Ford Social: New Features and Upgrades for MyFord Touch

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New Features and Upgrades for MyFord Touch

11/7/2011

NOV

When it comes time to improve a product, who is the best person to get feedback from? That’s right, you! So, research teams at Ford talked to owners about their likes and dislikes of the MyFord Touch®, then went about enhancing the system.

Ford customers wanted the technology to be faster, simpler and easier to use. Guess what? It’ll now be faster, simpler and easier to use. Ford retained what you liked – color-coded corners, information being provided and four-corner design, for example – and augmented with bolder fonts, larger icons and the ability to see your phone’s battery and signal strength.

“Our strategy to create the SYNC software platform and add the customizable screens of MyFord Touch gives us a level of flexibility and speed to respond to customer input like never before seen in the auto industry,” said Graydon Reitz, director, Ford Global Electronics and Electrical Systems Engineering.

New features include support for tablet devices and Audible.com audiobooks, improved navigation maps and enhanced voice recognition interaction. Automatic Bluetooth® connection upon vehicle entry has been improved, as has voice recognition for music search, allowing drivers to pinpoint artists with hard-to-pronounce names or nicknames. And faster touch-screen response time was a key request from owners. Initial testing shows that touch and voice response is at least two times faster than the current system.

A survey of 2011 Ford Edge owners shows that four of the top seven purchase reasons were elements of the MyFord Touch system: the touch screen, steering wheel controls, voice recognition and dashboard styling. The “new” MyFord Touch will be available early next year on the 2013 Ford Escape, Flex and Taurus, and offered to existing owners of MyFord Touch-equipped vehicles, including the 2011 and 2012 models of Ford Explorer and Edge and the 2012 Focus. Owners of 2011 and 2012 Lincoln MKX crossovers will also receive the upgrade for their MyLincoln Touch™ systems.

“We’re going to mail a USB drive to every existing My Ford Touch customer that has the upgrade on it,” explained Jennifer Brace, User Interface Design Engineer at Ford. “All they have to do is take this USB drive pop it into the media hub and they let the vehicle do the work. They don’t have to go to the dealership.”

Ford launched two programs modeled after what consumers experience when purchasing a new electronic device. First, the company added a new MyFord Touch owner support website featuring how-to videos at www.syncmyride.com. Second, free “SYNC My Ride” personalized training sessions for new owners are now offered through Ford dealers – scheduled at customers’ convenience.

For a video demonstration of the improvements, click here.

28 COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE

Jack I think the mailing of the USB drive and free update is great but they should also be able to offer it as an update to your existing USB drive on your computer like they have other updates. AND.... WHEN IS IT GOING TO MAIL?????
2 months(s) ago via Ford Social

Isaac Johnson I think Ford should go back to actually having REAL BUTTONS again for the center stack controls. Everything being touch sensitive besides the touch screen is a potential driving hazard.
4 months(s) ago via Ford Social

Jason T Nice, now I'll have to come with 50k to buy an explorer to utilize this update.
4 months(s) ago via Ford Social

David Scott i just found out that the usb drive will be mailed out to current customers, that's really great. Now that's what i call good customer service.... thanks ford.
4 months(s) ago via Ford Social

Roger Hillson The update to fix the bugs is nice, but this top of the line MyFord Touch system is also sorely missing AppLink. An ETA from Ford on when this will be added would be appreciated. Hopefully there is some concurrent development going on by Ford to include it so that outside developers can start making compatible apps!
5 months(s) ago via Ford Social

Wayne Higby I take this is available to us in Canada?
6 months(s) ago via Ford Social

Drew Green As a SYNC Specialist, I am really looking forward to this update and getting the chance to experience the true potential of MyFord Touch.
6 months(s) ago via Ford Social

Oh I thought there was something wrong with my Car. It constantly reboots it even freeze's up every now and then. Besides that I love my 2011 Explorer . I am happy to read that there will be a fix for it soon!
6 months(s) ago via Ford Social

Robyn Melissa you must have missed the part in the article where it said it has been improved to be faster and work better. They just improved the larger font size so we can see it better. All the mechanics had to have been updated to make the faster better part come into play. I love my Fords! John on the red audio corner once you hit the face button you can touch a little gray square with lines on it that pops up a list of all the commands you can use. It was really handy until I got used to the system, good luck!
6 months(s) ago via Ford Social

Chris Mattingly Looking forward to this as well. My wife has been very unhappy with the constant reboots of the Sync/MFT in our 2011 Explorer. What time frame should we expect these to arrive? January, or sometime later in Q1?
6 months(s) ago via Ford Social

