Newman, The info is what I got off the dealer site we have at the store. If a car comes in and the customer wants it re-activated, honestly, I don't know what the service department would do. If Ford sends a TSB or something of this sort to all service departments, with instructions on how to get it to work again, maybe we will. But until there is directions on what to do, my guess is that it will remain inactive. Each dealer may be different. It all stems to liability, and if Ford turned this feature off for safety reasons, it would be up to the service manager to make the decision to re-install it. Just like when the de-activation kits came out for front airbags. Nobody wanted to mess with them, with so much liability issues with the airbags being turned off, and if someone was in an accident, some blame could be directed to the garage and mechanic who disabled them. Just my guess about it.

 

I was planning to get the Active Anti-Theft for this reason alone. No one pays attention to a car alarm going off anyway.

My car is right next to my building so I could put the windows down in the summer on my way out. Plus with the vert you have to wait for the windows to go down before the top will move. Not a huge deal, but it would have been nice.

To all of you that got the disabled system, I say complain. Make your voices heard. I hope you get it turned back on or a refund.

 

I brought my car in today to the service dept. The service writer did not even know it had this feature. I am so glad on how informed their employees are on their vehicle haha. Anyway, they still have it and the service writer said they have not had this issue yet so they are still working on it. They gave me a loaner. Hopefully will get my car back by tonight. Will keep ya'll posted

 

Sorry for the delayed response.

We don't currently have and active anti-theft unit in stock so we can't just go out and play with one. My understanding is that the only thing that won't work is the ability to actually put the key in the door and lower the windows that way. If Ford deactivated it from the factory they most likely won't post a fix for it because they won't consider it broke, they will consider it a spec change. Hopefully at some point a tech or tech line employee will come up with the reactivation process.

As far as those of you looking for financial compensation I think you'll just frustrate yourself. First off, Ford will say the option you bought was "the active anti-theft system". You still have that and it still operates. If they were to refund any money at all, it would be a miniscule amount. The ability to roll the windows down with the key would be considered such a small part of the overall package that financial compensation would be near meaningless.

Hopefully one of our tech gurus comes up with the reflash and everyone's whole again.

 

I just picked up my car, and they had to order a part called the junction box. The receipt said ordered junction box SOP going bad. I did not have a chance to talk to the service writer as he was busy with other people. They will call me when the part comes in. They never said anything about the feature being deactived by the factory. My global does not work either with the key or the key fob. Will keep posted

 

Quick question Karpro, what about the Key FOB not lowering the windows? Ford mentions that it is not affected, so then the Service Dept should be able to fix this I assume.

 

Thanks, Paul.
Thought we lost you.

 

YES! I was so mad about the system not working right, I completely missed the part about the key fob still working. That's the only part that matters to me. I'd never stick my key in the lock anyway. Too much of a chance of scratching the paint.

"All 2005 Mustang Coupes and Convertibles built after 1/1/2005 that are equipped with the Active Anti-Theft Package will have the door lock-activated portion of the Global Open feature deactivated. The feature will continue to be available via the key FOB. This action was taken to resolve a potential quaality issue that would cause the windows to inadvertenly roll down without customer interaction. The door lock-activated portion of the Global Open feature will remail deactivated for all units produced in 2005MY."

 

I'm with you - in a wool suit and tie when it's 90+ deg - the universal window down is a godsend (especially on a black on black car). I really liked this feature on my LS - unfortunately, this is the only feature that was not ordered on my GT and I checked into adding it - no one could really tell me if it was possible or not - I was hoping it was a plug in module or something that I could purchase and install.

 

HOTLAP, PM 05stangkc. He's a Ford parts guy and is very enthusiastic about the 05. If anybody's willing to try to find that out for you, he will be.

 

ok, just came out of my freinds house tonight and found my windows down. I'm a little concerned right now. I have had the car since dec 31st and never had any problems. Maybe when i put the jeys in ym pocket the button pushed down and the windows lowered??

How many people here have had the problem with the windows dropping? Whats the way to fix it?

Thanks

 

My car was built Feb 9 & delivered Feb 17, and the global down feature does not work via the lock cylinder or the key fob :notnice:

I've only had it for 3 days so I dont wanna take her back to the dealer yet, but i'm definitely gonna mention it along with a few other things like the MP3 player not working. ugh...

 

The fix is don't put your keys in your pocket!
Actually that's a very good point, I've had my alarm go off in my other vehicles for the same reason, any number of times.

A good reason for me NOT to fix it. Mine don't work and I LIKE it that way!

 

I am also in the boat of buying this option for the global up/down feature, so this is disappointing. To be honest, from reading another post here, there doesn't even sound like there's much difference with the standard alarm and the upgraded one. Now, that this feature is turned off, what's the point.

I don't think its a big deal and its not going to cause me to not take delivery of my car, but I don't understand how this is Ford's solution to the problem.

This is going to be my first Ford purchase, so the rest of the car better be issue-less if they want to retain me as a customer.

 

I'm thinking the same thing and wondering if I should delete the alarm from my order (I'm C/U) and use the money towards a Lo-Jack? Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

 

How often do you think you'd put your key in the lock even if that part did work? I'll never put mine in the lock again... unless the battey in the fob is dead.
Remember, it still works from the key fob.

 

Well, you just answered your own question: "...unless the battery in the fob is dead." The point is that you always want to have a secondary backup to lock/unlock your car - just in case your remote battery dies, and believe me, it happens to people all the time.

In the meantime, if you read the below...

"All 2005 Mustang Coupes and Convertibles built after 1/1/2005 that are equipped with the Active Anti-Theft Package will have the door lock-activated portion of the Global Open feature deactivated. The feature will continue to be available via the key FOB. This action was taken to resolve a potential quaality issue that would cause the windows to inadvertenly roll down without customer interaction. The door lock-activated portion of the Global Open feature will remail deactivated for all units produced in 2005MY."

...it sounds as though Ford is just deactivating this function until they sort out a fix, as evidenced by the last sentence: "The door lock-activated portion of the Global Open feature will remail deactivated for all units produced in 2005MY."

Just another good reason to wait till MY '06.

 

First, how long will you go having a dead battery? The only thing that won't work is the door lock-activated portion of the Global Open feature... So you have to live without rolling down the windows from the fob once, maybe twice until you replace the battery or go home to get the spare fob that comes with the car? I can live with that.

Yes, Ford is deactivating the function. Which function? The door lock activated portion. This means you can't roll your windows down by putting the key in the lock. That's ALL it means. You can still unlock your car.

Read it again then go buy an '05.

 

No way I'm buying an '05, actually. Wanna see what else Ford has up their sleeves for SE models before committing.

As to the window up/down feature, I'm talking about sticking one's key in the lock to roll the windows UP. That's a safety function that...well, now doesn't function.

As to the alarm, separate issue, right? If your battery dies, what happens when you go to the car, stick the key in and UNLOCK the door, if you haven't used the remote to deactivate the alarm first? On most cars - including my current one - the alarm will go off. I used to work in a place where people were always coming in to get a new battery for their alarm remote, because without it, they either couldn't get in the car, or couldn't get in the car without setting off the alarm.

Not sure how it's set up on the new Stang.