Review and Open Letter to Ford Regarding the MyTouch System

[cirockets]

(This is a great Forum. The detailed letter at the top outlined alot of the issues that we all have had).

 

 

 

:shades: Ahhh the day I picked up my New 2011 Ford Edge......

 

 

Pops always said "Rusty" your day will come too......

 

I think I've been Sync-ed!

 

Love it!

[mvmorabeto]

That is so funny...They should of given the dealers a list of things that DO work...Probably would be shorter...

3 months and no solutions...Nice work Ford!

 

there is now software updates available from Ford dealer that will fix this issue with Travel link features marked as unsubscribed. I took mine yesterday. I took them 4 hours, but everything is working as designed. (so far).

[Operation760]

Picking up my 11 EDGE at the dealer in 15 minutes after 3 days in the shop just trying to update our Touch software to the latest release. 3 days to update software. Service Manger keeps telling me the update is locking up at 92% and that the satellite up-link to Ford (to initiate and download the firmware) keeps crashing. Finally, last night they said the update took. They wanted to keep it even more time because of the fluid leak complaint (didn't even look at it- due to the update) and read door molding separation. Unbelievable.

 

How does this get out of QA?

Edited December 18, 2010 by Operation760

[revOevoM]

... the satellite up-link to Ford (to initiate the download the firmware) keeps crashing....

Chime in if I'm off base here, but wouldn't a wired ethernet connection be [extremely] more reliable than satellite? Any provider with a large download always suggests wired over wireless. And why in the world wouldn't the update be downloaded to a dealer's server (heck, even a tech workstation) prior to attemtpting to apply it to a consumer's vehicle? This isn't 1982, is it? (btw, that's when Windows 1.0 was developed) Wouldn't that be efficient? And if you say... well, each car's update may be different... Isn't that what SyncMyRide is supposed to keep track of? What a fiasco. This should be an extremely simple process and they've underover-engineered it into a huge cluster.

[tarponbeach]

Mine has been in the shop since last Tuesday. It looks like they have given up trying to update SYNC, as there has been no activity on SyncMyRide.com since the 15th. My dealer has been great though, they gave me an identical 2011 limited to drive while they try to get mine fixed.

 

Sync in the loaner that they gave me works flawlessly. It was built in late October, so maybe it has version 2 from the factory...

Edited December 18, 2010 by tarponbeach

[Ray4Ward]

Love it!

 

Picked Up My 2011 Ford Edge Limited 17 December 2010!

 

Although I am continuing to evaluate I must say “What a Big Difference” and I must say “We Still Got Some Issues”. After the GEN 2 Update I can certainly see a significant improvement.

 

See: http://fordsyncforum.com/index.php?/topic/1400-sync-software-version-2/page__st__80__gopid__6895&do=findComment&comment=6895

 

 

[wilsons66604]

Mine has been in the shop since last Tuesday. It looks like they have given up trying to update SYNC, as there has been no activity on SyncMyRide.com since the 15th. My dealer has been great though, they gave me an identical 2011 limited to drive while they try to get mine fixed.

 

Sync in the loaner that they gave me works flawlessly. It was built in late October, so maybe it has version 2 from the factory...

Something just came to mind when you mention that a loaner worked flawlessly.

On the assembly line, Ford is loading sync via Wi-Fi. Could that process be flawed? This might explain why some work and others don't.

[Edward Tse]

I believe I am experiencing the same issue on my 2011 Ford Edge. My Edge constantly restarts saying that it is performing scheduled maintenance, often it restarts from the moment I start the car to the time when I arrive at work (say 15 minutes). The only time I can actually use the mytouch system is when I am driving on highways for periods of longer than 1 hr.

 

Currently my belief is that it is the cold weather that causes the system restart. When I leave the vehicle parked in the heated garage at work I have no problems getting sync to start if it has already started. If I leave the vehicle out in the cold (-15º C) for about 30 mins or more the sync system will restart.

 

During the "sync is updating" cycle it is possible to change the Sirius radio channel via the steering wheel controls. Both steering wheel controls seem to work fine despite the main sync screen regularly failing.

 

For this reason, I believe there are actually two independent systems in the Ford Edge that makes it possible for the steering wheel controls to work while the touch screen is rebooting.

 

The dealer indicates that a new patch should be coming in the new year. This means we will likely need to drive the Edge for a few months before an official patch is released.

 

I'm surprised that such issues were not discovered prior to production. I'm concerned about limited testing.

[Edward Tse]

I've just spoken to the Sync support at Ford Canada. They are well aware of all of the issues. They stated Ford is working to resolve all of the issues, however they are not aware of any recent updates, nor do they have an ETA. All they did was take my details down, with a list of my issues and said they would call me when an update was released. So I think this confirms that no magic update exists yet.

