New Sync Version (Gen2 - V3.8)

[akirby]

Ok I see the confusion. Yes, MFT is enabling eyes free (restricted) mode. But once enabled it's up to Siri as to what is allowed or not.

 

 

But you say that as if MFT has a choice. It doesn't. Eyes free was created specifically for cars. No mfr is going to allow unrestricted Siri access in their vehicles due to potential lawsuits if you activate something that uses the screen and have an accident. That's why it was created. There really isn't a choice.

 

Of course it's not just Pandora. I said any 3rd part (non Apple) app. Unless there is a flag in the app Siri doesn't know how that app behaves with regard to screen use or user interaction so it blocks it. It knows which Apple apps are ok and which Siri requests are ok. My guess is you can't open any 3rd party app.

[drpepper]

Iheart radio

[Tacyon]

well, I might even walk away quite if that "rule" held true. But as DP stated earlier, iHeart Radio will launch when asked,

 

iOS doesn't appear to prevent interaction when you're moving. Something it can do from a iOS or app standpoint.

MFT on the other hand WILL lock out changing your wall paper for safety reasons yet allow me to look at the very same screen and physically interact with it to choose radio stations. Of the two, MFT is inconsistently preventing things from working while driving. I just feel that voice cmds (ONLY) should be allowed in any case since pretty much all of it could be done via voice. Both input and output.

[jamjordan]

Can someone post the update so I can download it? When I try to update from the ford site it says I'm up to date. One of you did this for me last time. Thanks in advance.

[akirby]

well, I might even walk away quite if that "rule" held true. But as DP stated earlier, iHeart Radio will launch when asked,

 

iOS doesn't appear to prevent interaction when you're moving. Something it can do from a iOS or app standpoint.

 

MFT on the other hand WILL lock out changing your wall paper for safety reasons yet allow me to look at the very same screen and physically interact with it to choose radio stations. Of the two, MFT is inconsistently preventing things from working while driving. I just feel that voice cmds (ONLY) should be allowed in any case since pretty much all of it could be done via voice. Both input and output.

 

Like I said either Apple has either tested certain apps and allows them (or blocks them) or there is a flag in the app that says whether it's safe for car use or its deciding based on how the app interacts with the screen.

 

Eyes free was created specifically for car use. No auto mfr is going to allow you unrestricted Bluetooth access to Siri. If they did you wouldn't need Eyes Free. Because I guarantee you if someone gave Siri a command that asked for screen interaction and they looked at their phone and crashed they'd sue Apple and Ford in a heartbeat.

[tloewenberg]

This saga has just gotten a whole lot more interesting. At Ford's recommendation, I had an appointment today with my local Ford dealer to reload Gen2V3.8. Dropped my 2013 Limited off at 715am and received a call around noon time that all was ready. I spent a couple minutes joking with the service managers, but finally bid them a Merry Christmas and headed out the door. I decided that I might as well check out the system "just in case." Hmmm, no Navigation and no Travel Link! Huh, what do you know about that. For the next 3 hours, the techs attempted to reload the software without success. Even though, the indications on the Sync screen indicated all was well and the update was successful. Now, I'm not a software engineer but I have managed projects where software development and testing were products. What company would not build into the software a checksum or some other means to determine whether the load was satisfactory other than "let's try it and see if it works!" In the end today, the next step was for the dealership to contact Ford to get authorization to replace the system. However, normally this requires some sort of error code to use as justification (?) when the replacement system is ordered especially under warranty. In this case, the system is not generating an error code but the software is apparently incapable of recognizing an error. And it's amazing what kind of information a tech will share with you when you're sitting in the car with him while he's waiting for the inevitable, i.e. a bad load. What he described is a crap shoot that we know as MFT. I can remember reading MFT horror stories in mags like Consumer Reports and others, and thinking that the system was being unfairly singled out. Not any more.

Edited December 24, 2015 by tloewenberg

[cv27]

This saga has just gotten a whole lot more interesting. At Ford's recommendation, I had an appointment today with my local Ford dealer to reload Gen2V3.8. Dropped my 2013 Limited off at 715am and received a call around noon time that all was ready. I spent a couple minutes joking with the service managers, but finally bid them a Merry Christmas and headed out the door. I decided that I might as well check out the system "just in case." Hmmm, no Navigation and no Travel Link! Huh, what do you know about that. For the next 3 hours, the techs attempted to reload the software without success. Even though, the indications on the Sync screen indicated all was well and the update was successful. Now, I'm not a software engineer but I have managed projects were software development and testing was a product. What company would not build into the software a checksum or some other means to determine whether the load was satisfacotry other than "let's try it and see if it works!" In the end today, the next step was for the dealership to contact Ford to get authorization to replace the system. However, normally this requires some sort of error code to use as justification (?) when the replacement system is ordered especially under warranty. In this case, the system is not generating an error code but the software is apparently incapable of recognizing an error. And it's amazing what kind of information a tech will share with you when you're sitting in the car with him while he's waiting for the inevitable, i.e. a bad load. What he described is a crap shoot that we know as MFT. I can remember reading MFT horror stories in mags like Consumer Reports and others, and thinking that the system was being unfairly singled out. Not any more. What a POS!

