Love MFT...when it works.

[MrBlonde]

I know there are already threads on this, but I wanted to offer my thoughts and experiences independently.

I hear alot of people responding that they have had no issues with MFT/Sync and my question for you is 1) do you have Nav? and 2) how many hours/miles per week do you drive? I have Nav and travel alot for work so I am in the car for 3+ hours a day at least 2-3 days per week (and using MFT alot, especially BT). I have 12,000 miles on the vehicle currently.

I've been on 2.8 for a month now and my experience is that it will work well for awhile and then start flaking. Much like my experience with Microsoft OS's on a PC. I have found that I can go as much as two weeks and as little as two days between needing to pull the fuse and reboot to clear some issue - lately it usually is the pairing of my phone goes out.

Here are the specific issues I seem to have:

1. Bluetooth pairing drops and will not connect. Trying to repair phone pops up a message saying that "Bluetooth is off, do you want to turn on?" and it never seems to get out of this loop. I have had the best success keeping the phone paired by not allowing the Phone to "trust" Sync so that I have to manually click "Yes" on the phone to allow it to connect. I think otherwise it is connecting as the system is loading up and has a tendancy to crap out.

2. Phone call will be ended on handset but Sync still shows call in progress and has radio silenced. This has persisted even after cycling the engine power. Fuse-pull is only thing that will fix.

3. The use of Google maps to send a waypoint to the Nav through Sync Services is about 75% success rate. Sometimes it will not go to nave after "Downloading" is complete.

4. MFT will show a small window saying my Ipod is disconnected when it isn't. This window will remain on top of all audio sources even after I actually do pull the usb cable out. Cycling engine power usually clears this up.

Couple of non-MFT related issues:
1. I do have the piller rattle. Just waiting on something official to take to my dealer. I asked him to look at it when I was upgraded to 2.8 but they didn't do anything.

2. If start the car as the power lift gate is closing, it will start going back up about half the time.

3. Car has major understeer which is expected in a large, front-wheel drive but I would have thought they could have compensated better with the high-tech electronic steering controls.

Aside from those complaints, I love the car. It is super quiet, rides very comfy but solid, feels smaller than it is to drive. The sound system (in the Limited, anyway) is awesome - the bass thumps plenty. I love the looks of the car and wash/quick-detail it a couple times a week in this weather. It hauls my 3,000# camper fine without a hint of sway. Backup camera is great especially for hitching the trailer.

So, overall I love the car. I just wish the MFT was faster and less buggy. It can be VERY frustrating to have to pull over, climb under the dash and pull a fuse in the middle of a long drive. It tends to cloud the good stuff about this car and certainly the GREAT potential MFT/sync.

One last thought on the MFT/Sync and those that will recommend I take it to the dealer. While it could very well be a hardware issue, I have a hard time accepting that since the reboot always seems to fix it. I'm anxious to see what future versions of MFT/Sync will bring as 2.8 was definitely an improvement and, again, the potential (especially with coming apps) is huge.

 

[drober30]

One last thought on the MFT/Sync and those that will recommend I take it to the dealer. While it could very well be a hardware issue, I have a hard time accepting that since the reboot always seems to fix it. I'm anxious to see what future versions of MFT/Sync will bring as 2.8 was definitely an improvement and, again, the potential (especially with coming apps) is huge.

I'm not familiar with the internal workings of MFT but people mention the APIM or something like that? There could be some faulty memory and when a certain address is accessed then you could experience the problems?

Therefore, it could actually be a hardware issue.

 

[JDJones]

My Ex has Nav, I have an Ipod connected almost all the time, and a BlackBerry 9700 using BT and on ver 2.7 from the factory. Don't drive quite as much, about 1.5-2K per month, 3 hours per day, 3-4 days per week. Have had the truck for about 2 months now.

I have never pulled a fuse (yet); have had MFT reboot only twice. Ipod works perfect about 99% of the time, have had to unplug and reconnect maybe 3 times (USB). BlackBerry over BT pairs 98%+ times and I use it for both voice and stream music. Haven't tried google maps yet so can't comment on that feature's reliability.

Don't know if I'm just really lucky, but it seems this is pretty much the way MFT should work (being very complex and still in early release). As it is based on a Microsoft OS, the only special process I use is to not begin to use the system for a full 2.5-3 minutes after startup. I have put a stopwatch to my Ex and it takes 1:47 seconds before MFT is completely up, on version 2.7. When a microsoft OS becomes unstable at startup, it almost always required serious intervention to get it resolved.

No rattles, no serious understeer, very good QA on my truck when it left the factory. From your post, I could only recommend a second phone as a test, using a different model and maybe different manufacture. My opinion, Ford has pushed BT harder than many phone's have been pushed (way more than just a BT headset), so I think we are seeing flaws in phones BT interface, not in MFT.

 

[sdm9465]

I don't have any of the same issues as you, but I do have others...

3. The use of Google maps to send a waypoint to the Nav through Sync Services is about 75% success rate. Sometimes it will not go to nave after "Downloading" is complete.

I wasn't aware of this feature but would love to use it. I suspect it's one of the features that Canadians for some reason aren't allowed to have. Anyone know?

 

[MrBlonde]

I don't have any of the same issues as you, but I do have others...


I wasn't aware of this feature but would love to use it. I suspect it's one of the features that Canadians for some reason aren't allowed to have. Anyone know?

Give it a try - on a map, click the little pointer symbol on your destination, then "More" and "Send". Choose "Car" and fill in "Ford" and your cell phone number and send it. In your car, connect to Sync services and it should say "Google maps has sent you a waypoint" and even read the title of the locale. She'll ask if you want to download and it should do so, pulling up your destination on the Nav. Good luck!

 

[vfral1]

Give it a try - on a map, click the little pointer symbol on your destination, then "More" and "Send". Choose "Car" and fill in "Ford" and your cell phone number and send it. In your car, connect to Sync services and it should say "Google maps has sent you a waypoint" and even read the title of the locale. She'll ask if you want to download and it should do so, pulling up your destination on the Nav. Good luck!

That's cool, cant wait to try it.

Where did you learn this from? I've been through every page of the owners manual and never saw it.

 

[1995E]

I don't have any of the same issues as you, but I do have others...


I wasn't aware of this feature but would love to use it. I suspect it's one of the features that Canadians for some reason aren't allowed to have. Anyone know?

It's the sync services. It's not allowed in Canada because it uses servers at Ford and it tracks the vehicle using the GPS hardware in the Ex and Canada doesn't allow tracking of vehicles.

 

[sdm9465]

It's the sync services. It's not allowed in Canada because it uses servers at Ford and it tracks the vehicle using the GPS hardware in the Ex and Canada doesn't allow tracking of vehicles.

Thanks for the info. It figures that it's the government to blame rather than Ford.