Fuzzy/Blurry back up camera on my 13' SHO. Ford says its normal. Need advice.

[SVECobraR]

Hey guys i need help dealing with Ford. I've attached my post from fordtaurus.net but those guys were useless. I know you guys are crafty and smart so i'm hoping you guys have some good advice on how I should proceed with this problem.

This is my 8th ford in about 14 years and I have to say i'm very disappointed with the quality of the car and the lack of customer service. The car has three major problems that I cannot seem to get ford to address no matter what I do. Keep in mind that this is the second dealer i've had take a look at the problems and i've spoke to my "regional manager" multiple times and the only response I can get from them is that all of my problems are "Normal" characteristics of the car.

The main problem i'm going to discuss here is my back up camera. If it is night time and anywhere below 65 Degrees my camera will turn very blurry and fuzzy. I've attached a video so you guys can see what i'm dealing with. Everyone I've spoken to at Ford says that this is a common problem that is in their software and that we as customers should expect the cameras to act like this in this type of weather. This type of weather is very vague as night time and 65 degrees is very common for most people on this planet but for some reason they like to stand behind this argument as if every back up camera on the planet suffers from the same symptoms. I know my 2015 edge doesn't do this, nor does my wifes 2013 Q50 or any other car that has a back up camera that i've been in.

Unfortunately ford is completely unwilling to give me something in writing saying that this is expected. I've been so persistent with the problem that my regional manager Nicole Kenny ( [email protected] ) has told me that if I don't like it then I shouldn't own a Ford.

This problem is ridiculous for many reasons. The most obvious of which is the fact that Back up cameras are most useful at night when visibility and lighting are their lowest and they can be of real use. The other more common sense reason would be, how could any company release a product that is meant for safety that doesn't work properly for at least a third of the day? I mean, how could they possibly tell me that this product has a software issue that is normal that keep it from working properly at night time in pretty much normal weather (65 degrees is normal in my eyes). Imagine if Apple told you that the camera on your phone is going to fuzzy, grainy and pretty much useless at night time? Or what if your security camera manufacturer told you the same thing? How does that make any sense.

Anyway, sorry for the long rant but I can't seem to get anyone to give me anything in writing and apparently the only two people I can contact on their customer support staff are the people at the 800 number who cannot email out (as if that's possible this day and age) and the regional manager who pretty told me to go pound sand.

Does anyone have any ideas as to how I could escalate this and get someone to actually address this issue?

I have a 30 second video that I cannot upload here or at photobucket for some reason. It's a mpeg4 and i'm having a very hard time getting photobucket to accept it so i've just taken three screenshots and posted those instead.

Thanks in advance.

Berj

 

[zak88lx]

Is it just the temperature alone, or the combo of temp and darkness that causes fuzziness?
Is the image clear when temps are warmer?
Have you checked to see if lens is clear and clean?

It almost looks like the video cable from camera to head unit is bad or loose.
Or the lens is covered with some kind of spackling that only shows up in darkness.

If it was a common issue as Ford claims, you should see multiple complaints on: SHO Forum.

 

[Drive XR7]

I had a '13 Edge and have never seen that kind of issue. I have to imagine the camera hardware is likely the same. On my '16 Explorer, the picture and resolution is noticeably better.

It looks like your camera hardware has gone bad though. No way should it look like that. Try replacing (or having Ford replace under warranty) the rear camera module.

 

[SVECobraR]

I should have mentioned it in my initial post that another dealer has already replaced the camera and it is still having this problem. The lens is clean and the video is clear during the day. This doesn't happen every night but often enough that it is annoying. It seems to happen when it's 65 or lower outside.

 

[Drive XR7]

I should have mentioned it in my initial post that another dealer has already replaced the camera and it is still having this problem. The lens is clean and the video is clear during the day. This doesn't happen every night but often enough that it is annoying. It seems to happen when it's 65 or lower outside.

Sort of sounds like a bad connection. Maybe the video feed cable needs to be reseated.

 

[Torch10th]

First thing first, cameras are terrible in low light situations. Unless you're putting something like what sprint cup cars have on them, you're never going to have a crisp image from a rear view camera in low light situations. You can either aid it by adding a brigher reverse light, or understand that you're always going to get a grainy image at night.

With that said, it appears that the lens on the rearview camera is either pitted or dirty. I would try and take a look at that aspect and see if it helps you out at all.

That very last image you posted, is about the same type of resolution I see out of most backup cameras in very dark conditions.

