Ford should be ashamed

[FordService]

...People that have been around should remember poor Marielle, and her baptism by Fire(stone) . Well, the inadequate answers available for Marielle to give from the powers and their reconsidering what type of person(people) were providing answers here and the communication of those frustrations from Marielle to Ford- led directly to the forum getting Seni, Cory, and the rest of the customer service crew (whomever is lucky enough to be monitoring) who have been very forthcoming and proactive to getting answers for a LOT of new Explorer owners on the forum. While it's easy to dish out the usual "they just give you a number so you can die on hold..." answer, that is absolutely not what it happening here.

I’m really glad you feel that way. I’m extremely lucky to be a part of this great community and provide as much support as possible. Thanks!

Cory

 

[FordService]

Corey-

I'm having severe problems voice controlling my iPod and iPhone. I'll say "play genre country' and it will completely ignore it. It won't play any genre at all. When I first got it, I would say "play genre country' and it would play my comedy songs. Yesterday I said "play artist adam sandler' and it would play nsync. It did this consistently 5 times in a row.

Something needs to be fixed. The voice control for iPods and iPhones is basically non-functional. I have given up. When i first took delivery on friday it would at least 'play genre rap' correctly. Now it wont do anything voice wise.

I've tried doing a master reset, using SYNC my iTunes, re-indexing the iPod or iPhone, rebooting the iPod or iPhone (tried both devices).

This feature flat out doesn't work at all. I'm on sync 2.8 on a 2011 explorer limited.

-Ryan

That does sound frustrating that you’re not able to enjoy the SYNC experience like it was designed. The two suggestions I have is to either call the SYNC Support team (800-392-3673 - Option 1 then 3) to troubleshoot the issues, or send me a private message with your VIN, approximate mileage, and dealer name.

Cory

 

[FordService]

The phone works great, although frequent disconnects with bluetooth, but I'm aware that Apple's bluetooth sucks.

It's the iPod playback that frustrates me the most. Ford should not be quoting that sync voice control works with iPods or media players because it doesnt 90% of the time.

I agree that this would be frustrating, to say the least. This is another reason why I recommend calling the SYNC Support team. They have the resources to look into issues like this. As always, private message me (with the details I mentioned above) if you would like my assistance as well.

Cory

 

[182RG]

you do know that mft was made byMicrosoft right

Thankfully, yes. Otherwise, we'd be held hostage by Steve Jobs for yet another over-hyped product...

 

[FordService]

My iPod plays fine, no issues there. iPhone plays fine as well. Both devices have problems with voice control by MFT/Sync.

If a device is Made for iPod/iPhone (which MFT/SYNC is), the devices that use a dock connector will work- I used to work for the sharper image on iPhone speakers/docks.

Just need that 30 pin connector and you're fine. a 5G iPod is essentially an iPod classic with an older body.

Any word if the major update will fix these voice issues?

I’m glad that the playback on your iPod and iPhone are good, but I can see why you would want to resolve issues with the voice control. If you choose to forward me your Explorer’s information via PM, please also include the software versions you are using. Thank you.

Cory

 

[uniquename]

Try entering an address or making a voice command and see how long before you get the ding ding...

No NAV on mine...but I typically see the MFT home screen before I put the car in reverse. So, I started the car three times seconds ago to test.

First try, pushed voice button immediately after turning the key. No response. Five seconds in I pushed it again, immediate response.

Second try, pushed voice button the second I heard audio after starting (less than two seconds), delay of about a second for the beep.

Third try, started the car, counted to three nice and slow (maybe four seconds) and pushed the button. Immediate response.

On mine at least, unless within two seconds of starting I cram it in gear, and fly away and need immediate voice control, all is good.

The camera is routed directly to the screen via video cable. It doesn't require MFT to run. It's not relying on the system boot up that can be painfully slow.

Good point, I wasn't aware it was independent. I could see not having a camera for extra time as a huge issue. Glad you don't have that problem.

 

[FordService]

Here's a question: How come MFT doesn't begin the boot up process when you remote start the car? That might help things along. I still have to get in and push the start button for the system to begin booting up. Bad design.

I will be forwarding this suggestion to the SYNC Support team. As I’m working with your case, I’ll let you know what I find about this. Thank you again for your patience.

Cory

 

[11Limited]

I have just sent this to Cory. I hope it will help him and their team figure out is the issue.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Add me to the MFT failure list. My 11 Explorer is less than a month old with 1200 miles on it.

The MFT voice controls for lack of a better word are horrendous. The vehicle shipped with 2.8. One dealer said there wasn't much that could be done.


I finally had my wife record a couple of these incidents. I have uploaded them to Youtube.

Please have a look and read the video description before watching so that you know what your looking for.

This really is unbelievable.

Very disappointing in the Voice Controls of MFT. You will notice that even after we get the city identified as "St Paul" , in the next screen it changes to Sterling then to Duluth. The search by address is as troublesome, as is the IPOD voice controls.

This is not Ford at its best. I do have hope they will find a fix soon to this 2.8 MFT.






Very disappointing in the Voice Controls of MFT. You will notice that it can't identify a simple song and then eventually goes back to indexing the whole ipod and displaying all 7950 songs.

