Sync is Losing it?

[Jimrpa]

Has anyone else noticed that Sync capabilities are deteriorating over time? Voice recognition getting flaky, nav deciding that you’re going to mysterious destinations you’ve never programmed, being alerted to unbuckled seatbelts in the rear seat when you’re alone in the car, SiriusXM randomly changing stations when you start the car, and of course PaaK. I really get the feeling that Sync is a precursor for HAL 9000 ?

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[mwsno]

Are a lot of these features reliant on cell connectivity? Also, wonder what provider Ford uses for the connectivity.

 

[bruceski88]

Are a lot of these features reliant on cell connectivity? Also, wonder what provider Ford uses for the connectivity.

Ford uses AT&T according to Fordpass guides. If you loose connectivity functions may mot work according to them.

 

[mpshizzle]

... being alerted to unbuckled seatbelts in the rear seat when you’re alone in the car, SiriusXM randomly changing stations when you start the car...

Ford uses AT&T according to Fordpass guides. If you loose connectivity functions may mot work according to them.

Yes yes indeed.. I'm so glad my car needs cell service to tell me if a seatbelt is unbuckled ??

 

[JamieGeek]

Well if you turn off the predicted destinations it will stop suggesting places to go.

You can also turn off the rear seat reminder.

 

[JoeDimwit]

Well if you turn off the predicted destinations it will stop suggesting places to go.

You can also turn off the rear seat reminder.

Disabling features is a less than ideal solution.

 

[JamieGeek]

Disabling features is a less than ideal solution.

Not necessarily: If you don't have children then you don't need the rear seat reminder (its there so you look back and see if you have a child in the seat).

In addition: If you have a regular commute you don't need the suggested destinations either: "Yes car I know I'm going to work this morning, thanks".

 

[JoeDimwit]

Not necessarily: If you don't have children then you don't need the rear seat reminder (its there so you look back and see if you have a child in the seat).

In addition: If you have a regular commute you don't need the suggested destinations either: "Yes car I know I'm going to work this morning, thanks".

I have a 45-53 minute drive between home and work, depending on which of 3 routes I take. If there are traffic issues on route prime, my car can route me along whichever of the secondary routes is moving best. But, not with suggested destinations turned off… The entire point of suggested destinations is for the car to learn (literally using machine learning) your routine, so it can make intelligent suggestions exactly like that.

 

[JamieGeek]

I have a 45-53 minute drive between home and work, depending on which of 3 routes I take. If there are traffic issues on route prime, my car can route me along whichever of the secondary routes is moving best. But, not with suggested destinations turned off… The entire point of suggested destinations is for the car to learn (literally using machine learning) your routine, so it can make intelligent suggestions exactly like that.

Interesting point: So how is it working? Has the car saved you any time?

I have had the normal route planning direct me around traffic jams. That was prettly slick but no machine learning needed for that...just real-time traffic data.

 

[SteveJo]

....I really get the feeling that Sync is a precursor for HAL 9000 ?

 

[JoeDimwit]

Interesting point: So how is it working? Has the car saved you any time?

I have had the normal route planning direct me around traffic jams. That was prettly slick but no machine learning needed for that...just real-time traffic data.

I honestly don’t know yet. I think the car is still learning, and I work afternoon shift so there is significantly less traffic when I’m typically on the road. I do know that occasionally it will throw up the secondary route rather than the prime one. But that route is more eco, so I’m not sure if that’s what’s triggering it or if there is traffic on the prime.

 

[Jimrpa]

Not necessarily: If you don't have children then you don't need the rear seat reminder (its there so you look back and see if you have a child in the seat).

In addition: If you have a regular commute you don't need the suggested destinations either: "Yes car I know I'm going to work this morning, thanks".

Call me silly, but I’d prefer the vehicle to work as intended. You’re suggesting a lung cancer patient take a cough suppressant to take care of the hacking cough. The cancer is still there and spreading. (Apologies for the disturbing analogy.)

 

[JamieGeek]

Call me silly, but I’d prefer the vehicle to work as intended. You’re suggesting a lung cancer patient take a cough suppressant to take care of the hacking cough. The cancer is still there and spreading. (Apologies for the disturbing analogy.)

Not at all. I was merely suggesting turning off options if you aren't going to use them. That is all.

If you don't have a child there is no need to have the rear seat warning turned on...pretty simple really.

That isn't making the vehicle NOT work as intended..they put the option to turn it off in there (its not like we have to run an OBD-II scanner and flip a bit to force that feature off). If its on the menu Ford intended it to be an option for the user to turn on/off....otherwise why put it there at all??

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

Not at all. I was merely suggesting turning off options if you aren't going to use them. That is all.

If you don't have a child there is no need to have the rear seat warning turned on...pretty simple really.

That isn't making the vehicle NOT work as intended..they put the option to turn it off in there (its not like we have to run an OBD-II scanner and flip a bit to force that feature off). If its on the menu Ford intended it to be an option for the user to turn on/off....otherwise why put it there at all??

I think you're kind of both right here.

Ideally you wouldn't have any bugs there in the first place, but there's a setting to turn off the warning so that if you know it's not meaningful for you in any case, you can turn it off.

For now that makes it a useful workaround for a bug that shouldn't be there.

 

[imstriker]

Has anyone else noticed that Sync capabilities are deteriorating over time? Voice recognition getting flaky, nav deciding that you’re going to mysterious destinations you’ve never programmed, being alerted to unbuckled seatbelts in the rear seat when you’re alone in the car, SiriusXM randomly changing stations when you start the car, and of course PaaK. I really get the feeling that Sync is a precursor for HAL 9000 ?

Yes, I would say I 100% notice this. Sync seems like one really long memory leak situation to me. It seems to get slower just about every day at getting itself woke up. The worst case seems to be when you switch profiles. Some settings do not get restored, presets take a long time to show up, random unmoving destinations on the countdown, etc. I think the pour thing is just worn out most of the time and really struggling to wake up.

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