Explorer Navigation Tracking Problem

[TCFD36]

So after my trip to and from Florida, about 4500km's with stock tires on and after the gps module replacement. I would say the gps worked about 75% of the time. The other 25% it was tracking off about 500 ft from where I actually was. I will look into the tsb that was recently posted when I take it in for some other service.

 

[Raafter68]

Navigation "off-route" issue

Hey All

We've got a 2014 Sport (Tuxedo Black) with 2800km's. We love it except for one frustration issue.

Frequently our navigation system shows our vehicle way off the road, in the bush, in a body of water & most definitely not on the street we're actually on. When driving in the city using the navigation is almost impossible because it's so confusing.

We've pulled the SD car turned the truck off & then inserted it again.

This resets everything but has only be slightly successful.

Any thoughts, suggestions or remedies?

 

[Bobmbx]

It sounds like you need to check your settings. I don't have the Ford navigation system so I can't give you a step-by-step guide, but look in your GPS settings for a function to use "pedestrian mode". Make sure its off.

 

[peterk9]

Hey All

We've got a 2014 Sport (Tuxedo Black) with 2800km's. We love it except for one frustration issue.

Frequently our navigation system shows our vehicle way off the road, in the bush, in a body of water & most definitely not on the street we're actually on. When driving in the city using the navigation is almost impossible because it's so confusing.

We've pulled the SD car turned the truck off & then inserted it again.

This resets everything but has only be slightly successful.

Any thoughts, suggestions or remedies?

Welcome to the Forum Raafter68.:wavey:
There is a 13 page thread on this issue in the In Vehicle Technology forum and I will merge your thread with it.

Peter

 

[Sgt1411]

A TSB has just been released (2/21) for the navigation tracking issue. TSB 14-00037. It's for a reprogram of the GPS module.

I just drove from Vancouver to LA and the GPS had me driving off the side of the I5 almost all the way down. Absolutely brutal for a 2014 vehicle of this caliber. Im wondering if this update is required for my 14 SPORT since its build date is December 5th 2013?

Once in LA the Navigation gave up half way through a route, locked up with "Computing route........" had to do a Master Reset to get it back.

 

[Sgt1411]

Hey All

We've got a 2014 Sport (Tuxedo Black) with 2800km's. We love it except for one frustration issue.

Frequently our navigation system shows our vehicle way off the road, in the bush, in a body of water & most definitely not on the street we're actually on. When driving in the city using the navigation is almost impossible because it's so confusing.

We've pulled the SD car turned the truck off & then inserted it again.

This resets everything but has only be slightly successful.

Any thoughts, suggestions or remedies?

Same vehicle, same mileage, same issue.

 

[Riley]

I just drove from Vancouver to LA and the GPS had me driving off the side of the I5 almost all the way down. Absolutely brutal for a 2014 vehicle of this caliber. Im wondering if this update is required for my 14 SPORT since its build date is December 5th 2013?

Once in LA the Navigation gave up half way through a route, locked up with "Computing route........" had to do a Master Reset to get it back.

It should fix the issue. The TSB is for vehicles built on or before 1/6/14.

 

[Sgt1411]

Took my SPORT to Ford of Orange in Anaheim this morning, The tech said my truck had the TSB update already done from factory. Not sure how it could have but he didn't do anything even with TSB number given.

My build date is December 5th 2013 so now I'm very confused.

As I drove away I showed driving through the middle of Disneyland as I drove along Katella Ave.

Brutal!

 

[Ridetherock]

i have a half dozen pics on my phone of the exact same thing, putting me off into a mall or a park next to where i live (almost every time with the park...a good test of the system) when Im driving next to them.

Question for you. Do you keep an iPhone plugged into the usb port in your car?

I normally do (iPhone 5), and also have it connected via blue tooth, esp on longer rides. however, after forgetting my iPhone cable last week on a 5 hour drive, i grabbed one of these 5 buck cords at my first gas stop ( i was towing a loaded haul..turns out this thing can suck the gas down like a truck when towing like one ) and this cheap cable quickly failed, so for the next few hours i was driving with my phone just connected via bluetooth. Gps was set for my destination, and to my supprise, it got me right where i was going with no errors, missed tracking etc.

ok, a fluke perhaps. However the next day, when i had to go right to the end of the city to drop off the trailer, again, no phone plugged in, it got me there and back home(almost 40km round trip), with no issues again.

by this point I'm starting to suspect my phone is the issue. next day, i set the nav again for a 30 odd km return trip through the city to a place i know how to get to, watching the screen when i can, and the thing seems deadly accurate.

there are only 3 things different from when i was having all my problems previously. no phone plugged in, dry roads (no ice etc) and above 0 temps.

I know tire size/winter tires have been a key suspect in a lot of nav problems, but this would seem to suggest otherwise.

