GopherM Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 I have the '09 FEL with nav and sync. I have checked all manuals for info on this question. Sometime when I power the car up the "Center Stack Information Center" above the nav display will show the month, day and year and will display a time directly above the date which appears to be the time the engine was started. My problem is that sometimes the Climate Control, Media Selections, Bluetooth Indicator, Clock Time and all other information is displayed, but I don't get the calendar or engine start time. I can not find any references about the display modes other than the compass, clock settings and a few other things. Does the owner have any control or input to select the calendar or other information to show? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Lantern Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 (edited) I have the '09 FEL with nav and sync. I have checked all manuals for info on this question. Sometime when I power the car up the "Center Stack Information Center" above the nav display will show the month, day and year and will display a time directly above the date which appears to be the time the engine was started. My problem is that sometimes the Climate Control, Media Selections, Bluetooth Indicator, Clock Time and all other information is displayed, but I don't get the calendar or engine start time. I can not find any references about the display modes other than the compass, clock settings and a few other things. Does the owner have any control or input to select the calendar or other information to show? I had not noticed this but since it is now halftime of Alabama/Kentucky I think I will go look. I cannot find anywhere to change what does or does not show but I did observe that if the Radio is on the month/day will not show but the clock will (in the upper right corner). If the radio is off then the month/day/time will show across the lower middle of the upper screen. Edited October 4, 2008 by Green Lantern Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GopherM Posted October 4, 2008 Author Share Posted October 4, 2008 (edited) I had not noticed this but since it is now halftime of Alabama/Kentucky I think I will go look. I cannot find anywhere to change what does or does not show but I did observe that if the Radio is on the month/day will not show but the clock will (in the upper right corner). If the radio is off then the month/day/time will show across the lower middle of the upper screen. Yep. Sometimes it is there and sometimes it isn't. I had it several days in a row when I was playing a CD, but today with the CD going, it was not there. It doesn't make any sense at all that it would be tied to whatever media function you have selected. Why would you only need the date when the CD was playing and not at any other time...and why leave that area blank when it could be showing the date or some other important or interesting information? GL...I also think that the time that shows with the calendar in the center of the screen is the time that the ignition was turned on. I started the car the other morning to go to work and the time never changed on that part of the display. Every time (when it decides to show itself) te time always does the same thing. Edited October 4, 2008 by GopherM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GopherM Posted October 7, 2008 Author Share Posted October 7, 2008 One more clue as to when the calendar display shows or doesn't show...Yesterday morning I had a CD inserted that had been playing the day before and the calendar stayed on. I switched CDs when I got home last night and this morning when I started the car the calendar remained on, that is until I selected the MEDIA switch on the steering wheel. As soon as I changed MEDIA modes the calendar went away. I can only assume that when I go and restart the car again later today, with the CD player already selected that the display will be back and will remain there unless I switch MEDIA. I called the dealership yesterday and they seemed to have no immediate idea and the salesman said he would play with some vehicles on the lot and also try to get a tech answer from Ford. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InsGadget Posted October 12, 2008 Share Posted October 12, 2008 Buggy software code ... not the end of the world. This was obviously low on the programmers' list of things to fix, and the product had to go out the door before they polished it up. These problems might go away with a future Sync software update. So far on my '09 FEHL AWD I've only noticed the Calendar show when the Radio is completely off. I also have not noticed any clock staying frozen to the Engine Start time. Personally I wish the '09 NAV screen would just show all the info that the '08 and earlier models did. Time, outside temp, climate control settings, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GopherM Posted October 12, 2008 Author Share Posted October 12, 2008 Buggy software code ... not the end of the world. This was obviously low on the programmers' list of things to fix, and the product had to go out the door before they polished it up. These problems might go away with a future Sync software update. So far on my '09 FEHL AWD I've only noticed the Calendar show when the Radio is completely off. I also have not noticed any clock staying frozen to the Engine Start time. Personally I wish the '09 NAV screen would just show all the info that the '08 and earlier models did. Time, outside temp, climate control settings, etc. I'm certain it is the software, but it doesn't seem to be universal. The dealership checked out some of their vehicles and indicated that the date and time of key turn stayed on the display if other media modes were selected. Maybe the next Sync upgrade will update the system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
