Very disappointed in MyFord Touch/Sync Services

[rogersmj]

So we took our first road trip last night in our 2011 Edge, which for the most part we love. I'm a gadget hound and I want to love the MyFord Touch/Sync system, which is by and large great, but the glaring bugs we ran into last night bordered on dangerous.

 

First off, I've had problems with the Sync Services lady (through the phone, not the one in the car) recognizing me when I say "yes" from day 1. I'd say I want directions, I'd read off an address or a business name, and she would get all that fine, but then ask if I want directions to that address and half the time would never hear me no matter how loud I yelled "YES!" into the microphone. That's just annoying. We also see weird bugs on the MFT system like our preset labels vanishing and then reappearing on their own a few minutes later.

 

Last night while in Cincinatti for a gallery opening, we used Sync Services Directions to get us there. It did ok for the most part, but would say things like "bear right on Cincinatti" instead of "bear right on I-74" as we were departing Indianapolis. Weird and a bit annoying, but it got us there.

 

Then once we were in Cincinatti, a city we've never been in before and are not familiar with at all, we experienced what I would call a major directions malfunction. After the gallery opening everyone went out for dinner at a big popular place downtown called Nada. We were late leaving the gallery, so we couldn't just follow everyone. No problem, I thought, I'll use Directions.

 

First, it wouldn't recognize "Nada Restaurant" by name, despite it being listed that way in Google and being one of the most popular spots downtown. So I pulled out my iPhone, found Nada's street address, and spoke that. "600 Walnut St.", it repeated. Perfect, yes I'd like directions please.

 

20 minutes later, I make a turn it tells me to make, and then suddenly it says we're off route. I had been starting to think that anyway -- this didn't look like downtown, in fact it looked extremely seedy. Embarrassed because of the passengers I had in the car, I pulled over and checked my iPhone.

 

Not only were we not at our intended destination, Sync had been taking us in the opposite direction. On top of that, I later found out (once we made it to Nada by having one of my passengers navigate me using an iPhone) that we had wound up in one of the most dangerous areas of the whole city.

 

So...

1. It couldn't find one of the biggest restaurants downtown by name

2. It confirmed the street address I read to it, but then took us a totally different direction and quit when we were in an extremely dangerous area.

 

We're pretty upset about this. Talk about technology failing when you need it most. Someone please tell me...who the hell can I report bugs to at Ford?

[lanbrown]

I have yet to find any navigation system perfect. I have had some that wanted me to turn left on a one-way street, others that thought the speed limit was 45 on every road and wouldn't shut up about it, some that wanted me to make a right, go a mile turn around, comeback that mile and make a right on the road I'm currently on. So basically it wanted to add two miles to the trip. Another one it would depends on where you were in a parking lot and would have two different ways to get to the destination; one was 3 miles farther.

 

Navteq is the one you would contact. The maps and restaurant info all comes from a third party and not Ford. So if they had streets messed up, then Sync couldn't get you there correctly. There are really only two companies that offer that information; Navteq and Tele Atlas. Navteq is owned by Nokia and Tele Atlas by Tom Tom. I have seen maps errors with both of them; sometimes they get fixed and others do not.

[lmartin2]

I have yet to find any navigation system perfect. I have had some that wanted me to turn left on a one-way street, others that thought the speed limit was 45 on every road and wouldn't shut up about it, some that wanted me to make a right, go a mile turn around, comeback that mile and make a right on the road I'm currently on. So basically it wanted to add two miles to the trip. Another one it would depends on where you were in a parking lot and would have two different ways to get to the destination; one was 3 miles farther.

 

Navteq is the one you would contact. The maps and restaurant info all comes from a third party and not Ford. So if they had streets messed up, then Sync couldn't get you there correctly. There are really only two companies that offer that information; Navteq and Tele Atlas. Navteq is owned by Nokia and Tele Atlas by Tom Tom. I have seen maps errors with both of them; sometimes they get fixed and others do not.

