Ford should be ashamed

I am a 'not so happy' owner of a 2011 Limited and I have to admit - I've never been this unhappy with a new vehicle purchase.

I don't remember in recent history having been so excited to take delivery of a new car. That feeling sure didn't last long though.

I don't know where to begin...

The MFT is a disgrace. There should be a class action lawsuit against Ford for shoving something so full of bugs down our throats. This is the main reason I bought this car and is now the reason I dislike it so much.

I drive about 800 miles a week and am in and out of the car 20-30 times a day. Any idea how frustrating it gets having to wait for the MFT to become ready every time I start the car?

I get Navigation faults usually at least once a day, sometime more. I have to remove the SD card and re-insert it several times to clear the error.

The recent destinations seem to get reset on a regular basis. This is a frequently used option for me and pretty much unusable.

I had my dealer do the upgrade to 2.7 and noticed no improvement. They tell me I am only allowed one more update at no cost so why would I take it in for the 2.8 upgrade when the bugs aren't apparently fixed yet?

Another reason I was so excited for this vehicle was for the Verizon wireless card support. Is this ever going to work? Isn't this false advertising?

Occasionally the screen is black when I start the car. Sometimes I have success pulling over, shutting the car off, opening and closing the door to totally power the vehicle off and then re-start it. Sometimes it takes several cycles to get it turned on.

My brakes squeak like there's no tomorrow and my dealer wants to turn the rotors. Will Ford pay to replace them when they wear out sooner as a result of turning them now?

The rain noise is embarrassing. I had a client in the car the other day and he still talks about it. I'm not an engineer, yet I would have had the common sense to not use roof materials that would cause this.

My trim on the front left quarter panel becomes separated at least once a week and I have to snap it back into place.

The streaky windows are also quite annoying. I realize it's only a minor inconvenience but when you combine with all the other problems it is quite bothersome.

Any chance of getting a refund?

preach on brother!! unfortunately... all of our outcries and legitmete gripes won't get us any more than some Ford "Customer rep" on here who will respond with a series of hollow apologies and half assed attempts to 'sooth' us jaded new Ford owners. If you're lucky they'll respond w/ a number to customer relations who will sit patiently and listen to your gripes and laugh in the backgroud as they have pocketed our 40 grand! cheers =/

Wow, I hope this is the exception and not the rule. I'm starting to get nervous.

In all honesty though, I've been on this forum reading daily for a couple of months now, and it seems as though you've summed up every problem people seem to individually report.

TimSuds said:

I had my dealer do the upgrade to 2.7 and noticed no improvement. They tell me I am only allowed one more update at no cost so why would I take it in for the 2.8 upgrade when the bugs aren't apparently fixed yet?

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I would recommend upgrading to the latest version, 2.8. If you have performance issues with MFT, then the upgrade would be covered under warranty.

What type of phone are you using with the system?

I'm with you... I have had to go get fixes more than I can count now for over 10 problems. But hey... it's a new vehicle and I guess as long as it drives, you're okay. Even though you paid for everything to WORK.

On the other hand though, I think Ford should redesign the stupid MFT and actually replace it in every vehicle with something that operates efficiently. It should be recalled and changed. I have changed my APIM, after that everything was fine until recently, I started getting problems again at 2k miles. If they don't fix the MFT issues, the word will get out there eventually...


Still, Ford Explorers are awesome, and I hope Ford does something to correct these issues.

hahahaha......there would never be a lawsuit. every first year explorer has be a train wreck. i have an 02 and i got f'd in the a. good luck with anything.

TimSuds said:

I am a 'not so happy' owner of a 2011 Limited and I have to admit - I've never been this unhappy with a new vehicle purchase.

I don't remember in recent history having been so excited to take delivery of a new car. That feeling sure didn't last long though.

I don't know where to begin...

The MFT is a disgrace. There should be a class action lawsuit against Ford for shoving something so full of bugs down our throats. This is the main reason I bought this car and is now the reason I dislike it so much.

I drive about 800 miles a week and am in and out of the car 20-30 times a day. Any idea how frustrating it gets having to wait for the MFT to become ready every time I start the car?

I get Navigation faults usually at least once a day, sometime more. I have to remove the SD card and re-insert it several times to clear the error.

The recent destinations seem to get reset on a regular basis. This is a frequently used option for me and pretty much unusable.