 

P.S. wilsons66604 - I love the new avatar, you should get the real plate!

 

What phone number did you call? I would like to call that number as well.

[Tulsa]

As I just picked up my Edge Saturday evening, I took it back today to get the window tinting put on. While it was there I had them update the software to the gen 2. I hadn't had it long enough to notice a lot of issues but it was sluggish in response to button presses and trying to sync the bluetooth music from my iphone was hit and miss, more miss than hit. Since the update today it's much snappier in response to button presses and the bluetooth issue seems to be cleared up.

Edited December 20, 2010 by Tulsa

[rkaplan]

My dealer wants to charge me $49 to update to SYNC Gen 2!! ?? !! ?? !! That's after I convinced the dealer that they are able to do it - first they insisted I can download it from syncmyride.com.

 

I think Ford really has to get their act together in advising their dealers how to handle SYNC software updates.

[wilsons66604]

My dealer wants to charge me $49 to update to SYNC Gen 2!! ?? !! ?? !! That's after I convinced the dealer that they are able to do it - first they insisted I can download it from syncmyride.com.

 

I think Ford really has to get their act together in advising their dealers how to handle SYNC software updates.

Oh no!!

Is there any chance of getting to another dealership?

Try going at it this way...Tell them you have problems (you pick 'em) with sync and tell them they need to fix it. Suggest that there is a TSB that addresses your problems.

It's Under Warranty!!

[akirby]

I think Ford really has to get their act together in advising their dealers how to handle SYNC software updates.

 

I think Ford has done all they can do with respect to notifying the dealers. If your dealer doesn't get it then you need to find a new dealer or go escalate to the service manager and then the owner if necessary or call Ford and ask for help with the dealer.

[gerry in ohio]

I think Ford has done all they can do with respect to notifying the dealers. If your dealer doesn't get it then you need to find a new dealer or go escalate to the service manager and then the owner if necessary or call Ford and ask for help with the dealer.

 

I'm a new (2011) Edge owner as of 10 December 2010, and I've not really been encountering many of the issues I've been reading about in this forum. I do however get a little frustrated from time to time with sluggish response to touch, and with the inability to see my iPhone contact photos. None of these has dampened my overall feelings for my new Edge. However, having been in IT for longer than I care to remember, I am one who likes to always be on the latest update of whatever is out there. (ie ... I'm on Windows 7 with Office 2010 ... etc.) . I've read a little about this Sync 2 update ??? ... Could someone tell me what it is? ... and How I can determine what revision my Edge is running? Thanks in advance for any help.

[bpattie]

I'm a new (2011) Edge owner as of 10 December 2010, and I've not really been encountering many of the issues I've been reading about in this forum. I do however get a little frustrated from time to time with sluggish response to touch, and with the inability to see my iPhone contact photos. None of these has dampened my overall feelings for my new Edge. However, having been in IT for longer than I care to remember, I am one who likes to always be on the latest update of whatever is out there. (ie ... I'm on Windows 7 with Office 2010 ... etc.) . I've read a little about this Sync 2 update ??? ... Could someone tell me what it is? ... and How I can determine what revision my Edge is running? Thanks in advance for any help.

you can go to syncmyride.com and your vehicle should be registered. When you login and go to the updates link, it will show you what is loaded and the versions. It will also show you any availabe updates that you may need.

[tarponbeach]

My dealer wants to charge me $49 to update to SYNC Gen 2!! ?? !! ?? !! That's after I convinced the dealer that they are able to do it - first they insisted I can download it from syncmyride.com.

 

I think Ford really has to get their act together in advising their dealers how to handle SYNC software updates.

 

Nicely tell your dealer that if they attempt to charge you for the upgrade, that this constitutes a breach of express warranty.

[BlackEdgeLimited]

I've got about 2,500 miles on my 2011 Edge. Also had a 2010 Flex and 2010 and 2011 Taurus SHO's in the past couple of years.

 

The Sync/MyTouch in this Edge is a serious devolution from the "normal" Sync system, such as that on a Taurus or Flex.

 

Here's my take on things.

 

1) The Hazard switch. Seriously? In many decades of driving many cars, never have I "accidentally" turned on hazard flashers. The first week I had the car I accidentally turned them on 3-4 times a day. Did nobody test this stuff? You almost can't use the touch screen for navigation w/o consciously avoiding this switch.

 

2) The entire "home screen" on the 2010 cars is significantly better. Fonts you can read, maps you can read. A home screen with a half-screen map. Was about perfect and now this mess on the Edge. I can't read the fonts.

