Gimp

It comes with the new plastic strip that is set for the installation. In another discussion thread someone mentioned doing it at home by following the instructions so I think that I'm the second person. I just described it a bit. I would describe the procedure as harder than trimming and fitting a new floor mat, but easier than installing new door speakers. Actually, the biggest challenge was to not scratch the new paint.

I just self installed the OEM roof rails. From opening the box to completion it took me one hour and 15 minutes. No drilling through the roof was necessary. Instructions were included. The long black plastic gutter cover strips came off pretty easily. You just need to get your fingers under the edge of it at one end on the roof side and start working it loose from the three plastic retainers they are attached to. Push inward with your thumbs and pull the inside edge up with your fingers. They are just snapped on, and your will hear a snapping noise as you work along the strip. You have to remove the three plastic retainer clips. They are each held down with a single bolt requiring an 8mm socket. The middle one gets replaced with a new plastic retainer that comes with the kit. Pay attention to ensure you have the correct side facing outward. Both ends of each rail takes two bolts rather than the one that was there. You will note only one existing hole where the retainer clips just came from, along with a 'dimple' where the other hole needs to be. I initially thought I needed to drill this out but discovered that it's been pre-drilled. The hole was filled with a sealant material and painted over. All you really need to do is put some pressure on the screw and it forces itself down through the 'dimple'. I decided to use a drill bit with a diameter that was smaller than the bolt and drilled down through the sealant for a pilot hole. I then used a screw driver type handle with my socket just to get the bolts started, and then switch to a socket wrench as it gave me more torque to tighten it in. The 8mm socket worked for all of this. Once the plastic brackets were bolted down, I snapped the center of the new strip in the middle onto the new retaining piece and snapped the two end caps into place. I purchased two cross bars that came with my kit but I won't install them until I need them as I don't want the air drag. Installation for the cross bars looks even easier than the rails and shouldn't take more than thirty minutes. You just need the right size of star torx wrench. (Edited to add two years later I still haven't used the OEM cross bars as I'm using a Yakima product for my canoe.) One word of advice when ordering. If you go to the parts department and ask for the roof rails they can pull up the diagram and order them as individual parts. Don't let them do this. Ask for the roof rack kit. With the cross bars that = part numbers: 7T4Z7855100AA and 7T4Z7855100BA. These two part numbers together were called a "kit". The kit price is quite a bit less than ordering by piece part. I was told that Ford installation time is two hours for labor and that sounds about right for rails and crossbars if you don't want to do it yourself. Lastly, I have a 2012 Edge and it fit perfectly. The instructions referenced the 2007 Edge so it appears everything is still compatible. Edited on 01/28/2014: Last month I finally installed the OEM cross bars to help my daughter do some moving. It wasn't too difficult once I found the right tool to install the bolts. I kept them on for about a week and then pulled them back off again. There was a definite increase in wind noise that I didn't care for. Not as bad as my Yakima rack (removed in the fall until it's canoe season again), but I didn't like it just the same. I'm glad that I kept the plastic caps to cover the holes in the rails.

Good news for many I suspect. It sounds like you found something practical to put on your Christmas, Winter Solstice, and Yuletide wish list!

I have the Ecoboost you mentioned and wanted to clarify that it's an SEL, but I have the upgraded leather seating. I'm not sure if cloth vs. leather seating makes a difference. I also wanted to mention that my vehicle was built early in November. I don't know if it's possible that the first 2012's off the line didn't have the new headrest and it was just cut into production. As you noted, it's odd if a dealership checked several 2012 vehicles and didn't see a change. The sales rep at my dealership didn't even know about the design change until I told him. I can't imagine why Ford wouldn't make note of this due to the unpopularity of the previous headrest unless they're just waiting until they clear the 2011 models off of the lot. Here's the thread where we were discussing this if anyone wants to see the pictures: http://www.fordedgeforum.com/index.php?/topic/8607-new-2012-ecoboost-sel/ It's nice to hear that others are reporting the change as I was feeling like I was a guy with a too good to be true story.

If Martunes could confirm that the 2012 headrest is backward compatible to the previous years and get the price from the parts department that would provide the full story for for a thread under "Interiors". Right now it's only good news for the 2012 model buyers. I assume there would be two prices, one for leather and one for the cloth headrest. My front headrests pop right out of the seat quite easily. I don't know if that's true of older models. If it were me I'd probably check the fit with a headrest. I'm assuming that the headrests will be a bit pricey once the dealerships have marked them up. Still, it could be worth it for many people. The dealerships have the potential to make quite a bit of money off of replacements. BTW, I had a chance to drive on the highway in light traffic for about an hour today. If the meter is to be believed, the highway MPG was around 31 - 32. The 31 came at 70 MPH. The 32 came at about 65 MPH when I moved over into the right lane just to see how the slower speed would do. My commute MPG is about 25 so far and this has been in some extremely bad stop & go traffic due to rain and ice. These number will make me quite happy. I'll be making my first full tank fill up tomorrow and see how that turns out.

