mmdlcab

Yup, thanks. All good points. I kinda figure i wont find anything better than 200, but it would be nice. grin. Hey, we can dream. Now if only I were not the first one to do this to the 09 mariner. grin. It will prob be a couple weeks before I make the order. I can hope for the best.

Just a fyi for anyone following this thread. I saw the link below in something else that came in my email in-box today. www.navigation.com It's apparently a link to Navteq's store. I was able to look up my GPS in my 2009 Mariner and select the upgrade. Their price on the site was 199.00. Not counting whatever tax or other stuff might be counted in when you actually place the order. Now, $199.00 is a heck of a lot better than the dealers $330.00 price, but still seems a little high to me. You would need your Application # (?) I found it on the INFO screen in the GPS display. Just press the info button. I'm looking for anyone else that might have done a factory installed GPS upgrade this way? Kinda hoping someone else has done this before me so that I'm not the trailblazer. At 200, I'll consider the upgrade, but also don't want to screw anything up in my car. I assume they just send you a CD or DVD and the upgrade is similar to what I used to do with my Garmin. That upgrade was pretty much of a no-brainer. I did finally get around to calling that customer service number I listed above, and all they did was point me to the dealer. I asked if there was any other option, and they said no. Harumpf! And the straight plain old Navteq website still hangs both my FireFox and IE browsers. What the heck did they code into that page. Thanks cab

Thanks for both of your replies, and you seem to be right, although I never thought of testing that out until it was mentioned. I guess maybe it is the way it was designed to work? But to me, it should be smarter than that. I guess maybe I'm thinking it's a poor design. I guess I can live with that. But I try not to touch the gps screen much at all when I'm driving. Distracted driving and all that. I normally leave the gps screen in auto mode. Thanks very much for the feedback.

Thanks for the info, and I totally agree. At that price, I wont be upgrading. It never even dawned on me until yesterday to look at the info screen on the gps unit itself. There is a phone number there for you to call. I'll call that on monday or tuesday. I figure no one is answering the phone on weekends. I don't know if I would get a better price over the phone, but it's worth a phone call. At 300+, I aint upgrading at this point. Even if I were to upgrade at some lower price level, i would still like to find out what areas they have upgraded. If all the upgrades are or areas outside of where I drive, then the upgrade has no value to me, at any price. thanks

I thought I would ask one more question here this weekend for folks that may know more about this than I do. I have a 2009 MMH and any time I use the windshield wipers, the GPS screen goes into night mode, and the darkest night mode possible. The screen is pretty much unreadable during the day. Now granted, if it's raining, there are clouds and the sky is overcast, but it's not nighttime dark outside. When my GPS screen does this, it's pretty much unusable. Anyone else seen this? thanks in advance CAB

I did search this forum for topics related to this but could not find any info directly related to this. I checked with my dealer and he tells me there is a GPS map update upgrade for my 2009 Mercury Mariner Hyprid, but that it's $330.00!! He said it's a cd or dvd I have to order through the parts department. That price just seems waaaay too high to me. In my old garmin days, i think i paid 75.00 for a gps upgrade disc and that was only 2 or 3 years ago. Can anyone tell me if they have experience with upgrading there GPS map data and what it cost you? I've tried to go to the navetq website but it seems to hang / crash both of my browsers each time i get there. For my area (austin tx) there are many roads not in my current GPS and I'd like to get details on what has been updated on the map data, and any other options for getting this update rather than paying 330.00 to the dealer. That just seems way out of wack to me. I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone that has done this? Thanks in advance CAB

Thanks BBF, all good info to have. Much appreciated. Open to all other comments from anyone as well.

I bought my 09 MMH in september of last year and did not get the Mercury (ford?) ESP plan at that time. I'd now like to research getting the war. I'm looking for tips and info from anyone that has gone through this process. Up until this car, I always purchased the war. with the car, cause I thought you had to if you wanted it. I didn't realize you could do it later and shop around for the best price. I will be checking with my local mercury dealer this week or next to get their best price, but want to hear some info from those of you that may have done this before me? Many thanks in advance for your help and info. CAB

Ok, I guess I'm dumb. What am I doing wrong. I can't seem to create a voice profile. I've looked in the book, and can't get past the say your name part. I have an 09 MMH and it's only got a few thousand miles on it. Still new. Every time I try to create a user profile, it gives me the say your name prompt, but no matter what I say, it comes back with please say your name. I'm a bit stumped. I can get the nav system to work for destinations, but can't seem to get the voice profile created. i've tried with the windows up and everything. Is anyone else out there having problems creating a voice profile?

just a slight stray off topic here, but it sounds like one of you can answer a question I've always had about this. With ford having the computer chip in the key thing for security, I was told a long time ago, that if I wanted a remote start, I basically had to live with disabling that protection in the car. Is that true? I had one service teck tell me that they would end up putting a blank (non cut) key somewhere in the car that had the computer chip synced up with the car. That seemed awfully far fetched, but it was enough to stop any other queries I had. I'm not even sure how strong that computer chip deterant thing is, but I'll take anything I can get. thanks in advance cab

fwiw, i just did my weekly check on sync my ride and it no longer barked at my vin for my mercury mariner 2009 hybrid. not sure when this might have changed. It did make me more or less confirm the registration info I had put in earlier, but it let me go all the way through and complete things. It now knows my vin is real and knows what vehicle it is. Have not had the time to do much more than look around on the site. I saw the update your sync option, but can't tell if there are any real updates there to do? I'll look at it more tonight when I get home. I guess it knows my vin now, for those of you waiting, it might know yours as well. Looks like the health report and 911 thing are not turned on yet for my car

yea, what he said. :-( I'm registered on both sites and syncmyride says there is a problem with my vin and to reenter it. I'll check it again next week.

