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Ford tumbles to second worst in Consumer Reports reliability survey


racerx78
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It looks like MFT was the main reason for the downgrade. That and issue with a couple new cars that had recalls like the Ford Escape. I don't see how they can be that much against MFT that it brings down a brands rep. I can't comment on any earlier version of MFT but the current version is pretty good, and easy to use. I could use some faster hardware to improve responsiveness, and the OS can be further refined, but i don't find it confusing or a distraction while driving. Atleast i didn't after sat down a took 15mins to see how the system is actually setup.

 

 

It's no secret that MyFord Touch has had its share of problems since being introduced, but the most recent reliability survey from Consumer Reports shows just how much this infotainment system has affected Ford. Just two years ago, the automaker was in the top 10 for the institute's reliability rankings, but since then, it has tumbled to the second-lowest rung just above dead-last Jaguar. In addition to MyFord Touch, CR also attributes a handful of new products that have had issues right out of the gate.

 

Compiled from 1.2 million subscriber surveys, this year's auto reliability survey heavily favors Japanese automakers, with eight of the 10 spots hailing from Japan. Toyota brands grabbed the top three spots (Scion, Toyota and Lexus – in that order) with Mazda, Subaru, Honda and Acura filling the next four spots. The only non-Asian automaker cracking the top 10 was Audi at number eight.

 

Audi climbed a total of 18 spots from last year, and Cadillac and GMC round out this year's top gainers breaking into the top 15. Helping Cadillac's upward movement, the CTS Coupe was named the most reliable domestic car. Lincoln, Volvo and Chrysler join Ford on this year's biggest loser list.

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I hear what you are saying, but for those who need help, how is Ford Customer service/assistance? That can sway peoples votes as well. If a problem has been resolved quickly and easily, when filling a report out, I may forget I had the issue. But, when it is unresolved or was difficult to get cooperation to repair, I will certainly remember and report it.

 

I don't think Fords are any more unreliable than the dozen GM vehicles I have had, but I have found, in my own personal experience at my local dealer, and some observations here and on the MKS forum, Ford can be more difficult to deal with. Again, just my personal observations as I know there are stellar Ford dealers out there. However, Ford Customer assistance, for those with sub par dealers like me, is not great. I am just saying that things like that can intentionally, or unintentionally sway votes.

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I think some of the blame comes back to dealers, one thing I have noticed in my area, it seems as the dealerships get bought by bigger and bigger players, the level of service seems to go down. Also, I have never been a big fan of Consumer Reports. I like to relate the story that many years ago my wife and I were shopping for a 10" portable TV. My wife is a big devotee of CR so we went looking for their "#1" rated TV. According to them the price should have been around $400.00 for this top line RCA TV that they had ranked as the "best" 19" portable. However, we searched our area and never could find this model and those dealers who offered to get us one were always priced at over $600.00!!! So much for Consumer Reports ratings. That in addition to several items that they ranked that I was familiar with using, I always thought their rankings were off base. So it's OK to look over their rankings but I would never put too much faith in them.

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I agree - I used to really like CU and suscribed for about 15 years. But then, for several years, I found glaring repeat errors in their annual auto issues, which made me lose confidence. Also, same thing as you, we would look for a particular top rated product and could not locate one, or the info re: price or features was not accurate. I canceled my subscription about 5 years ago.

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Perception... will always get you in the long run when it comes to customer service. MFT did have a rocky start, but I noticed lately other Company's are offering simular interfaces .

 

CR believes its redundant and would just perfer dials, slides and buttons that due the same thing(they are stuck in the past). When MFT and Sync were launched the dealers were sent learning material to learn, from my experience most salesman dont know how or are not intresteded in teaching the consumer after the sale. When I bought my SHO though the dealer and my Salesman was more knowlegable on the system(maybe it a learning curve thing).

 

The newest update to MFT doesnt reboot and lock up as it did in the past on our 2011 Edge.

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The problem is, SYNC+MFT has a pretty steep learning curve. I am a 40 year old Tech Geek who works in IT. Even for me, it took a good 3 weeks before i completely understoof SYNC+MFT. Now, it is all second nature, and i could not imagine a car without it.

 

The problem is, these car reviewers get a couple hours to at most an over night with the car. Trying to use SYNC+MFT without reading and sitting in the driveway for a few hours is going to frustrate.

 

Add to that, new car surveys from ford usually come out the same week you buy your car.

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Perception... will always get you in the long run when it comes to customer service. MFT did have a rocky start, but I noticed lately other Company's are offering simular interfaces .

 

CR believes its redundant and would just perfer dials, slides and buttons that due the same thing(they are stuck in the past). When MFT and Sync were launched the dealers were sent learning material to learn, from my experience most salesman dont know how or are not intresteded in teaching the consumer after the sale. When I bought my SHO though the dealer and my Salesman was more knowlegable on the system(maybe it a learning curve thing).

