• by Karl Greenberg , November 7, 2011

Rolling out technology innovations is a perilous business, especially in the automotive world. BMW learned that some years back when it launched the iDrive on 7-Series, an all-in-one toggle that confused owners. Ford found itself in the same boat late last year with MyFord Touch. The platform replaced dashboard buttons and knobs with a touchscreen, voice-activated interface, sort of an omni-functional system residing on Ford's successful Sync platform.  

The reaction was not only not great, it put a big dent in the automaker's rankings in such benchmark customer satisfaction and quality research as the J.D. Power & Associates Initial Quality Study, not to mention third-party reviews by the likes of Consumer Reports, and of course, the social media world, where complaint videos abound. The automaker and dealers faced complaints about system instability, complicated graphics, slow response time, spotty voice-activation, and other issues.

The fix is in, however, as Ford prepares to introduce a new version of MyFord Touch while sending current owners a software upgrade that gives them the new system as well. Starting with the 2013 Ford Escape, Flex and Taurus, the MyFord Touch system will have simpler graphics, a doubling of touchscreen response times and easier controls, per Ford.

“Our goal when designing the upgrade was to simplify the screens and give customers a fast and easy way to get information at any given moment,” said Jennifer Brace, user interface design engineer for Ford, in a statement. “That meant removing buttons, relocating high-use controls closer to the driver’s reach, simplifying tasks and improving font size.”

About a quarter million owners of Ford and Lincoln vehicles with current versions of the MyFord Touch platform will get a USB flash drive with the software upgrade. Ford says the drive can be plugged into the MyFord Touch Media Hub’s USB port, which automatically starts the upgrade. The USB-phobic can get the patch at dealerships.

It is not a minor detail, now that telematics is up there with fuel efficiency and safety as purchase drivers. The company says when it held post-launch clinics, putting engineers and owners together, it learned that MyFord Touch was a key reason for purchase. In March, Ford said it had installed the Sync platform in some two million Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles.

The automaker said a survey of 2011 Ford Edge owners shows that four of the top seven purchase reasons had to do with MyFord Touch: the touchscreen, steering wheel controls, voice recognition and dashboard styling. In designing the new system, the company put engineers in the same room with owners to talk about the system’s problems and how it could be improved. The company says the changes to the platform reflect insights from those meetings.

Graydon Reitz, director of Ford global electronics and electrical systems engineering, said the reason Ford was able to a relatively fast turnaround on a MyFord Touch patch for existing customers and a new version is because the Sync system is inherently flexible, as it was designed as a digital landing strip for smartphone content. He said in a statement: “Our strategy to create the Sync software platform and add the customizable screens of MyFord Touch gives us a level of flexibility and speed to respond to customer input like never before seen in the auto industry.”

Earlier this year, Ford added a MyFord Touch owner support website at www.syncmyride.com and training sessions for new owners.

Toyota, meanwhile, is putting the spotlight on its own telematics system, Entune, as part of its campaign for the 2012 Camry. The new ad, via Saatchi & Saatchi L.A., employs Grammy Award-winner Kelly Clarkson, Inside the Actors Studio's James Lipton, ESPN sportscaster Chris Berman, and Travel Channel's “Bizarre Foods” host Andrew Zimmern, and features the title track to Clarkson's "Stronger" LP, which they all sing as they are driving in the Camry.

The celebrities are intended to embody the Entune system's connection to various media channels, providing such content as ESPN sports, food reviews, Pandora, and tickets to movies and performances. The spot opens with Lipton, Berman, Zimmern and Clarkson walking into a hanger, then getting into the Camry. Once in, each one is featured within the context of the in-vehicle media offering that he or she represents.