In Australia the Ford Ranger and Mazda BT 50 used to be twins. And while the Ranger came with Ford Touch, Mazda just slapped an aftermarket Alpine Head Unit in and called it a day. Reckon they made the right call.
@@BigCar2Sync 2/MyFord Touch was introduced in Australia with the launch of the Falcon FGX and updated Ford Territory in 2014. Ford seemed to hold off on introducing Sync 3 until after their discontinuation in 2016. After that Sync 3 was rolled out pretty quickly across the range including the Ranger. Sync 3 really helped put the BT-50 to shame. The new generation Ranger and Everest have now morphed into the flagship in the Asia Pacific and Sync 4 will launch with it. Even the base single cab ute/truck will have a 12" display as standard. What I find interesting is that the retrofit community have managed to upgrade cars with Sync to 3 and Sync 3 to 4.
Interesting. The Ford Ranger and Mazda B2000 were twins here in the US, and when Ford offered a problematic Bose premium sound system with underseat 6-CD changer unit in the Ranger, Mazda offered a standard single-CD Alpine unit as their premium offering. Those Alpines still seem to be ticking 30 years later. Giving how terribly most Ranger/B-series trucks rusted out here in the upper half of the US, moisture would leak into the cab and short the underseat unit, and if it happened whilst driving, it ran the risk of shorting the entire electrical system, which could be a potentially fatal situation on the interstate.
Interesting story, I think there should always be physical buttons for basics like heating and ventilation, having to scroll through a screen then sub menus is ridiculous and dangerous at best, given the UK law on mobile phone use behind the wheel.
And, perhaps more importantly, WHY have government regulators *allowed* car manufacturers to install components that clearly violate current *'distracted driving' laws?!* You can't get a Safety Certificate on a used car in Canada that has one, tiny side marker lens without a specific 'logo' on it, yet *n-o-o-o-o-o-o problem* driving a car in which you *have to* take your eyes off the road for significant periods, numerous times a trip to *_scroll through sub menus to change the heat or radio station!?!_*
Why, it's easy! Just go to system>vehicle>environment>misc>internal>comfort>HVAC>phone>air and there will be onscreen controls for you fan setting. If you want to turn the heat up and down, it's system>vehicle>environment>misc>internal>audio>navigation>coolant control. It literally couldn't be easier.
I know a few software engineers with MS who worked on this project. Everyone of them said it was the worst project they were ever a part of and that's saying a lot coming from MS employees.
Never owned a Ford, so I guess I dodged that bullet. I’m not a fan of touchscreen, menu-driven interfaces for when you’re driving. The bumps in the road making your finger span the vertical space of the screen in a fraction of a second and excess time with eyes off of the road. I don’t like it.
Having a Kenwood head unit in my Ranger, I have to agree. It has volume buttons (not a dial) and no buttons for station changes, etc, and it's quite difficult to control when driving over bumpy roads, etc. If I knew what I know now, I'd have picked something with buttons on purpose rather than nearly all touchscreen. It just doesn't work well. It's also potentially dangerous trying to focus on hitting a button on a touchscreen while driving 60+ MPH on the freeway....
It’s hard for consumers to get past a bollox like that. My dad purchased a 1970 Ford LTD Country Squire wagon. It was ALWAYS in the shop for something and I remember him saying he’d never buy another Ford under any circumstances. After many decades I was almost past that ingrained prejudice when MyFordTouch came along. So, I guess my point is that reputation matters. Great videos!
This is fascinating! Being a WiFi engineer in the Silicon Valley and a car enthusiast this video was gold! My sister had a Ford Edge and it had the my touch system in it and she always complained about how slow it was! Thanks for the awesome video!
I guess that was around the time when everyone was trying to jump on the Apple iPod bandwagon and ignoring their own players. Sony did the same putting iPod docks on some of their products despite having their own range of competing MP3 players. Microsoft didn't even bother selling the Zune in Europe. Their subsequent withdrawal from the mobile market leaves a choice between just Apple and many look alike Android phones.
Zune didn't even work with windows media player so not much of a surprise there. I would have definitely bought one back in the day if I could have just copied files onto it.
"The staff were moved ..to work on MS-edge", the browser that was implanted with google innards after a very short lifetime and that was alledgedly used mainly to download another browser.
