Update on Updating Sync

[VAMike]

Perhaps its a good thing Farley stole Peter Stern from Apple to head up the newly formed Ford Integrated Services division. Software people actually overseeing a software division, whoda thought?

The car companies hire a lot of people who know how to write software. What they can't do is change the corporate processes and culture that result in every single car company being unable to manage consumer electronics. I guarantee that none of the people working on the sync software wanted it to end up like this, and they're probably annoyed that their efforts are buried in a pile of bs.

Example: bug is fixed in sync software. Time to get bugfix to customers? 6, 12, 18 months. Why? Because extensive testing is required before relase to make sure that nothing bad could possibly happen. These are cars, not cell phones! Reality: busted releases still happen, just really slowly, and the fixes for the bested releases are also delayed. Net result: nobody is happy, and changes cost so much that there's a strong disincentive to actually try to fix anything, let alone make improvements. Will ford's latest iteration of pretending to be a software company instead of a car company change anything? Not a chance.

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[underwhelmed]

When I started my truck this morning it reported the system updated to 23188 (over wifi). Total effort expended: zero. Friends don't let friends waste time with ford's usb update process.

Mine says I’m up to date…last update Oct 2022. I keep having to re-sign into my WiFi and then when I ask it to scan for updates but it won’t.

 

[VAMike]

Wish mine would auto-update, but I'd settle for being able to load it from a USB. Actually, I just wish Ford would fix their systems, but I think world peace is probably more likely to happen first.

So I did lie a little bit--getting the truck to reliably connect to wifi was a PITA. I eventually threw an older access point with slower speeds into the garage because it simply wouldn't work with current stuff. But that's a one-time thing and once it's done, the truck will eventually do its thing for all subsequent updates. (Just really slowly. So don't try to force it. Be zen.) The usb process will suck every single time. One might wonder why they don't just push the updates over the 4g connection they've already got, but that would be silly (they're a car company, a consumer-friendly solution wouldn't be in line with the corporate culture).

 

[VAMike]

Mine says I’m up to date…last update Oct 2022. I keep having to re-sign into my WiFi and then when I ask it to scan for updates but it won’t.

Like most places that do large scale software deployments their rollout is staged (for various reasons like spreading out the load, not nuking all of the devices at once, etc). Until ford decides to turn on the update for your particular truck you can fiddle with it until you're blue in the face and nothing will happen. So be zen. Just live your life and one day the update will happen.

Also once it starts an update it can take days to actually get all the pieces in my experience. You really don't want to sit and watch it.

 

[underwhelmed]

Like most places that do large scale software deployments their rollout is staged (for various reasons like spreading out the load, not nuking all of the devices at once, etc). Until ford decides to turn on the update for your particular truck you can fiddle with it until you're blue in the face and nothing will happen. So be zen. Just live your life and one day the update will happen.

Also once it starts an update it can take days to actually get all the pieces in my experience. You really don't want to sit and watch it.

You’re spot on. After seeing your post I went outside, signed onto WiFi and it’s downloading this right now….

 

[Alaska Wolf]

Like most places that do large scale software deployments their rollout is staged (for various reasons like spreading out the load, not nuking all of the devices at once, etc). Until ford decides to turn on the update for your particular truck you can fiddle with it until you're blue in the face and nothing will happen. So be zen. Just live your life and one day the update will happen.

Also once it starts an update it can take days to actually get all the pieces in my experience. You really don't want to sit and watch it.

Unfortunately FoMoCo and my dealership are the ones turning blue in the face. They can't get it to work and this has been ongoing for 7 months now.

 

[underwhelmed]

Well, new software is loaded. Everything seems to function. Maybe I can cancel my early Oct appointment to have this looked at by the dealer! Glad I recently got fiber optic internet. Downloads are much faster over WiFi now.

 

[Superspirit]

I've had this update installed for a week, has not fixed any of the connectivity issues I've had. All I want it to do is stay connected to the USB. My 19 mustang never falters, this truck loses it every restart. Very frustrating! Spent 2hours on the phone with fords in vehicle team and nothing got accomplished.

 

[Ohwell]

Like most places that do large scale software deployments their rollout is staged (for various reasons like spreading out the load, not nuking all of the devices at once, etc). Until ford decides to turn on the update for your particular truck you can fiddle with it until you're blue in the face and nothing will happen. So be zen. Just live your life and one day the update will happen.

