sync freezes up

[jjbcroft]

I've had my 2009 Escape for a year - LOVE it, but all of a sudden the "lady" isn't hearing my command when say I "phone" . The screen says "listening" and I'll repeat "phone" and she acts like I'm just sitting there saying nothing!! UGH!! What gives, all of a sudden, that she's not hearing me? I'll try it 10 minutes later and she works fine. Has something come loose somewhere? I don't even know where to start, and I hate to have to take it back in to service, since it's a real pain to try to get it out to the Dealership then drive a crummy service vehicle for a couple of days. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

Thanks!

JJ

[Muzicman61]

I had this happen to me once. It was right after I had the vehicle in for an oil change. Immediatly after leaving the dealership, I could not get Sync to understand anything. I did not have time to return to the dealership, but a couple days later, I tried it and it worked again. Hasn't failed since. That was about a month ago.

 

I had originally tried pulling the Sync fuse and totally rebooting the system, but that didn't work either. Also, I have had the TSB performed that replaces and moves the microphone. You might want to look into that upgrade. It is free if your vehcile is still under warranty.

[jjbcroft]

I had the microphone moved last year and haven't had any problems with it until now. Funny thing is, every now and then, it DOES work, which REALLY ticks me off because it's gonna be that much harder for the techs to figure it out, because it's not consistant. I also pulled the fuse and tried that route too, didn't help at all. My vehicle was in the shop two months ago to rebuild the transmission - they had it for over 3 weeks because the parts were back-ordered and they wouldn't just replace the whole thing. UGH - talk about frustrating!!! Then last week they had to replace a dip-stick something-or-other because it was leaking. Since then I've had the "Lady" not be able to hear me most of the time. Anybody out there have any ideas?

 

Thanks,

JJ

[Muzicman61]

I suspect they've knocked something lose. You hit a bump in the road, the connection makes contact and works. You hit another bump, and the connection breaks and it doesn't work. Agree it will be hard to troubleshoot unless you can get it in there when it is broke.

 

I noticed after my last oil change, I had a headlight out. I went and purchased a new lamp and when I pulled the headlight, found the electronic connector was not even attached, and the 4 pins that the connector attaches too, exteremly bent. Explain that one to me, other than poor quality work/employees.

[Monguele]

Just bought a new 2010 Edge, and the Sync was working fine when I left the lot. Then I used my phone for Bluetooth Audio and the phone choked and disconnected. Now the "Lady" doesn't respond to anything I say. I have waited an entire day now and it still won't hear me. But here's the weird part. I had someone call me on my phone while I was in the car, and I could answer and use the car as hands-free and they were able to hear me fine. My phone was in my pocket so I don't think the mike on the phone was being used. I have also tried a hard reset using the instruction manual, but still nothing.

[Monguele]

Follow up to my earlier post...

I called my dealership and asked to speak to the sales manager, because I was upset...Turned out this guy actually knew a lot about Sync and he told me that to properly reset the Sync API, you must put the key in the ignition, turn it to "ON" (All the dash indicators light up). Then disconnect the positive battery terminal for at least 1 minute. I wait 2 minutes, connected the battery back up and it fixed my issue. My Sync "Lady" hears me again. Hope others find this helpful.

[Muzicman61]

I'd always try the fuse first. But when I did try the fuse, I did not have the ignitiion switch in the on position. Good tip.

[jjbcroft]

Greetings,

 

Ok, I took the Escape into the dealership and they hooked it up to their machines - everything checks out ok. They drove it around and it worked fine. Then they shut it off, started it again and it wouldn't work - they can't explain it. They've ordered a new "brain" for it which still hasn't come in, but now it works fine. UGH. Frustrating!!

 

JJ

[WNeelan]

I too suffer from Sync freezes...

 

Mine occurs when I take my USB thumb drive out, change the MP3 collection on it and then put it back in. This is not an indexing pause, but rather a whole system, with the exception of receiving phone calls, freeze.

 

I found a reset in the System menu that clears up the freeze, but this is the third time this has happened. I have three BT phones that have to be reconnected every time this happens too.