Of course the reason Edge now is based on Chromium is because Google were adding code to their websites to slow Edge down, Edge was the superior browser but Google's dominance and their want to remove all compedition meant it would never be a huge success and moving it over to the Chomium engine prevents Google from artifically slowing down it's services. I wish MS had continued with Edge being based on it's own tech just to stand up to Google but alas that didn't happen.
I work in hospitality and our business is going through very bad times as regards customer experience - because of covid upending staff but customer expectations not changing. It was reassuring to hear that even a giant tech company and its white collar professionals can go through similar humiliating business difficulties, so thanks for sharing.
For what it's worth, I had MyFordTouch in my 2016 Ford Fusion, and I actually liked it. Felt it was intuitive to use, thought the interface looked good, The only issue was that you had to push firmly on the screen. But I don't think that's much different than other interfaces of its day (2012 when it was developed).
@@jayxj7785 nope. I think my iteration of MFT was just a more streamlined version. Like I said, I actually liked its appearance and I found it pretty usable. Only downside was that you had to press everything very deliberately
Reminds me of when Audi fucked up the control wheel for their interface. We've all grown up with the knowledge of "clockwise=forward", but guess what the knuckle draggers in Ingolstadt decided to do? 😂
When BMW and Audi put the control wheel into their cars I stopped desiring them. They couldn’t do touchscreens in all their cars because the screen was too far away from the driver.
I used to build reporting and analysis modules for various companies. Your comment on how Ford pushed bSquare brings back memories of something similar. Companies would tell me what they wanted, and be annoyed if I tried to correct them. However, that's nothing if I delivered what they asked for, and then it didn't do what it needed to do, just what they asked for. Classic example. Well known company W asked for a reporting module that met the demands of all the departments, and to be delivered in 1 months. Department A wanted this, department B wanted that, department C etc! Meanwhile the department that commissioned me wanted a report that met everyone's demands - even though I said it just couldn't be done after a week of analysis I was told to carry on. Finally I managed to get a hybrid that sort of met everyone's demands, but I'd run out of time... The commissioning department hated the (almost finished) report, and were angry I was out of time. Amazing how my warnings suddenly were forgotten about, and I was booted. Moral of the story? Stick to your guns if you know you're right. As for fixing poor coding, yes, often easier, quicker, and cheaper to just write new code, and extract bits from the flawed code (they obviously had reasons for things, understanding why is important, even if the solution doesn't work)
I was just learning about this on Wikipedia yesterday!! I drive a 2013 Ford Taurus, SEL trim, and it’s equipped with this system. Mine actually didn’t have too many problems but there was some lag from time to time.
Great video, as always. It's a shame Ford burned themselves so badly here in Brazil. They've closed plants, left many loyal customers to their own luck, and now only sell very expensive models, becoming a "premium" (not) brand. I wouldn't be surprised if they decide to leave, since they sell less and less as time goes on. And now people around here just found out about the Ford Fusion Ecoboost engine breaking issues. They used to have many impressive products in the past, and were considered to be one of the "big four" car companies in our market.
All the US auto brands have been retreating on the world stage. American executive thinking is all about short-term profits, at the expense of long-term viability and reputation. Even this video reflects that corporate thinking in practice.
I’m a truck driver. My company recently installed tablets in our trucks for navigation, messages and other daily functions. It’s called ZONAR and is an absolute disaster. I wish someone from Ford could reach out to Knight-Swift transportation and tell them how to fix this.
@@CRAPO2011 yes. And of course there’s always the old paper Atlas as a last resort. But the tablet has MANY other issues that aren’t even related to the navigation function. A daily battle it seems.
Great video! It's amazing how such a big car company could make such a terrible mistake with such an important product. And I have to say the irony of Microsoft fixing something that is buggy, crashes all the time and has a terrible UI is not lost on me hahah
Thank you for that story! I was one of the hardware designers on the original Surface and Surface Pro at Microsoft and I NEVER heard that story. I was always under the impression that Microsoft was to blame for the terrible system. Very accurate accounting of Win8 for ARM killing CE. It's a shame though as Windows was far too heavy for the little ARM CPUs and died with the original Surface.
One of the things that stops me wanting a new car is these touch screen controls. Especially the ones that look like tablets sticking out the dashboard like an afterthought. I just don't like the idea of having to scroll through menu after menu just to change the temperature in the saloon. It takes the driver's eyes off the road for too long, and at a time when laws against mobile phone use are getting tougher. I'm not saying that I want to go back to sliding a lever between the blue and red, but it was system that didn't have to take your attention away from the road. I like the automation of climate control, although I'm still looking at the number that I'm setting it to, but I want physical switches. I don't want my satnav locking up meaning that I freeze to death, or my radio rebooting turns my backside into toast.
