Fuse Panel Location

[Zooks527]

Could they have put the damn passenger compartment one in a more inconvenient location? I was wiring my front and rear cameras yesterday and the whole "on my side, 1/3 in and 2/3 out of the car, trying to look up through the wrong part of the progressive lenses" routine was just a PITA. In my last BMW, they were in the trunk under the access panel, 5 seconds to get to, and trivial to work with. What is wrong with these people?

Another downside: the Safe & Smart package behind the mirror is freaking huge. Eats all the good camera locations for the front.

On the up side, fuse 23 (power window and dimming mirror control) provides a good point if you're looking to switch power on and off with the engine for dashcams (if you don't use the parking mode) and radar detectors. Has a bit of lag after the engine goes off, but drops after a minute or when you open the door.

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[Fatguy]

Could they have put the damn passenger compartment one in a more inconvenient location? I was wiring my front and rear cameras yesterday and the whole "on my side, 1/3 in and 2/3 out of the car, trying to look up through the wrong part of the progressive lenses" routine was just a PITA. In my last BMW, they were in the trunk under the access panel, 5 seconds to get to, and trivial to work with. What is wrong with these people?

Another downside: the Safe & Smart package behind the mirror is freaking huge. Eats all the good camera locations for the front.

On the up side, fuse 23 (power window and dimming mirror control) provides a good point if you're looking to switch power on and off with the engine for dashcams (if you don't use the parking mode) and radar detectors. Has a bit of lag after the engine goes off, but drops after a minute or when you open the door.

Well thanks for a lot of information I don’t need...


But I like people that look around places few don’t. Sort of like finding reno guys gripes and bitches about the owners scrawled inside walls!


To answer one of the few sentences with a question mark - hey it’s Ford, what do you expect? Go back to the easy to work on BMW that bleeds you dry financially when the warranty expires. Just for kicks and giggles: How did you end up in a Ford after living with the ultimate driving machine?

 

[boB]

After 24 years of designing electrical systems for construction equipment I can explain: the electrical team is last when it comes to space claims. The general feeling is "oh, it's just wires, you can run those anywhere". So we put the fuse blocks in the best place we can find, after all the other systems teams have taken all the good locations.\

That, and we like to see technicians fold themselves into impossible spots trying to work on the electrics. ;)

 

[Zooks527]

Go back to the easy to work on BMW that bleeds you dry financially when the warranty expires.

I had 132,000 miles when I sold my 2009, and it was still solid. Sure, some things like the ATF change were stupidly expensive, but overall it was a very reliable car.

Just for kicks and giggles: How did you end up in a Ford after living with the ultimate driving machine?

TLDR: MagneRide.

Longer answer: After I picked up my Tacoma a few years ago, the car went from daily driver to weekend fun trip. My M235 was configured with AWD and an auto for commuting in traffic and bad weather, so it wasn't as much fun as I wanted on the weekend. I decided to go RWD and a manual transmission and drove a bunch of cars. The Miata fell off the list when my wife looked up at an 18 wheeler next to us on the test drive, turned to me, and said "Buy whatever you want, but I will never get into another one of these again." The Camaro fell off after 5 minutes of driving it and feeling like I was looking out of a WW1 slit trench. Finally came down to an M2C and the GT, and the MagneRide sealed the deal over the filling-loosening suspension in the M2C.

 

[Zooks527]

I was fine finding the fuses themselves at a small local auto store, but the fuse tap was another issue. Local stores had normal and mini fuse taps, but no micro. Ended up getting a pair off of Amazon.

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