Ford F-150 Lightning Is Vulnerable To Hackers

A 19-year-old hacker claimed he took control of 25 Teslas in ten different countries earlier this year.

He exploited a vulnerability in the software and was able to remotely disable Sentry Mode and open the doors and windows via the car’s keyless driving feature. This problem is not limited to Tesla, as we reported on keyless entry vulnerability before. The new Phone-As-A-Key feature, available from multiple brands, is just as easily exploitable.

Ford’s Phone-As-A-Key system works via Bluetooth, which is reportedly easier to hack. Now it seems Ford is hesitant to activate this feature on the all-new Lightning until it can find a solution to a problem.

In a post on the Lightning Owner’s forum, a communication screenshot was shared describing the problem.

The problem can be fixed via an over-the-air update which is expected to be available in late summer. As a result, the feature is currently not active, and customers won’t be able to use the feature. It’s a bit of a bummer, considering the first shipment of customer cars only recently left the factory floor. Several future owners confirmed the problem via the Ford App.

And what’s usually the first thing you do when taking delivery of a new car? Yup, you play around with all the features while completely ignoring the owner’s manual for eternity.

Reading through the comments on the forum, Lighting owners appear to be a bit bummed but happy that Ford identified and rectified the issue before it became a massive problem.

Ford will give new Lightning owners two key fobs as a sort of peace offering. This might seem like a silly consolation prize, but the current chip shortage has resulted in several features being cut from models. One of the first features axed was the spare key. For the record, it’s not just Ford who delivered new cars with just one key.

The Lightning models affected by this problem are the Lariat 510A with Ford Co-Pilot Active 2.0, the Lariat 511A, and the Platinum 710A. Lesser models like the Pro and XLT (the most popular models according to Ford) have nothing to fear, as Phone-As-A-Key is not an available option on these models.