 

[Zemedici]

First thing first, cameras are terrible in low light situations. Unless you're putting something like what sprint cup cars have on them, you're never going to have a crisp image from a rear view camera in low light situations. You can either aid it by adding a brigher reverse light, or understand that you're always going to get a grainy image at night.

With that said, it appears that the lens on the rearview camera is either pitted or dirty. I would try and take a look at that aspect and see if it helps you out at all.

That very last image you posted, is about the same type of resolution I see out of most backup cameras in very dark conditions.

+65000

Try some rain x on the lense to see if it helps

 

[SVECobraR]

First thing first, cameras are terrible in low light situations. Unless you're putting something like what sprint cup cars have on them, you're never going to have a crisp image from a rear view camera in low light situations. You can either aid it by adding a brigher reverse light, or understand that you're always going to get a grainy image at night.

With that said, it appears that the lens on the rearview camera is either pitted or dirty. I would try and take a look at that aspect and see if it helps you out at all.

That very last image you posted, is about the same type of resolution I see out of most backup cameras in very dark conditions.

The car just rolled over to 20k miles and has been doing this since I purchased it last December with 9k miles. It doesn't always show up grainy like this, only when it gets below a certain temperature so I don't see how clearing it with rain-x or it being normal applies.

If rain-x would fix this or if it were normal then it would do this all the time. Regardless of the temperature or ambient lighting at night. It generally only does this when its around 65 degrees or colder outside. Also, I've driver many cars with back up cameras and I have never seen a picture so blurry/fuzzy. I know some are not crystal clear at night but something that bad is not normal. Click on the first link and watch the video for yourself.

 

[13COBRA]

I've had a ton of Fords. Fairly normal.

Tell you what, I'll buy it from you and sell you a new one.

 

[SVECobraR]

Sure i'll sell it to you and move onto another car.

I'm dumbfounded as to how you guys accept this.

 

[Torch10th]

I mean, I know you're upset with it's functionality, but what exactly do you want Ford to do? You purchased the car used and it's well past it's first year of ownership, so it doesn't come close to qualifying for a lemon law.

It's outside, or very near outside of it's warranty, and you have Ford and others in here stating this is fairly normal. If the backup camera is of incredible importance to you, there are many aftermarket units that are probably better.

Most of what you're seeing comes from the fact that it's a crappy low quality CCD in an even crappier housing that's designed primarily not to break within a warranty period while being subject to outside uncontrolled environments. Then it has to pass through the bean counters. The camera as a result sucks, period. You could replace it with another factory unit, but it would probably...still suck.

If backup camera clarity at night is important to you, put high powered LED's in your reverse lights. Since you're worried about safety, this adds to it by making your camera fidelity clearer, providing better lighting for you as the driver reversing and also being more noticeable to others.

If that's still not good enough, buy a better camera from the aftermarket.

 

[SVECobraR]

Personally, I would like Ford to find a way to provide a clear image at night, or, give me something in writing that states that the cars camera, as designed from the factory, is not going to work properly at night.

I cannot accept the fact that this is fairly normal. I know it's just a backup camera but this is a $50k car and this is not acceptable. Has anyone ever heard of Honda or Kia saying that our cameras don't really work at night time. No, you haven't, because even on their $15k cars their cameras run properly.

What if you bought a used iPhone 7 in 9 months from now, one with only 100 hours of run time, and when you try using the camera/screen at night time you get a very blurry/fuzzy image. You call apple and they say, "oh yeah, these things don't work that great at night. Yah Samsung and every other manufacturers work fine but ours, not so much". Would you sit back and say, ahh it's okay they were just trying to get through the warranty period with as low of out of pocket cost as possible.

Then you post it online as you are upset that your $850 9 month old phone with very few hours of usage has a shitty night time camera and somebody tells you "hey if the night time imagery from your CAMERA are that important to you then maybe you should just walk around with a flood light to properly light things up".

I know it's a bit of a exaggeration but realistically this is absurd. No $50k car should have this type of problem. This setups cost $300 for a very good unit from Amazon and one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world can't get theirs right. This is the most expensive and newest car i've ever owned and it just sucks that it has a bunch of stupid problems like this.

 

[CobraBob]

I agree with Torch10th that better lighting out back will enhance the quality of the images. That's why you're seeing much better quality during the day. My wife's Hyundai Azera has the same issue at night. Just not all that great. Very grainy and lesser detail. I know if I added better lighting out back it would produce better quality video. Or, as Torch said, go for a high quality HD backup camera.

P.S. - There are some car models that have better quality rear cameras. I've seen some.