Ford is quick to taunt "their" SYNC system. It is built to "their" specifications and was purchased from Ford therefore in my mind Ford should take some of the responsibility for "their" furnished equipment and put the presure on the manufactories, software development companies and data companies to make the "Ford Sync" work properly. It is a very convoluted system which is very dificult for a new user (Imposible without this Forum). There is a big difference between SYNC without Nav and SYNC with Nav. I spent a couple of hours in class at the dealer ship the first week after my purchase only to discouver my SYNC with Nav did'nt have most of the items covered in the class. Most of which was oriented to the non-NAV SYNC and how to set up Dest. and etc in the SYNC-MY-RIDE website.

 

Sorry for the RANT but this forum not the Ford company has made it possible to use my SYNC. I am still a long way from being able to operate the SYNC (NAV) the way it was intended and have my phone connect every time.

[rogersmj]

Just to be clear, and I don't know if this has any bearing on what you guys have said, but I'm referring to the Sync direction services, not the navigation system (we didn't order the nav system with our Edge). My thinking by not ordering the full nav system was...

 

1. It always would be more up-to-date since it uses a central service for POI, streets, etc

2. It would be less distracting than having maps shown on the dash (my wife finds the maps kind of distracting...plus we have maps on our iPhones if we really needs maps)

3. $800 I wouldn't have to spend.

 

In theory I love Sync Services Directions. My experience illustrates there are some major issues.

[mkpmf]

Sounds like quite the adventure!

Well one thing you could try next time...if there is a next time..is sending the directions from googlemaps or mapquest. You can google the address and send it to your veichle. When you go into services it will ask if you want to download it. Not sure if this would've made a difference or not, but something you might want to test out.

As far as the services directions having a few hiccups, I've definitely experienced a few myself, especially driving past roads that have overpasses, on/off ramps and the like.

Still, none of this trumps the time my garmin showed me driving over buildings and across rivers

*NOTE* I was not actually driving over any buildings.

[rogersmj]

^ Yeah I've done that a couple times, that definitely works and I like that a lot (I'm trying to determine how to do that via my iPhone, if it's possible). But in this case, we didn't know where we were going to go for dinner until we were there...no computer available. But that is a great feature.

[lanbrown]

Ford is quick to taunt "their" SYNC system. It is built to "their" specifications and was purchased from Ford therefore in my mind Ford should take some of the responsibility for "their" furnished equipment and put the presure on the manufactories, software development companies and data companies to make the "Ford Sync" work properly. It is a very convoluted system which is very dificult for a new user (Imposible without this Forum). There is a big difference between SYNC without Nav and SYNC with Nav. I spent a couple of hours in class at the dealer ship the first week after my purchase only to discouver my SYNC with Nav did'nt have most of the items covered in the class. Most of which was oriented to the non-NAV SYNC and how to set up Dest. and etc in the SYNC-MY-RIDE website.

 

Sorry for the RANT but this forum not the Ford company has made it possible to use my SYNC. I am still a long way from being able to operate the SYNC (NAV) the way it was intended and have my phone connect every time.

 

 

Navteq and Tele Atlas really do not care if their information is accurate or not. Ford can't pressure anyone in fixing what they don't want too. What are they going to do, go elsewhere? You have two companies and neither care about accuracy!!!!! So go where?

 

Sync is a collabaoration from Ford and Microsoft. Microsoft has plenty of different platforms and haven't got one right yet. They need to start consolidating and thus fixes become more frequent and the QA is much better as well.

 

My phone connects each and everytime. BT is not perfect and many have issues with their stack. Some companies like Samsung have ig issues with Sync. So is it something Ford/Microsoft should fix or Samsung? The answer is Samsung, their phones have the most issues and all points to their BT implementation. Just like iOS 4.x broke BT compatibility, so Apple needs to fix it.

[lint]

FYI- ive found that a good way to get the "services lady" to understand the word "yes" is to say "YESSSSSS" I might sound a little like a snake but at least it works.

[jskinder]

So we took our first road trip last night in our 2011 Edge, which for the most part we love. I'm a gadget hound and I want to love the MyFord Touch/Sync system, which is by and large great, but the glaring bugs we ran into last night bordered on dangerous.

 

First off, I've had problems with the Sync Services lady (through the phone, not the one in the car) recognizing me when I say "yes" from day 1. I'd say I want directions, I'd read off an address or a business name, and she would get all that fine, but then ask if I want directions to that address and half the time would never hear me no matter how loud I yelled "YES!" into the microphone. That's just annoying. We also see weird bugs on the MFT system like our preset labels vanishing and then reappearing on their own a few minutes later.

