Blue Cruise Experience

[GomerPyleST]

Just wanted to add this - Mine was bugging me last night again when I already had my hands on the wheel and I was thinking maybe its the new material for the ST the ActiveX or whatever they call it as I think it might be less forgiving as actual leather and therefore its harder for the sensors to detect us gripping the wheel. Just a thought to throw out there as sometimes I have to actually squeeze the wheel or move it slightly one way or the other for it to feel the resistance.

 

[23 Explorer ST]

As far as I know it doesn’t detect you “gripping” the wheel, it detects the slightest motion your hands makes turning it left or right.
At least that’s the way it is in my F-150.

 

[Oreo_99]

Thats not BC causing that. That is your regular asst cruise control. You remove your eyes from the road or it doest sense you holding the wheel. It will haunt you every 15secs or so till you do.


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when BC is enabled, its all hands free and i still experience issues with the cameras and other functions not sensing me so i gave up. Im not a fan of autonomous or semi-autonomous driving anyway

 

[Oreo_99]

As far as I know it doesn’t detect you “gripping” the wheel, it detects the slightest motion your hands makes turning it left or right.
At least that’s the way it is in my F-150.

my 25 explorer says hands on the wheel and it only detects hands when you actually grip the wheel, like hard and for a long period of time. And you have to grip in the 9-3 hand position or the system function disables. Hella annoying

 

[23 Explorer ST]

my 25 explorer says hands on the wheel and it only detects hands when you actually grip the wheel, like hard and for a long period of time. And you have to grip in the 9-3 hand position or the system function disables. Hella annoying

They must of changed that 9-3 in the 2025’s.
My 2024 F-150 when it says hands on the wheel, I can touch any part of the steering wheel with one hand and move it ever so slight and the message will go away.


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[bhunted1]

I did notice that I occasionally will hold the wheel at 12 o’clock. Forgot the sensors are right on top of column. Your arm will block the eyes. It wants to see your face.
On my 21 F150 PB, they are off to the sides.
Again, gripping the wheel is not necessary.
Its tension. Also on very straight roads, it will think you’re not holding wheel. A slight nudge fixes that.

All in-all, bc is great on long trips but expensive to renew. The asst cruise control is great. Its more than just cruise control.


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[GomerPyleST]

They must of changed that 9-3 in the 2025’s.
My 2024 F-150 when it says hands on the wheel, I can touch any part of the steering wheel with one hand and move it ever so slight and the message will go away.


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Do you have a leather steering wheel or the Active-X material? Also a slight movement does work, but I think it also senses the grip. as I have done both and it seems to work either way.

 

[23 Explorer ST]

Do you have a leather steering wheel or the Active-X material? Also a slight movement does work, but I think it also senses the grip. as I have done both and it seems to work either way.

I have leather with a leather steering wheel cover also. It senses movement, not grip.


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[GomerPyleST]

You are Correct. So I guess it does not really have anything to do with touch it has to do with the movement. I went back and read the manual and it says the following : Top of Page 265 - Note: If the system does not detect your hands on the steering wheel, apply a slight force to the steering wheel, and then again on Page 267 - When the system is active and detects no steering activity for a period of time, the system alerts you to put your hands on the steering wheel. If you do not react to the warnings the system cancels and slows your vehicle down to idle speeds while maintaining steering control. See Lane Centering Automatic Cancellation (page 266). Note: The system could detect a light grip or touch on the steering wheel as hands-off driving. The one on top of page 265 is a little misleading as it indicates that it does use touch by saying that "if it does not detect your hands", but I think it is more referring to movement of the wheel, so they could have probably written that part differently.

 

[Oreo_99]

Do you have a leather steering wheel or the Active-X material? Also a slight movement does work, but I think it also senses the grip. as I have done both and it seems to work either way.

i have a leather steering wheel. After attempting to use BC a 3-4 times, i have up because of the touch/grip annoyance. I haven’t tried barely moving the wheel after reading the forum here because my trial period is ending and im not going to renew. Cool feature to have but it hasn’t worked to my benefit

 

[SoySauceSoakedSaltine]

The water bottle trick still work, not advisable but it still works.

