untamestang

I have noticed something strange happening with my 2010 Mustang GT Premium two time. I don't know if this is supposed to happen or not.

I have the the MyColor settings set for blue gauges, red halos, and white ambient lighting. When I first turned on my car this morning, I put the headlights and fog lights in the "On" position, not the "Auto" position. The gauges, halos, and ambient lighting were all on as expected. After driving for a couple of minutes, without touching a thing, the gauges reverted to the white color, no halo coloring, and the ambient lighting went off. I tried turning my lights to the "Off" positon and back on to see if the same thing would happen, but none of the MyColor colors appeared anywhere.

Has this happened to anyone else? Is this normal? I tried searching the forums and couldn't find anyone mentioning this particular issue, so maybe it is a bug in my car. I really don't want to have to take it in for service as long as this is normal.

Anyone and everyone, please chime in.

Thank you in advance!

FordEngineer

This is normal. The ambient light sensor (little black dome thing on top of your dash, near the center of the windshield) is telling your car it's too light to use the 'night' settings for gauge backlighting (MyColor only activates when the gauges are illuminated with 'night' lighting).

Since the ambient light sensor said it's too bright for that, it illuminated your gauges with the 'daytime' settings for best visibility, which unfortunately you cannot change. Turning your headlamps on (during the daytime) has no effect on this. As soon as it gets dark outside (as determined by the ambient light sensor), your MyColor settings will take if your parking or headlamps are on.

So, to recap, you'll only get MyColor to show up IF:

1.) Your headlamp switch is set to headlamps, parking lights, or 'Auto'

AND

2.) The ambient light sensor agrees it's dark enough to transition from 'daylight' settings to 'night' settings.

untamestang

Well, great! Thank you for chiming in! I appreciate the great description of what was going on. I am so glad it is normal. I really didn't want to have to take it back into the dealer. You have been very, very helpful! Thank you very much!

Just a quick question, though. So, the "Auto" position on the headlamp control has no effect on the ambient lighting/mycolor settings? It will only turn on the headlamps and not the ambient lighting/my color gauges? In other words, if I were to put it in the "Auto" position, is it possible for the headlamps to turn on, but not the ambient lighting/my color gauges?

Thank you again!

FordEngineer

Well, they should be related. The same ambient light sensor is what turns on your Auto Headlamps as well. If you leave it in Auto, I wouldn't think that the headlamps come on, but the 'night' settings for backlighting don't.

Although, now that I think about it, they could be calibrated differently for when they come on, so I wouldn't rule it out. Auto headlamps are calibrated to come on in dusk-ish lighting conditions not just to improve your visibility of the road, but also to make you more visible. The backlighting settings are JUST for your convenience, giving improved visibility/less strain on your eyes. So, yeah, I guess it makes sense that they could be set to come on at different levels. Nevertheless, it's the same sensor that controls both.

VRFlip

I wish there was a way to adjust the timeout threshold on the system sensing day vs. night. It bugs me when I drive under a bridge and it goes to night lighting mode almost immediately. Then, it seems to take about a minute to change back to daytime mode.

untamestang

Thank you for getting back to me so quickly again! Great things to know! Thank you very, very much! I appreciate you taking the time to answer those questions for me. It's great to have someone like you around.

Moving onto another couple of topics...

By the way, I read your review on the 2011 5.0, sounds nice, and I will test drive one for sure, but I definitely don't think I will be trading in the 2010 for one. I just got this one to drop my payments from a GT500 and save money on insurance and gas as well. The 2010 is hot and more than enough for me. Really, the only things that I am going to be changing are a few exterior items. The interior is PERFECT.

Actually, while I have you here, got a couple questions for you about the SYNC system. When will we see a fix for the volume issue with the phone? When first making a call, the volume is very low. I have heard this complaint from others, so I am sure you are aware of it. Also, when attempting to play another track or switching back from phone to USB, their seems to be no sound for a short period. I find myself having to either turn off the system or go to another interface and switching back to the USB again in order to get the sound to play. Have you noticed that issue or heard anything about it?

Thank you again!

FordEngineer

#1: We're aware of it and are working to get it adjusted ASAP. It's more complicated than I thought.

#2: Can you be more specific? Do you mean you end a phone call by pressing and holding the phone button, but then it stays in 'Phone' mode, and doesn't automatically go back to USB, or it goes back to USB, but no audio comes out?

untamestang

#1: Great! Please keep us all up to date when a fix is ready for that.

#2: I will let you know the exact steps to reproduce the issue when I get chance to sit down and mess with it fully, but from what I remember, it is when I end a call by pressing and holding the phone button, it automatically goes back to USB, but there is no audio. Again, I will try to get the exact steps to reproduce it and when I do, I will let you know.

Thank you for all your efforts and keep up the great work!

USAF in Germany

Ive noticed my headlights come on when its raining, but didn't realize the car was equiped with that option.

PSU Ben

I occasionally have the issue you describe in #2 (both scenarios). Turning the radio off then on again seems to resolve the issue. It is intermittent, so I wouldn't be surprised if I'm doing something incorrect to cause the problem...