The system in my Polestar 2 works really well. The climate temp numbers are always visible in the lower screen corners, with a + and - next to each number which you can touch to change the temp
@@SDK2006b It always surprises me how safety conscious volvo/polestar has so many controls delegated to a touchscreen. When they spent so much time in the pre 2000's making safe, ergonomic interiors. Controls that require the eyes to be taken off the road should be the last resort especially for safety conscious volvo/polestar. We had a v90 with sensus, and it was such a pain on anything but straight smooth tarmac. "Want it cooler? Well *bump* now you have the heated seats on full instead" I love volvo's but some of their design desicions are a bit quirky.
It never ceases to amaze me the difference between manufacturers. I had a 2014 Renault Mégane which had no touchscreen, but had an amazing joystick / dial thing which was super easy to use and I loved it, and then I had a 2018 Peugeot 308 where literally everything was on the touch screen as you say, and it was an absolute f*cking turd of a system which constantly forgot what you were using last when you turned the engine off, took ages to boot up and completely spoiled what was otherwise a nice car to drive. I now have a 2021 Toyota Corolla which has a touch screen for satnav and settings etc but crucially it has the a/c and heater controls and screen controls etc all on separate buttons, and it's excellent.
I couldn't agree with you more! Technology must move forward, but just like the wheel, the basics can still be adhered to! High usage items like volume, HVAC controls and seat warming switches should always be physical in nature(if not in function) and quickly/easily accessible almost without taking your eyes off the road! I mean there's a reason a 3 knob with physical response HVAC interface works perfectly; one for temperature, one for fan speed, one for direction/zone. One should not have to deal with a touch screen or sub menu system to access something that gets adjusted so often!
Fair point, but I think there is a compromise that works well and looks good - a mix between a handful of buttons for quick access to things like air con and volume, and a touch screen for things not used as often. I think my Honda has a good balance. Also, don't forget car makers can put some often used controls on the steering wheel..what pisses ne off about touch screens is finger marks and their propensity to attract dust.
Thanks for the story. It’s always so interesting hearing how big companies mess up big time and how they deal with. Newer tech is always cool, but not worth the headache, especially when it comes to cars. I’m waiting for Toyota to work out the kinks in the new tundra before I consider dropping 50k into it.
A few months ago I bought a Ford Focus Mk3.5 and I had to limit my search criteria to cars built after 2017, just so that the car would have SYNC 3. The predecessor is a UX nightmare.
I was able to have the original MS Sync dealer installed on my Mustang GT in 2009 the system was great till the end. Sold it last year and it was still working.
Absolutely fascinating story, I work in automotive and I know very well what you mean by speaking about the complexity of such industrial projects. Fantastic! Thanks
My 2016 Ford Explorer Platinum had the one you tried to fix in it. It was still such garbage for a $60,000 US car. They went to the new Synk 3 in 2017. I ended up buying a SYNK 3 head unit and retrofitted it in 8 months after I bought the truck. It fit right in, except the GPS antenna, you had to install one in the dash.
The day cars started needing software updates because of MVP was a dark one, I particularly detest infotainment based climate controls and I hope its a trend that dies soon.
@@CRAPO2011 Clock wouldn't stay set, the XM sometimes would just not work, and our phones wouldn't pair with it sometimes. Then the car would die intermittently.
Great video! As an ex systems developer I understand the problem. A poor product with a certain amount of complexity, or simply poor coding, or coding choices, becomes more difficult to fix than to start from scratch, but you can't do that because there isn't the time, or funding.
Automotive sector likes to make hard commitments on unproven tech then compound software project risk. Collectively we don't seem to understand iteration.
The controls in all cars are becoming way to distracting and complicated to use. You have to navigate menu's and sub menu's for things that were instantly available via a knob or switch, how they get it past the health and safety police is beyond me.
Glad I o have been able to miss out on that - I hate modern cars with all the colour TV touch screen bullshittery. I got an e46 from 2002 which was about peak car development for my taste before cars became like driving around in an internet café. I've spent waaay more than it's worth on keeping it on the road but there's nothing I like about new cars - they bing and bong for every damn thing, you can't switch the lights off, they're too big, and no-one seems to be able to make a good looking car anymore.....