I understand your frustration: it reminds me of mine in 2011. But I have to admit, once MFT gets to work, it does so flawlessly.

 

Your experience points to a defective component or else how can thousands of users successfully load 3.8? Keep on the service department's heels: if they don't know what they're doing, then they need to escalate.

 

What really gets me in your story is this. How can a technician hand over to the client a car on which he worked without first checking if things possibly affected after an MFT update still work? I would ask the question.

[FordIVTteam]

This saga has just gotten a whole lot more interesting. At Ford's recommendation, I had an appointment today with my local Ford dealer to reload Gen2V3.8. Dropped my 2013 Limited off at 715am and received a call around noon time that all was ready. I spent a couple minutes joking with the service managers, but finally bid them a Merry Christmas and headed out the door. I decided that I might as well check out the system "just in case." Hmmm, no Navigation and no Travel Link! Huh, what do you know about that. For the next 3 hours, the techs attempted to reload the software without success. Even though, the indications on the Sync screen indicated all was well and the update was successful. Now, I'm not a software engineer but I have managed projects were software development and testing was a product. What company would not build into the software a checksum or some other means to determine whether the load was satisfactory other than "let's try it and see if it works!" In the end today, the next step was for the dealership to contact Ford to get authorization to replace the system. However, normally this requires some sort of error code to use as justification (?) when the replacement system is ordered especially under warranty. In this case, the system is not generating an error code but the software is apparently incapable of recognizing an error. And it's amazing what kind of information a tech will share with you when you're sitting in the car with him while he's waiting for the inevitable, i.e. a bad load. What he described is a crap shoot that we know as MFT. I can remember reading MFT horror stories in mags like Consumer Reports and others, and thinking that the system was being unfairly singled out. Not any more.

 

tloewenberg,

 

I responded to your PM and requested some additional information. Check it out.

 

Whitney

[tloewenberg]

 

tloewenberg,

 

I responded to your PM and requested some additional information. Check it out.

 

Whitney

Thanks, Whitney. I read the response. I truly appreciate your efforts. Merry Christmas!!

[Liptoss]

Apple has always held their interests as priority. This has meant controlling pretty much all matters which aid in securing their financial future (can't blame them for this). Their software works optimally on their hardware. Their mantra is use our product, look how much better it is. It seems developers are never quite given the crown jewels so to speak in terms of the OS . Interfacing other platforms with Apple developments has been a slippery slope for years for just this reason. Again, if it isn't in the interest of Apple, then they will do it their way, and ONLY if they feel it's the way of the future and market will they succumb to pressure.

This is me speaking from experience and having used and supported Apple products from about 1988 to the present day. They make excellent products for certain. I've learned to use them exclusively for many years. My choice certainly hasn't come without compromises. Exactly what I've learned with my iPhone and Edge MFT/Sync. If history repeats itself, I fully expect the issues we're discussing here to be resolved far too late after the market has settled on a more or less standard interface for automotive vehicles.

Merry Holidays everyone!

[jamjordan]

Anyone want to pm me the update please?

[FordIVTteam]

Thanks, Whitney. I read the response. I truly appreciate your efforts. Merry Christmas!!

 

Hi tloewenberg,

 

I'll pass along your thanks to Whitney. I responded to your PM as well. Check it out.

 

Anyone want to pm me the update please?

 

jamjordan,

 

I'm unable to send you the update. Send a PM; I'd like to look into your software.

 

Shaay

[tloewenberg]

This saga has just gotten a whole lot more interesting. At Ford's recommendation, I had an appointment today with my local Ford dealer to reload Gen2V3.8. Dropped my 2013 Limited off at 715am and received a call around noon time that all was ready. I spent a couple minutes joking with the service managers, but finally bid them a Merry Christmas and headed out the door. I decided that I might as well check out the system "just in case." Hmmm, no Navigation and no Travel Link! Huh, what do you know about that. For the next 3 hours, the techs attempted to reload the software without success. Even though, the indications on the Sync screen indicated all was well and the update was successful. Now, I'm not a software engineer but I have managed projects where software development and testing were products. What company would not build into the software a checksum or some other means to determine whether the load was satisfactory other than "let's try it and see if it works!" In the end today, the next step was for the dealership to contact Ford to get authorization to replace the system. However, normally this requires some sort of error code to use as justification (?) when the replacement system is ordered especially under warranty. In this case, the system is not generating an error code but the software is apparently incapable of recognizing an error. And it's amazing what kind of information a tech will share with you when you're sitting in the car with him while he's waiting for the inevitable, i.e. a bad load. What he described is a crap shoot that we know as MFT. I can remember reading MFT horror stories in mags like Consumer Reports and others, and thinking that the system was being unfairly singled out. Not any more.

