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Explorer Navigation Tracking Problem

Dealer called, says the Nav system is fixed and worked during the test drive. We will see if it's really fixed when I pick it up. The only thing they changed, according to the service rep, is the AIPM.

The APIM is the brains/CPU of MFT so that is a major part. Ford actually keeps a record of what APIM is assigned to each vehicle by VIN.
 



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And the verdict is....no dice!

5 minutes after departing the dealer, with my home programmed into the system, it goes into never land. Have several video clips that I will edit together and post on YouTube. If I had to rely on the system to get me home I'd still be driving in circles. This is complete BS.
 


















Watched your video. When it is wrong have you gone into the unit and watched your actual GPS long/lat feed? Wondering if the feed is wrong or if perhaps your NAV card is messed up.

Hmmm, don't know how to do that. I will say the system is as bad or worse then before I took it in.
 






First eliminate the Nav card. What version is it? Do you know someone that you can borrow one from?

You can watch GPS activity by entering bezel diagnostics

Press and hold the eject button, and within 1 second, press the seek up button until the speaker walk around test begins.
The display indicates each speaker as it is tested.
NOTE: If the speaker walk-around test is the only desired test, this procedure can be stopped after Step 3 by turning the ACM off or by selecting exit using the audio system control buttons.

Once the speaker walk-around test is complete, the following information is available through the “BEZEL DIAGNOSTICS” menu using the audio system control buttons:
 






First eliminate the Nav card. What version is it? Do you know someone that you can borrow one from?

You can watch GPS activity by entering bezel diagnostics

Press and hold the eject button, and within 1 second, press the seek up button until the speaker walk around test begins.
The display indicates each speaker as it is tested.
NOTE: If the speaker walk-around test is the only desired test, this procedure can be stopped after Step 3 by turning the ACM off or by selecting exit using the audio system control buttons.

Once the speaker walk-around test is complete, the following information is available through the “BEZEL DIAGNOSTICS” menu using the audio system control buttons:

Thanks Jason,

My card is one version behind the current one I believe. I want to say it's four but I'm not 100% sure. I don't know anyone to test the cards. I'll follow your directions and see what it says.
 






since day 1 the ford nav has been a POS. it will always be just a $2000 loss you have to absorb from ford as part of buying the car.

dealers and service people are clueless, each of you should just let it go......i have ;)
 






since day 1 the ford nav has been a POS. it will always be just a $2000 loss you have to absorb from ford as part of buying the car.

dealers and service people are clueless, each of you should just let it go......i have ;)

Mine worked fine for two and a half years. I'm not willing to let it go withouth a fight. I will say I will not get another car with Nav if I can help it.
 






Hi Mike. I watched the video and can see why this is frustrating. Does the tracking issue happen in the same place all the time or is it random, meaning it isn't location dependent. I was just wondering if there is something in that particular area that might cause this problem. Since the problem is on going, have you considered asking the dealer to let you try another Navigation card just to test and eliminate the card as the possible problem? I believe the new vehicles are coming equipped with A5 cards but either an A5 or A4 should work.

Peter
 






Hey Rebecca

So I brought my Explorer into the dealership & they looked at the tracking issue again. They were pretty honest with me which I appreciated. the bottom line is Ford knows this is an outstanding issue & they literally have no clue how to fix it. (which seems ridiculous to me)

The official response from Ford is to put the original tires & rims & TPMS back on. Which is, I can't even think of a word to use that my mother wouldn't wash my mouth out with soap for saying) let's settle on UNBELIEVABLE.

I purchased the snows, rims & TPMS from FORD - someone might say the dealer isn't Ford & the products are aftermarket but that's hogwash. They are saying the "aftermarket" TPMS cause a frequency issue that interacts with the GPS negatively.

Other suggestions from the Motor Company were to put the winter tires on the factory RIMS every season then change them back out the next season. - Yeah, that would costs an extra couple hundred dollars a year.

OR another suggestion is to buy factory rims & TPMS (I THOUGHT I did) that match the summers - which would be ridiculously expensive as well.

I'm assuming you understand my frustration here.
1. Zero actual acknowledgement from Ford of the issue officially - every person putting snows with tpms should get a letter identifying the issue so we can make an educated decision BEFORE we spend $1000 on winter tires.
2. As consumers we spend thousands of dollars for a tech package in our car that FORD knows 100% won't work they way it is designed & they don't say anything about this.
3. Where is the compensation for my time & costs associated with returning our vehicle 4 times into the dealership without anyone actually advising us on the issue. The dealership (which I don't believe is at fault whatsoever did their best to uncover however it seems to me Ford is hiding behind this.).

