Sync 3 to get Android Auto/Apple Carplay

[Bryan Burch]

Announced at CES.

 

http://www.droid-life.com/2016/01/04/ford-sync-android-auto-apple-carplay/

 

That's cool. I might hang on to my car longer if they offer it as an upgrade to previous Sync/MFT owners.

[Riggo]

Yeah. I don't think that update will ever happen for old sync 2 and below owners as has been discussed in other threads.

[Bryan Burch]

Found a place selling upgrades for 2k. I'll buy a new car (non ford) before I pay that kind of dough.

[machoman1337]

Found a place selling upgrades for 2k. I'll buy a new car (non ford) before I pay that kind of dough.

 

http://www.oemautopartsco.com/products/myford-touch-sync-2-to-sync-3-upgrade

 

Were you talking about this?

 

I'm actually interested in buying one... maybe on sale! Anyway, since upgrading requires replacement of the hardware, and they need to recoup their costs of acquiring and cracking the modules (since it's not sanctioned by Ford), $2k doesn't look THAT bad... fairly certain it'll decrease with time though.

 

Feature wise, MFT is fantastic and competitive, just that its performance stinks and the screens are serious fingerprint magnets.

Edited January 6, 2016 by machoman1337

[Bryan Burch]

Yep that's the one. $2k for something that should retail under $500 is my problem. My comparison is my recent purchase of a double-din pioneer avh-4100NEX for my son's truck. Very slick head unit, and reasonable. I'd probably buy if the price was $750 or less.

[Riggo]

I'm thinking doing this aftermarket upgrade would void some part of the factory warranty. No?

[machoman1337]

I'm thinking doing this aftermarket upgrade would void some part of the factory warranty. No?

 

Dang, didn't think of that - and last summer I paid $2000 to extend my warranty by 4 years past the factory expiry date :/

[Texasota]

I'm thinking doing this aftermarket upgrade would void some part of the factory warranty. No?

I had that same thought. In addition, you will likely encounter a new raft of problems and headaches.

[heywardjr]

I purchased the SYNC2 to SYNC3 upgrade from OEM as listed in this forum. That was on June 3rd. I am returning it today at the request of OEM as it is not ready for customers and was shipped unfinished. I loved the interface and they will credit me the $2,000. They will notify me when it is ready which could be a week from now, a month, several months.

 

Here is what worked:

 

1. Audio functions including Pandora and other music apps I had on my Android and iPhone.

2. Night mode and Day mode

3. Phone functions

 

What was not working:

 

1. Apple Airplay

2. No navigation icon

3. No climate controls would work...buttons were there and beeped but they did nothing to the vehicle

4. No ambient light controls worked

5. Pandora app would appear and disappear whenever....no reason

6. No updates happened

 

OEM was very apologetic. They were sold units but had not fully tested them before selling to me (I must have been first)

 

They will notify me when they get an updated software that works.

 

I LOVED the interface and the speed of the screen

 

This is a total replacement of the screen and box behind the screen. Easy to install once you know how to remove all the pieces to get to the radio. I had to install an additional GPS satellite which I just ran the wire from my dash to the back of the unit. It did have an additional USB port on back which would be handy to have.

 

I'd recommend it as the whole experience is a ton better. Yes, $2,000 is a lot but to me it was worth it for a $42,000 car with all the bells and whistles.

 

When I get an updated unit I'll come back and let you all know.

 

 

[heywardjr]

It would not void your Ford Warranty. You could easily re-install the original radio back into the car if you had some audio issue. If the issue still was there then you'd know if it was the new unit or the old one or the car. Take the car into the dealer with the old radio installed, they fix the audio problem and then replace the radio when you get home. It's all of 4 acres to take the old radio out and the plastic pipes all come out by using your hand to pry them out. Takes 10 minutes max to replace this.

[thrasher086]

I purchased the SYNC2 to SYNC3 upgrade from OEM as listed in this forum. That was on June 3rd. I am returning it today at the request of OEM as it is not ready for customers and was shipped unfinished. I loved the interface and they will credit me the $2,000. They will notify me when it is ready which could be a week from now, a month, several months.

 

Here is what worked:

 

1. Audio functions including Pandora and other music apps I had on my Android and iPhone.

2. Night mode and Day mode

3. Phone functions

 

What was not working:

 

1. Apple Airplay

2. No navigation icon

3. No climate controls would work...buttons were there and beeped but they did nothing to the vehicle

4. No ambient light controls worked

5. Pandora app would appear and disappear whenever....no reason

6. No updates happened

 

OEM was very apologetic. They were sold units but had not fully tested them before selling to me (I must have been first)

 

They will notify me when they get an updated software that works.

 

I LOVED the interface and the speed of the screen

 

This is a total replacement of the screen and box behind the screen. Easy to install once you know how to remove all the pieces to get to the radio. I had to install an additional GPS satellite which I just ran the wire from my dash to the back of the unit. It did have an additional USB port on back which would be handy to have.

 

I'd recommend it as the whole experience is a ton better. Yes, $2,000 is a lot but to me it was worth it for a $42,000 car with all the bells and whistles.

 

When I get an updated unit I'll come back and let you all know.

 

 

 

I am looking forward to when they work all the kinks out. Thanks for being the guinea pig. If it's as easy as you say to remove and replace, then I would consider something like this in the future.

[heywardjr]

By the way, for those veterans, OEMAutoParts offers a 10% discount. Just enter MILI in the coupon field and it gets discounts. AT least it worked for me on June 3rd. You might check with them if you order this after they get this working properly.

