The optional SYNC with MyFord Touch system on new Ford vehicles is quite an impressive system that lets the driver change settings on a lot of the gadgets, all without the need to remove one’s hands from the steering wheels, or take eyes off the road.
A lot of the journalists that review Ford vehicles, however, complain about how complicated the system is and how it frustrates them. Personally, I’ve reviewed quite a few Ford vehicles and I found it very easy to use, right from the get-go. If you’re not 100+ years old, you should be able to get the hang of it after using it for a day; less time if you’re tech savvy. The voice command system controls the navigation, entertainment, climate, and cell phone (connected via Bluetooth).
Navigation
If you want to navigate to an address and know the address, below are the steps you’ll need to go through for the navigation system to chart you a proper route.
- Click the voice command button on the steering wheel
- The system will say “please say a command”
- Say “navigation”
- Then “destination”
- Then “street address”
- The system is ready and you tell it the address you’d like to go to.
- The system will show you the address on the touch screen, if correct, say “set as destination”
If the system has recognized the address, you’re on your way to your destination. If the nice lady didn’t understand the address, she/it will give you more options. Out of all the functions in the SYNC system, the navigation is the hardest to master (not saying it’s hard, it’s just a bit more complicated than the others), but once you get the hang of it, it becomes second nature.
Entertainment
The entertainment system is very easy to use with SYNC, in step 3 of the above outline, say “radio” or “Sirius satellite” and the system will ask you for a pre-set station or you can manually tell it the frequency. It’s pretty simple.
Climate
Using SYNC for climate is quite simple, you can tell the system to turn the fan speed up or down, and set the temperature.
Phone
Once you have your phone connected to SYNC, which takes around a minute to connect, you can start making calls. Just pick phone and then then say “call Jack” (or whoever you want to call, as long as they’re in your phone directory) or just say the number like 364-5555 and the system will dial it for you.
Looking at the steps above, it’s obvious the SYNC with MyFord Touch system is pretty easy to use. I know I have more experience with the system because I’ve been test driving a lot of Ford vehicles but it didn’t take me much time to learn it. Obviously, no system is perfect and there are some glitches once in a while but overall it works as advertised.
Hopefully this guide is helpful, if you’re still having trouble, the system comes with a tutorial and a list of commands that the system understands.