Nope, mines a hybrid. I never noticed them until i did the waxing, and I thought I did a reall good look over of the vehicle before accepting delivery. The picture I have above shows them pretty well. Maybe yours doesn't have them(?), but my 2009 does.

thanks folks. good info to know. So if it's some kind of a stone guard, is it replaceable if it serves it's function and gets all scratched up and stuff?

Thanks for the info guys. If this works, the attached pic is what I'm talking about. Is this the same as on your vehicles?

Over the weekend I broke out a can of car wax and waxed my new MMH. I noticed something I've never seen before on any of my cars, and did not notice on the MMH until I did the waxing. On both rear passenger doors, in the bottom corner, near the wheel well, there appear to be 2 sheet metal patches. One on each door. It's about 2 or 3 inches wide, and maybe 6 or 7 inches tall. I don't think I would have ever noticed them if i didn't do the wax job. It looks like a very thin strip of metal that goes from the bottom edge of the door, up to about the bend area in the middle of the door. I'm wondering if it's some sort of covering for an access panel or something? Or, perhaps its a sheet metal patch. But in any event, it sure doesn't look right. I took a picture of it last night and will try to post that from home when I get there tonight. Since I don't have any other FEH or MMH to compare to, I wonder if this is normal for this model of vehicle. But, I can say in all the other cars I've owned over 30 years, I've never seen anything like this before. Looking for other folks out there to check their vehicles and see if they have this too? TIA cab

Thanks GL. It's wierd, or I'm having a bad day. I tried it with itunes open, and closed. Both times it told me I needed to install itunes. I just tried it again, with itunes closed, and it worked? DOH! as Homer would say. So ford is selling multiple vehicles with sync in the 2009 model year, but the syncmyride site is not current? Bummer! Not a good thing. Oh well. I waited 4 months before I went out and bought a MMH on a lot, so I guess I can wait a little longer. As of right now, I don't have a ipod / mp3 player. Never really needed one, so thats why I'm trying to use the flash drive. I suppose, if a mp3 player is a requirement, I'll stick with leaving the flash drive in the socket and just play from that. Many thanks for the info. Much appreciated.

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post these questions? But the search feature here on blue oval forums has been offline for a while today (never tried to use it till now), and the sync forum also seems to be down so far every time I've checked today. I'm hoping you folks out there can point me to some links and or websites with info and how to on the sync / nav system in the FEH and MMH. Please feel free to move this topic as needed? SyncMyRide.com How do you create an account there, if it does not recognize your VIN, and the 2009 FEH and MMH are not listed as vehicle choices. Sync_my_itunes What exactly does this program do? Every time I try to run it, it tells me I need to install Itunes. Itunes is installed. Is this program not compatible with Windows Vista? USB / User Device Ok, so I have music on a USB Flash drive and it works in the system. But is there a way to copy those files to the hard drive so I do not have to have leave the USB flash drive in the slot all the time? Yes, I have looked at the manual. If it's there, I missed it. (not the greatest manual I have seen) Other than recording a CD that is playing, how do you get music onto the internal hard drive? Other websites with useful info? If you know of other useful sync related sites, please let me know? Newbie alert here. Thanks in advance for all the help.

Thanks but this is not the vehicle i had on order. That one is still in limbo. I started doing some serious looking around and phone calling and found this one just sitting on the lot at a dealer 3 hours away. I couldn't pass it up. But it ended up being a 24 hour process. I was not expecting that time frame. Some things I would have done with more time before the buy, i didn't get to. Financing and what not. Not a big thing. I am now driving it, and no longer waiting.

sorry about that chief. Your right I missed a single number. This should be the correct #: VIN= 4M2CU29339KJ00891 many thanks

ViperPilot; VIN= 4M2CU2933KJ00891 If you could please track the info on my Mariner I would much appreciate it. I just picked this up last night at the dealer, so I should only bug you the one time. I'm very interested in seeing the history on this vehicle Huge thanks to you for doing this for me and everyone else here. I truely appreciate your efforts. I owe you one if we ever get to meet face to face. thanks.

If you are CA, you will prob get yours ahead of other people, but I still don't know why. For me, I ordered on 2 june and have yet to get a VIN. :-( FWIW, i figure 30 weeks out to be 9 months. I certainly will not be waiting anywhere close to that time. One way or the other. I was told 8 to 12 weeks when I ordered.

Just curious where this was that they had a row of the 2009's on a lot?

does anyone know why the cali orders seem to have priority? My dealer mentioned something about there being a state law in Cali that meant that their orders had to be faster, but didn't know the specifics. I'd be real interested to find out why Cali seems to be at the top of the list no mater when you order.

I've had lojack on one of my cars, and thankfully never needed it. I know one of my friends had it on thier car and used it, and it worked just fine. Not for a theft. Let's just call it a case of he forgot where he parked his car and walked home. :-) Would I buy it again, prob. not. Did you make a bad call, I don't think so. The system does work. My only question would be that my experiance is from the boston area, and thats where lojack got there start, and I did mine, around that time. What is their coverage area? Are you driving in an area where they have full coverage? I don't know about now, but back then, they did not cover the entire country. I did the same thing you did, got pulled in by the pitch, but never really regreted the choice. But in this day and age, I also kinda figure if they want my car bad enough, they are gonna get it.