Rather than improving driving safety, My Touch actually degrades it by forcing eyes off the road.
Ford Motor Company will beta test new software designed to ease myriad consumer complaints about the My Ford Touch infotainment system, which caused Ford and Lincoln vehicles to sink to below average in Consumer Reports quality ratings.
Ford’s overall reliability rank among 28 major car makes slipped from the 10th to the 20th spot this year—the biggest drop for any major nameplate in Consumer Reports 2011 Annual Auto Survey. The badly needed software upgrade is coming for 2013 models – and to owners of existing My Ford Touch equipped vehicles. (See Chrysler Up, GM Sideways, Ford Down in Consumer Reports Annual Reliability Survey Revealed Today at APA in Detroit)
About 1,000 beta-testers have been chosen at random from the Ford management lease vehicle population in Southeast Michigan. Because the upgrade involves software, no vehicle hardware maintenance is required. Instead, a USB flash drive loaded with the necessary software to complete the upgrade will be sent to testers.
It begs the question why wasn’t My Touch beta tested the first time, unless it was and this is just a different group of Ford employees?
Associated with My Touch is My Sync, a voice-recognition system designed to move control of vehicle entertainment, climate, navigation and communication from fingers to voice command. In theory, it is intended to keep driver attention undistracted from the road ahead.
In practice and in combination with the ill-executed My Touch, there is increased necessity to take eyes from the road to the center-stack touch screen for manual control of functions. Indeed, there are something over 400 voice commands listed in the Owner’s Manual. Who could ever remember even a fraction of those? Rather than improving operational safety, the My Touch monster actually degrades it.
For a real world look about the My Touch quality and safety issue, see FrankenFord Monster Loose In “Deerbern” Terrorizing Peasants and Threatening Public Safety On the Roads.