My Ford Focus has this system and I've never had any problems whatsoever! It works perfectly and seamlessly with my phone, although I suppose different people have different experiences.
@@BigCar2 Luckily! Got to admit though Sync 4 (their newest version) is really class-leading in my opinion. The graphics are great and it's really intuitive and easy to use. I quite like Sync 3 too but the graphics aren't as good as the new ones. I'll stick with MyFord Touch for a while and I'll eventually upgrade to a Ford with a newer infotainment system! What's your opinion on Sync 3/4?
I daily a 2015 Forester XT and think it has the perfect amount of tech. It has a traditional 3 knob set up for HVAC and a decent sized screen for the navigation and backup cameras. It has adaptive cruise and automatic emergency braking. I have looked at several BEVs, but they all have gone too futuristic for my liking. The screens look like tacked on afterthoughts that are too big to fit in a normal dash. The lack of knobs and dials for basic functions is frustrating. The trend of making everything piano black and fake leather interiors also needs to stop. A $40k+ USD car should have REAL leather
_[Just realized I've completely changed the topic of the comments by picking up on one line from the above commenter. Sorry, but oh well---here goes.]_ _"A $40k+ USD car should have REAL leather."_ I'll agree with your wanting quality components, but raise you one. I think a USD $40,000. car should / could have a high quality, luxurious looking, long wearing CLOTH interior (or, at least the option to choose that). All back slaps and handshakes to those who like leather, but leather has become _almost_ a standard expectation (even for those who've been kind of 'forced into' having a leather interior). And now, as manufacturers try even harder to 'cheap out', they're actually getting away with installing *_"leatherette",_* a term from the early seventies, which *really means plastic / vinyl.* Seriously? Car buyers have become so brainwashed that "leather is better" that they'll put up with _VINYL SEATS?!_ If manufacturers had put a fraction as much effort into sourcing the latest fabrics for their seats, buyers would be singing their praises, since *fabric already had advantages over leather thirty years ago.* A few *fabric advantages:* > *Cleanability* ---Abuse the cloth seats in a car from the eighties, and with some elbow grease most come up looking clean and almost new. And if you don't abuse them, virtually any spill or stain comes out easily; > *Comfort* ---Not cold in winter; not skin burningly hot in summer; > *Wear* ---The seats in that eighties car likely _still_ have no holes if they weren't abused. Leather? The driver's side seat bolster is guaranteed destroyed, with numerous areas on both front seats worn through, cracked and likely torn. > *Maintenance* ---With a cloth-seated car, you sit and go, with the occasional, cursory vacuuming and maybe a spot cleaning here and there. Leather? Regular, labour intensive cleaning with special saddle soap or leather cleaner, and regular application of leather conditioner, or your seats tend to look like dirty crap in a few years.
It is amazing that a gizmo could do so much damage to reputations when it had nothing to do with actually driving ! This continues today where the makers spend more time talking about the bells and whistles infesting their vehicles. Utter stupidity and those of us who just want a functional vehicle are completely ignored.
The problem is that it usually did have a lot to do with driving. The AC and heater controls were usually integrated into the head unit. Better hope it worked or defrost/AC isn't going to.
I've used sync 3 on a Taurus SHO I was checking out. The thing I didn't like was how you didn't have a button for the seat heaters/coolers. If you spec'd one without the Sony Audio system, You had a knob for the fan speed, Instead of one knob for volume and everything else being touch sensitive.
Ya same here 2014 lincoln mks 3.5 ecoboost (it's a sho in a Tuxedo) and i have sync 2 which even more annoying to use I know ford has done a way the Touch screen for temperature and volume controls because it's a pain to use some times
@@rturner4205 yes the car is fully loaded so all my options like Massaging AC seats and and heated seats all locked on that 1 screen so far I have not had a problem the car has low mileage on it so I guess that may have save it in a way not as much use. And trust I did not Want a Lincoln I wanted a show but the only sho I found they were high miles on them or they were like 10k over price I pick up my car in 2020 right before the pandemic it had 47k on it and I payed $15,200 for I stole the car so I was not mad at all on that part I like the shos more they look way better. But on the other hand more and more people know about the sho then the mks ecoboost so I guess I have a better sleeper in that way ya know
What a great story and one I can relate to, having experienced similar nightmare projects over the years. Perhaps a mini series is in order? For instance, the disastrous SATNAV system installed in all Toyota vehicles. This has been disabled or taken out with current models (2021/22).
