Ford Frustrates Drivers With BlueCruise Price Increase

In recent years, BlueCruise, Ford’s driver assistance system, has earned high marks from drivers. In their review of the system last year, Consumer Reports observed that “[i]t stands out for its driver monitoring and appropriate warnings when driver attention appears to have wandered” and praised the way that it “effectively encourages collaborative driving.”

Now, however, BlueCruise is facing some criticism from Ford enthusiasts over a planned increase in costs that could see some drivers paying around 300% more for the service. Writing at CarScoops, Sebastien Bell has a good overview of the situation, which began when Ford clarified the pricing changes on a discussion forum for Mach-E drivers.

“Renewal for Mustang Mach-E, excluding certain model year 2021 vehicles, is $800 per year or $75 per month at the end of any initial subscription or trial period,” a Ford representative wrote. As Bell points out, BlueCruise initially cost $600 for three years — effectively raising the annual cost by $600.

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As Jonathon Ramsey at AutoBlog observed, this price increase is not uncommon in the driver-assistance space. Ramsey also points out that some of the frustration comes from the way the cost of BlueCruise has been described — in other words, if it’s listed as a fee for hardware, software or both.

However you break it down, however, this represents a price increase — and a substantial one at that. The sole exception seems to be the 2021 Mach-E with BlueCruise, which will get the lower cost for another three years. As for what pricing will look like for this feature after that, stay tuned.