I should have kept my summers off longer to really look into this, but yesterday i put my summers back on, so today i am going to re-do the my destination from two days ago, but with my phone plugged in, and with any luck, it will mess up again and give some real idea as to the problem.

i do know one thing, its been nice having a working nav for the last week or so.

 

[tmg19103]

If you have a working OEM nav, that's great, but I have had so much trouble with OEM nav in any type of vehicle that I just opt for Google navigation off my smartphone mounted next to he MFT. Streams turn-by-turn over speakers via Bluetooth, can voice command where you want to go and can see the map with ease and Google maps/nav is deadly accurate and always up-to-date. Even plays music streamed Bluetooth and interrupts for directions and goes right back to music.

I think that's one reason I got such a great deal on my XLT. Loaded per my sig below, but the MFT did not have nav so I think people passed on the car as it sat at an Inifniti dealer for a while. I jumped knowing I would probably not use the factory nav anyway once I got the deal I wanted.

For those who have factory nav that works, that's great too. I've just gotten used to this option over the years on cars that did not have nav and I like it - plus I like having my phone next to the MFT to see the album art of songs I stream as I am always doing that or to get to apps I like.

 

[Sgt1411]

So I phoned the IVT SYNC Support Hotline and provided them the issue and my VIN.

Guess what......the IVT rep said to take it to the dealership......WTF its the endless circle of stupidity.

Go to dealership, they cant fix the issue.

Call IVT Support they say take to dealership.

Go back to dealership, they say no error codes nothing can be done.

Call IVT, no answers, no ideas.

Now thats a good system and outstanding customer product support.

If I could find the software engineer for this system I would love to hear the explanation for such a poorly executed system.

 

[Motoarzan]

I had my winter tires removed and my factory Sport wheels installed yesterday. They also added in this TSB which I'm told is another general reprogramming of the nav as the first step to solving the problem. I will start using the nav every trip I make and report back shortly if the problem goes away or persists at whatever degree.
I had always assumed the problem starts when you install winter tires with a different circumference providing false mechanical position feedback to the vehicle.

 

[Sgt1411]

Your right the change in revolutions from the winter wheels does effect it but after a battery pull the system has to relearn the calibration so I did that after installing the SPORT wheels for summer.

 

[Ridetherock]

i don't know why, but after 3 months of pretty much completely useless nav, mine started working fine the day i towed a trailer for the first time. I've spent the last week on both winter and summer tires, using it for almost every trip big and small, and it has not lost tracking once.

 

[Sgt1411]

i don't know why, but after 3 months of pretty much completely useless nav, mine started working fine the day i towed a trailer for the first time. I've spent the last week on both winter and summer tires, using it for almost every trip big and small, and it has not lost tracking once.

I did a 30 min battery pull today and so far bang on.

I drove DisneyLand to Palm Springs today, it was bang on entire way.

Only thing I noticed is while the 8" MFT screen is running the navigation properly, in the right side DIC screen it just sits locked on "Computing route......."

 

[Ridetherock]

it looks like when mine does go off, we are off by the same amount.

 

[65Steve]

The GPS in my '11 Explorer has been going off course since new but (I hope!) it was recently fixed. The dealer found a mismatch in the software on 2 modules that prevented proper communications between each other and the GPS module. When all of the modules were reprogrammed with the latest versions, the GPS started working OK. BTW, this problem took my dealer 3 days to find and correct and another day to negotiate with Ford IVT to have the cost covered by Ford. My Explorer, at 62K miles, is way out of warrantee, but eventually Ford covered the entire cost estimated to be $1900, all labor.
-Steve-

 

[Sgt1411]

To add to this back when I had my 2011 Limited I discovered a navigation/iphone bug that I reported to IVT with pictures and video.

When you have your iPhone plugged in to one of the USB ports and then you run Google Maps navigation on the iPhone, not MFT, every time the voice directions are pushed through to MFT the system puts up the "Voice Call Finished" amber coloured window. Which you have to clear by hitting OK.

That was 2011, it still happens now in 2014 model.

 

[fjc2]

My dealer asked me if I've run into this problem when I was in for the remote access install. He said a TSB had just come out for it.

I just called their service desk and asked again and the guy looked it up for me.
TSB 140037. Something like "GPS module offset from correct position, vehicle may display as off road" was the description he read.

 

[generaltso]

The last time I was at the dealer for an oil change, I asked them to preform this TSB. When I picked it up, they said they didn't need to do the TSB because I was already running the latest version of MFT. I know the TSB has nothing to do with the version of MFT, but I wasn't going to argue with them at that point.

Around town where I live, the GPS accuracy generally works well. But EVERY time I'm in a city, the GPS is absolutely useless and I have to switch to the GPS on my phone. The last time I was in Boston this was the case as well as a couple recent trips to Montreal. Is this TSB likely to fix the problem if I'm only experiencing it when in the city? Or is the Ford GPS never going to work in city with tall buildings regardless of what I do?