DEARBORN, Mich. — The Ford Motor Company began adding touch-screen control systems to some of its most popular models two years ago as a way to stand out from the rest of the industry and draw in new customers.þþBut after many buyers grew frustrated with flaws in the system, known as MyFord Touch and developed with Microsoft, Ford’s quality ratings plunged and a feature meant to increase loyalty instead damaged perceptions of the company.þþMyFord Touch replaces many of the traditional knobs and buttons in a vehicle with touch screens, steering wheel-mounted controls and spoken commands.þþ“I think they were too willing to rush something out because of the flashiness of it rather than the functionality,” said Michael Hiner, a former stock-car racing crew chief in Akron, Ohio, who bought a Ford Edge Limited last year largely because he and his wife were intrigued by MyFord Touch.þþNow Ford has issued a major upgrade that redesigns much of what customers see on the screen and tries to resolve complaints about the system crashing or rebooting while the vehicle is being driven. Ford said on Monday that the upgrade made the touch screens respond to commands more quickly, improved voice recognition capabilities and simplified a design that some say had the potential to create more distractions for drivers who tried to use it on the road. Fonts and buttons on the screen have been enlarged, and the layouts of more than 1,000 screens have been revamped.þþ“We expect that these improvements will put us back on track in the quality ratings,” said Derrick Kuzak, Ford’s group vice president for global product development. “It’s more than just an update. This is a substantial upgrade.”þþFord is taking the unusual step of sending the upgrade directly to customers, who can install the new software in about an hour by plugging in a USB flash drive.þþDealers, which can perform the procedure if customers prefer, received the upgrade kits Monday, and the more than 300,000 customers with MyFord Touch in their vehicles can expect their USB drive in the mail later this week, Ford said.þþIrritation with MyFord Touch was cited last week by Consumer Reports as a big reason that Ford fell to 10th place on this year’s Automaker Report Card, from fifth in 2011. Ford dropped 10 places in the publication’s predicted reliability survey last year and plummeted to 23rd place, from fifth, in the most recent initial quality survey by J. D. Power & Associates. Both surveys showed poor scores for models with MyFord Touch.þþDavid Champion, the senior director of auto testing for Consumer Reports, said improving the software should resolve some customer issues, but he said he believed a touch screen would always be harder for drivers to use than traditional knobs and switches, even if it looked more exciting to shoppers.þþ“It’s an idea that I don’t think really belongs in a car to a certain extent,” Mr. Champion said. “It is a very complex system that they’ve put in, that works great if you’re in a showroom and not having to look where you’re going.”þþFord has been among the industry’s leaders in introducing communication and entertainment technology in recent years. Rivals like General Motors, Chrysler and Toyota have been adding similar features, though they are generally less complex and have not generated as much negative feedback.þþFord’s system incorporates the car’s climate controls, hands-free communication, navigation and entertainment into one screen on the console and has another customizable display where the speedometer and other gauges are usually located.þþFord insists it is committed to the touch-screen approach and that customers love it, aside from the issues targeted by the new upgrade. It said MyFord Touch and its underlying software, known as Ford Sync, were an important part of the purchase decision for 56 percent of Ford buyers and that 77 percent of owners now used voice commands to control their vehicle’s audio and information system.þþRoughly four out of every five people who have bought a 2012 Ford Explorer or Edge chose one with MyFord Touch, which is available only on configurations that cost at least $5,000 more than the base model.þþThe basic version of Ford Sync, which was introduced in 2007 and does not use a touch screen, costs $295 and now comes standard on some models.þþMyFord Touch is included in nearly 10 percent of the vehicles Ford has sold in the United States since introducing the system in late 2010. It is currently available on the Edge, Explorer and Focus and on the Lincoln MKX as MyLincoln Touch.þþMr. Hiner, the Edge buyer, said he had always driven and been involved with racing General Motors products, and his wife was loyal to Toyota. The couple considered a Toyota Highlander sport utility vehicle but settled on the Edge because of MyFord Touch. “It was the deciding factor in us buying that over the Highlander,” he said. “We just felt like the Edge offered more.”þþBut a year later, Mr. Hiner, now a stay-at-home father, has run out of patience with MyFord Touch, having taken the car repeatedly to his dealership for help, to no avail. He said the navigation system often malfunctioned, the rearview camera frequently stayed on while the vehicle was moving forward and the system randomly rebooted. The voice controls typically do not work until the vehicle has been on for five to 10 minutes, meaning short trips require dialing phone calls by hand, only to have the call cut off when the system finally starts up, he said.þþFord officials say they have listened to customer feedback in developing the upgrade, a process that started as soon as the system was introduced.þþGraydon Reitz, Ford’s director for global electronics and electrical systems engineering, said the new software eliminated error messages and was now usually able to fix problems on its own when they occurred.þþAnother change moves the switch for controlling the heated seats onto the home screen. Previously, a driver had to press the screen several times to reach the correct menu option.þþTo ensure both the software and the upgrade process work as expected, Ford had 1,700 employees and dealers try it out for three months to collect feedback.þþFord is adding MyFord Touch as an option to seven more models this year. In doing so, it addressed another common problem that current owners cannot fix with new software: a touch-sensitive area under the touch screen that activates the hazard lights has been replaced with a mechanical button, because Ford learned that drivers were inadvertently turning on the hazard lights as they rested their hand while waiting for the system to respond.
Source: NY Times
