Sync 21098 OTA Available

[Spacey]

I plan to do three things. Turn off Wifi; downgrade the Sync system using an image offered by UofMEngineer; not buy another Ford. My last Ford was a 1969 Mustang fastback. It was a nice car. I'm tired of this one's issues, and just feel like I can't trust it.

 

[hbalek]

Mine completed the OTA update to 21098 overnight and TL worked once and not again on several other trips today. It also did the annoying no audio on Sirius when stopping and restarting within minutes. So annoyed by Ford!

 

[TBill]

I am staying with 21020 as the only problem I am having is after a short time restarting Sirius does not work, restart after about 15 minutes all is good.
TBill

 

[Ken St John]

Well, I put enough time for a holiday ... did a Master Reset, installed 21098 that had been downloaded via USB, it rebooted itself and TL worked! Did a Master Reset ... and TL worked ... ONCE. Next key start after pairing my phone, etc, no go. Plus, my Ford Pass will not reactivate the vehicle at this time so I've lost my connected services. (I note that Ford is switching me to a "new" owner page so perhaps they are playing with the back end over the holiday weekend.)

I'll switch back to 20282 ASAP because I actually use TL, especially the traffic notifications.

Really, REALLY, pi__ed at Ford for this mess!! I can somewhat understand 21020 breaking something, but to take more than a month and then issue an update that doesn't solve the TL problem is frankly inexcusable!!

Have a GREAT holiday, fellow Explorers .... other than this it's still a terrific vehicle!!

Ken

 

[Ken St John]

FWIW - I created a post on Ford's FaceBook page about this whole mess .. using very nice language, of course. Pointed out that I see this as an issue worth of upper management attention since while a glitch or bug in 21020 may be understandable, issuing 21098 a month later without a fix should be unacceptable. I also mentioned that we love our ST in every other way - which is true!!

If you're so inclined ... send 'em a similar post. Perhaps someone will wake up!!

Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, Michigan. 17,142,273 likes · 17,086 talking about this · 149,742 were here. Helping to build a better world where every person is free to move and pursue their dreams.

www.facebook.com

Cheers!!

Ken

 

[N3DD]

Well, I put enough time for a holiday ... did a Master Reset, installed 21098 that had been downloaded via USB, it rebooted itself and TL worked! Did a Master Reset ... and TL worked ... ONCE. Next key start after pairing my phone, etc, no go. Plus, my Ford Pass will not reactivate the vehicle at this time so I've lost my connected services. (I note that Ford is switching me to a "new" owner page so perhaps they are playing with the back end over the holiday weekend.)

I'll switch back to 20282 ASAP because I actually use TL, especially the traffic notifications.

Really, REALLY, pi__ed at Ford for this mess!! I can somewhat understand 21020 breaking something, but to take more than a month and then issue an update that doesn't solve the TL problem is frankly inexcusable!!

Have a GREAT holiday, fellow Explorers .... other than this it's still a terrific vehicl

FWIW - I created a post on Ford's FaceBook page about this whole mess .. using very nice language, of course. Pointed out that I see this as an issue worth of upper management attention since while a glitch or bug in 21020 may be understandable, issuing 21098 a month later without a fix should be unacceptable. I also mentioned that we love our ST in every other way - which is true!!

If you're so inclined ... send 'em a similar post. Perhaps someone will wake up!!

Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, Michigan. 17,142,273 likes · 17,086 talking about this · 149,742 were here. Helping to build a better world where every person is free to move and pursue their dreams.

www.facebook.com

Cheers!!

Ken

I don't do Facebook or I would definitely respond. Pushing an update knowing it would not solve the problem is just poor customer service. If SXM was issuing credits for non service I think Ford would respond quicker.

 

[peterk9]

I don't do Facebook or I would definitely respond. Pushing an update knowing it would not solve the problem is just poor customer service. If SXM was issuing credits for non service I think Ford would respond quicker.

As mentioned previously, the latest update was to address the "echo" problem, not the Travel Link issue.

Peter

 

[peterk9]

Now that my OTA update has been completed, I have the same features "Subscribed" as in post #3, Audio, Movies and Sports. On 21020 everything was working.

Peter

 

[Ken St John]

Now that my OTA update has been completed, I have the same features "Subscribed" as in post #3, Audio, Movies and Sports. On 21020 everything was working.

Peter

Make sure you chat with SYNC support or call in for a case number with Lincoln. The rep I chatted with today was more than willing to update my existing case and actually asked some specific questions concerning TL, i.e. which items were problematic and so on.

Still no excuse for not fixing a bug in a month ... unless maybe they're down to just one poor part-time software engineer in the SYNC 3 shop!!

