HT3 Ford add-on 2021 Halkyard Tech users experience help advice page

[rapidlocksmiths]

these terms and conditions and disclaimers exist on almost all tools these days , on the whole we are on our own , all risk is on us alone , when we click this agreement ( most without even reading it ) we accept responsibility and exonerate the seller/developer.

of course the consumer has us by the short and curlies and selling to the consumer is a world apart from business to business .

this is one of the reasons why the price cutting race to the gutter is foolish and self defeating , without the margins to factor in unexpected costs as issues arise its a rocky road to ruin , a bricked vehicle is only round the corner for any of us , more so for those that plug in and hope with no idea and working for less than a packet of wine gums.

though every business , or a professional business surely has adequate insurances to cover such a situation , as long as there margins allow for such insurances.

i accepted long ago that im on my own if shit hits fan and can rely on no one , so i learnt skills that may help , pay every year for expensive insurances just in case , as much as ensuring i can do right by my customer as protecting myself , such insurance is a must have.

with the traffic issue abrites were great and instantly agreed to pay as an issue with the released software , they then next day sent an update that had a warning on the software not to use it on uk spec traffic 3 if you do so its at your own risk , software then fixed by next update , but they did pay for the repairs and costs in full. this to date is the only vehicle that at the time i couldnt fix and had to go to dealer , the only one in over 20 years, it hurt and is a feeling i dont want again.

even smart pro has now put a similar warning on the software of traffic 3 , vivaro b that your basically on your own if it goes tits up .

every supplier and toolmaker in this trade is your best friend especially when selling to you , though when it goes tits up then as its always been on the whole we are and always have been on our own.

abrites have paid for software issues , ad has paid on some issues in past but we pay alot more for these softwares , chris has always been a gentleman , always been affordable and always been helpful , and as normal is adding updates to perfect his tool for us , i still have faith in what he sells between the new halkyard and truecode kit they have paid their way over and over , normally flawlessly , hes one of the few developers i do have faith in and trust and will continue to invest in new tools from.

im still not convinced that this isnt a bcm issue known by ford , otherwise why under warranty will they just change bcm rather than try reflashing and fixing first .

[rapidlocksmiths]

i approached halkyard tech about any contribution toward repair cost of nearly £700 to get the 68 plate focus fixed and was referred to this

5.2 No Liability for Consequential Damages. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL Halkyard Tech OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, LOSS OF DATA, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION, OR ANY OTHER PECUNIARY LOSS) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE, EVEN IF Halkyard Tech HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

this on the very same day i received the email above about the raft of updates to the very same software that caused the issue

is customer care even a thing now ?

whose gonna be the first crash test dummy then ?

regards

Do you not have trade insurance that covers this ? if you do pass it to your insurer to deal with and your not out of pocket , thats what you pay them for each year and is their sole purpose .

i will probably give it a whirl on the next fiesta or focus all keys lost of relevent years that i get , if chris has released updates then im certain hes tested them himself and via his beta testers .

[whiskeyman]

every tool we take a risk
everyone has a chinese tool...........same applys
just to deal with it....stop using it and move on
the amount of door stop shit tools i have bought of the years that land in a pile in the corner.......
truecode been a good long serving tool of mine
and still is

[westwoody]

hi

yes i have insurance that will cover it and that is ok if it is my fault, but my point is we pay good money for software in good faith that it has been tested fully, this obviously hasnt, if we are to be used as testers for the software and it doesnt work surely the sellers should have some liability to cover our losses be it by their insurance or whatever. imagine if everything we bought came with a disclaimer that the manufacturer accepted no responsibility whatsoever

i do usually use SP on these but unfortunately there was no mobile signal where i was

as to there might be faulty bcm`s fitted, maybe there is but this new software download will not fix that, i guess time will tell but i wont be testing it

regards

[rapidlocksmiths]

My understanding of the HT3 add on is that it was tested on a good number of vehicles by chris and his beta testers prior to release with no issues found , this is their normal way of doing this , they never release till tested . this is something that has come to light some time after release .

