count on to drive your truck stability down the rode when not towing, much less when towing.

 

[FdTow]

I'll have to check, but I think you can leave the lane departure assist feature enabled, which is what your 2019 would have had, but leave lane centering off, if you want to recreate the experience you had with the 2019.

I thought it was all the same just a new technology. Thx

 

[xtraman122]

I thought it was all the same just a new technology. Thx

It's possible, I need to go out into my truck to check. I know lane departure still works even when you don't have cruise on, so there might still be a way to leave that enabled with lane centering off.

Edit: Went out and played with my settings and it appears this combination would disable the active lane centering, where it’s steering for you all the time, but keep the safety feature on that kicks in if you’re about to drift out of your lane and correct it. (Adaptive cruise could still remain on as well)
Cruise settings:

Lane keeping:

 

[dhrandy]

I just turn it off while towing after it bounced the first time.

 

[Davexxxx]

Since this thread was started many updates ago and before Blue Cruise was let out, I'm wondering if it is still a current issue.

I was certainly looking forward to using all the goodies while towing. I mean, why wouldn't you?

Turning off sway control, is no big deal, since I'll have an anti sway hitch but I wanted all the rest to work.

 

[Aron]

Since this thread was started many updates ago and before Blue Cruise was let out, I'm wondering if it is still a current issue.

I was certainly looking forward to using all the goodies while towing. I mean, why wouldn't you?

Turning off sway control, is no big deal, since I'll have an anti sway hitch but I wanted all the rest to work.

It's still an issue. I tested it just a month or so ago.

My default setup is to leave the sway control on and turn off the lane centering. I haven't yet tried the reverse. I also have an anti-sway hitch, but the Ford sway control system works in a different manner, so they should work together, and is why I've kept that system active (so far).

 

[bkm]

I am on my first trip towing our 19-foot travel trailer this week and I experienced a pretty significant issue when attempting to use lane centering while towing. I have about 2,500 miles on my Platinum PB 4WD with max tow. While traveling on a two-lane highway at about 65 mph, I engaged the lane centering feature on the steering wheel to see how the truck and trailer behaved. Once engaged, it took only about 10 seconds for the truck to start into what I would describe as a speed wobble. Left unchecked, it felt like the condition was getting progressively worse to the point that I quickly disengaged lane centering and the truck and TT went back to normal. The experience was uncomfortable for me and freaked my wife out. Making things worse with her, I tried to put the lane centering on two more times to see if I could alter the outcome by changing my steering response but the result was the same. My TT tows like a dream normally and I have never had an issue with sway (WDH used). I had the adaptive cruise control on the first of the three trials. I have used lane centering without towing and it has worked seemingly as advertised (I am not a big fan as it ends up feeling like I am fighting the system after awhile).

Has anyone experienced similar results while towing, or have you used lane centering while towing without issue? Makes me think that using BlueCruise while towing is a long, long way off (if ever) because of the complexities involved.

I had the same experience in March on a trip to Florida. On a stormy day with heavy crosswinds, my truck behaved like yours. With some on the road troubleshooting, I decided to turn off 'lane centering' and immediately felt an improvement. I also discovered that sway control defaults to 'on' when connected to a trailer. I think that 'lane centering' and 'sway control' fight each other and the problem intensifies in a crosswind condition. On researching my owners manual at the end of the day, I discovered this caution...

Ford also cautions against disabling 'sway control.'

 

[Davexxxx]

Here is a vid on the subject. 21 PB. It shows the trailer sway starting immediately but if you hang till the end, it shows with less weight, to be a non issue. BTW, he does not use tow haul.



Another one. Same guy, same truck. Different trailer but with less weight, no issue.



So, looks like it is really dependent on the trailer and it's weight.

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