O.K. now I understand. It was cold, rainy and my windows were fogging quickly. On my old car Max AC in the winter meant it went to recirculate and dried out the air quicker at the heat setting I was using. I'll pull out the manual tomorrow and figure that out as I quickly climb the learning curve. The automated everything computer is out thinking me.

These three photos show the drivers side headrest movement from 1. furthest back or straight along the seat back, to 2. sharpest angle setting, to 3. furthest forward angle. (Note that the photos are clearly in the opposite order than I described.) After the furthest setting you can press it forward with your finger but it will spring back to the 'straight' position. Both headrests do this. My Ford sales rep didn't know about this until I told him. I drove home in a rush hour rainstorm with flooded roads today and the traffic was slow stop and go. My display said that I averaged 24.6 MPG over that 38 mile trip. I'm not sure if I should be pleased with that number, or even if I should trust the display. I don't want to be disappointed by the Ecoboost engine. The tank should be approaching empty by Friday and I'll have a better sense of what my initial numbers are for my daily commute after I fill it back up. Now I just have to figure out why my heat went from my 72 degree setting down to a 60 degree setting mid way home as I can't figure out how I could have fumble fingered that on the display. My first assumption is operator error followed by poltergeist co-driver. First snow of the season is expected tonight so it will be a nerve wracking drive tomorrow as I worry about all the people who could be sliding my way as they discover that their tires need to be replaced.

O.K. Here's a further surprise on the headrest. They are both exactly the same. The head rests both angle forward to several different positions and finally spring back to the 'straight' position that my drivers seat showed. They may be designed partially to give during a head strike from the rear due to the extremely sharp angle that they can bend too before releasing back. I probably should have figured that out before, but I've got a car full of stuff that I'm familiarizing myself with right now.

I bought the Husky all weather mats for my new 2012 Edge. The passenger side fits great, the drivers side not so great. There are a couple of plastic floor studs / carpet retainers on the floor that hold the Ford carpet in place. If you pull off the carpet the studs stick up into the back of the all weather mat and you have a couple of very annoying bumps there. I ended up leaving the carpet in place and putting the all weather mats on top so the studs / retainers wouldn't be so obvious. I assume that the Ford brand would have been designed for these two studs.

After reading this question I took a closer look at my headrests to see if I could figure out what had changed. I test drove the 2011 in the dark and hadn't paid that much attention to the headrest but I was sure that something was different. With my vehicle I can clearly see that the driver headrest has the same angle as the back of my seat. I have to push my head back to touch it. Then I looked at my passenger headrest and noticed it wasn't the same. It angles inward. I stopped at my Ford dealer on my way home and sat in a 2011 model in the showroom. The drivers headrest was clearly angled forward, identical to the passenger headrest. It's clear that Ford has made an adjustment to the drivers seat. I am attaching a photo from the interior of my vehicle. I think this shows you what I'm talking about regarding the differences between the passenger and driver headrests.

I wanted to add a final note regarding the fuel as I saw this question raised previously. The Ecoboost uses Regular fuel with a minimum octane rating of 87. To quote the owners manual "Premium fuel will provide improved performance and is recommended for severe duty usage such as trailer tow." I assume the dealership filled it up with regular. At this time of year it's probably 'winter gas'. I'm rarely a quick / jack rabbit start kind of person but I do like to have the capability as it's sometimes needed. The regular fuel seems to give me that. However, out of curiosity I will fill it up with premium gas once this tank reaches empty. I may even try mid-grade gas to see if I can discern any difference. The increased octane number should make a noticeable difference with the turbo, but my less than aggressive driving style may not pull the increased performance from the engine. I think that I mentioned in my introduction thread that I did some math on the cost differences between the 3.5 and 2.0 engines. With the 2.0 requiring a nearly $1,000 increase in price, using the EPA figures at my 20,000 miles per year, it would take about 4 years to pay that off using regular. For someone driving fewer miles annually, the extra cost may make the 3.5 engine the better choice. If I start using premium fuel on a regular basis that would blow any long term money savings in what I'm paying for fuel. Therefore, I will stick to regular. I'm actually hoping to beat the EPA figures as I normally do by about 20% with my other cars.

