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Ford's Farley apologizes for saying Blue Oval tracks customers with GPS

Ford marketing head honcho Jim Farley made waves at CES this week by telling show attendees, "We know everyone who breaks the law, we know when you're doing it." according to a report by Business Insider. Farley continued by saying, "We have GPS in your car, so we know what you're doing. By the way, we don't supply that data to anyone."
Farley has since amended his statement, saying that Ford dose not, in fact, track its customers in their cars "without their approval or consent."
Apparently carried away with a hypothetical notion, Farley was attempting to describe how Ford might be able to employee aggregated user data for things like accurate traffic reporting and pattern spotting. A Ford spokesperson confirmed with Business Insider that its GPS units are not sharing the whereabouts of drivers, though there are a few on-board services that might do so. After opting in to the services (and presumably being made aware of any/all tracking and data collection), Ford's Sync Services Directions and Crew Chief software do, in fact, allow data collection as a means of improving both systems. Farley added that the opt-in data is not shared, even when being tracked.

Ex-PR chief Vines accuses Ford of bugging cars, phones

Jason Vines, former head of communications at Ford among other automakers, is accusing the Blue Oval of bugging his company phone and his car during the Firestone tire recall for the Explorer in 2001. The allegations have come to light in Vines' upcoming book What Did Jesus Drive? Crisis PR in Cars, Computers and Christianity.
According to The Detroit News, which has an advance copy of the book, Vines (pictured above) claims that after leaving the company, someone with security within Ford advised him that he had been bugged around the time of the recall. The allegations don't stop there, though. Vines further contends that he might not have been the only one to get this treatment, noting that then-general counsel John Rintamaki also believed he was being listened to.
According to The Detroit News, even if it had been a company phone, recording Vines without his knowledge still would have been a felony under Michigan law.

2015 Ford Edge holds line on pricing, starts at $28,100*

The Ford Edge gets an updated platform, bolder styling and a standard 2.0-liter turbocharged EcoBoost engine pumping out 245 horsepower and 270 pound-feet of torque for the 2015 model year. You might expect that all those new features would result in a big price bump, but you'd be wrong. Ford is keeping costs identical to the 2014 model with a starting MSRP of $28,100 (*plus an $895 destination charge), according to Edmunds. Ford spokesperson William Mattiace confirmed the numbers to Autoblog.
That's a pretty good deal, but the real ticket here might be the model's Sport trim. Buyers get a 2.7-liter, twin-turbocharged V6 EcoBoost engine with over 300 horsepower and standard adaptive steering for $28,600 plus destination. That's just $500 more than the base model.
Pricing for the Titanium trim has not yet been announced, but it'll be a short wait to find out. Mattiace tells Autoblog that full pricing and the configuration for the model will launch on November 5. He has also confirmed that the 2015 Edge will begin hitting dealers in the first quarter of 2015.