Ken

 

[UofMEngineer]

FYI, the account they tell us to send customers to is: social@ford.com.

 

[Dale5403]

One OTA from memory. It’s a small update. No, it won’t fix TravelLink. I think there’s something in there for echo in phone calls and some other items.

I've been seeing some reports that 21098 has fixed the phone echo issue. So that's a plus. Travel Link has worked more often than not for me so far.

 

[Ken St John]

Well, I've been complaining a lot on social media and tried some emails direct to "senior management". Had a nice phone call today with a lady in the head office who understood our frustration with the TL issue non-resolution. Said she'd ensure that it was looked into.

However, I just received an email from Ford and here's what it says:

"Good afternoon Mr. St John,

Thank you for contacting the In-Vehicle Technology Team of Ford Motor Company. We do apologize for the inconvenience you are experiencing with our Ford Product.

The Sirius XM issue you are experiencing is a known issue that should be resolved with a future SYNC update that we expect to be released by the end of summer. Please visit your local dealership for diagnosis and repair.

Sincerely,

Marie

IVT Research Escalations
Ford Motor Company"

End of summer? I'm a retired USAF officer and now run my own IT company. It's a good thing I do not run this division at Ford ... because that timeline is amazingly long and I'd be kicking butts and taking names right now!!

But, at least we have a time line!!

Ken

 

[peterk9]

I'm guessing that they (Ford) don't haven't figured it out yet and therefore no resolution for this issue at this time. It isn't a big issue for me since I don't really use Travel Link, but it would be nice to have it working as it should, Thanks Ken,

Peter

 

[Dale5403]

I find it a bit confusing that if Ford knows it is an issue that should be resolved with a future SYNC update, why tell Ken to take it to the dealership for diagnosis and repair? It's not like they can write software to fix it.

 

[peterk9]

I find it a bit confusing that if Ford knows it is an issue that should be resolved with a future SYNC update, why tell Ken to take it to the dealership for diagnosis and repair? It's not like they can write software to fix it.

I found that strange as well Dale. Probably part of a standard reply, I guess.

Peter

 

[jystickman]

While it's definitely annoying, I *am* glad it's just a software issue. Some years ago I owned a Mazda where the infotainment/nav unit exhibited all sorts of bad behaviors (consistently) and it was months for Mazda to even acknowledge the issue (despite the problems being reproducible on demand at the dealer), a year for them to design new hardware and software to fix the problem, and another year to roll it out to the dealers (by which time, my lease was long since over and the vehicle gone).

I wonder if there isn't a delay caused by testing that needs to be performed before the software can be sent out because that screen also controls things like lane departure behavior, automated headlamps, climate, etc. Assuming they've figured out what's wrong and how to fix it....

 

[N3DD]

I'm no software developer but I can't figure out why it would take so long. 20282 works and 21020 doesn't so what did they change between the revisions? Sounds to me that this is in the queue with many other things the developers are working on and has low priority as compared to things like maybe Sync 4. I would think fixing bugs would have priority over new features. Who knows?

 

[boiler662]

I'm no software developer but I can't figure out why it would take so long. 20282 works and 21020 doesn't so what did they change between the revisions? Sounds to me that this is in the queue with many other things the developers are working on and has low priority as compared to things like maybe Sync 4. I would think fixing bugs would have priority over new features. Who knows?

The developers have zero say in what gets worked on that stuff is prioritized way above their heads unless someone has a back channel to them to get stuff done "on the side".

It would be interesting to see Fords org chart for the development team and how they integrate all of their work, when you have multiple devs working on stuff that interacts if the builds are not tested and pushed properly you can create a situation like what happened with travel link (just one theory). Dev A changed code X that talks to code Y but dev B didn't pull down the latest version to test against his stuff before he pushed his updates out kind of thing which is why updates sometimes break things that use to work.

 

[Ken St John]

I’m also wondering if perhaps the push to get Sync 4 out the door for the Mach-e and so on is taking resources away from the older team (Sync 3). Perhaps they need more folks to support all their systems.

Ken

 

[N3DD]

The developers have zero say in what gets worked on that stuff is prioritized way above their heads unless someone has a back channel to them to get stuff done "on the side".

It would be interesting to see Fords org chart for the development team and how they integrate all of their work, when you have multiple devs working on stuff that interacts if the builds are not tested and pushed properly you can create a situation like what happened with travel link (just one theory). Dev A changed code X that talks to code Y but dev B didn't pull down the latest version to test against his stuff before he pushed his updates out kind of thing which is why updates sometimes break things that use to work.

I agree. My point is that priority should be on things they know they broke.