Just recieved a postcard from Sync saying I need an upgrade. Suppose to contact dealer for an appointment, and pay $50 + tax for the upgrade. Took delivery of unit 12/31/08, F150 Platinum. Is this going to happen very often?

 

Gee that sounds pretty crazy to me. A month or so ago I did two upgrades to me sync system. The were downloaded from the internet onto a flash drive and then uploaded to my sync system.

No cost.

I have received nothing about paying for an update. If there is something they want to update and they cannot download it as I did then why isn't it covered by warranty?

 

There are two different Sync upgrades. One is freely downloaded at mysync and updates theough the USB (instructions on website). The second is a dealer upgrade to give you 911 and Vehicle History Report services. The reason for the dealer involvement is likely due to the nature of the upgrade...hard reset and perhaps liability (emergency service has to work properly). You may be able to talk your dealer into doing it for free during your first service or oil change since he may have "suggested" that the system included these features when you bought the truck. At least that is what I'm going to do.

 

the 9-1-1 assist upgrade requires that we hook up our IDS laptop to the truck to install the update, the software is only available through Fords web service and i believe it is do to the nature of the update and the fact that it is Proprietary software. so i tech does have to spend time to do the update so there will be a charge.

 

What exactly is the 911 assist upgrade anyways? I assume mine will have it, but what's the purpose? Is it like an on-star thing where if you're in a crash your GPS locates you and then EMS is called to the scene?

 

yes, if the airbags deploy it will automatically dial 9-1-1 through sync and your cell phone.

if you go to www.syncmyride.com you can read more or ford.com

 

But if you don't have your phone (duh) or the phone is thrown out of the vehicle for whatever reason, is damaged during impact, etc.....then the 911 assist will not work.

 

I did the same. Not to difficult, just print out the directions and follow them.

 

just have to not forget your phone, and its highly unlikely your phone would be destroyed in a accident. so its better then not having anything.

 

There was a test about on the net between the 911 assit and the onstar system and the 911 assit was said to be more realible due to not haveing to have line of sight for signal and a roll over your onstar would be damaged. The great thing is that even if your phone gets thrown from the truck it has a unreal range. I walked about 100ft from the truck and it was still working.

 

Can we downgrade our sync to take this feature off. I have the 911 assist off, it reminds me which is fine, vut it muted my radio which i hate.

I guess the next step would be to get another radio.

 

@jcaru: I doubt they would do it for liability reasons, that's disabling a "safety feature" of the vehicle and the person who does that is liable if there is a lawsuit after the fact. Kinda like telling the dealer to remove the seat belts or disable all airbags you can do it if you have the equipment but they won't do it for you.

If you had it added they may be able to do it since it would be restoring the truck to its original condition, kinda like if you had 4 point harnesses put in to your mustang and wanted to replace them with the original 3 point belts before you sell it. Technically the harness is a lot safer but the 3 points are the standard.

 

I think this entire sync thing with 911 assist idea is fine. But there are major flaws.

1. the sync is free for 3 years. so after 3 years what happens and you don't renew, what happens? I'm assuming the 911 assist and the vehicle diagnostic will stop working.
2. If you don't have a bluetooth phone enable and on, then the 911 assist does absolutely nothing. This feature is also not available on Mustang's Why????

I like having the ability to talk on my phone while driving with bluetooth. (Safety)
What if you are in a minor fender bender, or your airbag gets deployed by accident and you don't deny the 911 assist for one reason or not. Then Emergency people will be dispatched for no reason.

I think their thought was their, but they didn't fully think everything through.

 

If your air bag is deployed by "accident" you're going to want 911 called. In any case I'd rather have EMS/Fire dispatched immediately and send them home than the other way around. Also I'm sure GPS location is given. You'd be amazed how many times the wrong address is given for an accident and you spend valuable time trying to locate it.

I would say that "they" more fully thought about it than you did

 

The only mechanical difference between Sync and OnStar really is whether the phone is provided by the user or integrated into the truck. There are advantages and disadvantages to each. Sync provides more flexibility at a lower cost. OnStar is going to be more reliable under some conditions.

Sync isn't going to stop working after three years. At some point Ford may choose to charge for their information services portal where you can access Traffic, Directions and Information but none of the other features should be affected.

911 Assist is just the truck's system detecting an accident and using a paired cell phone (or if it doesn't find one, any previously paired cell phone) to dial 911, play a prerecorded message (including possibly vehicle location and status depending on version), and allowing you to communicate with the operator. OnStar's Automatic Crash Response service does basically the same thing with its integrated phone.

If you're in a minor fender bender and the truck calls 911, you have a 10 second time delay to decide to cancel the call or you could tell the operator that it's minor and avoid having emergency people dispatched. Talking with the operator might give you a chance to think about some things you haven't thought thru--you were just in an accident and a big balloon just exploded in your face, you might be a little rattled. That's what I might do. As it's been stated, if the airbag has deployed, you're probably going to need assistance anyway.

I've never had an OnStar equipped vehicle but OnStar is a subscription service and I believe its cost can reach $50 a month and the Red Button Emergency Services are part of that subscription.