My Ford Touch Thread

[GreyFox]

Originally Posted by copernicium112

OK, wanted to wait a couple of days and a few drives after my APIM replacement before posting anything. Dropped my car off last Wed (5/29) and was suppossed to pick it up Fri (6/1), with a rear caliper replacement as well, under warranty. Needless to say, through a series of disasters I ended up getting it back Tue (6/5) night.

Unfortunately, by the time they got around to pulling the APIM, getting the serial # off it, and ordering a new one, it was too late to get one shipped out overnight for Friday delivery (their fault). Fortunately, FEDEX actually delivers twice to them on Saturday. Unfortunately, by the time FEDEX delivered it, the only guy on staff that day that could do it had gone home for the day.

So they dove into it Monday morning with the new APIM install. Unfortunately, it was a defective module (not their fault) they received and had to order another one for overnight delivery to arrive on Tuesday (which did and was not defective). In the dealership's defense, I had a loaner from them the entire time and when I went to pick it up/settle up Tuesday night, the service manager apologized greatly for the inconvenience and said "I don't want to add insult to injury so the other stuff is on us." They covered the oil change/summer tire swap.

So he pointed me in the direction of my car and he asked if I wanted him to come out and help me get my phone paired up and help with any other settings, etc. I'm sure they are used to dealing with the non-technical user base but I said thanks but no thanks, I am comfortable with the system, I got it.

Got in my car, started it up, and tried to pair my phone. Things got off to a bad start when the phone wouldn't pair. Tried three times, nothing. Finally did a reverse-pair and that worked. Plugged my iPod in and headed off. It only took about 4 minutes to index/BVC which made me suspicious. Tried some voice commands. No better, no worse with the new hardware. The new version really has a problem with short song titles by voice. While I was without my car I spent some time over on the syncmyride owner's forum and from some of the stuff I was reading over there, this was done on purpose, it was programmed to give a wider margin of error because people were having problems with it playing the wrong song after a command was given, to give people more control by offering choices instead of just launching the wrong song. These are songs that I never had a problem with before, on v2.11, by voice so I don't know that I buy that explanation/excuse. I still just want my old voice-recognition back.

Got in the car to head to work Wed morning and lo and behold no street location under the compass. That was fast, only 12 hours until that disappeared. Set my work address as a route, activated it, cancelled it, and the street location was back under the compass. So, this problem is not hardware related, it is just piss-poor programming. Also, still no street location in the Nav tab if I go from Nav screen to any of the other three category screens unless, like before, I go to yet another category screen and back the one I entered from the Nav screen. Then it is there. Again, piss-poor programming.

So in a nutshell I guess I am saying if anyone is at their dealership and the service dept wants to install a new APIM to take care of the problems I have seen come up over and over again in this forum, obviously it is your decision but from my experience it does nothing but leave you without your car for a while (but after 7 days in a loaner it was oh so nice to get my car back for a number of other reasons about the car).

The only thing you didn't mention, so I am guessing it didn't happen is the recommended Master Reset before using the system. I got a new APIM as well (not needed IMO in my case, but they did it anyway). First thing I did was a Master Reset. Why? Dunno, system just seemed "Off" when I first got in the car. My IT / Programming experience suggested to me that I do that, so I did. Turns out later the Ford rep in this forum actually said it was indeed recommended. Perhaps you dealer did it, but if it were me, I'd have done it myself to be sure.

Mine is still working quite well by the way. Perfect, always? No, but very rare issues, and very minor.

[forceflow2]

Originally Posted by GreyFox

Turns out later the Ford rep in this forum actually said it was indeed recommended. Perhaps you dealer did it, but if it were me, I'd have done it myself to be sure.

Mine is still working quite well by the way. Perfect, always? No, but very rare issues, and very minor.

To be fair, the reason it is recommended is because the only options they give you is Master Reset, talk to the dealership (who will do a master reset), or wait for a future update and that's the only one that the user can do without too much frustration.

[copernicium112]

Originally Posted by GreyFox

The only thing you didn't mention, so I am guessing it didn't happen is the recommended Master Reset before using the system. I got a new APIM as well (not needed IMO in my case, but they did it anyway). First thing I did was a Master Reset. Why? Dunno, system just seemed "Off" when I first got in the car. My IT / Programming experience suggested to me that I do that, so I did. Turns out later the Ford rep in this forum actually said it was indeed recommended. Perhaps you dealer did it, but if it were me, I'd have done it myself to be sure.

Mine is still working quite well by the way. Perfect, always? No, but very rare issues, and very minor.

Nah, I didn't. I assumed (and I know assuming is wrong) it wouldn't be necessary. One would think with a new APIM and a fresh MFT install it indeed would not be necessary. I did several after the update install but to no avail. I'm still going to maintain that the programming is crap, nothing more, nothing less. A master reset does not fix the disappearing street location, a master reset does not fix the garbage voice commands, and so on and so.

