Hmm, GM one works great. That's sad considering they have all the hardware to make them better than the rest.
You've gotta factor in the cost of getting Ford to activate it, too. I think they tried to charge me $100 and I got them down to $60 when I combined it with a "works" oil change/service, which it was due for anyways.
Including installation and programming, it’s going to be 300-320. It’s worth that to me to not have to mess with it and to be able to make them fix it if it doesn’t work right.
Ford screwed everyone that bough an 2018 without the stock controller. Basically if you wanted to add the stock controller after purchase and use the stock harness you can't. On all the truck up to 18 they had a spot on fuse panel to drop a fuse in and have power at the dash for the brakes. This year they filled in the spot on the fuse panel so you have one panel for trucks with brakes and one without. Its a cluster fuck for dealerships right now. Having said that I used the Prodigy controller. Nice thing about the stock controller is that it makes for a clean install and the gain function on the dash works.
It's nothing to install a Prodigy if you already have a tow package that includes the tail harness/plug. Factory optioned tow capable vehicles today have a connector under the dash that you can hook up to. All you really need to do is figure out where you want to mount the controller. Tekonsha (Prodigy) vehicle specific controller harness, $11. Prodigy controller, $100.
I recently bought the OEM Ford brake controller from amazon. I also bought the Fordscan Elm327 USB tool, also from Amazon. I think it was around $30. Once you get the brake controller installed, download the Forscan software from the internet to your laptop. Then all you have to do is plug the tool in and hook it up to your laptop and you will be able to activate the trailer brake controller via the software. Takes about 5 minutes to complete the process. Then you won’t have to visit the dealership to have them do it. You’ll be able to save yourself some money and you will be able to use the tool for other things with your Ford.
I've got a '17 f150 with the tow package, but no controller. When I looked a while back, my Googles said that half the damn dash had to come off to get it connected and in place. Have any of y'all actually done it?
I watched a YouTube video this morning. There’s a lot of disassembly required. That’s why I’ll let the dealer do it.
2018 3.5 ecoboost is the highest hp and torque rated gasoline engine in the f150 lineup. Followed by the 5.0, 2.7ecoboost and finally the lowly 3.3l n/a v6.
I did it on my '15 and it took all of 20 minutes. I could've done it faster but was nervous about breaking something. Now that I've done it, it really wasn't that bad. Also, as Yellowgt5 stated, just use Fordscan to activate it yourself. While your at it, you can add a bunch of other functions as well.