Ford Still Committed to My Ford Touch
We’ve had our issues with MyFord Touch, and Consumer Reports has gone so far as to not recommend some vehicles with the system. But Ford remains committed to the multimedia interface, saying that 85% of people who own vehicles with MyFord Touch find it easy to use.
Furthermore, Ford says 80 percent of users would recommend the system to someone considering the car.
So while others see issues, that’s “not what we see from our data” from owners, Ford spokesman Alan Hall said. The data comes from a survey done in the first quarter of this year and includes impressions from owners of Ford Edge, Ford Explorer and Lincoln MKX vehicles with MyFord and MyLincoln Touch.
Ford acknowledges there’s room for improvement. “We’re not saying it’s perfect,” Hall said.
The technology likely led to a giant drop in the company's ranking in J.D. Power and Associates’ annual Initial Quality Study. Ford sank from fifth in the industry to 23rd. While it wasn't cited specifically as the reason for Ford's drop, J.D. Power said systems like MyFord Touch are leading to more problems for new vehicles.
To address that, Ford has updated the software in MyFord Touch since it rolled out and will add bolder text readouts for the 2013 model year. The company is also attempting to mimic Apple’s Genius Bar in its dealerships. Hall said one thing Ford learned from owners is that they wanted a briefing of the features of MyFord Touch, so dealers are setting up appointments with owners to go over all the system’s features, just like Apple does at its stores.
While Ford may not be admitting it made a misstep with MyFord Touch, it is being proactive in improving the experience for customers.
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“We’re not saying it’s perfect,”
Boy, that's an understatement. Another lousy product made by Microsoft. The screens are ugly, clunky, difficult to use.
Ford, hire Apple or a decent interface designer to fix the bad design.
Actually Microsoft has become very innovative with its UI design. Windows Phone 7 is just one example. The Office Ribbon is another. The phone is actually very cool.
Problem is that Microsoft didn't create the UI for MyFord Touch. A vendor, I believe BSquare did.
Having one click operations, using a Pan and click metaphor and focusing on performance of the UI would probably be a great place to start. I'm pretty sure they have gotten feedback from Ford and their customers.
Sony designed the UI not Microsoft. The engine of sync is Microsoft. Try Ford Sync which is 100% Microsoft and you will have a different story. My family has both and my wife gets the nice Sync UI. SONY for the fail.