Originally Posted by forceflow2

To be fair, the reason it is recommended is because the only options they give you is Master Reset, talk to the dealership (who will do a master reset), or wait for a future update and that's the only one that the user can do without too much frustration.

Agreed. The magical answer to everything (but in reality nothing). That was the first question they asked when I brought it up. "Did you do a Master Reset?" Yes, more than one I explained. Hence the reinstall attempts and new APIM the dealer tried, again, which do nothing.

[TiPilot]

Originally Posted by copernicium112

So in a nutshell I guess I am saying if anyone is at their dealership and the service dept wants to install a new APIM to take care of the problems I have seen come up over and over again in this forum, obviously it is your decision but from my experience it does nothing but leave you without your car for a while (but after 7 days in a loaner it was oh so nice to get my car back for a number of other reasons about the car).

Ugh, sorry to hear... but also not surprised as I've been through the same ordeal. Except they had my car for 9 days.

The new APIM hasn't solved any issues and, as seems to be the norm with all MFT systems, the longer I use 3.0 the more problems and bugs that start to rear their ugly heads.

This week, it's been dropping BT connections constantly. I don't really think it's my phone since I haven't updated anything on the Droid... but it'll actually be playing a podcast and then just suddenly disconnect and turn the radio on extremely loud.

[CourtneyNYC]

>>>I'm still going to maintain that the programming is crap, nothing more, nothing less. A master reset does not fix the disappearing street location, a master reset does not fix the garbage voice commands, and so on and so.

I'd go along with that.

Mind seldom works properly and surprises me with a new malady daily. I find salvation in the fact the screwing around with it gives me something to do while driving and I know the folks at Ford, who are really on the leading edge of in vehicle electronics, have their heart in the right place.

I am collecting screen shots but . . it's nearly a fool's errand. Some days things connect, other times I get the "Bluetooth disabled" . . .and the navigation (silly small compass) and entertainment panel (sometime count the number of keystrokes required to go from a station on Sirius Bank 1 to Sirius Bank 2) show signs of being designed by a team of 23 year old recent engineering grads.

I carry a spare iPod and a set of headphones for when the radio (phone fails to properly disconnect) isn't working. Generally, after about 30 minutes, and 9 phone calls later, I get the "Call Ended" screen and my radio back.

[nhemti]

Originally Posted by CourtneyNYC

I am collecting screen shots but . . it's nearly a fool's errand. Some days things connect, other times I get the "Bluetooth disabled" . . .and the navigation (silly small compass) and entertainment panel (sometime count the number of keystrokes required to go from a station on Sirius Bank 1 to Sirius Bank 2) show signs of being designed by a team of 23 year old recent engineering grads.

I know plenty of 23 year old recent software engineering grads who could write a much more stable and efficient system. More often than not you will find the new programmers are better than the old since they aren't set in the ways of yesteryear and know how to best leverage the newer languages out there. It isn't fair to slight the younger folks in computer science and technology just because they are young.


Now, this system does show signs of being designed by a third-party developer who may have been rushed to production and may have outsourced some of their own development to places other than the US. It also shows signs of being written in a sub-par non-ideal language.

[paul21]

The bottom line is sales said a touch screen system would be profitable and the engineering director said how can we do it the cheapest.

[nhemti]

Originally Posted by paul21

The bottom line is sales said a touch screen system would be profitable and the engineering director said how can we do it the cheapest.

You are correct sir!

[CourtneyNYC]

>>> I know plenty of 23 year old recent software engineering grads who could write a much more stable and efficient system.

As do I.

>>>It isn't fair to slight the younger folks in computer science and technology just because they are young.

That is an accurate statement . . .and never would I do so. It's a statement meant to convey the apparent lack of real world experience that is apparent in the design of the MFT system.

Thanks for the clarification.

[feta_mgp]

Originally Posted by nhemti

I know plenty of 23 year old recent software engineering grads who could write a much more stable and efficient system. More often than not you will find the new programmers are better than the old since they aren't set in the ways of yesteryear and know how to best leverage the newer languages out there. It isn't fair to slight the younger folks in computer science and technology just because they are young.


Now, this system does show signs of being designed by a third-party developer who may have been rushed to production and may have outsourced some of their own development to places other than the US. It also shows signs of being written in a sub-par non-ideal language.

Agreed. Don't bash the younger crowd... look at the gaming industry, you have several AAA titles built by teams in their 20s with directors and department leads in their 30s and 40s directing the younger guys who are actually doing the dirty work.

This system was just designed by a team with poor communication and no teamwork. It's like splitting up the group and setting them in two separate rooms to code two separate parts without letting them talk to each other to make sure their programming plays nicely.