 

3) Drill down. If you need to drill down many layers of screens to set up your screen or whatever, why does it not remember where you were? You have to drill down again, or just forget about setting things up and learn to live disgusted.

 

4) Sync. Now it plays CD's recorded onto a USB in alphabetical order, not track, order. What are they thinking?

 

5) They still have not corrected the metadata tag artist/album artist. Sync uses Album artist as artist, and it is not correct.

 

6) The touch screen is so SLOW as to be annoying. Why does my phone operate faster?

 

7) The rear view camera is really bad. It is slow, herky-jerky, it blinks, and barely works in low light. Compare to 2010 models, it is poor. 2010 Flex and Taurus were PERFECT.

 

What is so annoying is that they had it SO RIGHT on Sync and infotainment on the Flex, the Taurus for 2010. This 2011 is so far down in operational design as to be nearly useless. I stopped using many features I used to use on a Flex because they just don't work well and they are annoying. I cannot believe any real-world testing with human beings was done on this, else it would never have been released. I can't wait for the lease to be up on this thing, I'll get back into a Flex.

 

The saddest part? The car itself is great. But you interface constantly with the MyTouch and that overshadows everything.

 

Oh there is so much more to dislike about this MyTouch but I'm tired now.

[choff1138]

[Have you gotten the update - it fixes most of the issues you comment on.

[rkaplan]

[Have you gotten the update - it fixes most of the issues you comment on.

 

I got my car back today witih the SYNC 2 update.

 

Clearly dealers have not been fully educated on how to do the installation.

 

My car now has no GPS function at all - the entire nav system has disappeared! The dealer says they have to call Ford to figure out what to do. The installing tech didn't even notice this!

[wilsons66604]

There's one criticism of BlackEdgeLimited that I can't agree with and that has to do with the quality of the rear-view camera. Granted I don't have a previous generation Ford product to compare it with but I am very impressed by the system on my MKX. Much clearer than any after-market product I've seen and surprisingly good under low-light conditions. It has never misbehaved in the least for me. It is however highly prone to dirt obscuring the camera lens.

I always thought the camera was good quality and noticed that there must be two modes (daylight/night)

One of the first things I noticed after the BE update yesterday was the quality of the camera. It seems to have improved in the daylight. I didn't notice improvement in low light)

Edited January 6, 2011 by wilsons66604

[mv-clear]

I always thought the camera was good quality and noticed that there must be two modes (daylight/night)

One of the first things I noticed after the BE update yesterday was the quality of the camera. It seems to have improved in the daylight. I didn't notice improvement in low light)

 

I think the backup camera has great picture quality as long as the lens is clean. If I notice picture is not clear, I usually just wipe the lens and it's back to a good picture.

 

M.

[frybel]

I picked my Limited up already installed with Gen 2, and I can't imagine how bad the touch screen responsiveness was before for people to say it is better now. The Pioneer AVIC Z-110BT I had in my last car was lightning fast in touch screen response AND had the tabbed alphabetization reffered to in 7( of the letter. I luckily haven't experienced any of the other issues, but points 6 and 7( are valid and inexcusable oversights in a (potentially) great system.

[frybel]

I picked my Limited up already installed with Gen 2, and I can't imagine how bad the touch screen responsiveness was before for people to say it is better now. The Pioneer AVIC Z-110BT I had in my last car was lightning fast in touch screen response AND had the tabbed alphabetization reffered to in 7( of the letter. I luckily haven't experienced any of the other issues, but points 6 and 7( are valid and inexcusable oversights in a (potentially) great system.

 

 

HaHa! Whoops! I guess i just accidentally figured out the HTML formatting for 7( .......meant to say 7-b

[ziggy86]

I picked my Limited up already installed with Gen 2, and I can't imagine how bad the touch screen responsiveness was before for people to say it is better now. The Pioneer AVIC Z-110BT I had in my last car was lightning fast in touch screen response AND had the tabbed alphabetization reffered to in 7( of the letter. I luckily haven't experienced any of the other issues, but points 6 and 7( are valid and inexcusable oversights in a (potentially) great system.

 

What is Gen 2? What differences are there?

[sjwrangler]

I still can not believe all the problems with the Sync systems and navigation. An $100 Nuvi works better. Ford Nav: can't change voices, can not input Lat/long, sends you on real long-out of the way routes, (Google Maps, Nuvi and Mapquest are the same, Ford Nav routes are VERY different), annoying traffic alerts get in the way and are too slow to evaluate and too sensitive, (slow traffic areas come up, but the suggested route around them add to the trip time). With the Nuvi, you can search for hotels for example, in another state and town, and Nuvi gives you the list with their telephone number. The Nav system is too slow to use when moving. They did not get this one right yet!