Really starting to hate the Infotainment System

[zBernie]

Have read that others are having problems, but this is ridiculous and its getting worse.

Just about everytime I go anywhere the station randomly changes, and at least once a day the physical buttons lock up, and half the time the presets don't work either.

I bought the XL, and I get having to strip certain areas of the truck down to keep the price low, but this radio is a joke.

When having issues with the head unit in my 2013 Hyundai Sonata I can reset the head unit. A couple of times I've actually removed the fuse for the head unit to completely remove power. I'm not familiar with the Maverick's infotainment system yet, but have you tried resetting it?

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[WhiteMaverick12]

When having issues with the head unit in my 2013 Hyundai Sonata I can reset the head unit. A couple of times I've actually removed the fuse for the head unit to completely remove power. I'm not familiar with the Maverick's infotainment system yet, but have you tried resetting it?

This. I had to reset the system in my 2020 sonata and it resolved it’s issues.

 

[Qwillex]

Most built in units are garbage, I fully intended on not using the factory head unit pretty much at all. I have an ipad mini in front of the infotainment system and it's connected via bluetooth and it is a great replacement for the factory system. The drawback is that I do not see the back up camera but I never use those in any vehicle I've had with them. I may think about adding a wireless one that I can view through the ipad, but I haven't gone down that road yet.

 

[Proflig8tor]

Andriod Auto is VERY sensitive to the quality of the USB cable.

We have both Android and Apple in the house. The base VW GTI has a very similar system to the Maverick. I order the best USB cable I can find for the Android (Anker is pretty reliable). Even so, I have to update the cable after bout 6 months as they begin to wear. The plus with Android is that the voice recognition and what it is able to do with voice commands is MECH better than Apple.

The Apple stuff just seems to work much more reliably. However, Siri is nowhere near as capable as Google.

Anyone know if the screen in the Lariat is any different? In YouTube videos it looks to have better contrast.

 

[mla_anderson]

Andriod Auto is VERY sensitive to the quality of the USB cable.

We have both Android and Apple in the house. The base VW GTI has a very similar system to the Maverick. I order the best USB cable I can find for the Android (Anker is pretty reliable). Even so, I have to update the cable after bout 6 months as they begin to wear. The plus with Android is that the voice recognition and what it is able to do with voice commands is MECH better than Apple.

The Apple stuff just seems to work much more reliably. However, Siri is nowhere near as capable as Google.

Anyone know if the screen in the Lariat is any different? In YouTube videos it looks to have better contrast.

Android Auto essentially creates an HDMI connection over the USB port, the head end becomes a second screen for the Android device. It has to be high speed since it is pumping video over the link. As soon as the USB degrades to the point that the USB is having to do too much error correction the link will fail.

Apple CarPlay pushes over lower bandwidth data and uses the head end to generate the graphics. This makes it much less susceptible to problems with the cable. But it puts more onto the head end which means a poorly designed head end unit can make the experience worse.

 

[Fleshman03]

Maybe I’m expecting too much, but I’d bet there will be an aftermarket upgrade to delete the cubby and take the whole space up with an infortainment screen.

 

[samesea2012]

the radio issue should be a software problem so hopefully ford can deliver a patch soon

 

[propp2531]

I took the head unit out from behind the HVAC controls and you’d be surprised at how light it is. Shockingly light and not much inside of it. So I’d say the thing is super cheap at best. I was toying with adding sync 3 but I’m almost at the point of getting a replacement 3rd party unit when available

 

[STARCOMMTREY1]

It sure is a joke. Android auto is so buggy it cant be used. Even my clock resets itself. You cant even adjust it so it bright enough. Going this route and not giving us actual Sync 3 is the worst decision Ford made. This radio/ head unit is absolute garbage and will be damn near impossible to remedy or change out. Now here come the idiots to tell us what do we expect from a $20k truck.

I am not having these issues at all. What phone do you have? My AA is working flawlessly. Radio has locked up twice and I just unplugged my phone and replaced it and it worked.

 

[kw86er]

When mine locked up I had to power off the vehicle to get it to reboot.

Maybe running a switch to the fuse box for rebooting on the fly is a hack worth doing? Put in the cubby location as a big reboot button.

 

[propp2531]

When mine locked up I had to power off the vehicle to get it to reboot.

Maybe running a switch to the fuse box for rebooting on the fly is a hack worth doing? Put in the cubby location as a big reboot button.

The power button and forward track button held down for 5 seconds resets the system

 

[Killjoyken]

I suggest you take it back to the dealer. I have had zero issues with mine. I use Android auto most of the time and listen to music via USB, Spotify and Amazon Music. Sorry, can't comment on FM, I like music, not commercials.

My last infotainment system was the Cadillac CUE and it was so much worse than this budget Ford Sync. Yes, the audio system was 10x better but everything else was slower and eventually the screen had to be replaced under warranty. This was on a $70k 2018 ATS-V!

I totally understand the need to vent here, but If I had your issues I'd be down at the dealership tomorrow and have them fix it. It's the whole point of having a warranty. Good luck!

 

[aspect]

I have no issues. You should buy a new USB cable and see if there's any improvement. Also, have you updated the firmware?

 

[zBernie]

Android Auto essentially creates an HDMI connection over the USB port, the head end becomes a second screen for the Android device. It has to be high speed since it is pumping video over the link. As soon as the USB degrades to the point that the USB is having to do too much error correction the link will fail.

Apple CarPlay pushes over lower bandwidth data and uses the head end to generate the graphics. This makes it much less susceptible to problems with the cable. But it puts more onto the head end which means a poorly designed head end unit can make the experience worse.

Then I guess you want to use the USB-C port instead of the USB-A? I didn't realize AA was so data intensive, at least compared to AC. I wonder if some are using USB-A instead of USB-C and that's causing problems for them.

 

[Valace2]

I suggest you take it back to the dealer. I have had zero issues with mine. I use Android auto most of the time and listen to music via USB, Spotify and Amazon Music. Sorry, can't comment on FM, I like music, not commercials.

My last infotainment system was the Cadillac CUE and it was so much worse than this budget Ford Sync. Yes, the audio system was 10x better but everything else was slower and eventually the screen had to be replaced under warranty. This was on a $70k 2018 ATS-V!

I totally understand the need to vent here, but If I had your issues I'd be down at the dealership tomorrow and have them fix it. It's the whole point of having a warranty. Good luck!

Regardless of what you like I shouldn't have to plug anything in, I don't use Android auto and my original post didn't mention android auto at all and yet people continue to comment on it. I like using the basic radio and it's a piece of trash.

I love the truck, but the radio is shit.

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