Jaclyn At Ford Hey, everyone! Thanks for your feedback. I'm looking forward to the upgrade as well! The package is expected to be mailed out early next year. In the meantime, I recommend making sure your vehicles are currently equipped with the latest software (version 2.11). Here's a link to check for available updates: http://www.syncmyride.com/Own/Modules/UserManagement/GuestLogin.aspx To see how we've simplified the MFT menu, check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3k4iDZyhYE&feature=youtu.be @Sandra - What's going on with your SYNC system? PM me your VIN and some details, and I'll check it out. @Rodney - I want to look into this. Please PM me your VIN. @Tim - Our engineering team is working hard to expand AppLink in more vehicle lines. Stay tuned to our Owner to Owner forum for future announcements: http://boards.synccommunity.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?webtag=fordsyncmb&listMode=0 If anyone has any questions, let me know. :) Jaclyn, In-Vehicle Technology Team
6 months(s) ago via Facebook

Brad Krekelberg That's a nice touch, mailing us the USB drive, rather than requiring a service visit. Thanks!
6 months(s) ago via Ford Social

John Ferry I really didn't find MFT to be too difficult to use. This looks more like a cosmetic upgrade; hopefully it doesn't slow the system down. I wish Ford would address the horrible front headrests on the Edge Sport.
6 months(s) ago via Ford Social

CarFanatics Forum https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.235063589891527.61737.108147422583145&type=1&ref=notif¬if_t=like
6 months(s) ago via Facebook

Melissa Phillips So disappointed by this - this isn't an upgrade, it's a downgrade. I didn't buy the most gadget-y car on the market only to watch it go backwards. These changes would be the equivalent of having Win7 and the PC maker makes your roll back to a Win 3.0 screen. By all means improve the hardware but don't make the screen look dumb and obvious. I like my two lines of data in each corner. Then I'm not having to cycle into each quad to see the details. It doesn't need to be dumbed down just work better, faster, and more reliably. I'll be avoiding this at all costs including avoiding the dealership for routine maintenance in fear that they'll think they are doing me a favor by installing the upgrade.
6 months(s) ago via Ford Social

John One thing that most salespeople forget to tell the customer is that a majority of the options can be done by simple voice commands. This eliminates the need to look at the screen all of the time.
6 months(s) ago via Ford Social

Keith McCready I love all the devices on my F150 sync. What I would like to see is a cheaper cost for upgrading my gps. You can buy a Garmin lifetime upgrade for under $100.00 and Ford wants almost $300.00 for every upgrade.
6 months(s) ago via Ford Social

Michael Walski Still not enuf changes..... viewed the pre-view video... When you can film the video AND run Mytouch at 70MPH on I-275 at rush-hour THEN you fixed it!!!!! till then the 'buttons' are still to small to be safe.
6 months(s) ago via Facebook

David Clem Personally, I would much rather not have these electronic devices in my cars. We own five Fords, including a 2008 Sport Trac Adrenalin with Sync. After multiple trips to the dealer, all Synch will do is play the iPod (with no voice command functions) and it will answer the phone. Technology like this is going to render today's Fords as disposable as a laptop. Who is going to want to pay thousands of dollars to repair these systems when they are out of warranty?
6 months(s) ago via Facebook

Tim Foster That's great. I will look for that in my next vehicle I buy. When is applink going to be released for current Sync owners. Thanks Tim, Newer Ford owner.
6 months(s) ago via Facebook

Scott Sheppard The sooner the better!
6 months(s) ago via Facebook

Ladis Sanchez Yes! Good call Ford. We need this desperately...and fast!
6 months(s) ago via Facebook

Andrea Miller I like that my issues will be addressed but I don't really like the screen changes. I hate change and was happy with the way it was.
6 months(s) ago via Facebook

Rodney J. Thomas I live in Germany with a 2011 Ford Explorer (U.S. Spec). If I send you my Vin and proof of purchase will you please mail me the upgrade?!? The German dealers can't help me and it constantly crashes!
6 months(s) ago via Facebook

James Emberton Hope the fix comes sooner, rather than later. 2011 Explorer MyTouch is very frustrating to use, to say the least.
6 months(s) ago via Facebook

Sandra Campbell Morgan What about Sync? We have issues too.
6 months(s) ago via Facebook

Jake Ehrle Im glad this has finally be recognized. The current system in our 2011 Explorer is hit or miss most days. Very aggravating for someone who bleeds Ford blue.
6 months(s) ago via Facebook

Matthew Harrell I love the fact that you're going to mail our the USB fob for us current owners so we don't have to go to the dealer! I can't wait for this update. MFT in my 2012 Focus (built in April 2011) is driving me crazy.
6 months(s) ago via Facebook