In addition it says that phone is active and can be used, however you will see in the left corner the phone isn't even connected

This is not Ford at its best. I do have hope they will find a fix soon to this 2.8 MFT disaster.

​

 

[FordService]

What OS are you running on your iPhone and iPod?

I agree that it’s helpful to stay up to date with the latest software. This information is also important to me as I send any details to the SYNC Support team as they figure out these issues. Thank you.

Cory

 

[chimoman]

Seems to be that when people try mixing the apple (ipod) with the Orange (microsoft) things go awry. Funny isn't it. How apple products aren't working with the MICROSOFT PRODUCT> DUH. Not sure. But I don't think it's ROCKET APPLIANCE.

Someone call Bill Gates quick

 

[peterk9]

Moved from a 2009 Toyota Highlander to the new Explorer. Overall I must say that I am very satified with it. I have had it since March 14th and have had no more that half a dozen minor hiccups with the MFT (V2.4). The steaky windows are a bit of a nuisance but I've learned to put the window all the way down when opening it. This appears to eliminate the problem. Not a fix but a way around the problem for now.

 

[kabiblueline]

11Limited:
I thought I'd offer one tip that helped my wife and I significantly. (taken form another thread on here.)

Don't try and enunciate your commands at all. Speak in a normal boring tone, without trying to separate words or speak a bit louder than normal, or anything special.

We had some of the same experiences at first. Whenever I try to speak slowly and clearly to MFT she seems to understand almost nothing. Once I started just speaking the command in a normal voice, it seems it works almost every time now.

My wife has experienced the same results.

You certainly have found some other bugs in the system based on those videos, but try speaking less clearly and see if that makes any difference in your success.

 

[chimoman]

Your talking to it to s lo wwwwww liyyyyyyyyy. Your talking before it says listening. I''m gonna say some of this is user error. From watching the video when you spoke normally it worked. When you spoooooke sloowwwllly it didn't. I used to have this problem, not anymore. It doesn't help that two of you are speaking at the same time either. Just talk normal and it will work, usually.





works fine up to 18seconds. when you talk slowly 16.................90.........WooooooooooddddLannnnneeeeeee Drivvvvvve.., it's not retarded. You then say @ 1:09 Destination normally and it worked and then POI normally and by category normally and then in a city.. then you go full again and say Sainnnnnnt Paulllllllllllllll. You then say Spell city normal and it works again. Watch the videoo. It's all there. Talk faster.

 

[11Limited]

Guys,

We will try talking faster but look at the first video between 2:00 minutes and 3:01

My wife spells the city, it comes up as option one (St Paul). She chooses line 1, then on the next screen it comes up as STERLING and then changes to Duluth.

That happens all the time with different cities.

 

[chimoman]

Yes that is strange.

 

[drober30]

Guys,

We will try talking faster but look at the first video between 2:00 minutes and 3:01

My wife spells the city, it comes up as option one (St Paul). She chooses line 1, then on the next screen it comes up as STERLING and then changes to Duluth.

That happens all the time with different cities.

That's definitely a bug! Your videos were painful to watch! I hope speaking normal does make difference so please test and report back. Still waiting on my X.

The Internet offers no forgiveness for companies today so hopefully Ford will give MFT 100% resources and make it the amazing product it was "envisioned" to be!

 

[RandyH2]

I have to admit that the video made me laugh--- because I have expereienced the exact same level of frustratiion and could hear it in your voice.

One thing that helped me a bit was changing to advanced user mode so that I don't have to listen to the long-winded prompts each time we fail to communicate.

Now to teach my wife to continue her conversation when the navigation chimes in rather than stopping mid-sentence. Is that a feature in Spouse 3.2?

 

[FordService]

I have just sent this to Cory. I hope it will help him and their team figure out is the issue...

I really appreciate that you sent me that information. I can imagine the video will also be extremely helpful. As I work to help with these concerns, I will be posting any updates I receive about this. Thank you.

Cory

 

[blwnsmoke]

Guys,

We will try talking faster but look at the first video between 2:00 minutes and 3:01

My wife spells the city, it comes up as option one (St Paul). She chooses line 1, then on the next screen it comes up as STERLING and then changes to Duluth.

That happens all the time with different cities.

Mine did the same thing with v2.7 only it was the state. Id spell Maine and it would be option 1. I then woukd say "one" and it would show minnesota lol. It hppened only one day, did it 7 times in a row. Havent had an issue since then and I have 2.8 now

 

[CapnMorganXX]

Took it to my dealer, and turns out the APIM module was bad. They are ordering a new one in to replace it.

The explorer ltd is less than a week old, and has 1200 miles on it.

It was weird compared to the other stories I've read... The MFT system works ok at best even though the APIM module is bad. The voice control rarely works, there are some crashes here and there, as well as no nav or sync services when there should be (it's a LTD that comes stock with nav).. but other than that it works for the most part.

I'll report back after the module is replaced. Seems there should be a recall or some sort of compensation to explorer customers that are having this problem. If you scan the forums the APIM module failing on our new trucks is a HUGE widespread issue. Dealer confirmed this as well.