Nav system problems

[larrymcj]

If there's one thing that will eventually force me to trade in my 2011 Explorer, it's the issues I have with the navigation system. I wonder if I'm alone with these problems?

- Takes about 3-5 minutes after starting up to ever display the map. Can't make a call with my connected phone during this same time frame and also can't turn on/off the radio (depends on which state it was in when I shut down the car).

- Often times after starting up and driving off, the nav system just locks up. Can't turn on/off the radio, phone won't work (says it's connected), everything is just locked up. If this occurs, if I stop, turn off the car, then start it back up, the system usually works.

- Using my iPhone 4S for music often locks the system up hard, requiring a complete system reset, which is a real pain.

- Sometimes, the nav system just refuses to turn on...says it can't find the SD Card. When this happens, I have to take out the card...put it back in, and then the system works.

Overall, I think this is the worst navigation system I've ever had and it's my sixth one, so I've had quite a few others against which to compare. Maybe I just have a lemon, but we'll see if anyone here also has these issues.

Before anyone advises me to take it in for service...I just don't trust my dealership on anything anymore after they botched several other problems with the vehicle. If this is necessary, I'll take a trip to a larger city where they perhaps know more about the car.

 

[VinceL]

It is everyone's hope that the big update coming in the next month or two will fix MFT, and make it what it should have always been.

 

[dco43054]

Did I miss reading the version of MFT you are on?

And turning off the auto update of your phone's address book, if you have not already done it, will help a lot in the startup time.

 

[larrymcj]

Did I miss reading the version of MFT you are on?

And turning off the auto update of your phone's address book, if you have not already done it, will help a lot in the startup time.

How can I tell what version of MFT I'm using? I know the system has done several automatic Microsoft SYNC updates since I've purchased the vehicle and I've never interfered with them. Hopefully, the MFT update mentioned by a previous poster will fix some of this.

If I have to turn off auto-updating for my address book I'll just have to live with the slow response time as my iPhone address book changes almost daily. Plus, I don't recall seeing a way to easily do a manual update...for when I know there's been a change in the phone's address book.

 

[Flying68]

How can I tell what version of MFT I'm using? I know the system has done several automatic Microsoft SYNC updates since I've purchased the vehicle and I've never interfered with them. Hopefully, the MFT update mentioned by a previous poster will fix some of this.

If I have to turn off auto-updating for my address book I'll just have to live with the slow response time as my iPhone address book changes almost daily. Plus, I don't recall seeing a way to easily do a manual update...for when I know there's been a change in the phone's address book.

Just an FYI, the system doesn't do any automatic updates. If you are referring to the "Performing Scheduled System Maintenance" screen, that is nothing more than a system reboot, cleans out the memory. All of the updates have to be manually loaded.

The best way to see what version you have is to check on SyncMyRide.com. You can register your vehicle there and it will have the version installed. I can't remember right off hand if you can get the version information off of the system without going into the diagnostics.

 

[larrymcj]

Just an FYI, the system doesn't do any automatic updates. If you are referring to the "Performing Scheduled System Maintenance" screen, that is nothing more than a system reboot, cleans out the memory. All of the updates have to be manually loaded.

The best way to see what version you have is to check on SyncMyRide.com. You can register your vehicle there and it will have the version installed. I can't remember right off hand if you can get the version information off of the system without going into the diagnostics.

Thanks, Flying68. I had already registered my Explorer in SyncMyRide and I went up and for the first time realized I had to manually do the SYNC update. I hadn't ever done one, so obviously it said I needed to download the latest version.

Problem is I can't download the update to any USB flash drive, or my hard drive...nothing. I use a Mac, but that shouldn't make any difference. I even tried reformatting the USD flash drive to DOS-Fat (what the chat support guy said to try) but that made no difference. The files appear to download to the drive, but I always get a waring at the end that "The Download was NOT Successful". I tried sticking into the USB slot in the car anyway, but nothing happened.

Not sure what else I can do, but I obviously need to download and perform the update. I can't believe using a Mac has anything to do with this...Mac is becoming the computing platform of choice these days and that wouldn't make sense. Anyway, it's a browser-based download and it sees my drives, including the USB flash drive.

Anyone have any other ideas?

 

[larrymcj]

OK...after trying to download the latest MFT update about 15 times, it finally reported the download was successful. Installing the update fixed all the problems I mentioned in my original post, so now at least things are better until we receive the major performance upgrade which is supposedly "coming soon".

Now, if they would ever fix the lag time selecting things on the screen...it seems like I have to keep my finger on any item for a couple of seconds before the action is taken.

Thanks Flying68 for pointing out I needed to do the update.