 

Any pointers?

 

Bill

[Pigskin75]

Not a lot of discussion on this subject. I see several people have the same issue and I seem to have caught the "bug" as well. I have the new mic kit before anyone asks. The voice recognition goes out from time to time, it seems to come back on its own or after a system reset.

 

The fact that it comes back after a reset indicates to me this is a software issue.

 

What are Ford/Microsoft's plans to address this issue?

[jjbcroft]

Not a lot of discussion on this subject. I see several people have the same issue and I seem to have caught the "bug" as well. I have the new mic kit before anyone asks. The voice recognition goes out from time to time, it seems to come back on its own or after a system reset.

 

The fact that it comes back after a reset indicates to me this is a software issue.

 

What are Ford/Microsoft's plans to address this issue?

 

Good question - Hey Ford - What's up? Mine works MOST of the time, but then it will go thru a few days of not working, then it's back again. Very frustrating!!

 

Pigskin75, how do you do a system reset? I'm not real mechanical, is it something I can do or do I have to take it in to my dealership everytime it needs to be done?

Thanks,

 

JJ

[Pigskin75]

 

Pigskin75, how do you do a system reset? I'm not real mechanical, is it something I can do or do I have to take it in to my dealership everytime it needs to be done?

 

 

jjbcroft, it's really easy. Go to the system menu and select Advanced. Scroll around until you find "System Reset". Acknowledge the command and the system will reboot.

 

Problem is you will have to re-index your media player, relink your phone and import your phone book. Not THAT big a deal but my phone is one that doesn't import directly so I've had to resort to Sync-my-Phone software and import the list that way. Now I have to pack around a thumb drive with me so I can reload the phone book without much hassle.

 

But not something you want to do while driving.

 

I love my Ford and Sync...when the Sync is working. But something as fundamental as this? And why does a reboot wipe out the memory? You don't lose your hard drive when you reboot your computer? :angry:

[jjbcroft]

jjbcroft, it's really easy. Go to the system menu and select Advanced. Scroll around until you find "System Reset". Acknowledge the command and the system will reboot.

 

Problem is you will have to re-index your media player, relink your phone and import your phone book. Not THAT big a deal but my phone is one that doesn't import directly so I've had to resort to Sync-my-Phone software and import the list that way. Now I have to pack around a thumb drive with me so I can reload the phone book without much hassle.

 

But not something you want to do while driving.

 

I love my Ford and Sync...when the Sync is working. But something as fundamental as this? And why does a reboot wipe out the memory? You don't lose your hard drive when you reboot your computer? :angry:

 

Thanks for the instructions, I'll try that this week. I agree, i really love it - when it works! When it doesn't work, I find I get distracted trying to get it to work - not a good thing to be doing while driving . . . kind of defeats the purpose of the dang thing to begin with . . .!!

[Pigskin75]

I'm just checking back in hoping for an "official" reply but found nothing.

 

Does Ford monitor this forum?

[Muzicman61]

I'm just checking back in hoping for an "official" reply but found nothing.

 

Does Ford monitor this forum?

 

I don't believe they do. At least not officially. You can get some help at SyncMyRide.com

 

Oddly enough, after the dealership replaced my microphone about 3 months ago, and all was working well until yesterday. It worked on the way to work. But when I got in the car to head home last night, Sync again was not hearing me. I guess I'll try the battery cable trick listed above.

[Muzicman61]

Well, last night I did as Monguele suggested. I was playing a song via the USB port from a flash drive. Ignition was on in accessory mode. I disconnected the battery terminal for a good 5 minutes. Then I reconnected the battery cable. The clock and all my radio presets were wiped out. I hit the Sync button and still she could not hear me. Now here is the odd thing... I used the dash board controls to manuever to USB. When I select USB as my input, it immediatly began playing the same exact song it had been playing when I disconnected the battery cable and was playing from the exact time location where it left off.

 

So did Sync truly reset?