I've purchased 13 vehicles in my lifetime & 12 of them have been Ford's. I think that qualifies as a loyal consumer. Probably too loyal now that I think about it.

The fact I have to use my mobile phone gps & incur additional data costs because my very expensive in system can't get me to where I'm going in many scenarios seems out of line.

Other manufacturers set the vehicle up with 8-9 different frequencies for the tpms (4 summers, 4 winters & a spare) seems like a logical thing to do. It can't be that tough to have the system recognize the frequencies.

I guess Ford Just doesn't care that 10's of thousands of customers are having a negative brand experience.

Hi Raafter68,

Your dealer can re-calibrate your GPS. I suggest giving them a ring to setup an appointment.

Rebecca
 






I was reading through your specific posts related to this item. The TPMS are OEM Ford correct? Also are your winter tires the same size as the summer ones (and I mean exact...example P245/45/R20)? If not do you know if they reprogrammed the vehicle to match the tire size?


Hey Rebecca

So I brought my Explorer into the dealership & they looked at the tracking issue again. They were pretty honest with me which I appreciated. the bottom line is Ford knows this is an outstanding issue & they literally have no clue how to fix it. (which seems ridiculous to me)

The official response from Ford is to put the original tires & rims & TPMS back on. Which is, I can't even think of a word to use that my mother wouldn't wash my mouth out with soap for saying) let's settle on UNBELIEVABLE.

I purchased the snows, rims & TPMS from FORD - someone might say the dealer isn't Ford & the products are aftermarket but that's hogwash. They are saying the "aftermarket" TPMS cause a frequency issue that interacts with the GPS negatively.

Other suggestions from the Motor Company were to put the winter tires on the factory RIMS every season then change them back out the next season. - Yeah, that would costs an extra couple hundred dollars a year.

OR another suggestion is to buy factory rims & TPMS (I THOUGHT I did) that match the summers - which would be ridiculously expensive as well.

I'm assuming you understand my frustration here.
1. Zero actual acknowledgement from Ford of the issue officially - every person putting snows with tpms should get a letter identifying the issue so we can make an educated decision BEFORE we spend $1000 on winter tires.
2. As consumers we spend thousands of dollars for a tech package in our car that FORD knows 100% won't work they way it is designed & they don't say anything about this.
3. Where is the compensation for my time & costs associated with returning our vehicle 4 times into the dealership without anyone actually advising us on the issue. The dealership (which I don't believe is at fault whatsoever did their best to uncover however it seems to me Ford is hiding behind this.).

I've purchased 13 vehicles in my lifetime & 12 of them have been Ford's. I think that qualifies as a loyal consumer. Probably too loyal now that I think about it.

The fact I have to use my mobile phone gps & incur additional data costs because my very expensive in system can't get me to where I'm going in many scenarios seems out of line.

Other manufacturers set the vehicle up with 8-9 different frequencies for the tpms (4 summers, 4 winters & a spare) seems like a logical thing to do. It can't be that tough to have the system recognize the frequencies.

I guess Ford Just doesn't care that 10's of thousands of customers are having a negative brand experience.
 






Mine worked fine for two and a half years. I'm not willing to let it go withouth a fight. I will say I will not get another car with Nav if I can help it.

I am curious if you had any tire replacement such as Raafter did?
 






I specifically asked this question regarding the TPMS to the mechanic & his response was a little cloudy in that they are purchased from Ford but they are NOT original equipment which makes them aftermarket. The frequency difference is something like .08 or something so the winter tpms was 69.86 & the ones that came with the vehicle are 70.06 - don't quote me on the actual frequencies because I'm ball-parking what he told me.

The winter tires are slightly different HOWEVER that is NOT the issue. The issue is caused by the frequency of the TPMS that was installed into the winter rims & tires. I would also say that we installed the recommended winters based on the parts & service department at our local dealership.

I don't THINK the vehicle is capable of reprogramming this specifically because I was told in no uncertain terms the fixes which were put the originals back on, switch the rubber so winters are on original rims & TPMS or buy new original rims put winters on those (which I don't think would work but I"m not spending thousands of dollars to find out)

It is also a MISTAKE to unhook your battery for 24 hours. Each vehicle "learns" the driving habits (breaking, acceleration ect) and that learning is used to improve gas mileage, responsiveness etc. when you try the unhook the battery trick it simply wipes out all that data & your vehicle will run poorly until it relearns your driving habits again.

Plus I was advised it probably wouldn't fix the problem.
I was reading through your specific posts related to this item. The TPMS are OEM Ford correct? Also are your winter tires the same size as the summer ones (and I mean exact...example P245/45/R20)? If not do you know if they reprogrammed the vehicle to match the tire size?
 