 

[2000gt4.6]

Yeah I'm sorry but that is NOT normal. It might get a LITTLE blurry in low light but those look like pixels or video distortion.

Mine (14 SHO)doesn't do anything like that, regardless of light level or temperature. Nor does my wife's 14 fusion.

I'd hit up another dealer AND find a number to bypass that local Ford rep and go higher.

Gotta lol at people telling you to live with it. Who cares if it's a year old or bought secondhand.... its still under bumper to bumper and practically new.50k car and you just say screw it? No thanks.

I had a similar issue. Replaced the windshield after a rock hit and after the lane following stopped working. Nobody could fix but I kept on em... finally got a Ford engineer to come down and found it was the windshield out if spec.

Edit:. Long shot here, but have you done the update to the entertainment center? You never know.

 

[13COBRA]

Sure i'll sell it to you and move onto another car.

I'm dumbfounded as to how you guys accept this.

PM me the VIN, miles and detailed condition of the vehicle and I'll get you a number in the morning.

Personally, I would like Ford to find a way to provide a clear image at night, or, give me something in writing that states that the cars camera, as designed from the factory, is not going to work properly at night.

I cannot accept the fact that this is fairly normal. I know it's just a backup camera but this is a $50k car and this is not acceptable. Has anyone ever heard of Honda or Kia saying that our cameras don't really work at night time. No, you haven't, because even on their $15k cars their cameras run properly.

What if you bought a used iPhone 7 in 9 months from now, one with only 100 hours of run time, and when you try using the camera/screen at night time you get a very blurry/fuzzy image. You call apple and they say, "oh yeah, these things don't work that great at night. Yah Samsung and every other manufacturers work fine but ours, not so much". Would you sit back and say, ahh it's okay they were just trying to get through the warranty period with as low of out of pocket cost as possible.

Then you post it online as you are upset that your $850 9 month old phone with very few hours of usage has a shitty night time camera and somebody tells you "hey if the night time imagery from your CAMERA are that important to you then maybe you should just walk around with a flood light to properly light things up".

I know it's a bit of a exaggeration but realistically this is absurd. No $50k car should have this type of problem. This setups cost $300 for a very good unit from Amazon and one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world can't get theirs right. This is the most expensive and newest car i've ever owned and it just sucks that it has a bunch of stupid problems like this.

Hate to break it to you, your SHO is extremely far from being a $50k car. At any given time they have $5000 in rebates, plus the $5000 in markups.

SHOs take a 50% hit off of MSRP in the first 6 months of ownership.

Gotta lol at people telling you to live with it. Who cares if it's a year old or bought secondhand.... its still under bumper to bumper and practically new.50k car and you just say screw it? No thanks.

See above.

They are grossly overpriced from the factory.

 

[SVECobraR]

Believe me i know they are not worth $50k. But even the 2016 PP are asking roughly $48k. My cars originally window sticker was $47.8k. I wouldn't pay a cent more than I bought it for which is roughly 50% of the original price.

I also find it amazing that a 2016 PP and my 2013 PP are identical. The only thing different was the sync system and the OEM tires. Everything else was exactly the same. I guess ford doesn't believe in constant progress and innovation anymore.

I've PM'd you my information, thank you in advance for your help.

 

[13COBRA]

2016 F-150 Lariat, $60k MSRP.

I'll get with you tomorrow.

 

[2000gt4.6]

PM me the VIN, miles and detailed condition of the vehicle and I'll get you a number in the morning.

Hate to break it to you, your SHO is extremely far from being a $50k car. At any given time they have $5000 in rebates, plus the $5000 in markups.

SHOs take a 50% hit off of MSRP in the first 6 months of ownership.



See above.

They are grossly overpriced from the factory.

So let's call it a 40k car. I wouldn't put up with the screen doing that on a car with bumper to bumper if it was a base fiesta.

Broken is broken, it's under warranty from Ford... it should be fixed.

 

[daustin]

Under the right weather conditions, have them show you another car on the lot that has the same blurry/fuzzy picture. If this is normal, the car on the lot should do it too.

On another note, my wife's '12 Edge had this same exact problem. Our '15 Edge and '16 Mustang don't have this problem. I guess I never worried about it enough to bring it up when we had that Edge. I forgot about it by the time I put it in drive. I get your issue though.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Zemedici]

So let's call it a 40k car. I wouldn't put up with the screen doing that on a car with bumper to bumper if it was a base fiesta.

Broken is broken, it's under warranty from Ford... it should be fixed.

Sigh.