Thanks to the Ford reps that follow this forum, the Ford District Rep and the dealership, I think all (?) is resolved with my Edge. Turns out that Ford had pulled the Gen2V3.8 that was applicable to my Edge without informing the dealer pool. So, when the shop went to pull the update from the server, there was only one and it happened to not include the Navigation module. The SiriusXM travel link module will not load without that Navigation module. Consequently, the software after checking itself for completeness was perfectly happy that all was well. After I received an email from the district Ford rep, I contacted the dealer who had already scheduled me for a Jan 4 appointment. I dropped the car off promptly at 7am, received a loaner, and bid the service advisers a "good luck." About 4 hours later, I received a call from Jeff Duvall, one of the advisers informing me that the car was ready and he had personally run MFT through its paces. When I returned to pick it, I was informed of the confusion sage of the removed version. I got the car back about noon and yes, all seems well at this point. I haven't tried the mp3 player since I'd already been warned that issues may still remain since it's a 5 year old Microsoft Zune HD. I've driven it for 3 days now and listened to a number of podcasts off the thumb drive with no indexing issues. So, was this whole saga necessary, maybe. Could the software debacle with the server been avoided, absolutely. Communication boys and girls, that's all it needed. Am I satisfied with the resolution, absolutely. Am I satisfied with MFT, was before, getting there again. Am I happy with Interstate Ford of Dacona, Co, absolutely, good guys all the way. There's a reason why I've stay with this dealer since retiring to Colorado. They are a class act that are real people who appreciate their customers. Good luck to the rest of you who may still have issues.

Edited January 6, 2016 by tloewenberg

[drpepper]

Glad to hear a happy ending.

So Again- FORD CORPORATE is the issue. Just like my issue over summer and the regional rep & the field service engineer, and rent a car, etc...Home office just does a very POOR job in communicating with anyone but themselves. Maybe that is why they shut down the community posting site

[arabski]

wow... that's officially now one of the longest threads on this forum ;-)

 

For people who don't use siri or are not able to get XM radio - is there any real value in getting v3.8 ? I downloaded it last night after registering on Ford website... But now getting through the thread I am wondering is it worth the risk? If I screw anything up, the dealer will ask another $ 2000 to fix it...

 

Is there *anything new* in 3.8 to justify the risk of upgrading it?

[tloewenberg]

wow... that's officially now one of the longest threads on this forum ;-)

 

For people who don't use siri or are not able to get XM radio - is there any real value in getting v3.8 ? I downloaded it last night after registering on Ford website... But now getting through the thread I am wondering is it worth the risk? If I screw anything up, the dealer will ask another $ 2000 to fix it...

 

Is there *anything new* in 3.8 to justify the risk of upgrading it?

The only improvement I see in v3.8 is speed of connecting to my phone (Android). In fact, since updating to Gen2V3.8 and requiring a clean no cost re-install by the dealer, I have had two spontaneous reboots while driving. The last froze the gps screen and went completely blank for a couple minutes before re-initializing. Since I was rolling down a road at 60mph, this was somewhat disconcerting. Also, with my mp3 player installed via a USB connection, the system re-indexes almost "every" time I start the vehicle. Despite the efforts of my dealer, issues remain with this update. I think Microsoft or Ford or both hired a bunch of programmer wannabes to do this update. It has turned a fan into a foe if they don't get their act together. BTW, you state your dealer will ask $2000 to fix it? You should be still under warranty? The MFT APIM warranty was extended by Ford as a recall notice. See below. You should investigate (unless you know) why this shouldn't apply to you.

• FSA Title: SYNC WITH MYFORD/MYLINCOLN TOUCH - WARRANTY EXTENSION COVERING ACCESSORY PROTOCOL INTERFACE MODULE (APIM)
• Field Service Action Number: 12M02

Edited January 21, 2016 by tloewenberg

[akirby]

The real culprit here is B-square - they wrote the initial bug-ridden version of MFT. It's really difficult to patch bad code. I think that's the main reason they started over with sync 3.