 

The newest update to MFT doesnt reboot and lock up as it did in the past on our 2011 Edge.

 

I agree my salesman sat in the car with me and helped me sync my phone and use its other features. Also like you said after the latest update its more more stable. The layout is already very good, just need some more processing power/memory to help the interface move better.

 

The problem is, SYNC+MFT has a pretty steep learning curve. I am a 40 year old Tech Geek who works in IT. Even for me, it took a good 3 weeks before i completely understoof SYNC+MFT. Now, it is all second nature, and i could not imagine a car without it.

 

The problem is, these car reviewers get a couple hours to at most an over night with the car. Trying to use SYNC+MFT without reading and sitting in the driveway for a few hours is going to frustrate.

 

Add to that, new car surveys from ford usually come out the same week you buy your car.

 

I am also a self identified Geek/IT Guy which is why i figured why i didn't have much issue figuring it out.

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MFT (and MLT) is complicated. I have Sync with the 8" screen in both my 2010 SHO and 2011 MKZ, and I still have not mastered it. MFT is even worse for non Geeks.

 

MFT/MLT is so complicated, my Lincoln Dealer has one person whos primary job is to show customers how to use Sync and/or MLT. I have gone to her often to find out how to do things.

 

As for CR, they said they had MFT for six months, and even then, they had problems figuring it out. Note the lack of hard buttons and switches on MFT. All touch screen.

 

Ford made it much too complicated.

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I can understand how it did though. I had an Explorer Limited, stuffed with every option possible. I had horrible issues with the MFT system. It would freeze up, the back up cam would randomly freeze and I would have whatever the image was as my background of everything which made it hard to see. It would randomly not respond, the collision sensoring system was beyond screwed up. it would alert me of a collision when I was driving on an open road... nothing in the way so unless a ghost was crossing and it picked it up, then hmm. I called Ford and got given the run around several times and after the MFT decided it wanted to just not even boot up on day when I really needed the Navi for where I was going, I decided I had enough. No thanks to Ford, but thanks to my dealership, they took it back and let me get my SHO, no questions asked. No issues, nothing.

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There are no "problems" with it. It is just "new" for most people and it takes a week or two to make it feal natural.

 

Or as CR said, even after 3 (or was it 6) months, their drivers still had problems using the darn thing. If you can find a copy of that CR report, read it. I did. It was not just "new" and taking a week or two to make it feel natural.

 

BTW, whats wrong with having switches and push buttons in addition to a Nav Screen unlike MFT. I presently have my eye on a 2013 Ford product, but if I can't use the MFT, what good is it to me. As I said in a previous post, it took me many months to learn to use the Sync (with 8" Screen) plus I still have not mastered it even after 24 months of ownership.

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There are no "problems" with it. It is just "new" for most people and it takes a week or two to make it feal natural.

 

I'll mostly agree with you. There are still some minor glitches in the system as there are with most digital program. But ford continues to improve on them and they are less and less especially with this last update. The nice thing about MFT is that since its just soft ware updates are is to distribute and and backwards compatible so you don't have to buy a new car to get the most stable version. Sadly most people to take the short amount of time to understand the system or the expect it to be something its not meant to be which overly simplistic.

 

 

Or as CR said, even after 3 (or was it 6) months, their drivers still had problems using the darn thing. If you can find a copy of that CR report, read it. I did. It was not just "new" and taking a week or two to make it feel natural.

 

BTW, whats wrong with having switches and push buttons in addition to a Nav Screen unlike MFT. I presently have my eye on a 2013 Ford product, but if I can't use the MFT, what good is it to me. As I said in a previous post, it took me many months to learn to use the Sync (with 8" Screen) plus I still have not mastered it even after 24 months of ownership.

 

Maybe its because i work in computers and of a younger generation, that i feel i was able to get comfortable with the system within a couple weeks. The latest iteration of MFT is very simple to learn the basic functions of turning on and operating the climate control, stereo, Navi and phone options. The advanced settings are can get confusing but 99.9% of drivers don't use those features everyday. IMO most people who still complain about the system are expecting a iPhone super simplistic interface(which the current system isn't to far off of.) and because its not as easy as they want it they don't try to understand it. I work helping people with computer issues all day, and i know first hand that a person can use something for years and not understand anything about outside of what they need to do for work. I've heard the excuses that "i'm not technical" or "Computer illiterate". You don't have to be a Bill Gates to find the internet explorer icon, or that in MFT Yellow is Phone, Green is Navi, Red is Radio & Blue is Climate Control. Their also in the same place every time you start the system beyond that what else do you want.

