Ford to upgrade, extend warranty on touch-screen system
Ford Motor Co will upgrade and extend the warranty by two years on its MyFord Touch system following a series of consumer complaints and poor reviews of the No.2 US automaker's touch-screen entertainment and navigation system.
Ford has improved the voice recognition capability and navigation in what it calls "version 3.5" of the software, Mark Fields, Ford's head of the Americas, said on Wednesday.
Ford will offer the first wave of updates to some users on Dec.10.
"We're thinking more and more like not only a car company, but a technology company," Fields said during a roundtable with reporters during the Los Angeles Auto Show.
"It's very important to update the vehicles on a more frequent basis particularly around software and applications.
" Prospective car buyers highly value features like Bluetooth or the ability to stream music from their smart phones, analysts said.
But so far, many automakers have struggled to create systems that are effective and intuitive.
In March, Ford upgraded MyFord Touch to address complaints about its slow speed and complexity, but even the update got poor marks from Consumer Reports magazine.
Ford said the latest version of MyFord Touch, which is in production now, can better recognize natural speech and features a more simple Bluetooth pairing process.
Ford is also extending the warranty on the system in its Ford brand vehicles to five years with unlimited miles, up from three years and 36,000 miles.
The software on Lincoln vehicles will now be covered for six years with unlimited miles, up from four years and 50,000 miles.
Ford will
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