SYNC 4 needs bug fixes

[RustyL]

So frustrated. I have a 2022 F150 with 13,000 miles on it. Love the truck, engine, interior and so on but SYNC 4 is awful. The back up camera freezes, and the system reboots from time to time while I'm driving. This can happen as much as twice a week and has gotten worse in the last 2-3 months. Is this normal and I'm just complaining? I stopped at a dealership the other day and someone who's worked with F1 50s for five years said she's never heard of this issue. Is this possible? When I call Ford all they can tell me to do is to go to a dealership and have them look at it but if I call the dealership and ask about it, they say that issue has to present itself while it's in the shop. The odds of this happening, while I'm in the shop are slim to none. And even if it did present itself, what are they gonna do? I assume the only thing that they would do is to reset the system, which I've already done. Does anyone else have these issues and if so, were you able to do anything about it? I was also told that the only time over the air updates come out is for a feature update versus bug fixes. We all have phones in our pockets and computers at home that get computer updates for bug fixes and so on, why can't Ford do the same?

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[kenmore99]

Yes-have had my 2022 KR for 4 weeks now with 10k miles and the camera does not come on every couple of days. I started a thread last week and software problems are common. Will deal with that after I deal with my leaking like a sieve sun/moonroof. Shoulda never traded the 2017 Lariat with 76kmiles.....

 

[Snakebitten]

When I read about these "bugs" it always makes me wonder if it's hardware, firmware, or just software.

All trucks, specifically not all 2022s exhibit the same behavior.

While I have experienced a couple of Sync4 APIM reboots with no explanation for the cause, I don't have any camera issues, Bluetooth or AA issues, nor instability of any kind that I have noticed.

This truck is a fully dolled up KingRanch with every connected service subscribed. (except Sirius/XM)

It's so irritating to consider the disparity across trucks with supposedly the same electronics. I just wish it was explainable, regardless of the cause.

 

[RustyL]

Obviously trucks and cars are dramatically different than they were 10+ years ago. This should be a good thing for the auto makers like Ford. With over the air updates, they have the ability to keep making the them "better". This is where my confusion comes in...... they aren't doing it. They should have an entire group of people with the sole purpose of making sure over the air updates, including bug fixes, are made to those vehicles. This is their chance to impress, not to disappoint. If system reboots and backup camera freezing aren't because of a bug then it has to be hardware, and if that's the case it needs to be fixed. I have an eight year old Apple iPad Pro. It has always worked flawlessly. There's no way in hell that the operating system in an F150 is smarter than an iPad, yet I was told it cost $6000 to replace screen/computer. Ridiculous.

 

[powerboatr]

other than walmart garden shop parking, my sync 4 is pretty dependable,
i do get the occasional reboot , or blanks screen

 

[redline]

What version of sync do you have? , early on i experienced some issues but lately it has been much better...

 

[ofcwhiskeymike]

Bugs take time to fix. I can say Sync 4 is LIGHTYEARS better than whatever Chevy is using in their Tahoes. There are 6 distinct spots in the city where my Tahoe’s CarPlay drops completely forcing the whole damn system to drop out. Never have the issue in the F150 in the same spots.

 

[RustyL]

My software version is "23159_PRODUCT Revision:915". This was my first truck ever ( and first vehicle with a screen) so I drove all of them including, Chevy, RAM, and Toyota. I am a graphic designer, so one of the important things to me was the look and feel and the ease of use of these big screens. This is one of the reasons I picked Ford. But, only driving each of these for 30 minutes or so is of course not enough time to see issues that could appear.

 

[shooters1380]

I’ve noticed some really strange issues with mine. Usually a reboot will fix it but mine seems to be directly related to CarPlay.

Screen changes to really odd colors for no reason sometimes and the one that really annoys me is sometimes there’s massive distortion coming thru the sound system when using the CarPlay and streaming the music. I’ve really noticed it when you stop for a brief minute or two for gas or run in and grab coffee where you gone from the truck for a few minutes. That forces a reboot to clear it out. So yeah, I’ve had issues but strangely nothing with cameras. Yet……….

 

[RustyL]

I’ve noticed some really strange issues with mine. Usually a reboot will fix it but mine seems to be directly related to CarPlay.

Screen changes to really odd colors for no reason sometimes and the one that really annoys me is sometimes there’s massive distortion coming thru the sound system when using the CarPlay and streaming the music. I’ve really noticed it when you stop for a brief minute or two for gas or run in and grab coffee where you gone from the truck for a few minutes. That forces a reboot to clear it out. So yeah, I’ve had issues but strangely nothing with cameras. Yet……….

Wow... That sounds awful. So far for me, CarPlay has been great. The only issue I guess is with Spotify, sometimes needing to be logged in and out of. When I first got the truck, we had trouble connecting multiple phones through CarPlay but I think one of the early updates I received from Ford fixed this issue.