considering that it was a while after release that it first come to light , considering how many are using the software around uk and europe which will be at least in the hundreds , and the reports listed in this thread were the first chris had , but with so few reports of this issue from users and the results of their own testing it wasnt deemed a software issue initially .

add to this that there has been the same issue written online regarding the same problem of tpms error and u3000 dtc with 2 other tools one being smart pro on a 2018/19 fiesta , it suggests the issue may not be with the software or may affect at least 2 other tools too .
or as ford if under warranty are not even trying to reflash or fix and just fit new bcm , suggests they are aware of an issue which may be bad bcm units , no one really knows what the issue is yet , whether the tools or the bcm units other than maybe ford.

i doubt any toolmaker would consider there to be a software issue until they know for sure or until they recieve enough reports to make this likely. though i doubt they would agree to pay or share costs until its at least proven that the issue is their tool beyond doubt , which again isnt easy to prove.

in an ideal world , which this aint , tool makers would share the cost or take responsibility for the cost if a software fault was proven , some do if proven software issue , but id bet if the case software would be far dearer and there would be alot less software released through fear of it crippling them financially.

by same token if an ideal world which again it isnt , car makers wouldnt hide from their vehicle issues and faulty parts , instead they would do a recall and remedy them rather than try to profit from their own faulty units, a good example is the bad bcm units on nissan that brick the car , they are fully aware of the issue yet choose to ignore it with impunity , even profit from it , vag group being unable to recode a 3rd party key and their online system shuts car down with a big bill , and now possible bad bcm with ford which is unknown yet . in the ideal world the vehicle manufacturer would hold the responsibility for paying for and fixing such issues , but they dont .

you risk doing a qashqai j11 prox and it goes curly on you , you are left with a big bill despite it being a known part issue , your tool supplier cant be expected to foot bill , i agree its unfair we should when its a known part issue , but we are still responsible.

i dont know enough about the recent update as to what is different , reading it seems to suggest its logging what unit and software version you have , what you do and maintaining a log file , possibly to restore original file if it goes curly , possibly to log details to prove one way or other if a tool issue or bcm issue . possibly even a fix to reduce the risk of this happening , maybe all of this and more , more im sure will come to light in the comming months.

but all the time car makers , dealerships , tool makers , tool sellers have a get out then they will use it .

this has always been at our own risk and i suspect always will be no matter what tools we use , some tool makers will pay out on some issues , some wont , but at end of day every job carries a risk , it always has , we are using 3rd party after market software to , hacking if you like , it being at our risk has always been the price we pay to have the extensive software we have .

the safest option but still not 100% safe is to not buy key programmers and buy dealer tools and pay for online access for dealer systems . this will negate alot of the risks we take.

it will be some time before we know for sure whats going on and where the issue stems from , ive held back from using the ht3 add on since this thread and used sp , however now theres a case with sp , yet i still use it until more cases appear .

i understand your point and in an ideal world all the risk would not be ours to burden , but this isnt how it is and this isnt an ideal world which is why we buy and use the tools we do and why we must add to margins a pot to cover the rare occasions this happens and why car keys used to cost what they did before the price cutters came along.

maybe if the trade was regulated , everyone had to be properly trained and insured then we may have a voice to not burden the entire risk , again ideal world.

as much as i understand your point and wish for this too , its not how it is and i doubt ever will be.

