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joekiser writes "In 2010, Ford Motor Company was rated as top-five automotive manufacturer in terms of quality, per J.D. Power and Associates. This was a major turnaround for the automotive giant, which had faced bankruptcy just two years prior. This high reliability rating would be short lived however; Ford began installing touch screen hubs powered by Microsoft SYNC, which were both confusing and buggy.
By 2012, Ford quality rankings had dropped to 23rd, even after numerous software upgrades and a rebranding of SYNC to "MyFordTouch." One customer reported:
"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."
This slide continued into 2013, when Ford ranked 27th of 28 brands (as an aside, Ford's premium brand, Lincoln, ranked one slot higher that year at 26th).
Apparently, Ford Motor Company has had enough. On Friday, the Detroit News reported that Ford will make the switch to QNX on future vehicles. This is the same platform currently used by Acura, Audi, BMW, and Land Rover."
[ED Note: "Ford Motor Company's decision to move to QNX aside, I'll be heavily considering a Blackberry for my next phone, especially with rumors of a 64-bit octa-core model for later this year. BB10 also has gotten rave reviews for its design and ease-of-use."]
(Score: 2, Interesting) by beckett on Sunday February 23 2014, @09:12PM
my car is 2001my, so it has an OBD and fuel injection, but it doesn't have that horrible, distraction-filled, touch-screen based, multi-purpose centre console that seem to be built into every new car and truck. I still have a 'normal', single-din radio, and these seem to be endangered species as well.
I realize my particular car proclivity is basically extinct if i ever decide to upgrade, but there is something to appreciate with a sijmple car that was just meant to drive around, carry things and people, and not have it auto-bluetooth pair with every piece of equipment in my knapsack and share my address book and browsing history with the onstar operator every time i lock my keys in the car.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by smurd on Sunday February 23 2014, @09:41PM
Car companies are totally incapable of keeping up with consumer electronics.
Now I have my little bluetooth receiver in it, and the transport controls are on my pebble watch.
I can upgrade the electronics anytime for much less then $35K.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 23 2014, @10:26PM
And a cheapskate. :-)
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 23 2014, @11:28PM
why throw away something that works and runs properly?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2014, @12:05AM
Who told you to throw stuff away?
(Score: 1) by Grishnakh on Monday February 24 2014, @02:04AM
but it doesn't have that horrible, distraction-filled, touch-screen based, multi-purpose centre console that seem to be built into every new car and truck.
Have you only been looking at high-end vehicles? Go look at the econoboxes, and it should be pretty easy to find cars without touchscreens. The Mazda 3, for instance, I'm fairly sure does not have any kind of touchscreen (either standard or optional).
(Score: 1) by beckett on Monday February 24 2014, @02:47AM
(Score: 1) by Grishnakh on Monday February 24 2014, @08:45PM
Wow, that's depressing. Who the heck still wants a factory nav system anyway? I can tell from the photos in the article that this car's nav system is clunky and already obsolete, and the car is brand new!