LarryQW

Maybe via registrations? If not a hack...

I think Consumer Reports should really have a chance to review this too. Maybe just before they do their ratings. And make sure everyone in the world knows how well (or not) that it works.

You don't go to the bottom of the reliabilty list without a reason. Ford's laser focus has diffused. They (and we on this board) need to listen instead of making excuses, otherwise you don't improve. Ford needs to get back to what they were doing before that got them high on the list already. Put simply: Mouths humble; ears open; hands working; Fix the problems quickly Ford!

It's funny how with Consumer Reports first came out with their complaints about MyFordTouch, there were a lot of threads here blaming CR as anti-Ford, and that CR didn't understand how controls work. Mullaly, on the other hand, told the engineers to visit Consumer Reports team, and listen carefully rather than try to lecture them on controls. In my opinion, MyFordTouch could only be better for the effort of doing the fixes that CR pointed out as essential. Too bad it's taken Ford so long and not quite right yet.

I've driven many cars, and the Freestyle/ T-X for sure has the least driver leg room, by my testing and also by the specifications. (The Outlook and Highlander has 2" more, for instance, and much more comfortable for me). It could be at your height, you've learned to adjust. That is, you never get the comfort of shorter legged drivers and thus don't miss it. For example, I had a 6'5" friend driving my T-X for hours at a time on a mountain biking trip from CA to Utah. He never complained. But I could see his legs folded up like a pretzel with his knees near the steering column. (Fortunately, the ample leg room rear seats of the T-X worked well for his sleeping when he rotated out for driving shifts. Oddly the rear seats have more leg room than the driver seats in this platform. )

Actually, it can make a big difference. I'm closer to 6'1", with long legs for my height. So the difference could be over 3". If I only had 1" more back, I'm sure I could be substantially more comfortable. I tried dozens of Freestyle and Taurus-X in my attempt to fit, and for some reason there was a slight manufacturing variation where I could get less uncomfortable in some cars. My custom order T-X was in the better comfort range, fortunately. If the seat bottom was longer, I can do the trick where I tilt the seat buttom front up so my legs are supported with the knee slightly up, with my legs slightly folded zigzag rather than straight out. But the seat bottom is short and the bottom tilt not quite enough. Finally, the left wheel well intrusion is not only a problem in available length, as it's less than an inch shorter than the gas and brake. It's just that I have to bend my leg too much to the right to use it. The combination of all the bending to be shorter and bending the right makes the dead pedal position very uncomfortable.

If you're accustomed to reading CR, you know that they often completely dismiss a product for one or two major 'nits' that they pick. They will rate most features qualitatively relative to another, like braking distance, slalom speed, etc... (which the Explorer did well on). But some particular feature faults they find to be annoying really get under their skin, and the product will get a major ding. It's the way they do things. OTOH, one major annoyance like this can be the reason for a customer to reject a product. For instance, for three years I kept visiting Ford to try the Freestyle but could never get the drivers position to be fully comfortable, like CR points out. So I didn't buy. Similarly, if a customer is having trouble operating controls, they can get very upset. We've seen that with MFT in a previous post. (Fortunately Ford is slowing fixing and improving the interface.) So a single nit, if big enough, can indeed be a fatal product flaw in some occasions. Incidentally, I watched how I subconsciously handled my seating on the T-X yesterday, and found I never use the "dead pedal" as my left leg needs to bend too much to the right to be comfortable while on the pedal. My bent knee hurts that way. Instead, I put my left foot farther back and to the left near the door. The lower arm rest has a worn spot from my raised knee leaning against it. I also move around my left leg and tuck my left foot under my right leg occasionally. This problem is because the wheel well intrudes and not an easy fix without moving the wheels forward into the engine, or the driver seat back and reducing rear seat leg room and cargo capacity. It's a design flaw inherent in the Freestyle / Taurus-X / Flex / Explorer platform.