[fred77]

hi

yes i have insurance that will cover it and that is ok if it is my fault, but my point is we pay good money for software in good faith that it has been tested fully, this obviously hasnt, if we are to be used as testers for the software and it doesnt work surely the sellers should have some liability to cover our losses be it by their insurance or whatever. imagine if everything we bought came with a disclaimer that the manufacturer accepted no responsibility whatsoever

i do usually use SP on these but unfortunately there was no mobile signal where i was

as to there might be faulty bcm`s fitted, maybe there is but this new software download will not fix that, i guess time will tell but i wont be testing it

regards

Expect well tested but nowadays complex - your vehicles may of had a Ford security update

S**t will happen again on another vehicle, with another kit

Your not a Pro unless burned some.... we fix it and move on

[rapidlocksmiths]

Your not a Pro unless burned some.... we fix it and move on

that used to be the case once upon a time , we fixed it or knew a man that can , if not we had adequate insurance to cover it , either way the customer was taken care of , but then we fast forward to today where many advertising themselves as experts or profesionals are not , they press buttons and hope , turn to facebook and hope , and in many cases run away and leave the customer in a worse mess , its a different trade today where actual skilled tradesmen are in the minority .

with so many trading with no knowledge , no training , no experience and no adequate insurances to cover their messes , there only hope being facebook and youtube , no wonder the trades reputation is in the gutter.

im 100% confident chris has tested the hell out of this on as many vehicles as he can get his hands on , i have no worries giving it a go on the next focus or fiesta i get on the affected years , whether its a full fix remains to be seen , as still a distinct possibility that the fault lies with the bcm units or the bcm software , all we can do is wait and see.

[westwoody]

cheers fellas, been doing this 20 years, first time anything like this happened, just my turn i guess, moving on

[super jumbe]

Lads what the hell you all own about, how you suppose to give guarantee on the car electronics or any other electronics equipment that after programming everything will be ok, look it could be the car ECU bits getting weak or the BCI relays getting weak can cause an issue, let alone programming a key is not an issue, I have had lots of customers come to me that the remotes not working after replacing a new car battery by car accessories shop, the Last customer came with Audi Q7 2016 I did not able to fix it they end up taking the car to dealers and I heard the dealer could not able to fix it, the cost of fixing was told they will have to replace new BCI, ECU, etc, so whose fault is it don’t give any guarantee I always tell customer I will programme keys on your responsibility most says yes other run at list you are safe, remember the tool makers don’t give guarantee so why should you!

[rapidlocksmiths]

cheers fellas, been doing this 20 years, first time anything like this happened, just my turn i guess, moving on

i know that feeling well , i was in exact same situation when the traffic 3 software was released by avdi , same day i got the new licence when first released i had an akl job on a traffic 3 , bricked it , internal dongle error , sent logs to abrites and they instantly said it was a software error and agreed to pay for it to go to dealership for repair , which they did .

it was my first bricked vehicle and only one to date in over 20 years too , despite knowing it was a blip in software that was soon fixed , it didnt take that feeling away , its an awful feeling and place to be in, ive moved on but not forgotten , as next one could always be just around the corner , especially when using newly released software coverage .

still watching online for similar issues on these ford models to see if more cases arise and what tools they happen on if not all , as it will be good to know a definitive answer as to the exact issue causing it.

if only not offering a guarantee was an option , here laws are very different when service/seller to consumer than they are business to business.

[fred77]

Just done a fob '13 plate transit
Ford quoted £400 + vat

Putting my prices up! Least it'll pay for a cockup should it happen

[westwoody]

i`m getting FDRS

i`ll let you know if i fry a bcm with this in future

regards

[rapidlocksmiths]

interesting to know if has same issues , or if it can fix the issues when someone bricks one as i suspect their may be a few in the future to help pay its way from the cheap boys.

[nazz2]

Nazz mate difference is re-flashing.

On any device firmware update messages "Don't turn off power" -That's when it's dangerous!
It shouldn't be but risk reduced

Latest PSA Erases flash along with BMW so your living on borrowed time if expect to do these without Battery backup.
Sure Ford getting more complex but as general rule any re-flashing involved use battery backup. Everything else don't bother

HI bud, yes i know about flashing specially on Bmw , I have seen that the Gys once jumped to 150 amp draw! when flashing, as Martin said some people are lazy to use jump pack.

[super jumbe]

Got email new software HT3 Software Download version 3.2.4 game is on!!!