 

Now the argument about buttons i can understand. In every other car i've had i learn by feel where all the buttons for everything is so i can make changes without having to look. With capacitive touch buttons on the '13 sony stereo/climate control you can't really do that longer. I'd been in the same outrage boat about this too, if it wasn't for the fact that all the controls there are redundant since you can control all that stuff via MFT screen which again is pretty straight forward. I also like that i don't have to worry about a physical button wearing out and getting stuck years down the line.

 

Again i don't believe they system is perfect but i don't think its as bad as people decry.

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In regards to buttons.....

 

The music system can be used 100% without the use of the touch screen. The BIG volume knob and seek controlls + the right steering wheel joystick, make any function open without use of the touch screen.

 

The only thing I have relied on use of the touch screen are heated seats and heeted wheel.

 

I use voice for all nave controlls. And I use voice for phone controlls.

 

I have had the car 10 weeks now, and anything i want to do in the car is 100% second nature now. I could not imagine a car with this type of interface. I wont go back to "buttons". Buttons are so 2006 :)

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In regards to buttons.....

 

The music system can be used 100% without the use of the touch screen. The BIG volume knob and seek controlls + the right steering wheel joystick, make any function open without use of the touch screen.

 

The only thing I have relied on use of the touch screen are heated seats and heeted wheel.

 

I use voice for all nave controlls. And I use voice for phone controlls.

 

I have had the car 10 weeks now, and anything i want to do in the car is 100% second nature now. I could not imagine a car with this type of interface. I wont go back to "buttons". Buttons are so 2006 :)

 

Yes....I forgot all about voice control

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Don't know if I'm missing something with what system is available on various Fords, however today, I visited Courtesy Ford in Sanford Florida, to check out the loaded 2013 Fusion Titanium 2.0 Ecoboost they have on the showroom floor. (MSRP over $33,000). One of the things I noticed is that it has the Sync (like both my 2010 SHO and 2011 MKZ). It is not the MFT, or at least it does not look like the MFT that I've seen elsewhere. This Fusion Titanium with 2.0 Ecoboost has buttons and switches below the 8" screen. I walked over to a 2013 SHO and that car does have the MFT. No buttone or switches at all.

 

I want to see what the 1.6 Ecoboost prices out at.

 

If the loaded Fusion does indeed use the Sync like my SHO and MKZ, yes I'll be tempted to buy one.

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I walked over to a 2013 SHO and that car does have the MFT. No buttone or switches at all.

 

.

 

The entire lower stack below the screen is buttons and a big round knob for volume. Now they may not be a "mashable" button that you physically have to push in. But they are buttons meaning you dont have to use the touch screen.

 

The steering wheel joystick is a button in my book as well.

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There are no "problems" with it. It is just "new" for most people and it takes a week or two to make it feal natural.

 

There's been updates and I'm very use to the systems like that. The issues a lot of people have complained about lately is that it doesn't exactly work with phones well, particularly iPhones which isn't an Apple issue, it's MFT. It works on SYNC but not the MFT/MLT. There's also issues with how it recognizes MP3 players, etc. To generalize it as if most people are just not tech-savvy enough to grasp MFT is a little pretentious if that's what you're saying. It's got it's issues and Ford has remained mum on what they are doing to fix the kinks but instead are just releasing updates. It's worse that Bethesda Games not letting PS3 owners know what's up with Skyrim DLC's for it and dodging the questions but keep making them for xbox 360.

 

Yes I made a video gaming reference... I know I know.. nerd.

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OK, visited a couple dealers yesterday to check out the new beautiful 2013 Fusion. I'm now eating crow, as I now love the new Fusion. When the Titanium equiped with the things I want come into any of the dealers I can work with, I will probably buy one. All Titaniums come with the 2.0 Ecoboost engine. Only engine available.

 

Eating crow because now I better understand how Ford is equiping these cars. Just because the car has an 8" touch screen does not mean that it has the GPS Navi option. The Titanium comes with the MFT (8" screen) standard, however it does not have the GPS Navi option. That is an additional $795. BTW, Ford calls the system "Sync with MFT" before adding the GPS Navi option. As I said before, the Titaniums I looked at with the Sync w/MFT do have switches/buttons below the screen. I like that. (With my present two cars, if it came with the 8" Screen, it automaticly has the GPS Navi).

 

I looked at two BEAUTIFUL White 2013 Fusions yesterday, but both of them were lacking one thing I must have.

One did not have the Driver Assist Pkg (BLIS that I want, and other things I don't care about) but did have the GPS Navi.

The other did not have the GPS Navi, but does have the Driver Assist Pkg. I want both options.

 

Also, in looking through the brochure, I see that these cars do not have the "universal garage door opener" that is a must have, unless you opt to buy the Power Moonroof. I.E. you must buy the Power Moonroof to get the Universal Garage Door Opener. This is DUMB. Both my present cars have the Power Moonroof, and I've had problems with both, and really don't want that option again. DUMB DUMB DUMB. Universal Garage Door Opener SHOULD be standard on the Titanium.

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