this was a mess from Ford. delaying the launch has to be an option when working with an outside conractor. you have to supply "right" products; not the "fast" ones
Very interesting. Funny enough I had a 2013 Fusion Titanium, it was my first experience with a central infotainment system like that. I remember being pretty impressed and don't remember having any serious issues with it
You should cover the Mercedes COMAND online system Windows Embedded issue. Thats one that grinds my gears. I purchased a A200d 2.2d AMG Line Premium Plus in 2016 with the optional COMAND Online system. Which basically gave online services and options for the car. A bit of an early stepping stone for the now Mercedes Me system. It worked well and was on Windows Embedded. It was quick and usable. In 2020 it all stopped working. There was an SSL cert in Windows Embedded that had expired rendering COMAND dead. Mercedes still have not fixed this for any of their cars to this date. So if you spent extra in 2015 / 2018 and purchased COMAND Online, then well tough, you wasted your money. Its pretty disgusting how Mercedes have managed this.
It never ceases to amaze me how large, billion-dollar empires with so much responsibility manage to make such rookie mistakes. Naturally, the irresponsible centralization of functionality in a modern automobile continues. I was really shocked to see how bad the touch UI is in Volkswagens, for example.
A friend traded in her new VAG Skoda for an older model after just 3000 miles because she hated the touch UI, with the climate controls hidden in a touchscreen menu, so much.
you need to contact Jason Torchinksky and David Tracy of the Autopian; they recently had one of the suspension engineers for the original 2005 Ford GT to retell the behind the scenes story of the Ford GT's first major recall.
I own a 2011 Ford Edge Sport. I've never had an issue with My Ford Touch. The phone and music capabilities of the system were leading edge for the time. They still are advanced today, being able to play music from Bluetooth, stored on an SD card with built in slot under the arm rest, or through two USB inputs under the arm rest by plugging in an iPod or USB drive. Making phone calls or calling out music or climate functions works terrific. All I can say is I love the system and it works great. It also has been improved over the years by numerous Sync updates. Much better than others I have tried over the years.
I still have my 2008 Ford Mondeo XR5 and the system is has its pretty good with full voice control - what system would it be? When I heard the words "flash" I thought WTF?
At last someone talks about the never ending problems with the infotainment systems in Fords. Had a 2020 Ford Transit. The problems : 1. Regularly could not see the USB stick. Then if it could and you were playing music from it, 60% of the time when you restarted the vehicle it would revert to a radio station? 2. Smart Phone connection : Almost every time I would have to unplug and re plug the the Smart Phone before it was recognized. 3: Sometimes the on/off physical button on the screen would not work and you have to restart the vehicle to re boot it. Also occasionally the touch screen would not acknowledge any touching, once again you would have to stop the vehicle and re start to fix.....When Ford was made aware they always said it was a software update problem. This never seemed to be the fix. An engineer told me that these things are simply too expensive to fix so companies like Ford just don't do it.
I have a 2013 Ford Escape with Ford's Sync system (Not the Touch Screen) and it works great! Still connects to modern phones flawlessly, still takes calls, still plays music through Bluetooth, and still recognizes my voice great~
Great story - thanks! Although I suspect that Volkswagen could have used a lesson or two on their new ID range - clearly there are some serious software issues on that whole range to the point where they will be fitting new 12 volt batteries in the ID3 to cope with the length of time software updates take to install - not to mention over 50% of the "over the air" updates have to be done at the dealer.
Thanks for interesting video. That was some mess Ford got themselves in. I never rated Ford, a neighbour of mine keeps buying them and they're always broken down. I only ever drove Volkswagen or Vauxhall. Not perfect cars, but never let me down either and always started when I got in.
Yet the reviews of the latest VAG cars are so critical of the touchscreens that it puts me off buying one. A friend traded in her new Skoda for an older model after just 3000 miles because she couldn't stand the climate controls being hidden down in a touchscreen menu. p.s. about twice a year my 2013 VW Golf fails to put the touchscreen on at all. Other people have had the same happen in theirs. Not a big problem when all it is really needed for is the radio and navigation.