 

[PaulGrun]

I think most of us are laboring under some misconceptions concerning how dfficult Ford has made it for themselves to maintain these systems, which translates into annoyance and frustration for us consumers.
I'm retired now, but spent my career working on high technology systems - specifically supercomputers. These are massive systems requiring unbelievable levels of integration of h/w, s/w, and f/w. So I have some vague idea of the challenges Ford is facing in fielding these complex systems.
I think most of us imagine that Ford has roomfuls of architects and engineers designing there complex, integrated ssystems.
Were only that were so!
Turns out that most or all modules are designed and supplied by various third party suppliers, in some cases to Ford specs and in many cases as off the shelf subsystems. As far as I can tell, the only place these subsystems interface is via the CAN bus. For example, I strongly suspect that the lane centering system is a component of whichever vendor is developing Ford's autonomous driving features (e.g. Bluecruise) while the lane keeping feature is a product of an entirely different vendor. The result is that we have two separate features that at least at some level have similar objectives (keep the truck out of the ditch) but which function differently and exhibit wildly different behaviors. This leads to some understandable confusion for us users.
What this means is that Ford is at the mercy of these suppliers to debug, troubleshoot, validate, and maintain these systems. As I understand it, in many cases Ford doesn't even have access to the source code, much less debug tools and techniques. So for example, a trouble report, bug report, or feature enhancement is submitted to the supplier, but when and how that supplier responds is probably a black box to Ford.
How did we get here? Simple. it would have taken decades for Ford to have developed these subsystems in house, not to mention the gigantic cost of doing so.
In short, Ford is left with a very messy systems engineering prol of which we as consumers are the victims.

 

[RustyL]

I think most of us are laboring under some misconceptions concerning how dfficult Ford has made it for themselves to maintain these systems, which translates into annoyance and frustration for us consumers.
I'm retired now, but spent my career working on high technology systems - specifically supercomputers. These are massive systems requiring unbelievable levels of integration of h/w, s/w, and f/w. So I have some vague idea of the challenges Ford is facing in fielding these complex systems.
I think most of us imagine that Ford has roomfuls of architects and engineers designing there complex, integrated ssystems.
Were only that were so!
Turns out that most or all modules are designed and supplied by various third party suppliers, in some cases to Ford specs and in many cases as off the shelf subsystems. As far as I can tell, the only place these subsystems interface is via the CAN bus. For example, I strongly suspect that the lane centering system is a component of whichever vendor is developing Ford's autonomous driving features (e.g. Bluecruise) while the lane keeping feature is a product of an entirely different vendor. The result is that we have two separate features that at least at some level have similar objectives (keep the truck out of the ditch) but which function differently and exhibit wildly different behaviors. This leads to some understandable confusion for us users.
What this means is that Ford is at the mercy of these suppliers to debug, troubleshoot, validate, and maintain these systems. As I understand it, in many cases Ford doesn't even have access to the source code, much less debug tools and techniques. So for example, a trouble report, bug report, or feature enhancement is submitted to the supplier, but when and how that supplier responds is probably a black box to Ford.
How did we get here? Simple. it would have taken decades for Ford to have developed these subsystems in house, not to mention the gigantic cost of doing so.
In short, Ford is left with a very messy systems engineering prol of which we as consumers are the victims.

Nicely said, and I somewhat understand. It wouldn't surprise me if some auto makers are buying "tech/info" from Tesla just because they have a head start and have put the money into the tech. In theory these screens/tech should get better for Ford and everyone as these types of systems become the norm..if they aren't already.

 

[ReverendQ]

I think most of us are laboring under some misconceptions concerning how dfficult Ford has made it for themselves to maintain these systems, which translates into annoyance and frustration for us consumers.
I'm retired now, but spent my career working on high technology systems - specifically supercomputers. These are massive systems requiring unbelievable levels of integration of h/w, s/w, and f/w. So I have some vague idea of the challenges Ford is facing in fielding these complex systems.
I think most of us imagine that Ford has roomfuls of architects and engineers designing there complex, integrated ssystems.
Were only that were so!
Turns out that most or all modules are designed and supplied by various third party suppliers, in some cases to Ford specs and in many cases as off the shelf subsystems. As far as I can tell, the only place these subsystems interface is via the CAN bus. For example, I strongly suspect that the lane centering system is a component of whichever vendor is developing Ford's autonomous driving features (e.g. Bluecruise) while the lane keeping feature is a product of an entirely different vendor. The result is that we have two separate features that at least at some level have similar objectives (keep the truck out of the ditch) but which function differently and exhibit wildly different behaviors. This leads to some understandable confusion for us users.
What this means is that Ford is at the mercy of these suppliers to debug, troubleshoot, validate, and maintain these systems. As I understand it, in many cases Ford doesn't even have access to the source code, much less debug tools and techniques. So for example, a trouble report, bug report, or feature enhancement is submitted to the supplier, but when and how that supplier responds is probably a black box to Ford.
How did we get here? Simple. it would have taken decades for Ford to have developed these subsystems in house, not to mention the gigantic cost of doing so.
In short, Ford is left with a very messy systems engineering prol of which we as consumers are the victims.

Well said @PaulGrun and I would add this is no different then most electronics. Worst, IMO, is that we not only sold our manufacturing soul but also our design soul to a culture of "good enough and cheap" exists over "reliable and valuable".

 

[RustyL]

Well said @PaulGrun and I would add this is no different then most electronics. Worst, IMO, is that we not only sold our manufacturing soul but also our design soul to a culture of "good enough and cheap" exists over "reliable and valuable".

I must be naïve because I figured Ford was above that. Perhaps being the number one seller doesn't mean they have to be....that makes no sense, right?

 

[Tenchi]

This is what mine does when going into reverse after a 10 min drive:

It makes the BRRR noise when driving for about 1 second. On longer trips it will make the same noise for 10-15 seconds and the whole screen will freeze until self reboot.

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