fordylincoln

@ice-capadesCould you post the 2024 Ford Escape Order Guide for us? Thanks!

Just wanted to share my two cents on this issue. This may get slightly technical, so I apologize in advance. But first, to ask a question to the community: On your 18/19 Lincoln Navigators, are you missing the Shift Key on the Save Favorite Destinations keyboard screen? Not having this forces all of our saved places to be in lower case letters, and is horrible to look at when you are selecting your destination. This is our biggest complaint with Sync 3.0.17302. Anyway, for the technical stuff. I have done extensive research via VIN lookups on Sync 3 levels in dozens of various Ford/Lincoln vehicle. From what I have found, 2018 and 2019 Lincoln Navigators are the only vehicles that are "stuck" on Sync 3.0.17302. The majority of other Ford/Lincoln vehicles from those years are either able to upgrade to Sync 3.0.20204 or 3.4.21020, depending on their model year. What is the deciding factor between whether your vehicle can be updated to Sync 3.0.20204 or 3.4.21020? I believe it comes down to the APIM module hardware itself. As noted on this site https://www.infotainment.com/products/replacement-service-ford-sync-3-apim-module?variant=31597211189284, there are two different APIM module configurations...J and K. From the trends that I saw, Config J APIM model year vehicles had Sync 3.0.20204 and Config K model years had Sync 3.4.21020. This is understandable since there are some UI changes in 3.4 and perhaps there are memory/performance issues that may arise as a result of installing 3.4 on a Config J APIM. However, I believe people have done this with success using 3rd party software, so Ford/Lincoln are probably just being safe...or want you to buy a new car :). Why is my 18/19 Navigator stuck on Sync 3.0.17302? Here is my theory. First, 2017 Navigators were the model year before the redesign. They had the "standard" sized Sync 3 screen that is in most Ford/Lincoln vehicles. 2017 Navigators are running Sync 3.0.20204. However, 2017's were using the standard Lincoln Sync background and styling. Let me explain what I mean. If you look at a Ford Sync 3.0 system, I would classify it as Blue and Blocky (or square). Nothing wrong with it, but that's what it looks like. The Lincoln Sync 3.0 system in vehicles like the MKZ, MKC, etc. looks identical, accept it's more of a gold/dark yellow coloring. So basically, they changed the colors. That's easy. Now look at your Lincoln Navigator Sync 3 system. I would classify it as a dark, sleek, with rounded buttons. So not quite as brutal and blocky as the other systems. Both the 18/19's have this new sleek look (and I think even the 20/21's do too). However, the 18/19's are on the older Config J APIM, while the 20/21's are on Config K. I'll note then that the 20/21 Navigator's are on 3.4.21020, but from pictures I have seen, visually the UI looks the same as Sync 3.0.17302. Conclusion If you've followed all of that, awesome! If not, that's ok too! I believe, given that Navigator's are probably the smallest market out of all Ford/Lincoln vehicles, this is (unfortunately) a low priority for their Engineers. Given that we are on a down level hardware APIM, have a larger screen size, a completely different UI styling than any other vehicle made by Ford/Lincoln, and that we are on the older Sync 3.0 Operating System (3.4 and 4.0 is probably where their focus is), we may be stuck on a 2017 Sync version possibly forever, unless, of course we all chime in and complain to our dealers. On the bright side, at least on the 2019 Navigators, we can still update our navigation maps to "the latest" that Sync has to offer. Please feel free to let me know what you think about my analysis.