09escape Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 One more clue as to when the calendar display shows or doesn't show...Yesterday morning I had a CD inserted that had been playing the day before and the calendar stayed on. I switched CDs when I got home last night and this morning when I started the car the calendar remained on, that is until I selected the MEDIA switch on the steering wheel. As soon as I changed MEDIA modes the calendar went away. I can only assume that when I go and restart the car again later today, with the CD player already selected that the display will be back and will remain there unless I switch MEDIA. I called the dealership yesterday and they seemed to have no immediate idea and the salesman said he would play with some vehicles on the lot and also try to get a tech answer from Ford. My 09 FE has the same problem with the display. It did work perfect for a few days when we first got it. Then we noticed the date and time the unit was started disappeared off the screen. It will work OK when you play a CD but you have to hit the off button twice for it to display all the data. Dealer has no idea how to repair it. Hope someone can find a solution as this is stressing me knowing it's not working properly. I like things you pay for to work. Still love the FE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Lantern Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 My 09 FE has the same problem with the display. It did work perfect for a few days when we first got it. Then we noticed the date and time the unit was started disappeared off the screen. It will work OK when you play a CD but you have to hit the off button twice for it to display all the data. Dealer has no idea how to repair it. Hope someone can find a solution as this is stressing me knowing it's not working properly. I like things you pay for to work. Still love the FE. You are assuming that this is an error. It could simply be the way it was designed in that the date/time appears at certain modes and not at others depending upon how the nav/sync unit is being used at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meatwaggon Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 (edited) Oops, I misread. NM Edited October 19, 2008 by Meatwaggon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GopherM Posted October 19, 2008 Author Share Posted October 19, 2008 You are assuming that this is an error. It could simply be the way it was designed in that the date/time appears at certain modes and not at others depending upon how the nav/sync unit is being used at the time. GL you could be right, but I am thinking that give the real estate on the display and all the other information displayed that at least the date would be displayed all the time. What logic could they possibly have for only showing that info when the car is powered up with the CD/DVD selected. Also, if it was designed to only show the date in certain modes, why then would the date not be displayed again when you cycle the media all the way back to the CD mode? :shrug: I have to believe it is just another Microsoft glitch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Lantern Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 GL you could be right, but I am thinking that give the real estate on the display and all the other information displayed that at least the date would be displayed all the time. What logic could they possibly have for only showing that info when the car is powered up with the CD/DVD selected. Also, if it was designed to only show the date in certain modes, why then would the date not be displayed again when you cycle the media all the way back to the CD mode? :shrug: I have to believe it is just another Microsoft glitch. Gopher...I sure never mentioned anything about logic. Don't confuse a good story with the facts as my boss used to say. I agree that it appears odd, quirky even. I just don't know enough yet to assume it is not working as it was designed. Some brainiac somewhere could easily have said 'hey, they don't need this data in these situations so we will turn it off'. Might not be how you or I would think about it but I just don't know yet. I am also not sure if the Center Stack issue is more of a 'whoever programmed those electronics' versus a Microsoft issue. I think the Center Stack was in the 2008 models which did not have Sync thus did not have Microsoft in the vehicles. I would like to have an 08 user chime in on their experiences. Then it still would have to be determined if this is a Microsoft issue or a Ford/Microsoft compatibility issue which could reside on one side, the other side, or both sides of the equation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GopherM Posted October 19, 2008 Author Share Posted October 19, 2008 Gopher...I sure never mentioned anything about logic. Don't confuse a good story with the facts as my boss used to say. I agree that it appears odd, quirky even. I just don't know enough yet to assume it is not working as it was designed. Some brainiac somewhere could easily have said 'hey, they don't need this data in these situations so we will turn it off'. Might not be how you or I would think about it but I just don't know yet. I am also not sure if the Center Stack issue is more of a 'whoever programmed those electronics' versus a Microsoft issue. I think the Center Stack was in the 2008 models which did not have Sync thus did not have Microsoft in the vehicles. I would like to have an 08 user chime in on their experiences. Then it still would have to be determined if this is a Microsoft issue or a Ford/Microsoft compatibility issue which could reside on one side, the other side, or both sides of the equation. I guess that's the biggest thing...there are not enough '09's out here yet to form a good database of what we are seeing with this quirk. My dealership said they checked several cars on their lot to see if they were doing the same thing, but I don't know if they were checking against '08's or '09's. I'll have to give my salesman a call back tomorrow and see what he has to say. I was supposed to drive back there this weekend, but after seeing the several comments here with people having the same common problem, I just couldn't seeing making the 80 mile round trip. Mostly it is a very trivial thing and if I hadn't actually seen the date show up, I would probably never give it a second thought. If I really need to know the date, I can always call up the calendar on the Nav display...or remember what yesterday was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meatwaggon Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 I'm not sure what you guys mean by center stack, but if you're talking about the small display on top of the central vents, then mine only shows the date briefly on startup and then doesn't show up after that at all, no matter what I'm doing with the nav system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GopherM Posted October 19, 2008 Author Share Posted October 19, 2008 I'm not sure what you guys mean by center stack, but if you're talking about the small display on top of the central vents, then mine only shows the date briefly on startup and then doesn't show up after that at all, no matter what I'm doing with the nav system. Hey Meat. That is that display we are discussing. The date will show up and should remain on if you have left the media selected to CD with a disk in the drive when you power the vehicle up. My date remains on until I hit the media button to change the mode. If I power the vehicle up in any other mode, then just like you stated, the date shows up for about 10 seconds or so and then goes away. It's a mystery...maybe our Nav/Sync systems are powered by Microsoft Mojave (since we know Vista wouldn't do this to us)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GopherM