I had my dealer do the upgrade to 2.7 and noticed no improvement. They tell me I am only allowed one more update at no cost so why would I take it in for the 2.8 upgrade when the bugs aren't apparently fixed yet?

Another reason I was so excited for this vehicle was for the Verizon wireless card support. Is this ever going to work? Isn't this false advertising?

Occasionally the screen is black when I start the car. Sometimes I have success pulling over, shutting the car off, opening and closing the door to totally power the vehicle off and then re-start it. Sometimes it takes several cycles to get it turned on.

My brakes squeak like there's no tomorrow and my dealer wants to turn the rotors. Will Ford pay to replace them when they wear out sooner as a result of turning them now?

The rain noise is embarrassing. I had a client in the car the other day and he still talks about it. I'm not an engineer, yet I would have had the common sense to not use roof materials that would cause this.

My trim on the front left quarter panel becomes separated at least once a week and I have to snap it back into place.

The streaky windows are also quite annoying. I realize it's only a minor inconvenience but when you combine with all the other problems it is quite bothersome.

Any chance of getting a refund?

Click to expand...

TimSuds, sorry about your issues - I have some suggestions that may or may not help.

An update to 2.8 may help, but, rumor has it that a major update is coming soon. Depends on how badly you want/ need it. I was told by my dealer that updates (plural UPDATES) were FREE so long as the reason you were updating was a defect in the software - that was covered under the warranty. I would find another dealer that has a better update policy than your dealer on this.

note that BaxterDown seemed to really like 2.8 over 2.7

I have 2.8 and have some issues, but most functionality is pretty solid. My ONLY real issue is the Sirius channel browser works only about 50% of the time.

My phone (Droid X) synchs perfectly every time (although I don't have text capability)

As far as waiting for MFT to start up and be ready, do you have to wait for it to load before driving the car? Can't you just drive? On 2.8, it doesn't seem to take very long to load - maybe 5 seconds? By the time I get my seat belt on, its another second or two and I'm moving!

As far as the navigation faults, could your SD card be bad? Maybe see if your dealer is willing to swap out for a new one. OR, just get yourself a SD Card reader/writer and copy it yourself. You may have to do some research on how to do it - they may have copy protected it. Buy a GOOD quality SD card to use though!

Do you leave your car in any direct sunlight/heat? I'm wondering if something is overheating on some of these units? Perhaps the sd card overheated or something.... Also, you might wanna try the Nintendo cartridge fix. Back in the 80's we used to blow on the cartridges and in the machine to fix glitches in the game. dust used to get into the connectors and cause issues.... clean the SD card connectors and blow in the slot. Maybe some dirt got in there and caused issues.

As for the Verizon wireless card, I have no actual experience with it, but other members reported getting a 4g LTE card to work.


Finally, is your APIM the latest version? Maybe others can verify this, but early builds had their APIM replaced to a new version. The APIM is some sort of processor board or something that improved performance.

Just some suggestions - feel free to try or not if you desire.

ALSO, please PM FordCustSrvc - Cory can escalate your issues to Ford Customer Service, which has had some success getting issues resolved.

-J

jrmexplorer said:

An update to 2.8 may help, but, rumor has it that a major update is coming soon. Depends on how badly you want/ need it. I was told by my dealer that updates (plural UPDATES) were FREE so long as the reason you were updating was a defect in the software.

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Thats ridiculous in my opinion. Why should you have to pay (EVER) to get an update? Thats like Microsoft charging us for all the updates we need...

I dont even have a 2011 (Or a vehicle with MFT), but this still aggrivates me.

BrianDye said:

Thats ridiculous in my opinion. Why should you have to pay (EVER) to get an update? Thats like Microsoft charging us for all the updates we need...

I dont even have a 2011 (Or a vehicle with MFT), but this still aggrivates me.

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Yeah, I agree, but you have to understand that right now updates cost money because the updates have to be done by the dealer. Microsoft just does updates to windows over the internet so their costs are probably a lot less. I'm guessing you'd have to pay if they had to pay a tech to come and install them.

jrmexplorer said:

Yeah, I agree, but you have to understand that right now updates cost money because the updates have to be done by the dealer. Microsoft just does updates to windows over the internet so their costs are probably a lot less. I'm guessing you'd have to pay if they had to pay a tech to come and install them.