2030 is still too early for putting controls into touchscreens not having immediately recognizable physical feedback makes controlling something without looking and concentrating on it impossible. there is a reason why game controllers and computer mice have so many more buttons than in earlier decades, and many of them shaped quite different from each other. smart phones and tablets are looked and focussed on while used, they can get away with touch screen only, even if it is worse in many cases there too.
Honestly, I really wish that this whole touchscreen craze had not caught on at all. My first car was a '99 Fiat Seicento, which at the time I got it was worth less than a quality motorcycle helmet today. In terms of technical advancement, it was a far cry from the cars of today, but the ease of use of the central console was unparalleled in comparison to most modern cars I've ridden in the last couple of years. The knobs could have been adjusted without taking your eyes off the road and the buttons did not require surgical precision to be operated. With the ever-increasing number of features packed into cars, I do acknowledge the need to have a touch screen in order to prevent the dash from looking like that on Astra IV on steroids, but introducing some ergonomics in the design would really be beneficial for the safety.
I can't see the touch screens being durable, or being available in a few years when they fail. I predict a lot of these highly technical/integrated cars won't be on the second hand market for their third or fourth owner 10 or 15 years down the track.
A bit like the *C.D. / D.V.D. navigation systems* in luxury cars from the early to mid naughties. They were fine _(though that's open to debate)_ when the cars were new, but manufacturers weren't going to keep coming up with updated maps, say, 10 years down the road. So, now anyone owning a well preserved car from that time has a useless 'feature'. Luckily---if you can call it that---I'm guessing most of those navigation screens were also used for other functions.
The Ford Ranger my family owns has Sync 3. Never really gave much thought to how In-car operating systems, but the stories they hold are quite facinating.
In the same early 2010's timeframe, GM released a nice QNX-based touchscreen infotainment system with optional GPS. It was marketed as MyLink in Chevrolets or IntelliLink in Buicks (not related to Cadillac CUE). It worked, responded quickly, and had real physical buttons on the dash for almost everything, but duplicate buttons appeared on the touchscreen reflecting their actions. In some models, the radio control panel flipped up to reveal a bin for your sunglasses, charge cables, etc. Chevy's top-line LTZ trim usually had all the features activated, 2LT had a few less, 1LT had to pay a big option price to get any touchscreen, and low-end LS (= Lousy Seats) was non-touch only. Most were made by Panasonic except in sub-compact models. If you find one, sell your Ford and enjoy road trips again.
In my opinion, this whole disaster was a wonderful example of Ford management at work. First thing to say is the CEO of Ford at the time had come from Boeing. He was definitely part of the disaster that Boeing is experiencing today. The siding that they wanted McDonell Douglas management style. Which ran the company into bankruptcy. Then, of course, Ford wanted everything but gave it zero resources. Using the cheapest micro processor they could get. Zero testing. Sounds a lot like Microsoft. And they didn't even have to lie to the FAA. If anybody had tested that thing, these problems would've come to light. Either they didn't test, or they did and management decided it didn't matter. After all they are just customers. A.k.a. suckers who give us money. You touched on the power shift transmission which was at the same time. Ford was quite well aware this was a disaster before they launched it. But they said doesn't matter we'll launch it anyway. Then we'll just lie to the customers. Which they did for an extremely long period of time. I don't know why anybody would buy a Ford from that point until now.
Thanks for your video, and for your work on MyFord Touch. In 2019 I bought an early 2016 Mondeo, thinking it had Sync 3. Unfortunately I messed up, and got a MyFord Touch system. It was disappointingly slow and lacking in features. I applied an outstanding update myself and it helped with the speed. As you say, there’s only so much you can do with a broken system. I’m not impressed with the mk5 Mondeo in general. The climate control system is crap, and the 2.0 TDi 150 couldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding. Had to have it remapped just to make it feel it wasn’t a boat.
So you’re telling me there’s a worse Ford radio than the first version of sync that’s in my 2011 escape? Geez lol. Actually the first gen isn’t the worst system other than having to pull my fuse once in a blue moon
Car manufacturers should just put the infotainment as an interface to Apple CarPlay + Android Auto (and radio and some of the vehicle settings) then take everything else out (HVAC, dynamic modes) and make them controlled by physical switches. It's probably less cost effective but it's a hell of a lot less dangerous
I worked on software for automotive head units in the early 2010's (for a different company in Bellevue, WA). At some point I was briefly assigned to look at working on some music streaming for a Ford/Auto PC unit without having much knowledge of what had happened with the platform. The unit wasn't promising. It felt like I was going back in time. The project never went anywhere and I moved onto music streaming for something which felt like we could work with.