[thrasher086]

Heywardjr,

 

Do you happen to have some videos of it when it was in your car?

[Jim Martin]

This is a slap in the face to 2015 owners. Cars not even out of warranty and they can't offer an upgrade path from a sync 2 system that is very lackluster. I was excited about the system, until I got hands on with it and realized it was garbage. I would consider upgrading for $1800, but it would be a hard decision.

[machoman1337]

I purchased the SYNC2 to SYNC3 upgrade from OEM as listed in this forum. That was on June 3rd. I am returning it today at the request of OEM as it is not ready for customers and was shipped unfinished. I loved the interface and they will credit me the $2,000. They will notify me when it is ready which could be a week from now, a month, several months.

 

Here is what worked:

 

1. Audio functions including Pandora and other music apps I had on my Android and iPhone.

2. Night mode and Day mode

3. Phone functions

 

What was not working:

 

1. Apple Airplay

2. No navigation icon

3. No climate controls would work...buttons were there and beeped but they did nothing to the vehicle

4. No ambient light controls worked

5. Pandora app would appear and disappear whenever....no reason

6. No updates happened

 

OEM was very apologetic. They were sold units but had not fully tested them before selling to me (I must have been first)

 

They will notify me when they get an updated software that works.

 

I LOVED the interface and the speed of the screen

 

This is a total replacement of the screen and box behind the screen. Easy to install once you know how to remove all the pieces to get to the radio. I had to install an additional GPS satellite which I just ran the wire from my dash to the back of the unit. It did have an additional USB port on back which would be handy to have.

 

I'd recommend it as the whole experience is a ton better. Yes, $2,000 is a lot but to me it was worth it for a $42,000 car with all the bells and whistles.

 

When I get an updated unit I'll come back and let you all know.

 

 

Thanks for being our guinea pig! If your updated unit works out perfectly fine, I'm immediately buying one myself. Hopefully Android Auto will be included.

[Texasota]

 

If your updated unit works out perfectly fine, I'm immediately buying one myself.

After multiple experiences with aftermarket upgrades the chances of it working perfectly are extremely remote (in my opinion).

[thrasher086]

After multiple experiences with aftermarket upgrades the chances of it working perfectly are extremely remote (in my opinion).

 

It isn't really aftermarket since it's the same parts Ford is using. You are right though, going to be hard to get everything working.

[Riggo]

Has anyone actually done the aftermarket upgrade from Sync 2 to Sync 3? I'm wondering if the two small screens on the dash are linked to the main touchscreen. If so, do those smaller screens change? If they aren't linked then does that mean things like navigation, radio, etc., won't show up on the dash screens?

I wrote the company asking this question and they never responded.

[Waldo]

The screens on the cluster don't change with Sync 3. They should work exactly the same way with Sync 2 or Sync 3.

[heywardjr]

I did not video the look and feel or install as it looks the same as the original screen except that the OS (based on Blackberry OS). It was very much faster and brighter. I liked it a lot except much of it was not working properly or missing things like the Navigation or Apple CarPlay. I don't recall anything about supporting Android or Google Play.

 

I checked with the reseller this week and still no updates to report.

 

As for the two small screws...I did not touch those. I had to remove the plastic dash pieces to get access, then remove two large bolts on the sides of the screen, then the unit pulls right out. I removed the screen and plugged in the new one, then plugged in the main cables. Then the dash bolts, and then the plastic dash pieces to finish it off.

 

 

[heywardjr]

I'll point out these were Ford parts not aftermarket. I suspect this reseller is buying the parts and reselling to us but if we tried to buy these from Ford they would not allow us as these are for the 2017 model I would bet. Why Ford does not provide a program where we can make the choice ourselves to upgrade (by paying the dealer) is beyond me. Too lazy or too worried everything might not work. Not sure.

 

I'll let you know if and when OEMParts comes thru with a working solution.

[Waldo]

You can buy any part you want from a Ford dealer, they aren't going to stop you. But it's the programming that they can't help you with, Ford has so far decided there won't be enough people willing to spend all the money for the upgrade to make it worthwhile to train all the technicians on how to do the programming. There are also issues with software licensing, Blackberry deserves to get their cut, so how could Ford sell replacement parts to someone who has a 17 who owns the license vs someone who owns an older model who doesn't own a license?

[Riggo]

My question with the two small screens in the dash is if the look of them would change, or will it still look like Sync 2? The colors on the right dash screen coincide with the colors of the Sync 2 main screen (i.e. radio is red, navigation is green, phone is yellow and climate is blue). I know the color scheme of Sync 3 is completely different than Sync 2. Since I assume some of the menus in the Sync 3 system are different I also wondered if those menu options would appear on the dash or if there would be some kind of incompatibility with the dash setup.

[Waldo]

My question with the two small screens in the dash is if the look of them would change, or will it still look like Sync 2? The colors on the right dash screen coincide with the colors of the Sync 2 main screen (i.e. radio is red, navigation is green, phone is yellow and climate is blue). I know the color scheme of Sync 3 is completely different than Sync 2. Since I assume some of the menus in the Sync 3 system are different I also wondered if those menu options would appear on the dash or if there would be some kind of incompatibility with the dash setup.

 

I already answered that question, the screens are exactly the same as Sync 2.

[Cobra348]

Waldo - have the contents of the small screens changed at all or are they the same as well? I'd love to be able to get into the new car and simply set all the preferred stuff without going back thru the OM again. The main screen, I expect to do some. Right now, it appears my phone is not compatible with AndroidPlay but that could be simply an OS rev.