Information And Message Center

WARNING: This page is about a different car, the 2011 Mercury Milan, 2011 Lincoln MKZ, and 2011 Ford Fusion. However, it is still accessible from the selected car via links, so may be relevant.

The message center is an integral part of the IPC that receives and acts upon much of the same information that is input and used to operate the IPC gauges, informational indicators, warning indicators and warning chimes. For all vehicles except hybrid, the message center is a 2-line display located in the center of the IPC . On hybrid vehicles, the message center is split between the LH and RH side of the IPC with the controls displayed on the LH side and instructions displayed on the RH side. The hybrid message center also uses message center indicators either as stand alone indications or combined with text messages and are displayed in the LH display area.

All message center functions are controlled by a 3-button message center switch, which is hardwired to the IPC . The message center switch consists of 3 buttons and a resistor ladder with a different resistor associated with each switch button. The IPC sends out a reference voltage to the message center switch and monitors the voltage drop that results from the voltage flowing through the resistor when a message center button is pressed. The voltage drop will vary depending upon the resistance of each button, providing a specific indication to the IPC which switch is pressed.