I specifically asked this question regarding the TPMS to the mechanic & his response was a little cloudy in that they are purchased from Ford but they are NOT original equipment which makes them aftermarket. The frequency difference is something like .08 or something so the winter tpms was 69.86 & the ones that came with the vehicle are 70.06 - don't quote me on the actual frequencies because I'm ball-parking what he told me.

The winter tires are slightly different HOWEVER that is NOT the issue. The issue is caused by the frequency of the TPMS that was installed into the winter rims & tires. I would also say that we installed the recommended winters based on the parts & service department at our local dealership.

I don't THINK the vehicle is capable of reprogramming this specifically because I was told in no uncertain terms the fixes which were put the originals back on, switch the rubber so winters are on original rims & TPMS or buy new original rims put winters on those (which I don't think would work but I"m not spending thousands of dollars to find out)

It is also a MISTAKE to unhook your battery for 24 hours. Each vehicle "learns" the driving habits (breaking, acceleration ect) and that learning is used to improve gas mileage, responsiveness etc. when you try the unhook the battery trick it simply wipes out all that data & your vehicle will run poorly until it relearns your driving habits again.

Plus I was advised it probably wouldn't fix the problem.

I guess jumping to say something is or isn't the issue when you haven't ruled it out isn't exactly the best thing. Sounds like they are just guessing to me. Yes the vehicle can be programmed for specific OEM size tires right through their dealer software. So if the vehicle thinks it has different size tires than what is actually on there then the the vehicle computer thinks the distance it is travelling is different than what it really is and believe it or not the MFT Navigation uses that along with the GPS to plot your location.

In all to me the TPMS freq could be interferring, the tire size could be an issue and any aftermarket stuff in the vehicle could also cause RF issues however since winter versus summer tires make it work right and assuming you haven't removed any aftermarket equipment at the same time that would rule that out.

I have a 2013 Taurus with MFT Nav and I also run winter and summer wheel packages on it but they are both OEM setups, same rims, tire sizes and OEM TPMS. I have no issue with mine.

If you do have different size tires I will be more than willing to send you a screen shot of the service software screen where you select tire size.

Also you are correct on the battery not to mention any time the battery is disconnected the service manual calls for the BMS (battery maint. system) to be reset using the dealer software.
 






As with other ongoing issues there seems to be a lot of 'guess work' with this one as well. As posted before, on my 2011 Ex I replaced the 20" OEM wheels and tires (255/50R20) with 17" Ford Base model 17" steel wheels and Winter Tires (245/65R17) which is a 1.66% diameter difference. The wheels were swapped several times during my ownership and never once did it affect the Navigation. I just swapped wheels on my MKT with a 0.23% difference and again no Navigation issues. TPMS sensors were bought from the dealer.

From what I have found is that there are only two Ford TPMS frequencies. 315MHz and 433MHz. I believe most use the 315MHz sensor.

Peter
 






As with other ongoing issues there seems to be a lot of 'guess work' with this one as well. As posted before, on my 2011 Ex I replaced the 20" OEM wheels and tires (255/50R20) with 17" Ford Base model 17" steel wheels and Winter Tires (245/65R17) which is a 1.66% diameter difference. The wheels were swapped several times during my ownership and never once did it affect the Navigation. I just swapped wheels on my MKT with a 0.23% difference and again no Navigation issues. TPMS sensors were bought from the dealer.

Peter

"Guessing" is better than not trying to help at all. That isn't much different so it may not affect it. We still don't know the exact tire sizes for winter and summer from Raafter. It is a process of elimination.
 






That "guessing" part was not meant as a negative comment Jason but more of a reflection of all the various suggestions on what the causes may be. No one, including the dealers, seem to have been able to offer a definitive cause yet that I have been able to determine. There have been several members who have been able to correct the issue with the battery disconnect while others had no luck. :scratch:

Peter
 






Yes a scratching the head icon is appropriate. LOL I have been picking my brain...if process of elimination does get it down to the TPMS in the wheels then I think the dealer should free of charge take the winter and summer wheels and swap the TPMS sensors in them. See if that can definitively show the TPMS as the issue. If that is the issue and they are Ford TMPS in the wheels then FORD should be taking corrective action to fix the interference. Sometimes manufactures do run across issues in the field that they need to use as test vehicles when issues arise. It sucks to be the consumer in that situation.
 



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I am curious if you had any tire replacement such as Raafter did?

The truck still has the original rims and even tires.

This issues is not location specific and started on a trip back from GA back in April.
 






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