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Ford Navigation systems are horrible!

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
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SPECIFICALLY the 2017 navigation system in a 2017 Ford Expedition ... worst navigation system I've ever had the displeasure of being forced to endure :hammer:

I rented a brand new Expedition to haul home my daughters college belonging. It was equipped with their integrated navigation system.

  • The system will not let you -- or your passenger -- enter an address/destination while the vehicle is moving :doh: Never used a Nav System that forbid you from using it!
  • The system does NOT give multiple driving options. It decides your route, even if it's wrong and directs you there. Most other system I've used give you 3 options and let you choose which is your preference.
  • The system, when set to the scale of "5 Miles/Inch", the map does not display any roads other than Interstate highways :doh:
  • The system, when set to the scale of "5 Miles/Inch", the map does not display any cities smaller than Louisville, Chicago, etc. making it difficult to determine your relative location FYI there are a lot of cities that dot our nation between Winston-Salem, NC and Chicago :doh:
  • The "arrow" that represents your vehicle is not centered in the screen, if fact if you are traveling north the arrow shows a map that displays the arrow about 60% up from the bottom of the screen. That means you see more of where you have been and less of where you are going. WTF!!!
  • Because of the way it displays turns, I missed several turns in cities by turning too soon. The map on the dash shows you making the turn at the intersection so if you glance at the map and turn, but there are MULTIPLE places to turn, you end up turning too soon. It should show the multiple intersections (like other systems show) and show you which turn to make (like other systems show) :hammer:
  • Despite being a BRAND NEW vehicle the MAPS were OUTDATED ... WTH?

There are other deal killers but the above list shows some of the highlights of the bad system.

Seriously if this was my vehicle instead of a rental I'd have ripped this out of the dash and sent it bouncing along the roadside after heaving it out the window of the moving vehicle long ago and would be replaced with an aftermarket ALPINE or SONY unit :hammer:
 

bczoom

Super Moderator
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Haven't been in a Ford but that sounds horrific.

I have a new Silverado. Can't say that I like their nav either. It's through on-star so I need to call them so they can program it in to my screen. That's idiotic IMHO.
 

tiredretired

The Old Salt
SUPER Site Supporter
I have found NAV systems in general to be flawed and much less then optimal. I once updated to the latest maps on my Garmin and it still insisted on sending me down the wrong way on a one way street in Portland, ME.

Truckers to this day still get sent up over the mountain passes here in VT, even though the roads are clearly marked not for 18 wheelers. State DOT and trucker organizations have repeatedly requested that NAV companies incorporate this info into their systems which for some reason they refuse to do.

I keep a road map in all my vehicles, even though I have NAV in all three. I am turning into a Luddite more and more every day.

As the owner of three different NAV systems, four if you count my phone, I have found each are flawed in their own particular ways.
 
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Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
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...

I keep a road map in all my vehicles, even though I have NAV in all three. I am turning into a Luddite more and more every day.
Lot of wisdom there.

...As the owner of three different NAV systems, four if you count my phone, I have found each are flawed in their own particular ways.
Ditto on that. Own 3 + my iPhone.

I've found every system flawed but none are close to as bad as this miserable unit.

Honestly I'm shocked by how bad this is. I've heard that the Volvo system is the worst of all but honestly have never used one from that company. I can't imagine one being worse than this new, flawed, Ford system.
 

deand1

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
I toured central and eastern Canada all the way to Halifax, NS using my Dodge Ram Nav system, towing a 31 foot fifth wheel. I had paper maps with me but my Nav system got me through all the cities and rural areas without a hitch. The Dodge Nav system with enhanced traffic alerts did the job well.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
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I toured central and eastern Canada all the way to Halifax, NS using my Dodge Ram Nav system, towing a 31 foot fifth wheel. I had paper maps with me but my Nav system got me through all the cities and rural areas without a hitch. The Dodge Nav system with enhanced traffic alerts did the job well.