There's been some PowWows already between Ford and CR. I saw the video when Mullaly had Ford's SYNC and MFT teams visit Consumer Reports to investigate their MFT issues. Basicallly, Mullaly told his engineers to listen to CR's evaluation very carefully, rather than try to justify Ford's approach or lecture CR on how to work controls. I think Mullaly was right in his response, in that there some small truth to CR's complaints that Ford really does need to fix still. When Ford gets it right, it'll be a major improvement that and will surely help the consumer and maybe CR can accept with a positive review. From what I've seen on videos and other's comments here, CR indeed has some merit in saying MFT is complex, distracting, and slow to respond. Only now is Ford getting the major bugs out, with some minor bugs to go. And as CR points out, the dual dedicated hardware controls are still imperfect as well. CR show this in their video by hitting a button a few times with inconsistent response. Maybe CR is exaggerating the issue, but I design human interfaces as well, and I'd never make a human interface so complicated, slow, inconsistent, and buggy, even for top engineers and physicists that use our Class IV laser product, and certainly not for a control to be used by the general public while driving a fast two-ton vehicle with lives in jeopardy. Like Mullaly, I'd say Ford should listen to CR, and fix MFT some more. Don't make excuses. It'll be better for the effort and become top-notch.

Actually, I had the same problem with the driver's seating on the Freestyle and Taurus X, which use the same platform. The driver discomfort was bad enough to prevent me from buying a Freestyle that I really wanted otherwise. I sat in the Freestyle on at least 5 visits and kept trying all seat positions to see if I could find the magic spot, or if I was somehow mistaken. With my 6'1" height, long legs, and 12" feet, I could never get the seat back far enough. The short seat pad made matters worse. Also, I could never put my left leg out straight. There's a "dead pedal" on the left, but it's in an unnatural place, with my left leg lifted way up off the short seat and much higher than the right leg. I always need to keep my left leg rotated inward to the right at a bad angle in order to fit into the seat. The Taurus X had the same problem, but was just slightly better, enough for me to buy the car. I've since done long trips (~10 hours) driving and have been OK, in spite of my fears. I just keep moving my left leg around in different awkward ways, enough to keep from hurting or causing injury.

CR's video report said very little bad about the car and said a lot of good things. From the video, I'd thought the Explorer would get a top rating. They mentioned the MyFordTouch as being way too complicated, too small buttons, confusing, ...- a long standing CR complaint. They said the driver's left foot had nowhere to go. I indeed had a big problem on this with the predecessors, the Freestyle and Taurus X, with the intruding wheel well, and didn't buy the Freestyle because of difficulty finding a good driver seat position. But I finally bought the T-X in spite of this being a major concern. It's still a minor bother, but I like the rest of the car very much. The arm rest issue is totally bogus - use the inner arm rest. The video said something about awkward third row egress. But the text said it was good. Maybe a misconception. In general, I think CR's reviews have some partial truth, but way over exaggerated and overly penalize the overall vehicle rating.

The Edge and Flex are very different vehices. The Flex has much more room, closer to a minivan wtih three rows of seating. The Edge is really a smaller vehicle. Get a big family like mine and you'll see one car works, the ohter doesn't at all. And then nobody can mistake the radical differences in styling. The two different vehicles would only appeal to the same person if they were schizo. They cannot be swapped. Makes sense to keep the Flex as long as it's being sold and making money.

I owned a Merkur Scorpio for 15 years. Drove it to the grave since I couldn't get another. It was a fabulous handling family car, with lots of versatility as a hatchback. My feeling is that Lincoln was the wrong place to sell a Euro-car. Not what their customers were looking for. Ford also made a lot of engineering mistakes in the American conversion. Like they forgot to put an Off button on the A/C, even though it came with a sun roof. But the Ford shop did two days of retrofits under warranty and got it right, a year or so later.

Rarely though, for me. (2008 Taurus X with older SYNC 2.0) I've had problems with my SYNC a few times, things like the USB music shows to be playing but no sound coming out. I brought the car into the dealer and they had to reboot it. I've also done a couple SYNC upgrades. One of the early SYNC software upgrades to SYNC took three tries to get right. In maybe 10 reworks for SYNC, I only lost my settings once. It really depends on how your dealer does the fix. Better, SYNC has worked out the early bugs, and has worked flawlessly for near two years now.

Yep, that's me. I've been driving Taurus or Sable wagons for a couple decades for the same reason as John E - good handling and versatility. Then when Ford stopped making them, I went to the Taurus X crossover. I'm not missing the wagon. In fact, getting into my old Sable wagon last week, I realize how much easier the T-X Crossover is to get into. It also handles just as well or better, with a lot more room and better power and better gas mileage than the older wagon. Crossovers are the new wagons. (Funny, often times people will call my T-X a wagon because it sort of looks like one and they don't know what else to call it. I'm not offended)

A compact minivan is an oxymoron in the US. People in the US want minivans for extra size and utility. Compact minivans may work in Europe due to their small vehicle culture, well founded by their small roads, limited parking, tight alleys, and very high priced gas. We don't have that.