That was really interesting, thanks for the insight. I'd previously watched your other film about sync. The technical details were very interesting, even better was hearing another story of a big company f#*& up 😂👍
35 years in the IT industry. If I've learned anything at all it is this "Try to avoid anything and everything Microsoft, the alternatives will almost certainly deliver a better outcome".
Thanks for the awesome video! I had MyFord Touch for five years in my 2015 Mustang and I actually liked it. Sync 3 is obviously a lot better both in terms of features and user interface, but my memories of MyFord Touch are still positive. It did all the basic stuff quite well, the voice commands worked for the most part as expected, and the UI was generally pretty usable.
I fully agree, still have it in my 2015 Mustang as well and I think the final iterations work quite well. And since you can do most things with voice commands the old school display unit is not really a problem either.
I take 2015 was the first year of the S550 Chassis mustang(still being produced) i remember ford saying it had the hardware to upgrade to the new sync even though it came with mft. It also has a nice resistive screen
The same was said about Vista. Once people got used to the redesign and the bugs were worked out, they lightly reskinned it as Windows 7 and suddenly it was the best OS ever according to many Vista critics. The main challenge with Windows 11 is that Windows 10 was on the market too long and people had got used to its workflow so much it was memory muscle and the simple fact that Windows 11 wasn't ready. Windows 12 with a finished OS and some polishing, will be seen as amazing if history is any guide.
This doesn't surprise me one bit, because at roughly the same time as this was going on I was doing QA on software for a completely different yet in many ways equally disastrous automotive head unit project, this one for Nissan. Pretty much every problem came down to the head unit hardware being massively underpowered for what they were trying to do with it, but the hardware had been finalized and pushed to production long before we got a hold of it so little could be done about it. So as late as 2019 (that I know of) you had these high end Infiniti cars shipping with a head unit with all the computing power of a 10 year old netbook, and people wondered why everything was so sluggish. At the time I left that project I was convinced that you could duct tape an iPad to your dash and have a better head unit than 95% of what's on the road. Things are a bit better now with Android Auto and CarPlay, but not by much.
As a guy who both worked for a Ford dealer and taught Ford-specific training classes, I KNEW not to order Ford Touch on my 15 Mustang. I didn't even want Sync. Even wrote a letter to Ford asking why Sync wasn't an option, instead of standard equipment. Did you know Ford dealers had to hold classes for new owners teaching customers how to use MFT? It was a total disaster from the very beginning. Give me old fashioned knobs or buttons any day!
What just as bad or worse is the hardware & interface modules were also failure prone. Not only that but Ford made the choice to screw their customers again by pricing replacement modules (even "factory" remanufactured units") like they were German luxury car parts. Single modules pricing started over $6-700 and went up over $1,000. Even good used parts (when & if you could find one) had to be reprogrammed to be recognized and work on the network?! Good plan Ford?! Just put separate HVAC controls & a custom.version of a good high end head unit. Greed & stupid add in just a touch of Ford knows better!
I drive lots of different rental/pool cars. The actual Ford UI is cluttered again. The buttons are all over the place and many settings for the UI are useless and other, common settings are missing. The UI would be like the most important thing when buying a new car. It's what I use the most in a car now.
I have a 2020 Ford Escape SE for a month now. I loved the touch screen and even Apple Car Play in it. I even liked the touch screen in a 2013 Ford Edge in my sister’s vehicle when my mother used to have it to drive.
Considering that back in the early days of radios in cars, it was decided that the radios needed tuning buttons, so drivers could keep their eyes on the road while tuning the radio, the transition to touch screens shocked me! Why would car manufacturers and the Government consider touch screens acceptable? Drivers are now required to take their eyes off the road for almost everything they do in the car. This is a major step back away from safety. What's next? Watching your favorite movies or the big game while driving? Maybe a bar that would dispense your favorite drinks with a simple touch of the screen? Drivers are already doing too many things, rather than driving!
Very interesting, and giving me some nightmarish flashbacks! I worked as a STE at MS Auto on Sync V2 in 2010-2011. It was handed back over to MS to make useable after Ford and BSquare fubared it. As I recall, a large part of the solution was simply reducing the amount of information on each screen.