Following is the initial report on my 2012 Edge. I ordered the vehicle in late October and took delivery last Wednesday afternoon. It is an SEL with Ecoboost engine, vision package (blind spot information, etc.), 205A package (leather seating, rear view camera, Touch system, media hub, etc.). I also chose the white platinum paint package. I preferred opting for the upgrades rather than going for the Limited which had a couple of things I didn't care for. Between the time or order and delivery I had done a lot of reading on this site and had already ordered the NuShield protection for the display, four Polk DXi570 replacement speakers, and a Canvasback cover for the rear deck (I have several black and white sheepdogs whose hair really shows up on a black interior.) The deck cover, screen protection and the two rear speakers were installed immediately after I got home. (It took about 10 minutes per speaker from start to finish). The Canvasback cover went on easily and was an exact fit for the Edge. On Friday morning I took the vehicle to my regular tire store. I wanted to get the tires siped and have the balance checked. I had already gone over the tire pressures and found one that was four pounds higher than the other three so it was worth the check. The tire balance only required very slight adjustment in the balance so the factory did a good job with that. (I also checked the oil level and it was also good. Sorry Ford but double checking those little things is just in my nature.) With only about thirty miles on the tires, the tire store offered me their warranty which I decided was a good investment. Besides, the siping probably violated the Ford warranty, and I didn’t really want to deal with them if I actually had a problem. This way I get the balancing, rotations and hazard protection from someone I am used to dealing with and who is also open on Saturday mornings. I drive about 20,000 miles a year so to me it was worth it. I took advantage of the extra nice weather on Friday to wash the vehicle and apply a nice layer of wax to every painted exterior surface in every cranny I could reach as I know I’ll be getting a good winter salt bath pretty soon. I also applied RainX to the windows, and ‘Scotch guarded’ the carpeting. Yesterday I installed the front speakers in about 15 minutes per door. Lastly, I added two Husky winter weather mats to the front. Husky lists this version for the Edge. With easy trimming, the fit was great for the passenger side, not so great for the driver side. There are two plastic retaining lugs in the floor to hold the Ford drivers side mat in place. These cause the Husky mat to bulge upward. I ended up leaving the Ford carpet in place under the Husky mat the bulge isn’t as noticeable. The double layer doesn’t interfere with the floor pedals, but I’ll be pondering a better solution. I assume the Ford supplied winter mat would have fit on the studs. First impressions. The very first impression out of the lot was that an annoyance I had expected was missing. When I test drove an Edge with my wife in October we both noted that the head rest / restraint was a bit too close. It felt like having a wedge at the back of my head. After reading comments here I decided that it was something that just required some seat adjustment and that I’d get used to it. To my surprise, my vehicle does not have this style of headrest so I’m happy about that. The largest thumb drive in my desk was 2 Gb so I loaded that with music and tried it out in the sound system. It was very responsive and I didn’t note any unexpected delays that I’d read some people had experienced with the larger drives. I’ll note that the sound with the new speakers is much improved over the lightweight OEM speakers which sounded a bit muffled. Driving. I’ve only driven the vehicle about 35 miles so far. The Ecoboost engine and transmission provide great, quiet, and smooth acceleration. I’m very happy with that. I hadn’t really liked the transmission shifting on the 3.5 equipped vehicle from my test drive. The interior controls were initially a bit overwhelming, but I’m slowly familiarizing myself with them. I think that once I find my best settings, I won’t have to fool around with the options too much. The interior ambient light colors are kind of neat and almost make me look forward to driving at night again. The cup holder lights even change. That summarizes my comments for now. I’m anxious to put some miles on the vehicle to get some initial Ecoboost fuel efficiency numbers to report on. Driving in rush hour traffic tomorrow morning is going to have me feeling a bit nervous.

I picked up my vehicle today. It was immediately obvious that the speakers sounded very muffled. The first thing I did was to change the rear speakers. There is now a huge improvement in the quality of the sound. I hope to get the front speakers swapped out tomorrow. I don't know if I would describe the speakers as "plastic", but they do have a plastic protective cover on them. Due to the plastic, I can't really see what kind of material the cones are made of. BTW, each door speaker swap took about 10 minutes from start to finish. The Polk speakers were an exact match for three out of the four existing screw holes which was good enough to attach them quite firmly with no need to do any drilling.

