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Explorer Navigation Tracking Problem

well, a week or so ago i started to think the app actually fixed my nav location problems. today it started "off route" again, tho it did self correct within a couple miles or so. it started being ~.10 miles off, then up to about .50 miles or so (thru a large body of water i might add), then back to being ~.10 off, and then the correction.

btw, i seems my nav typically goes "off route" when it starts for the 1st time after powering the suv (eg starting). that is to say, if the nav starts up and correctly identifies the location, it stays correct as i travel.
 



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... btw, i seems my nav typically goes "off route" when it starts for the 1st time after powering the suv (eg starting). ....

This is the downside to how Ford (or Navtec) has chosen to operate the system. I don't know the inner workings, but is seems obvious that they are using the last known location, your speed and the vehicles compass heading to try to locate the vehicle on the (moving) map. All before the system has acquired GPS. Before it has GPS the moving map and the location on the map where it puts you is just a GUESS. It is pretty easy to get their algorithm to mess up and put you off the road in a field or lake. My opinion is this method probably causes more problems and service department visits. I prefer how my old Garmin works, you turn it on and it doesn't try to display the map and locate you on it and then move the map UNTIL is has acquired GPS and hence knows the location. Why guess when you can wait a little and know for sure? Of course then people are going to complain (rightfully so, especially if you park in a garage) that GPS acquisition takes too long.
 






From the lack of responses to this latest issue, it seems that I have again won the Explorer lottery! Nearing the two year mark and this truck continues to baffle me with all the quirks that continually pop up from day to day. They come and go and those that linger have shown that they cannot be addressed by Ford. This truck is a real disappointment.
 






From the lack of responses to this latest issue, it seems that I have again won the Explorer lottery! Nearing the two year mark and this truck continues to baffle me with all the quirks that continually pop up from day to day. They come and go and those that linger have shown that they cannot be addressed by Ford. This truck is a real disappointment.

Sorry about your luck....my EX has been virtually flawless since day one (only had the A-pillar/wind noise issue that was corrected the very first time) and it has been just an awesome vehicle for me (over 35,000 kms on it now).
 






While using navigation on a rainy Saturday night, map screen went gray and curser moved in direction I was last travelling with "Off Route" displayed. I was able to recover screen again by parking and re-inputting destination. I am wondering if satellite signal was lost, as has happened with Sirius on past occasions, or if there was a glitch in the navigation as everything was lost on the screen. Has anyone else experienced this? It is a first for me. :(
As mentioned in my PM, I have moved your post to this thread in the IVT forum. You may get more responses here and there are several posts concerning this issue.

Peter
 






As mentioned in my PM, I have moved your post to this thread in the IVT forum. You may get more responses here and there are several posts concerning this issue.

Peter

OK Txs ......... This is one time in two years, but it definitely concerns me on a dark roadway with traffic all around and I am navigating in the blind. The signal only acquired after backing out of navigation and re-entering "Home" as my destination. Saving grace was my wife was with me so she re-entered info while I continued to drive ....... hoping that system would come back on line. :(
 






2014 Explorer Sport Navigation (POS)

right out of the showroom, down a major expressway connecting two major cities and the tracking jumps back and forth across the xway to sideroads or lakes or no where. great to have "off road" on nav screen most of the time :(

of course salesman has never heard of anything like this..............and is surprised at the 10+ pages of this problem since 2011 on this forum.
 












right out of the showroom, down a major expressway connecting two major cities and the tracking jumps back and forth across the xway to sideroads or lakes or no where. great to have "off road" on nav screen most of the time :(

of course salesman has never heard of anything like this..............and is surprised at the 10+ pages of this problem since 2011 on this forum.
Welcome to the Forum trysixty.:wavey:
Sorry to hear about the issue you have with the Navigation and I see that Rebecca has already responded to your post.
As per my PM, I have moved your post to this existing thread on the same issue.
Do recall if the Navigation had acquired the GPS signal before you began driving? I have only had this "off tracking" occur a couple of times and both times it was because I began driving while the GPS still showed the red X through it.
Good luck.

Peter
 






Greetings, Folks-

I am the happy owner (with the exception of the GPS) of a one week old 2014 Explorer XLT, Sync w/nav. The on-screen location icon seems to have little relationship to where I actually am. Very disconcerting, for sure. Seems kind of pointless to have GPS that doesn't know where I am half the time.

I have read through all the related threads and posts (here and elsewhere on the web), and have tried the diagnostics (showed 5 satellites), master reset, and the battery disconnect procedures. All with no improvement in accuracy.

First chance I get I'll take it to the dealer to start a paper trail, and hope that they might be able to fix things. But really, is there any hope of a fix? :(
 






Greetings, Folks-

I am the happy owner (with the exception of the GPS) of a one week old 2014 Explorer XLT, Sync w/nav. The on-screen location icon seems to have little relationship to where I actually am. Very disconcerting, for sure. Seems kind of pointless to have GPS that doesn't know where I am half the time.

I have read through all the related threads and posts (here and elsewhere on the web), and have tried the diagnostics (showed 5 satellites), master reset, and the battery disconnect procedures. All with no improvement in accuracy.