Yup, I love the systems with nearly live traffic information :clap:
 

Doc

Bottoms Up
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My Toyota 4Runner Navigation leaves a lot to be desired. Primarily, like the Ford, you cannot enter a destination once you are in gear. Drives me bonkers. I hate that. My wife will enter the destiation while I am driving. Not on the Toyota.
It did not know aout a bridge opened in 2008 ...and my vehicle is a 2014.
Dealership wants me to pay over $200 to have the system upgraded. Forget that. Wife can program and use 'Scout' or Google Maps on her phone. Both are free apps.
Totally disappointed with teh Nav systems in the Toyota.
On trips we will bring an US Atlas which does help.
 

tiredretired

The Old Salt
SUPER Site Supporter
I have always been a proponent of being able to buy a vehicle with a NAV system with no software. When ordering, enter delete NAV software. Then be able to go and buy the software you want on a USB stick and tailor it to your needs instead of being stuck with the software that comes with the vehicle which is hit and miss as Mel as stated.

The Sonata I need to enter that I agree to the terms of the NAV system every time we start the car. Boy, that sucks. The dealer will not/can not over ride that. Never found a hack for it either, not that I would know how to do it. :yum:
 

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
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Google Maps or Waze for me. Work well enough most of the time. Can't remember the last time they didn't work other than when I was way out of service range. I have a GPS maps app (Gaia) that I use in the woods - it lets me download and cache maps on the phone.
 

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
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Thank goodness that it's not just me. I think that the nav system on the Cadillac sucks. It's sooooo slow. Unlike Melsdad, I don't find myself turning too soon but instead I miss turns because it is lagging behind.

For planning trips in the RV I use Microsoft's "Streets and Trips". You can tailor it to the route that you want to take. I print out the results and that's what I use for navigation. I do that for car trips too. Sooner or later the car nav system catches on to the way I want to go and we do just fine after that. I also carry a back-up Garmin system ... just in case.

When traveling, we like to make side trips and use smaller roads. Once on a trip in my wife's Buick, we got so completely lost that we had to call Onstar for help. They located us, worked out a route to get us back to where we wanted to go and downloaded it to our nav system in the car. So, it's not all bad.

As much as I bitch about nav and GPS systems I also remember what it was like before they became widely available. Man, I used to spend a lot of time LOST. I saw some pretty country and some interesting places though. :yum:
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
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Google Maps or Waze for me. Work well enough most of the time. Can't remember the last time they didn't work other than when I was way out of service range. I have a GPS maps app (Gaia) that I use in the woods - it lets me download and cache maps on the phone.

Some serious privacy issues with Waze. But others don't have the same concerns.
 

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
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Some serious privacy issues with Waze. But others don't have the same concerns.

Yeah, but these days the GPS tracking data is baked into the OS of the devices. As soon as you turn on the GPS data is going back to someone.

As soon as I get in my car to go to work or the gym or back my iPhone tells me the estimated time and the traffic conditions. I never explicitly enabled that feature. I have given up on the privacy issue - if you really want privacy - don't own a smart phone.

Waze alternative routes have saved me many times during bad commute traffic. The Police notices have saved me from getting tickets many a time. It's so useful I am prepared to let them have my tracking data.
 

Glenn9643

Bronze Member
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I've had good results with Google navigation, and even it has problems occasionally. A recent trip through Dallas/Fort Worth was a nightmare due to road construction and detours that weren't in the Google data bank. I've tried Waze and some of the others but was never satisfied to the point of leaving Google.
 

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
Staff member
SUPER Site Supporter
I've had good results with Google navigation, and even it has problems occasionally. A recent trip through Dallas/Fort Worth was a nightmare due to road construction and detours that weren't in the Google data bank. I've tried Waze and some of the others but was never satisfied to the point of leaving Google.

Google owns Waze. They actually "share" the same database and traffic monitoring algorithms. Waze just adds the social aspect with notifications of cars on the shoulder, potholes, speed traps.
 
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