I ordered four replacement speakers from Crutchfield and they arrived yesterday. They're a good source that I've used for several cars over the years. You go through a few questions on the model of vehicle you have and they narrow down the choices to those that fit. Some require brackets which they provide, others don't. I've personally found brackets to be an irritant during installation so I stayed away from them this time. Crutchfield supplies the brackets and the wiring harness you will need for no additional charge. Now I'm just waiting on my 2012 SEL to arrive at the dealership next week. I had already decided that I wasn't going to wait to confirm how bad the speakers sounded before deciding to swap them out. For installation instructions, try this discussion thread: http://www.fordedgeforum.com/index.php?/topic/7009-2011-front-door-panel-removal/ It has all the information you need for the removal of both front and rear door panels. Comments like these are great because they describe the problems you might encounter and how to deal with them. I cherry picked the comments and did a copy and paste into a document that I could print out so that I wouldn't be running back to the computer during the installation. I plan on giving an update on that once it's done.

Thanks to this discussion I decided to go ahead and order four Polk speakers yesterday. My 2012 Edge SEL was just built and doesn't even arrive at the dealership until next week. I know that the bad speakers will just distract me from the positive driving experience that I'm looking forward to so speaker installation will be the second thing I do after I take delivery - just after I install the NuShield screen protection.

AAA also has a auto buying service. You have to log in as a member before you can use it. I noticed that the pricing is almost exactly the same as the Ford X-Plan which I also qualified for. The dealership was most familiar with the X-plan so we used that. The AAA auto discount would be well worth the cost of an annual membership. I also took advantage of a $1,000 cash back incentive that Ford is offering right now.

I finally decided to trade in the faithful 2000 Honda Odyssey that I purchased nearly 12 years and 218,000 miles ago. I wanted to downsize a bit as well as try to improve my fuel efficiency and my initial research had me pointed toward a Subaru Outback. However, a number of things about that vehicle underwhelmed me and a friend directed me toward the Ford Edge. Shortly into a visit at the dealership, it suddenly hit me that this was 'the car' I was looking for. On the 17th of October I placed an order for a 2012 SEL with the Ecoboost engine. I tend to keep my cars for a minimum of six years and the majority have been a vehicles that were of the right model on the lot, but only 'almost the right' vehicle package. This time I decided that I didn't want the first one off off the lot, and that I was willing to wait to get it the way I wanted it. The package I selected included white platinum paint, black leather seating, 205A package, and vision package. I was initially told that I might expect the vehicle to arrive around the 1st of December. A recent update told me that it would hit the production line on the 7th of November, with arrival at the dealership by the week of the 14th. The anticipation is making the purchasing experience quite a bit more enjoyable. Comments on my engine choice: I knew the fuel efficiency numbers for the 3.5 engine and thought that was acceptable, but was truly interested in the Ecoboost engine as I drive over 20,000 miles a year. The dealership didn't have an Ecoboost Edge on the lot yet, so I tried the 3.5. Everything about it was quite acceptable to me. I did note a bit of a transmission shift lag that I'd read about on this forum but wasn't concerned about it. I had that same characteristic on a Honda Civic that my daughter uses, and it went away by 8,000 miles. That, or I just got used to it. I really wasn't interested in purchasing an Ecoboost Edge unless I had a chance to drive it, and I was wavering in the direction of the 3.5. I also ran an analysis of the fuel cost savings of the Ecoboost over the the 3.5. At the current cost of fuel, at 20,000 miles per year, it would have taken me nearly 4 years of driving to make up for th $995 additional cost of the Ecoboost. I would expect to keep the vehicle for a minimum of 6 years, but that would have given me a thin economic reason for that choice. Last Monday I went back to the dealership thinking that I would take the 3.5. However, the salesperson told me that they'd gotten a couple of Ecoboost Edge's in. He seemed rather charged up when he told me that he'd taken it for a drive himself and was unexpectedly surprised at the performance improvement in terms of pick-up over the 3.5. I mentioned that the much higher torque numbers would explain that. Now my interest was back on the Ecoboost choice. I took the vehicle for a drive and was really impressed with the pickup of the vehicle. I also noticed that the transmission shifting was much, much better than the 3.5. By the time I got back to the dealership, I knew that was my choice. I think that Ford has a real winner with this engine and once people find out about it, the demand is going to exceed the supply. I have been accused by my wife and daughter of driving "like an old man". In all fairness, I've been driving a mini van for 12 years. I also have this convoy mentality from a career in the Army so I just tend to watch the traffic and brake lights well ahead of me so that I'm not constantly jack rabbit starting and then slamming on the brakes all of the time. (The accordian affect.) I've noticed that I don't get any further ahead for all of that extra use of gas and brakes. That being said, my driving style tends to get me an MPG rating that is about 20% better than the new EPA driving profile rating. With a rating of 30 MPG on the Ecoboost, I am hoping to see an actual MPG of 33 or more, but won't be unhappy with the 30 MPG because it's a nice improvement over my current ride. I will post again once I have the vehicle and have something factual to report. Thanks to everyone for all of the good advice that I've been finding in this forum!