Has anyone noticed how hard is to read the gauges on their 07 Expedition during the day?
At night they are very easy to read, but during the day the red indicator on black background when the Sun is reflecting off the interior makes the gauges difficult to read.
The tach and speedometer are easy to read day or night. Red on black, not much contrast. Seems to me not the best choice, when the tach and spedometer stand out very clear day or night.

 

Yes, the gauges have been criticized for this since they came out.

 

Agreed, especially the radio and message center

 

Same here, seams to be location of the windshield relative to dash board that allows the glare in.

 

I wish Ford would upgrade their gauges to something like Honda uses with Electroluminescent Backlighting that is always on... looks great all the time.

While I'm on the wishlist, can they find a way to make the back window roll down like Toyota's do?

 

I had a 1950 Ford truck, all the gauges were large and very easy to read day or night.
This 07, I find myself using my hand to shade the Sun just to look at the little gauges during the day, not while driving of course, but at the stop lights.

I have to wonder if anyone at Ford bothered to take the 07 for a test drive on a sunny day to check for visability. May be they did not have time.
Must have found time to do this in 1950, of course it was a different time and different people, people that cared. People that care seem to find the time.

 

The gauges IMO were a cost savings. If you compare the 07's with the older models, the truck in general seems to be less sturdy. I know the MSRP dropped a few thousand dollars from 06 to 07. This money came from somewhere, and not all of it from Fords bottom line. I am not bashing them. I like the truck, just I would rather have updated displays on the instruments and radio. The radio and climate controls displays are from the 90's. Take a look at a Yukon/Tahoe, they have nice radio/gauge displays.

 

the tahoes and yukons may have nice gauges, but you are paying around 4-5K over the 07 expedition price, plus you are getting a third row seat that doesnt fold flat. I looked at the Tahoe, and actually like the exterior styling a little better than my 07 expedition, but having a third row seat that you have to manually lift out like the 99 expedition is ridiculous. That blew the tahoe idea for me.

 

I agree with you 100%. The third row is a HUGE deal for me. I too like the styling of the Yukon. What I don't like is the price, the third row and the bad history the company I work for has with Chevy engines croaking with less than 100K.

I would be willing to spend a couple hunkskies on a nice display though.

 

May be I am making a big deal out of nothing, but since I started driving in 1966, I have always had the habit of quickly scanning the gauges during a trip at least once a mile or so.
Now during the day, I just get a reflection and red indicators on a black back ground. Old habits are hard to break so I guess I will just have to adapt to the fancy, but stupid new display.

 

I am not sure what state you are in, but if you can tint your front windows this helps a lot. I tinted mine with one step up from the lightest you can get and it really cut the glare.

 

I don't really have any problem reading the gauges on my '07, but then I do have tinted glass...........

 

Ok, Well I took drastic action, pulled the instrument panel out, removed the clear face plate off the panel and painted the red gauge indicators white. The result? A WHOLE lot better day time gauge readability. Plus still easy to read at night.
Well worth the effort.

If you should decide to do this, here is how I did it. The hardest part was taking the face plate off without breaking little the plastic tabs. It can be done but just take your time.
Next I used white water based Acrylic paint from a hobby shop or WM and a very small brush. Put a lot of paint on your brush and carefully just dab the paint on as the indicators are thin plastic.
Take your time here as so not to create a mess. Also don't use any other paint that is not water based as you could melt the plastic indicator causing a panel replacement. I mean how much could they co$$$$t any way?

Worked for me. Why Ford could not do this, I will never know.

 

Pics please!

 

Newton, slick idea. I gota go with Carbon on the 3rd row, it works great to fold them down at the beach .Saw a tahoe with one rear seat missing, I have to wonder where they stored it at. Can't see having the 3rd row seat any other way