My Dashboard

            My dashboard tells me I am doing an admirable job of engaging Ford’s EcoMode.

            And, I am sure, there are many more things it has to tell me that I have not discovered yet.  Without an owner’s manual, I am at the mercy of trial and error.

            I have navigated several times through the front display, where I can learn things like the odometer reading, the EcoMode use, the outside temperature, the current mpg (I’m averaging 31-33 mpg in town!), and even how many miles are left to drive based on what’s in the gas tank.  Those I understand.  But how to manage Trip 1 and Trip 2 is still beyond my arrow commands.  As is how to get back to the dashboard displays I want to see.  I’ve spent a fair amount of time sitting in my driveway or garage pushing buttons.

            At the center point of the dash between driver and rider are the temperature controls.  Those were pretty easy to figure out.  But it is all the buttons that have to do with the audio system that stump me.  So far I have successfully used the CD player and have scanned radio stations.  I believe there is a way to save the stations I want and possibly more options for audio use, but I haven’t gotten around to those yet.

            It took a dead battery and a demonstration from the Ford dealer to learn about the light settings.  The one marked “automatic” is the safest way not to leave the wrong things on.  I’m hoping that it also gives me the proper headlights for night driving.  So far I’ve been able to see.

            I have adjusted the telescoping steering wheel and the mirrors, lowered and raised the windows, found the door lock button, and used the turn signal and windshield wipers.  I have put gas in the car, run over a curb, and found that the paved alley behind the Dollar General on the west side of town was much narrower than I thought.  I have parallel-parked, angle-parked, and successfully navigated in and out of my garage numerous times.  And I have not been stopped by the police once, despite the “arrest-me red” color of my car.  Believe me, I am extra careful about following all the rules of the road.

            But there is still one thing I wish my dashboard would reveal to me:  the trunk-release button.