[morry]

Last year i had the microphone upgrade done on my Fusion. About four months later the voice recognition stopped working. When I checked with the dealership I found out that there had been a shipment of "bad" microphones which were prone to stop working either permanently or sporadically. I had it replaced a second time and so far the voice commands are working properly (it has now been six months).

You might want to talk to your dealer about this.

[Muzicman61]

Last year i had the microphone upgrade done on my Fusion. About four months later the voice recognition stopped working. When I checked with the dealership I found out that there had been a shipment of "bad" microphones which were prone to stop working either permanently or sporadically. I had it replaced a second time and so far the voice commands are working properly (it has now been six months).

You might want to talk to your dealer about this.

 

Thanks. I'm taking it in tomorrow. Odd that the Sync Engineer from SyncMyRide.com was not aware of this shipment of "bad" microphones.

[jjbcroft]

Please let us know what they said when you take it in - I'll call tomorrow to make my appt. Just curious to see if we all get the same answer and if it takes care of the problem. FORD PEOPLE ; Helloooooo??? How about some help here! Are we not the reason why you still have jobs? You come up with a great idea (SYNC) and then drop the ball when it comes to customer service and technical support. If I did that at my job, well, I wouldn't have one . . .

[Pigskin75]

I seriously believe this is software related and not a hardware issue. When I got in my truck this afternoon sync was not listening. I then received a call from my wife and picked up through sync but naturally she couldn't hear me. I pulled over into a parking lot and performed a Master Reset. I relinked the phone and tested. Sync could hear fine. I called my wife and spoke with her normally over the system. I then reloaded the phone book and reindexed my MP3 player.

 

A simple reset allows the system to "hear" me again? That's not hardware folks. Every time I've reset sync comes back to life perfectly. If it were hardware, i.e. the mic or wiring, Sync would still fail upon reset.

 

If I bring it into the shop, what are they going to do? Tear my truck apart again? For what? There's nothing to fix! I have the new mic install...I'm not running off of the rear view mirror mic.

 

I was (and still am) very excited about the Sync system But what's going on? We need a bug fix and we need it fast! :angry:

[jjbcroft]

I seriously believe this is software related and not a hardware issue. When I got in my truck this afternoon sync was not listening. I then received a call from my wife and picked up through sync but naturally she couldn't hear me. I pulled over into a parking lot and performed a Master Reset. I relinked the phone and tested. Sync could hear fine. I called my wife and spoke with her normally over the system. I then reloaded the phone book and reindexed my MP3 player.

 

A simple reset allows the system to "hear" me again? That's not hardware folks. Every time I've reset sync comes back to life perfectly. If it were hardware, i.e. the mic or wiring, Sync would still fail upon reset.

 

If I bring it into the shop, what are they going to do? Tear my truck apart again? For what? There's nothing to fix! I have the new mic install...I'm not running off of the rear view mirror mic.

 

I was (and still am) very excited about the Sync system But what's going on? We need a bug fix and we need it fast! :angry:

[jjbcroft]

I don't know the answer to it, but I sure do hope they find a fix - and quick. I'm thinking about trading my Escape in for a new one next year but if they can't get this issue resolved, I'll spend my $$$ elswhere. My dealership just ordered a replacement mic today, so maybe that will take care of it, I hope so!

[Muzicman61]

Well, I took mine in yesterday and the dealership called the Sync hotline. The diagnostics said there was a short in the microphone and it needed to be replaced. I tried previously all kinds of resets and nothing worked. So maybe there are two issues where Sync is deaf.

 

On a side note I was told the new microphones are color matched to the interior. At least that was their excuse for not keeping them in stock. We'll see.

[Muzicman61]

Well, I finally got my vehicle in yesterday and the microphone was replaced. She can hear me once again. This was definitly a hardware failure. The Sync diagnostics reported Microphone Short Circuit and the tech at the dealership confirmed this after removing the old microphone and testing it with his volt meter.

[jjbcroft]

That's good to know - my Escape is scheduled to go in to the dealership for the mic replacement on Tuesday. Funny how it took them 2 weeks to get the part in. Kind of sounds like they can't keep them in stock because everyone's getting them replaced now. Glad it worked for you - hope it works for mine!