[Liptoss]

Here's what I've observed as an iPhone 5 user since updating mid-December last year.

If I use the steering wheel button to invoke Siri by holding of about 5 seconds, then Siri does work to read Texts and perform "some" other tasks. iPhone needs to have screen unlocked for this to happen though.

Once I read a first text though, it seems that Sync/MFT doesn't always want to return to playing iTunes music via USB that I have the iPhone connected with. It prefers to want BlueTooth Stereo. NOW, if I choose USB from the left column within ENTERTAINMENT, it returns back to using USB.

Is it worth the update? In my opinion, and have learned this about using Apple products with other systems all these years, is yes. BUT only for the reason I want to be hands free, OR as much as possible while driving my vehicle. This update allows MORE of that for me, so yes it is worth it.

Is it perfect? NO! Far from that. But again, I've learned this being an Apple user all these years. UNLESS you use ONLY Apple products together, then you inevitably face these sorts of issues. Apple holds it's cards close when interfacing with other technologies. (unless they have great interest in "making things work").

I still continue to use Apple though, they still make the MOST stable operations system, and generally commercial computers, around.

[tloewenberg]

Once I read a first text though, it seems that Sync/MFT doesn't always want to return to playing iTunes music via USB that I have the iPhone connected with. It prefers to want BlueTooth Stereo. NOW, if I choose USB from the left column within ENTERTAINMENT, it returns back to using USB.

Is it worth the update? In my opinion, and have learned this about using Apple products with other systems all these years, is yes. BUT only for the reason I want to be hands free, OR as much as possible while driving my vehicle. This update allows MORE of that for me, so yes it is worth it.

The system has a similar reaction whenever it senses a bluetooth stream from my Android phone even though there isn't one. Whenever our at home land line rings, we get notification on our mobile phones. Sync interprets the fwd'ng ring as a BT stream, jumps from whatever I have selected to the phone even though there is nothing there. In order to resume listening to the previous source, I have to manually re-select it from the MFT screen.

[Marshall Burke]

I updated my 2012 Edge Sport 3 weeks ago. When the software finished the update it said it failed, but It was updated to 3.8 and the Verification Tool said it was updated to 3.8. Siri is working and have had no other issues except Navigation. Since the update the GPS starts to wander as I am traveling putting me off road by at least 50 to 100 feet. The position update is always slow and shows me way behind my actual location. I took it to the dealer and they said I needed the latest A6 map update, so I went online and purchased the update, installed it when it arrived and it is still doing the same thing! I searched the forums and found out how to pull up the diagnostic screen, and checked to see if the GPS is loosing satellites. I am constantly pulling 12+ satellites. I am wondering if others are having issues after the 3.8 update, or should I go back to the dealer?

[tloewenberg]

Ha-ha! Don't take this the wrong way, but you replied to a 10 page topic on the very issue you are asking about. By all means, read the threads and I think you will be well suited to contact your dealer. Actually, if you are still under warranty, I wouldn't hesitate. In simple terms, IMHO, Ford's error checking / self diagnostic for the 3.8 load is totally lacking! MFS told me all was well and it wasn't. And.... you cannot reload once the system thinks all is well. Call your dealer. And good luck.

[Bcurc15]

I just purchased a 2013 edge that is requiring a software update. When I download the update on my MacBook, it appears to unzip all of the files instead of keeping them in that MySync folder. Does anybody have any recommendations on getting this software downloaded properly on a Mac? Thanks!

[Liptoss]

I believe I right clicked, or COMMAND clicked on the download link on the Ford webpage serving the file up, Selected download to Desktop.

I then followed the instructions for FORMATTING my USB "Jump drive" as per instructions online to MS-DOS FAT. I then dragged the FOLDER that the ZIP file had uncompressed onto the DESKTOP to onto the USB, leaving all internal HIERARCHY as is.

I then plugged that into the car USB in the centre console, again following instructions as provided online.

Worked like a charm.

[Liptoss]

Specifically the names of the FOLDER (Directory for Windows users) with files that unzipped are as follows:

 

Gen2v38build15128updatepackageNARev2

with the following inside

---> autoinstall.lst

---> DONTINDX.MSA

 

another folder

---> DONTINDX.MSA

 

and a smattering of 25 files named such as:

---> EA5T-14D544-AD.zip

or

---> EA5T-14D546-AHB.cab

[electromanjim]

Thank you!!! I'm running v3.8 now.

I am having the same problem like you, Can't get it to update could you share you version of the 3.8 I have a 2011 mkx with nav and as always Im going to manually install. Or Can anyone else that has the download please share....

 

Many Thanks

 

 

Electromanjim

Edited March 21, 2016 by electromanjim