This was a very informative video, I have a 2015 Kuga (Edge in the US) thats got Sync 1.1 and its fine. I only use it for the radio and the reverse camera. Thats about it really as all the other functions have their own buttons. If the car was a few months older it would have had Sync 2. Oh well.
Yeah Sync 2 as they called MyFordTouch in Europe was delayed so that Early Kuga 2 and Focus 3 only came with the flip phone inspired system from the Fiesta. At least the fiasco didn’t spread over here too badly. That flip phone system looked so old so quickly though
Thank you for this highly interesting video. I always knew Sync2 was CE based, but I never realized it also used Flash. Fascinating. I own an export spec 2016 Mustang, which was the final model year that Ford had them equipped with Sync2. Sync3 came one model year later in export spec cars than it did in US spec cars, probably due to having to do many new languages and other localization work. When the Mustang was launched in Europe in 2015 Sync2 was obviously near its EOL point and got blasted by the automotive press for being slow and out of date. But I always found it to work decently well and have an friendly and easy to use UI. Even though I have considered replacing it with a Sync3 unit more than once, now after seeing your video I have decided that this is actually an interesting part of Ford history and I’m going to keep it. So thanks for your work on making it better, it’s still being appreciated every day.
I work for a Ford store around Bellevue. This is super interesting. It’s amazing they took such a chance releasing broken software. At the other end of the spectrum is Toyota who is extremely slow to release any new infotainment software. They’ve been using “entune” since at least 2014. It’s terribly slow but stable. This also makes me super grateful to have Android Auto/CarPlay. It’s so seamless.
I’ve been fixing car interiors since I was a teen and the touch buttons and controls on something like the 2013 Ford Explorer center dash would go dead very often. Other than that, the ford software was pretty crummy compared to everything else. But not busted, unless I’ve only seen it after patches and etc. Edit: 7:43 YES! those dang buttons below the CD slot. They’d go out often, and the hazard flasher would turn itself on and I couldn’t turn it off. My opinion on car interior control design is, as many dials as practically possible. The climate dials should have limited throws so you can adjust your settings by muscle memory. No commonly used software menus should be more than one layer deep from your Home Screen. I’m quite fond of VW’s physical buttons surrounding the screen that lead to your key radio functions and submenus.
I bought a used 2016 focus ST station wagon with MyFord Touch a couple of years ago, crashed and totalled it after literally 48h of ownership and ended up getting a 2017 model with Sync 3 as a replacement. Totally worth it, would do again. 😁
You worked for Microsoft. But you seem like a nice guy. Seriously, though, I had a rental car once with MyFord Touch. It was after the fixed UI was done. It was slow, but the flaw that could never be fixed in software was the horrible resistive touchscreen. I had an HP convertible laptop once with a resistive touchscreen. Horrible. It was hard enough trying to use the HP while seated at a desk. Trying to tap on the MyFord Touch touchscreen while driving was a disaster.
I prefer your old car videos over lots of other people who make videos about older cars. Your voice is just more interesting. Video idea: history of the Ford Mustang in Australia. Or maybe a video about the history of the Ford Mustang outside of the US? I was in Australia in 1985. On a special steam train excursion I got into a conversation with a guy who owned a Ford car dealership. He told me that Ford brought two right hand drive 1985 Mustang GT’s and showed them to the dealers at a dealership meeting. If they got enough orders they would export them to Australia. They didn’t. I wonder what happened to those two Mustangs?
Great video! It's so rare to get firsthand insight about how a product was developed. I'll be a little more patient with my Fiesta's SYNC 2 from now on.
Owned 2 Ford in the past 10 years. I would say ALL Ford SYNC is a disaster. The original SYNC tried to cut cost. It skipped the in-car GPS. Instead, it rely on sending the voice commands to data center for processing, which sends the route info back to the car. Given the phone signal coverage in the US, this frequently ends in "I don't understand you". SYNC3 added the in-car GPS. But I don't think Ford paid for the map info. Its POI database if missing at least 90% of the POIs. Don't believe me, drive to Infinite Loop and ask the car to find a route to Apple HQ. Good luck.
Ah the Sync, it was one thing I knew to avoid when it was announced. Microsoft is closely associated with bluescreens, crashes, reboot and annoying behaviour, and I knew I didn't want that in any car. But I did have a lot of laughs at Ford's expense, the YT video: "SINK My Ride - Ford and Microsoft" is a great example of this.