Also once it starts an update it can take days to actually get all the pieces in my experience. You really don't want to sit and watch it.

Ford's rep over the phone told me she couldn't understand why I didn't have the update listed for my Truck, she also said only sync 4.0 is staged, 3.4 versions should be available to everybody. Supposedly after she talked to her superiors the engineers are looking into it. It's just poor management of keeping their server data bases updated as far as I am concerned.

 

[VAMike]

Ford's rep over the phone told me she couldn't understand why I didn't have the update listed for my Truck, she also said only sync 4.0 is staged, 3.4 versions should be available to everybody.

We've long since established that ford's support people don't know what they're talking about. I can assure you that every sync release I've gotten over wifi has arrived some time after it's available for download, and other people get theirs before or after I do--they demonstrably do not all arrive at the same time. I can tell you that as of last week the current update did not exist as far as my truck was concerned. (It wasn't an update in progress, it simply didn't know about it yet.) I also got the 22251 (or whatever the last one was) before it got pulled. Seems to be luck of the draw as to when it shows up.

 

[Ohwell]

We've long since established that ford's support people don't know what they're talking about. I can assure you that every sync release I've gotten over wifi has arrived some time after it's available for download, and other people get theirs before or after I do--they demonstrably do not all arrive at the same time. I can tell you that as of last week the current update did not exist as far as my truck was concerned. (It wasn't an update in progress, it simply didn't know about it yet.) I also got the 22251 (or whatever the last one was) before it got pulled. Seems to be luck of the draw as to when it shows up.

How do you explain it for guys like Alaska Wolf who are 2 or more updates behind? Still think that's all waiting for a staged rollout?

 

[VAMike]

How do you explain it for guys like Alaska Wolf who are 2 or more updates behind? Still think that's all waiting for a staged rollout?

I'm not trying to explain all possible ways that ford's distribution is broken, I'm simply saying that empirical evidence indicates that the wifi distribution is staged regardless of what you heard from some random ford support person.

 

[Ohwell]

I'm not trying to explain all possible ways that ford's distribution is broken, I'm simply saying that empirical evidence indicates that the wifi distribution is staged regardless of what you heard from some random ford support person.

I sure hope you are right, I'd like the update to be made available for my June 2023 build one of these days.

 

[Alaska Wolf]

I sure hope you are right, I'd like the update to be made available for my June 2023 build one of these days.

Sorry Oh, but since you had the same "InvalidModelYear(<2010): The vehicle’s model year is not eligible for a Sync 3 map update. Please check the VIN. (012) error" message that I and others did, I'm moving over in the lifeboat for you bud. During my 7 months of talking with the Ford ITV and Engineering divisions, as well as random Ford support persons, I've been told that rollouts were based on VIN number and I've been told that they were staged. I was also told by that unlike Sync 4, Sync 3 updates are basically FIFO, essentially they drop the update package into ye olde bit bucket and vehicles as supposed to "see" the updates when they run their "Check for Software Update" routines. The Sync 4 staged rollout routine was supposedly implemented to resolve some of the issues of the old Sync 3 processes, so I think I am personally leaning toward the FIFO option being the correct answer.

 

[Ohwell]

Sorry Oh, but since you had the same "InvalidModelYear(<2010): The vehicle’s model year is not eligible for a Sync 3 map update. Please check the VIN. (012) error" message that I and others did, I'm moving over in the lifeboat for you bud. During my 7 months of talking with the Ford ITV and Engineering divisions, as well as random Ford support persons, I've been told that rollouts were based on VIN number and I've been told that they were staged. I was also told by that unlike Sync 4, Sync 3 updates are basically FIFO, essentially they drop the update package into ye olde bit bucket and vehicles as supposed to "see" the updates when they run their "Check for Software Update" routines. The Sync 4 staged rollout routine was supposedly implemented to resolve some of the issues of the old Sync 3 processes, so I think I am personally leaning toward the FIFO option being the correct answer.

I myself am still leaning toward the Ford servers databases not being updated properly theory. They gave me a case number a few days ago and asked when is the best time to get ahold of me. I doubt I will hear from them.

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