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Some questions about setup of new 2021 Edge ST

LesF

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City
Littleton
State
CO
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United States
What I Drive
2021 Ford Edge ST
#1
I'm new to this forum and I'm about to take delivery of a new Edge ST. In anticipation, I've downloaded a copy of the owner's manual to help with initially setting up some of the functions prior to driving it off the lot, but at the moment, this seems like a monumental task. Eventually, I'll figure it out, but there are a couple of questions that I can't find an answer to in the manual.

According tho the Quick Start Guide, the car is equipped with a modem that allows several functions (such as connect to the internet, locate the car, lock/unlock, automatic system updates, etc.), NONE of which I want. The modem comes enabled from the factory, and can also be enabled (and I assume disabled) using the FordPass App. I don't have a "smart" cell phone capable of of anything but voice calls, so The FordPass App is not available to me.

Can you tell me if there is another way to disable the modem? I don't want to debate the pros and cons of using the modem, so please don't turn this into that kind of discussion.

My second question concerns adding a CD player (which Ford inconveniently omitted from this vehicle). I would like to use either Bluetooth or USB connectivity, and possibly have control of the player using the vehicle's entertainment system, but I definitely do not want to replace the original system with an aftermarket product. Again, I don't want this to turn into a discussion of the pros and cons of CD players vs. MP3 recordings on a flash drive.

Any helpful suggestions or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
 
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City
Ogden
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UT
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United States
What I Drive
2017 Edge Titanium
#2
Agreed, Ford does not do well with technical operating instructions. Wish they did, but I have been driving my Edge for three years and I still am in the dark about what Sync can do. As I am not as flexible as I used to be, I really like the memory seat, steering wheel pedal, mirror positioning system. All in all I really like my Edge It could get better milage, but most of my driving is city stop and go, so no real complaint.
 
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6
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1
City
Avalon
State
CA
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United States
What I Drive
2021 Ford Edge ST
#3
I think I am right in saying the modem is off (or in stand by) when the Wi Fi and Vehicle Hot Spot are turned off. I have all but memorized the owner's manual and have found a few areas that weren't updated to match the changes on the 21 model.
Regarding the other question, I think Ford omitted the CD player because no one (or very few) uses CD's anymore. I kept all mine as a backup for my music, but I link my I Phone to the system via bluetooth usually and sometimes usb to charge the phone and use the Journey Feature of the FordPass App. Depending on what type of device you are going to link via bluetooth or usb, you should't have a problem. I did try to plug my 15 year old Ipod classic in to the usb and it did not recognize it. But my 6 year old Ipod linked up bluetooth and usb no problem.
 
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LesF

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6
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City
Littleton
State
CO
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United States
What I Drive
2021 Ford Edge ST
Thread Starter #4
Thanks for your replies.

I've accepted the fact that I can't us a CD player with this car, and I can live with a workaround.
Initially, I tried to burn my CD's to a flash drive, placing each CD in its own folder, which I labeled "Album 1", "Album 2", etc. The problem is that I can't get Sync to recognize the folders as albums (even when I choose "Albums" from the menu). So far, I can't find anyone who can tell me how to create albums on a flash drive that Sync will actually recognize as an album. I've looked online, read the owner's manual, called Ford directly, and spoken with the sales and service department of several Ford dealers, and it appears that nobody understands the system well enough to answer the question. Hell of a way to support a product!
Well, I'm signed up for the Ford ST SUV Experience in June. Perhaps I'll find someone there who can help.

My current operating procedure is to burn the music files (in WAV format) directly to the root directory of my flash drive. It's more difficult to select any particular song to play this way, but Sync has no problem recognizing and playing the WAV files.

I've had the vehicle about 5 months now (almost 5000 miles), and while I generally like the vehicle, there are several things I dislike or could use improving (I won't go into that here). But the biggest problem now that winter is here is that this car absolutely SUCKS in the snow! All-wheel drive is next to useless when the all-season tires that come with the vehicle can't develop decent traction. I'm not a novice when it comes to driving in snow (lived in Denver for the past 40 years), but I can honestly say that the my Toyota Highlander with aftermarket tires (also all-season) by far outperforms the ST in the snow. In fact, I'm coming up on the tire-rotation time, and I'm considering junking the factory tires for something more suitable for my climate.

Thanks again for your help.
 
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6
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City
Avalon
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CA
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United States
What I Drive
2021 Ford Edge ST
#5
Good luck with it. I think you may get some good info at the SUV Experience. I haven't booked mine yet, but I can't wait.
One cool thing I found regarding the AWD, if you Double Tap the ESC button it puts the vehicle into Advancetrac Sport Mode. This feature is not in the owner's manual.
This mode seems to make the AWD system much more active. You may want to try it to see if it helps. You can see the difference on the AWD digital gauge as you drive.
Hope you have a great day. Jim
 
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LesF

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6
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City
Littleton
State
CO
Country
United States
What I Drive
2021 Ford Edge ST
Thread Starter #6
Hi, Jim.

Sorry I took so long to reply, but I had to wait for a couple of snow dumps to test your suggestion about going into Advancetrac Sport Mode. I'm happy to say that it made a big difference. At least now the car handles snow/slush/ice as well as my Highlander did. Thank you for that advice. (which also saved me the expense of swapping tires prematurely).

I have a couple of questions;

I noticed that going into Advancetrac Sport Mode has the effect of turning the ESC off, according to the instrument display. How, then, is this different than just hitting the ESC button once to turn it off (other than the notification that informs you that you're going into Advancetrac Sport Mode)? I perceived no noticeable difference between the two when driving.

Is Advancetrac Sport Mode activated automatically when driving in Sport Mode (in addition to the the difference in transmission shifting characteristics), as its name might suggest?.

As an aside, let me unburden myself of one of my pet peeves. Why on earth would Ford not provide this information, either in the manual or through its service departments? For that matter, why is the manual so cursory? Even when it addresses an issue, it's sometimes very difficult to know where a switch is actually located or how to access an onscreen control to perform an action. It's really not that difficult to produce a detailed, easily usable owners' manual, even for a non-technical layman. In my youth when I was a technical writer (we're talking distant past here), one of my jobs was to write the instruction manual for launching Polaris missiles from a submarine. The criteria was that the manual was to be written such that an operator with a high school education would have all the information necessary to perform the task (i.e., no time for searching for clarification anywhere else). Believe me, it can be done.

Again, thanks for the advice. I hope someone from Ford actually monitors this forum, there's a lot to learn here.
 
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6
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City
Avalon
State
CA
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United States
What I Drive
2021 Ford Edge ST
#7
Les, I did notice in sport mode the Advancetrac seems to be more active. I'm not sure if it is the same as double tapping the button though. I kind of like the idea of going in to sport mode with the AWD, but still being able to leave the transmission in Normal Drive Mode.
Why in the world Ford didn't put any of this information in the owner's manual is beyond me. I too wondered why this information was not available for us. I googled 'Advancetrac sport mode' and found this chart. Hope it helps. Have a great day! Jim
 

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LesF

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Messages
6
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City
Littleton
State
CO
Country
United States
What I Drive
2021 Ford Edge ST
Thread Starter #8
Thanks for the info, Jim. That chart is very helpful, although I don't know if it's specifically aimed at the 2021 Edge ST (got a lot of hits for other Ford models, many older, when I googled Advancetrac sport mode). But it opened the door for me to dig into it a little deeper.
Thanks again.
Les
 

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