“Ford tumbled from a fifth place ranking in last year’s J.D. Power Initial Quality ranking all the way down to 23rd this year,” Peter Valdes-Dapena reports for CNN Money. “Ford Motor Co.’s luxury brand, Lincoln, dropped, too, but not quite as far. Lincoln dropped from 8th place in the survey last year to 17th this year.”
“Much of Ford’s trouble has to do with the latest version of its Sync entertainment and phone system, said David Sargent, vice president of global vehicle research at J.D. Power. The latest version of Sync is incorporated into a complex new interface called MyFord Touch,” Valdes-Dapena reports. “‘People were finding several problems with the system in that it would crash, freeze, black out,’ said Sargent. ‘Beyond that, people complained that it was more complex to use than they would like.'”
Valdes-Dapena reports, “Ford has said that it is working to fix the bugs in the MyFord Touch Sync system created in partnership with Microsoft…”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft makes Ford buggies confusing. Who’s surprised?
MacDailyNews Note: The J.D. Power and Associates 2011 U.S. Initial Quality Study (.pdf) here.
Related articles:
Ford: Apple iPhone compatibility coming to SYNC AppLink-capable vehicles in early 2011 – December 23, 2010
When crap collides: Ford and Microsoft team up for in-vehicle operating system – December 29, 2006
The worst worst part is that they put a big ugly badge in the lower part of the dashboard with Mircosoft’s name on it. That depressed me every time I got in the car. So I bought a Chevy instead. Whew.
Microsoft= ” Fix Or Repair Daily”
Apple doesn’t make in car entertainment systems. Maybe they should……
I love my Sync. I wouldn’t buy a car without it.
Have a 2011 Charger with uConnect system and it works like a charm with my iPhone and has great built-in voice control. In auto reviews, it surpasses the Ford SYNC system.
Ditto! Hey Barry, is that you from the Charger forums?
Let’s not pretend this is only a Microsoft problem. I have a 2009 Acura TL and the voice recognition on it SUCKS. 75% of the time it cannot recognize what I’m saying. And Apple is no better. When I plug in my iPhone 4, half the time the car thinks I’m going BT, despite the presence of the iPod cable plugged in to the phone. After I manually switch it to connected mode, half the time it will still switch back to BT on its own, and despite manually re-setting it to cable, switches back again. Maddening. No rhyme or reason.
Solution to ford and sync as follows:
Dump Ford POS and get a chevy.
Ipad2 with double sided tape.
All better now……
What was Ford thinking, teaming up with MicroStupid. We own a 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid (pre-Micro$oft) and were interested in trading it in for a newer model until we found out about this crap they put in their cars. Now we are looking else where for our new car.
My experience with SYNC on my son’s 2010 Ford Escape. My son’s iPhone 3GS won’t work with the USB connection. It recognizes it and the drops the USB connection. For my iPhone 4 or my iPod, it works. Of course to get it to play is a multi-step process. Plug in the iPhone/iPod. Click a button, turn dial to select USB Connection, click button, SYNC says that it was unable to sync the entire playlist, scroll dial to select Play Menu, click button, and finally music plays.
On my Acura TL and Hyundai Elantra, plug in iPhone/iPod, radio switches to iPod mode and begins playing.
Which would you rather do? Which would you rather hassle with while trying to drive? Thanks Microsoft!
We all know Microsoft’s track record. However, it wasn’t just Sync that has pulled Ford down in the rankings. The much-ballyhooed Ford “resurgence” was accomplished in no small measure due to cost-cutting in areas that shouldn’t have been. Engine and transmission issues were specifically mentioned as well as electronic entertainment crap.
Note also that J.D. Powers’ initial quality survey only measures the first 90 days of ownership. More problems will come out of the woodwork. Also note that the typical Porsche buyer is way pickier and will naturally report more problems than, say, a Kia buyer. That’s a natural bias in these surveys.
Summary of survey:
Lexus, Honda, Acura grabbed top three spots
Mercedes Benz improved in last few years to achieve #4 rank
Practically tied for 5th place are: Mazda, Porsche, Toyota, Infiniti, Cadillac, GMC
Note also that Chevrolet tied with BMW and outranks several luxury marks, as well as all Chrysler and Ford brands. Perhaps GM still does know how to build some solid cars.
If Toyota is so amazing, then why does its Scion brand consistently rank at the bottom of quality surveys, right next to Dodge?
A
Get in bed with Microsoft and you catch Microsoft Cooties.
DUH Factor.
One day last week I had to pull the battery out of my Windows laptop to unfreeze it … and I had to disconnect the battery on my 2011 Ford Focus to unfreeze Ford Sync. On the same day!
Thanks a lot MicroCrap!