 

Last night while in Cincinatti for a gallery opening, we used Sync Services Directions to get us there. It did ok for the most part, but would say things like "bear right on Cincinatti" instead of "bear right on I-74" as we were departing Indianapolis. Weird and a bit annoying, but it got us there.

 

Then once we were in Cincinatti, a city we've never been in before and are not familiar with at all, we experienced what I would call a major directions malfunction. After the gallery opening everyone went out for dinner at a big popular place downtown called Nada. We were late leaving the gallery, so we couldn't just follow everyone. No problem, I thought, I'll use Directions.

 

First, it wouldn't recognize "Nada Restaurant" by name, despite it being listed that way in Google and being one of the most popular spots downtown. So I pulled out my iPhone, found Nada's street address, and spoke that. "600 Walnut St.", it repeated. Perfect, yes I'd like directions please.

 

20 minutes later, I make a turn it tells me to make, and then suddenly it says we're off route. I had been starting to think that anyway -- this didn't look like downtown, in fact it looked extremely seedy. Embarrassed because of the passengers I had in the car, I pulled over and checked my iPhone.

 

Not only were we not at our intended destination, Sync had been taking us in the opposite direction. On top of that, I later found out (once we made it to Nada by having one of my passengers navigate me using an iPhone) that we had wound up in one of the most dangerous areas of the whole city.

 

So...

1. It couldn't find one of the biggest restaurants downtown by name

2. It confirmed the street address I read to it, but then took us a totally different direction and quit when we were in an extremely dangerous area.

 

We're pretty upset about this. Talk about technology failing when you need it most. Someone please tell me...who the hell can I report bugs to at Ford?

 

I want to congradulate you on having a syn system that sort of works. I have a 2011 that the service doesn't work, it is something with the module and dialing the wrong number. I have been back and forth with Ford Sync and the dealer. 3 weeks and still no resolved issues. I would call Ford Sync and complain and they will open a incident ticket.

[lanbrown]

FYI- ive found that a good way to get the "services lady" to understand the word "yes" is to say "YESSSSSS" I might sound a little like a snake but at least it works.

 

Did you get the Cobra Commander option or something? Do you have to speak like this?

Hissing noise

[lint]

Did you get the Cobra Commander option or something? Do you have to speak like this?

Hissing noise

Thats the only word it seems to have trouble understanding. It will understand a normal "yes" 60% of the time. If i exaggerate the "s" she understands 100% of the time.

[rogersmj]

Thats the only word it seems to have trouble understanding. It will understand a normal "yes" 60% of the time. If i exaggerate the "s" she understands 100% of the time.

 

Wow, thanks for the tip, I'm going to try that! For me, too, that is the only word she seems to not hear when I speak it.

[AxmanSteve]

I've got a 2011 Focus with the sync and I have had it in the dealer 5 times in the last three weeks. I've only had this car for six weeks now. They can not figure out what the problem is. Sometimes it works perfect with or without outside noise. The next time I start the car it won't work at all even in quiet situations. You never know when it will work. The dealer has hooked up the computer and it tells them everything is fine. My phone is a Sony Ericsson TM506 which I was told before I bought the car, that this was one of the best phones for this system. They replaced the microphone and it's only made the problems worse. I have little confidence in this place after they "fixed" it the first time. I got in my car, pushed for the light to come on, and the whole lighting fixture popped right out of the ceiling. I am getting frustrated to say the least. Does anyone know what recourse a person can take to deal with this kind of problem? They just had my car for the last two days and told me nothing was wrong. This morning it wasn't working again and by the time I drove it back to the dealer after work, it was working fine. The frustration is mounting...

[fordo444ail]

I just bought a new explorer ltd and have the Nav Package. It works like a charm. This works off maps that are downloaded via an SD card. Cost an extra 700 bucks and was worth every cent. Map has every city in North America on it with pretty much every back road as well. It rocks. I don't have any problems with the voice activation system either. I think buying the nav package is the way to go. Using the nav that goes through your phone has too many glitch areas and things that can go wrong. Just my 2 cents. MFT has worked awesome for me. Guess i'm one of the lucky ones. Why isn't there an explorer forumn on here?

 

2011 Ford Explorer Lover

 

FORD ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!