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That sounds reasonable to me, and that's how SYNC updates have been done in the past, some updates can be done by the customer at no charge.

http://www.syncmyride.com/Own/Modules/FaqManagement/FaqDetail.aspx?faqId=208


http://www.syncmyride.com/Own/Modules/SupportContent/UsingSyncSupport.aspx?hdi=4

The dealer will do MFT updates for free if it's to correct an issue.

piercesean said:

hahahaha......there would never be a lawsuit. every first year explorer has be a train wreck. i have an 02 and i got f'd in the a. good luck with anything.

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That's not true. My 2nd Gen 1995 was a really awesome Explorer with no issues at all despite being a new model. I just think Ford might be slacking a bit recently.

1995E said:

That's not true. My 2nd Gen 1995 was a really awesome Explorer with no issues at all despite being a new model. I just think Ford might be slacking a bit recently.

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The 2nd gens had quite a few lemons in the 95' year. I dont think as many as the 3rd, and 4th gens though. (Also seems to be the "5th" gens now too)

jrmexplorer said:

Yeah, I agree, but you have to understand that right now updates cost money because the updates have to be done by the dealer. Microsoft just does updates to windows over the internet so their costs are probably a lot less. I'm guessing you'd have to pay if they had to pay a tech to come and install them.

Click to expand...

True, theres definitely arguments for both sides, but I would hope it doesnt cost much money at all...

We have a Fiesta, and all I do to update Sync is plug an empty USB Drive into my PC, let it download the file, plug the USB drive into the car, turn the key on and sit there for about 5-6 minutes.

You left one thing out. The stupid "A" pillar noise when driving on the highway. 2 dealers by me never heard of the issue. On the facebook explorer page, they are getting them fixed all the time. My sd card faulted 3 times already. I put in a destination to a restruant just to see how it works. I was in the parking lot of the restruant and the sync lady was telling me to make the first legal u turn. I have had sync and navagation since 2008, when I got a Sport Trac, then a Taurus sho and my new 2011 F150 has no problems. Don't know whats wrong with the explorer.

This is why you never buy a first year out vehicle, always wait till second or third model year so all the bugs are worked out.

My 2010 SHO was a first year car, never had a issue with anything.

david1068 said:

You left one thing out. The stupid "A" pillar noise when driving on the highway.

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This is one problem I haven't experienced - should I feel lucky?

Another problem is that everyone of these issues is intermittent and not reproducible if I were to take it into service.

Vic said:

What type of phone are you using with the system?

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I am using an iPhone 4 with the MFT.

Overall, I am satisfied with the way it interacts with this phone, It occasionally loses its pairing, but a reset of the phone corrects it. Not sure if this is a fault with the MFT or the phone though.

However, sometimes the radio doesn't mute during a call and other times the radio turns on after a call even if it wasn't on to begin with.

These are minor inconveniences though.

swetrid said:

This is why you never buy a first year out vehicle, always wait till second or third model year so all the bugs are worked out.

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I disagree with this statement. I have purchased many first year vehicles and have NEVER been this disappointed. There may have been some hiccups but nothing to this extent.

I still love the truck but am terribly disappointed (at least it still looks good).

My wife is due for a new car and wanted to look at an Edge and I will not allow her to even consider it. No chance of me ever buying another car with MFT (at least in its current state).

that why the aftermarket world on car audio is so much better, thats all they have to focus on.

piercesean said:

that why the aftermarket world on car audio is so much better, thats all they have to focus on.

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Not necessarily, I have a Pioneer AVIC-920BT and have some of the same issues described here, and the Pioneer system is considerably less capable and less customizable than MFT.

With my Pioneer system, BT connections with my iPhone4 are only about 70% reliable. The system automatically starts to play a random iPod song when the phone is first connected, the overall system will freeze which requires the vehicle to be turned off and on again. The Pandora app is about 10% reliable, meaning most of the time I have to plug and unplug the iPhone multiple times to get it to work.

The Pioneer systems take a long time to boot up the Nav system and builds the voice recognition library each time you use it, which takes a very long time.

Pioneer updates are very few and far between and the ones they have put out have made things worse for many users.

I suspect the source of the lock up problems with the Pioneer are induced by the iPhone. I've noticed some of the lock ups on the Pioneer occur when the iPhone finds a WiFi source and wants to connect. I havent had any lock ups when the phone is not connected.