 

[bhunted1]

I don’t understand why people keep thinking you have to hold wheel in BC mode! It shuts down if it detects curves and such and then it will tell you to grab the wheel till it engages again. You must keep your eyes on the road with an occasional not forward glance, is not a prob.

Asst cruise control, you must keep a slight tension on wheel. It will look at your eyes occasionally and warn you but thats it.

It has nothing to do with the material.

Again, BC and Asst Cruise Control are 2 different things.


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[GomerPyleST]

Yes most when talking about gripping the wheel has top do with the lane assist. The Blue Cruise you do have to look forward and can occasionally glance away. There are some sections of the road that are not mapped very well and it will tell you to take over, but for 98% of the time you do not have to touch the wheel. I think some are just a little confused on that part.

 

[SoySauceSoakedSaltine]

Not sure if its my transition lenses or my squinty eyes but the IR scanner has a hard time picking my eyes up and I get screamed at every 5 secs when I'm driving during daylight hours but no issue at night. Blue Cruise is just racist. (totally joking). But yea the wheel is not touch sensitive, just motion activated so putting a water bottle in one of the spokes solves the keeping the hands on part (totally not advisable) but its a cheap Blue Cruise alternative on long straight roads or with roads with moderate curves.

 

[bhunted1]

I don’t condone anything but when Asst CC first came out, people were putting ankle weights on the wheel


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[powerboatr]

Bc update is out now as well


But the IR scanner , to see if your a cyborg
Can get confused with certain eye glass lenses
Plus the scanner on the steering wheel yoke, can easily have issues if line of sight to the human is odd.
Try adjusting wheel yoke height to eyeball

 

[3rdExplorer1stST]

Bc update is out now as well


But the IR scanner , to see if your a cyborg
Can get confused with certain eye glass lenses
Plus the scanner on the steering wheel yoke, can easily have issues if line of sight to the human is odd.
Try adjusting wheel yoke height to eyeball

Ford site shows 1.2 available for Explorer, no updates yet available.
https://www.ford.com/support/how-to...assist-features/ford-bluecruise-availability/

 

[bhunted1]

Ford site shows 1.2 available for Explorer, no updates yet available.
https://www.ford.com/support/how-to...assist-features/ford-bluecruise-availability/

Thats what was shipped... not new...

 

[sharpcode]

Well I think it uses infrared to see your eyes so not sure if those sunglasses will stop that or not. I also know there is a camera to your upper right in the black part that's inside in the middle of the windshield, there is a little camera there looking and recording you as well. I found out Blue Cruise doers not like heavy rain and sometimes depending on the road and the markings it will tell you to grab the wheel, however its pretty new system for the Explorer so I'm sure they will be doing more updates and mapping more roads better. I'm really surprised that Chevy does not let them buy road mapping from them as I heard they have more roads mapped but I guess its a competition thing. I love my BC and use it as much as I can, but yes it can be finicky at times. P.S. Also sometimes I catch myself covering up the sensor on the steering wheel with my arm when I'm gripping the top of the steering wheel so make sure your not accidentally doing that as well or it will tell you to grab the wheel.

A few things here. I got my 2025 explorer ST at the very end of September, days before the price cut and the one-time purchase was announced. I called BlueCruise support today - very nice, but they punted it back to the dealership, as they were unable to offer me the one-time price, stating it's only available at time of purchase (it wasn't yet an option for me), and maybe the dealership would be able to make an exception (they didn't). So now my only options are annual or monthly.

Regarding the steering wheel, even when I'm at 10/2, it's not sensing my hands on the steering wheel occasionally. I really wish I knew HOW it sensed hands on the steering wheel, as maybe then I could adjust my hands. Perhaps it's because I'm just resting hands and not actively gripping the wheel hard on the straightaway roads?

 

[3rdExplorer1stST]

Thats what was shipped... not new...

Sorry, meant that as a question, based on the statement “bc update is out now as well”.
I like BC but probably wont drop the 495 unless I see that ford is going to be making an update available to the explorer, as they have for some of the other models shipped with 1.2. Haven’t gotten to use the ACC to much as BC takes over in most of the areas I’m using it.