I think you guys in this thread are spot on. Though no one here so far has said it, I’d be willing to bet that you were also having a whole host of USB media device issues in the car too.
I’ve got almost 30 years of software development systems, a lot of it with embedded software systems, some of that experience even with Microsoft embedded systems. I can tell you what I’ve seen in the 8 months I’ve had my Explorer is a whole host of memory [mis]management issues in the MyFord Touch system and sloppy integration with other car systems that they really shouldn’t be integrating with.
I am 99% convinced that the USB connectivity, at least in my case with my Apple devices, is the cause of 99% of the instability I was seeing in the system. STAY AWAY FROM USING THE USB, and the latest MFT 3.51 will seem incredibly stable. For months, I was wrestling with crazy USB media problems -- screen freezes, hard lockups, sluggish performance, pressing buttons or saying commands that wouldn’t do anything, disconnecting devices that the system would think were still connected, to name a few. Trying to play a song via USB was a crapshoot. And guess what, while I was fiddling with the USB over the months, I’d see a whole host of other intermittent, crazy problems – random times on my clock, GPS showing incorrect car locations, phone call disconnects and non-hangups, sync deciding not to speak to me any more, and YES, erratic behavior with my car lock remotes as you guys have already described so well. Try explaining these sporadic issues to your Dad's Ford dealer. The couple dealerships near me are totally inequipped to deal with software issues. I truly felt I was on my own with this.
The system would get so messed up on its own that it would occasionally reboot, and some of these behaviors would instantly get a lot better. I then started doing weekly master resets, and that would fix everything, even the remote unlocking. HOWEVER, it wasn’t until I decided to give up on using USB entirely, that all these problems stopped reoccurring … and the system has been remarkably stable for me since then. Clock showing correct time … CHECK. GPS working accurately … CHECK. Uninterrupted phone calls … CHECK. Car unlocks when I want it to … CHECK. Hasn’t even rebooted on its own in about 2 months now.
Now, why they integrated the MFT with some of the keyless entry, purposely or accidentally, is completely beyond me. I also had noticed that when I did the master resets, it would change my Unlocking one push / two push setting – so if it would do this, completely possibly that memory corruption in the MFT from my prior usage patterns affected remote lock behavior.
Just my $.02.
Cheers