First chance I get I'll take it to the dealer to start a paper trail, and hope that they might be able to fix things. But really, is there any hope of a fix? :(
Welcome to the Forum R56 Ed.:wavey: Also nice to see that you have taken out the Elite membership. :thumbsup:
I don't know why so many members seem to be having this issue with their Nav system. I have a 2011 Limited and the navigation has been right on 99% of the time. The only times it has been off track is when I began driving before it acquired the GPS signal.
You can also send a private message (PM) to Rebecca, the Ford rep on the IVT forum. You can use this link if you want;
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/private.php?do=newpm&u=181992

Good luck.

Peter
 






Welcome to the Forum R56 Ed.:wavey: Also nice to see that you have taken out the Elite membership. :thumbsup:
I don't know why so many members seem to be having this issue with their Nav system. I have a 2011 Limited and the navigation has been right on 99% of the time. The only times it has been off track is when I began driving before it acquired the GPS signal.
You can also send a private message (PM) to Rebecca, the Ford rep on the IVT forum. You can use this link if you want;
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/private.php?do=newpm&u=181992

Good luck.

Peter

Thanks, Peter. I appreciate the link to Rebecca, and hope she won't mind if I use it. I spent quite a few hours searching the internet for things I might try before I wanted to take it to the next level. I'd say that my GPS is accurate about 2/3 of the time now after all the steps I've taken, but it's still nowhere near good enough to get the job done (started at about 1/3).

I find it hard to believe that a company as good as Ford would continue to install equipment that had a high probability of failure (I've always been a Ford fanboy, I guess). GPS technology has been around long enough to get things right, and this accuracy problem seems well documented for at least the past two years. I'll keep my fingers crossed that my dealer is willing to make things right. Thanks again for the info!

Ed
 






What I don't get is the screen going blank ...... I would think that the map would still be on the screen and the curser drift aimlessly. All I had was a curser on the blank screen. Really weird.
 






It is pretty bizarre. Mine got way better with 3.6.2 but it still has its moments. I can almost predict when it's going to fail at this point - it doesn't seem to like large parking lots or roads it isn't aware of. It's almost like it starts guessing instead of just tracking normally. A restart or MFT reboot just about always fixes it, and it only happens maybe 5% of the time now, but that doesn't make it any less annoying. Also, mine never seems to be more than a few hundred yards off when it does freak out - the deviation seems to vary among posters here.

One would think the would be pretty straightforward stuff - I've used a lot of different Nav units (stand alone and in-car) and this is the first system I've had issues with. Heck, even my phones have had a better track record (no pun intended...).
 






Update

I took my '14 Ex in to the dealership yesterday to start a paper trail on the GPS issues. Expecting to hear, "Gee, we've never heard of that before", instead I was treated with respect, concern, and a truly helpful attitude that more than surprised me. After about two hours, the service advisor came out and gave me the good/bad news. Yes, there is a problem and Ford is aware of it and is trying to find a way to relocate the GPSM unit away from interference caused by other devices under the dash. Cool so far. Check with us next time you're here for an oil change and we'll let you know if anything has happened (not so cool... you should call ME when a fix is available, but whatever).

And he offered a temporary workaround that beats anything I've tried so far. When the GPS loses its mind (and location), just pop out the SD card for a moment and reinsert it. That will cause the GPS to reboot and should get it back on track (pun intended). It's not perfect, but it sure beats a restart or a battery disconnect. It's not perfect, but it's a step in the right direction.
 






snip, snip;
A restart or MFT reboot just about always fixes it.
snip, snip.

does 3.6.2 still wipe out all my important data and parameters, like previous versions, when you do a reset or mft? i've been loading the app via a flash drive when my nav goes bonkers. it would be better if i did not have to do that.
 






does 3.6.2 still wipe out all my important data and parameters, like previous versions, when you do a reset or mft? i've been loading the app via a flash drive when my nav goes bonkers. it would be better if i did not have to do that.
Although I can't swear to it, I think this was one of the improvements to the update, that it would not wipe everything. It also now takes only about 30 minutes to install. I don't have much saved other than my radio pre-sets and I didn't have to do anything but pair my phone again.
If you wish, you may find some additional info buried in this 16 page thread;

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=390706

Peter
 






My tracking problems have become more frequent and are not solved with either popping out the SD card or performing master reset. Wondering if satellite related or a sign of a sick APIM.
 






Time for an update - Background - 2014 Explorer XLT - My GPS had every problem listed so far in this forum. I have had it back to the dealer several times, the last time they told me that Ford knows about the problem and is working on it. Fortunately the Service Manger that I deal with does call me from time to time to give me an update - like "we haven't forgotten about you but there has been no word from Ford", which I guess is a good thing.

Now on to the good news - it has now been over two months since my GPS has been working flawlessly! I just returned from a trip (towing a trailer) from Salt Lake to San Jose and back - used the navigation all the way with no problem. What I did was - two months ago I disconnected the "-" battery terminal and left it off for over (that's important) 15 min. this allows all your capacitors/electrical components to drain any residual voltages. I reconnected the battery terminal and the system immediately goes into a reboot mode from the ground up. Once it had completed, I tested it by driving a coarse I knew in the past I had problems with and it worked!! (I should also mention that all my save favorites were still loaded) It has been working ever since! I'm still not happy with Ford but at least my Navigation is now working!
 



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Does anyone use breadcrumbs? My problems seemed to get more frequent when I turned breadcrumbs on.
 






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