Posted October 20, 2008 Author Share Posted October 20, 2008 Hmmmm! If I power the audio system off, the date comes up...and goes away when I turn the audio system back on. Cycled off and on several times and it always goes away. I didn't try it with the CD system seected and a disk inserted to see what that would do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Lantern Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 Hmmmm! If I power the audio system off, the date comes up...and goes away when I turn the audio system back on. Cycled off and on several times and it always goes away. I didn't try it with the CD system seected and a disk inserted to see what that would do. Yep, that is what I was trying to say with my first post in this thread...at least about the part about the date showing up when the radio is off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachdude Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Yep, that is what I was trying to say with my first post in this thread...at least about the part about the date showing up when the radio is off. For what its worth... My 2008 Escape displays the Time, Date, Compass and Temp at all times regardless of the mode that I am in; Radio, CD, Satelite or Nav. My only criticism of the system is that Date and Time display in Blue. Compass and Temp in White. The Compass and Temp is nearly invisible during the day. Had Ford made the display in blue it wouldn't be so bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Lantern Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 For what its worth... My 2008 Escape displays the Time, Date, Compass and Temp at all times regardless of the mode that I am in; Radio, CD, Satelite or Nav. My only criticism of the system is that Date and Time display in Blue. Compass and Temp in White. The Compass and Temp is nearly invisible during the day. Had Ford made the display in blue it wouldn't be so bad. Thanks...that is good information indeed. So now it appears that this issue is native to the 2009 model. Now the questions for Ford are whether or not this is a MS issue or a compatibility issue between MS Sync/Nav and the Ford center console electronics and whether this can be adjusted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnprzy Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Took delivery of my 09 FEHL with nav unit a little over a week ago and noticed this very issue. After playing around, it seems that if you turn the radio off (tap the power button) the date/time appears in the center of the display. When the radio is turned back on, the date/time goes away (unless the head unit had been set to play from a CD). In cases where the head unit was set to play a CD, the time actually appears on screen twice, once in the center and once in the upper right corner. I'd venture to say this is probably a software bug. It makes sense that the date/time displays in the center stack display when the radio is turned off, but when the radio is on, the stack display should probably show the current station/CD track. I think another bug is the fact the date does not appear anywhere on the nav display. If the date can appear in the center stack display, one would think it should also appear somewhere on the nav screen. I have to say though, aside form this minor software bug, the small glove box and the wimpy sounding horn, I'm very happy with my purchase :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meatwaggon Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 I have to say though, aside form this minor software bug, the small glove box and the wimpy sounding horn, I'm very happy with my purchase :-) Exactly. Add to that the loud engine (for an I4) and that pretty much encapsulates my feelings about the car. Oh, and the interior moulding could look a little classier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GopherM Posted October 22, 2008 Author Share Posted October 22, 2008 Took delivery of my 09 FEHL with nav unit a little over a week ago and noticed this very issue. After playing around, it seems that if you turn the radio off (tap the power button) the date/time appears in the center of the display. When the radio is turned back on, the date/time goes away (unless the head unit had been set to play from a CD). In cases where the head unit was set to play a CD, the time actually appears on screen twice, once in the center and once in the upper right corner. I'd venture to say this is probably a software bug. It makes sense that the date/time displays in the center stack display when the radio is turned off, but when the radio is on, the stack display should probably show the current station/CD track. I think another bug is the fact the date does not appear anywhere on the nav display. If the date can appear in the center stack display, one would think it should also appear somewhere on the nav screen. I have to say though, aside form this minor software bug, the small glove box and the wimpy sounding horn, I'm very happy with my purchase :-) That is exactly what mine does. I don't know about everyone else's display, but if the date and time do come up on mine, the time stays fixed to whenever I turned the key on and does not advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauli Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 Hi There: I contacted sync about the issue and found that its not a Sync issue as I had thought. So now it seems to be a NAV issue, maybe a firmware update is needed, but from who? Maybe the vendor that does the Maps might know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauli Posted November 16, 2008 Share Posted November 16, 2008 Is anyone looking into this, have they spoke to FORD yet. I'll do it, if I knew who to talk to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GopherM Posted November 16, 2008 Author Share Posted November 16, 2008 Is anyone looking into this, have they spoke to FORD yet. I'll do it, if I knew who to talk to. I haven't contacted FMC, but have talked with my dealership about the issue and they are continuing to look into it. Maybe we will all get in to our vehicles one day and find that a magic download has been performed through the satellite while we slept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauli Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 I haven't contacted FMC, but have talked with my dealership about the issue and they are continuing to look into it. Maybe we will all get in to our vehicles one day and find that a magic download has been performed through the satellite while we slept. I contacted FORD today, this was the first they heard of the condition. I basically asked, if this is a bug or by design, they are looking into it. -paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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