Fiesta Mk8 Satnav GPS issues / fault

[Mavroz]

Ok, as suggested I have started another thread about the on going issues with the Mk8 satnav issues as mentioned here ...... 

Anyway moving forward, the car is booked in again next week with the dealership for another software upgrade.

We and the dealership have questioned the fact that the latest software available is already installed but Ford Technical who are instructing the dealership on the day have said it is new updated software that is a European version that has been very successful. We will see ....

With the ongoing issues we have had, last week we also accepted a nice little sweetener from Ford for the said issues.

The only thing we told them was what they offered us was in no way an acceptance of the fault and on going issues. They hope to have a fix asap, it is more in their interest now.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

On 6/16/2018 at 5:51 PM, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Many thanks again, @lst - I don't have the B&O but realised I didn't have the sound switched on! All good once I did that, seem to be picking up from lots of satellites in present location.

So far, I've only lost GPS completely in one area (Wensleydale) and I've been up and down there twice in the last week with no problems at all with GPS in the car. However, I was using Google maps on my mobile while up there and that told me I was around 6 miles from where I actually was! So I'm coming round to the idea that my issue might be one of localised reception problems. Unfortunately I've still only done around 2,000 miles in the car, all within around 100 miles radius of home, so I'll have to see what happens when I get chance to venture further afield!

I couldn't figure out the icon either, I'll leave that for another day (unless one of our resident geniuses can enlighten us?!).

 

From the lack of further posts, it doesn't look as if many others have experienced this problem so far. Interesting that after suggesting hardware changes Ford have gone back to the software approach - no doubt you'll update us on the results. Nice to see you got a sweetener out of them at least😀!

Tried the diagnostics as above at home, where I have no problems, so unsurprisingly signal was good. I've had no further issues while actually driving my car since my last post, including 2 return trips to the upper dales  where I've lost signal previously. However, I'm currently parked up in Hawes, Wensleydale under a (very rare) clear blue sky, so thought I'd try things. On switching the car on, the "no GPS" symbol came up. Ran the diagnostic test - no satellites show whatsoever. Then tried GPS on 2 devices with Google maps - one found my location, the other couldn't. This is most annoying as if they'd both failed I'd now be fairly confident it was a localised signal issue, particularly as the phone couldn't get the correct location previously as mentioned above. 

If we hadn't had to cancel/rearrange various trips earlier in the year (due to no car!), I'd have a better idea by now of how it works further afield, but will just have to wait until our next planned long car trip comes up and see what happens.

[Mavroz]

Car was back in today as they said Ford technical wanted to try another software update... once again the dealership returned the car telling us that Ford Technical installed the software that was already Installed and had been installed twice previously.

They moved away from hardware as they changed things in another fiesta and a Focus apparently with no improvements shown.

The loss of signal is definitely not localised, there is a definite issue with some vehicles. This has obviously been confirmed by Ford.

The complaint has now been moved up to Ford credit to decide what they are going to "do for us long term" as it is moving ever closer to involving trading standards and/or the Motor Ombudsman which it seems everyone is wanting to avoid.

It has been nearly 14 weeks with no fix, proposed fix, only the same things are being tried over and over. 

And yes the dealership confirmed what they said previously that the problem may still be there if they order us a replacement vehicle.....

It seems like the problem hasn't affected anyone here or they just don't realise or know about it unless ou use GPS regularly.... our dealer has said the issue is rife, there are many customers with the problem but not all.

The saga continues.

[jsk]

Have not had any problems with my GPS after a couple of signal loses during first two months of ownership.

Eight months on I went to the west country last week. On a trip to the local supermarket with no destination selected but the nav screen on, I lost the GPS signal. Strange thing was the nav screen still showed the correct map orientation and the car icon still following the road and turns as if it still had GPS.

Strange.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

57 minutes ago, jsk said:

 On a trip to the local supermarket with no destination selected but the nav screen on, I lost the GPS signal. Strange thing was the nav screen still showed the correct map orientation and the car icon still following the road and turns as if it still had GPS.

Strange.

This morning did another 80 miles or so into uncharted territory (for the car) and exactly the same thing happened, though I have experienced this a couple of times before. Strange indeed!

[Mavroz]

When we lose the GPS signal, strange things like A.)the map completely vanishes and leaves a darkened screen with the car in the centre, B.)The shown location can be in the middle of a field or river, C.) As per your replies, the car seems to follow the road but eventually just carries on in a straight line through anything in its path on the screen.

[Mavroz]

Also when GPS lock is lost, yes the route is followed until there is a temporary diversion etc etc, or you deviate/take a different direction from the original set route then it appears the GPS hasn't got a clue what to do as it tries to recalculate a route over and over and over with no success. 

Basically a route is planned but any deviation from that route after GPS lock is lost then the unit gets stuck in a loop trying to re compute the route and at a guess crashes.

[Oldbean]

Despite driving over 4000 miles to date, this has all been to work and back so haven't had to use the Satnav, however, as part of the M25 was closed last night I had to use it to get "across country" and it worked fine.

This weekend I will be leaving the safety of the M25 and heading into the wilderness of Suffolk - so this will be the real test - will update Monday.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

7 hours ago, Mavroz said:

When we lose the GPS signal, strange things like A.)the map completely vanishes and leaves a darkened screen with the car in the centre, B.)The shown location can be in the middle of a field or river, C.) As per your replies, the car seems to follow the road but eventually just carries on in a straight line through anything in its path on the screen.

So just to confirm, I get behaviour as in C), but not A) and B) so far. On the couple of occasions when it has stopped following the road, the traffic sign recognition ceases to function also. Both times this has happened have been on the same stretch of road (A684 near Bedale, N Yorks) travelling in the same (southerly) direction.

[Peter Shelley]

I have a 2014 plated Ford Focus and the NO GPS message is on the screen display, it is a built in factory fitted SAT NAV/RADIO display screen.

 

I have disconnected the battery and left it hours before re-connecting the battery back up, nothing happened and it did not reset itself.

anyone have any suggestions on how to fix the problem ??

 

Peter

[Mavroz]

Don't know about the 14 plate, this issue is on the sync 3 version.

Yes, the sign recognition is affected also when the failure happens.

Again, not all vehicles have the fault, so we are told.

 

 

[jsk]

As I said previously mine has behaved itself for the last eight months until the hiccup last week. Trip back from the west country trouble free. If it starts to play up in the future I shall use Google maps via smart phone and Android Auto app. At least the maps will be up to date as my Sync 3 ones are at least two years out of date. Emailing Ford about updates receives the usual response. 'Check with your dealer'.

[Mavroz]

I can confirm that if you want sync 3 map updates then the dealership should perform the update when the car is serviced, that is what we were told.Not sure if this is chargable or not.

Ford suggested We use our mobile phones for Sat nav purposes when the issue we have occurrs. That went down well, why should we have built in satnav and then have to buy a phone holder, have it mounted and use 3rd party nav software when theirs doesn't work and was sold to us?

I believe either Ford or the dealer told us the aim very soon will be to update all software such as maps via the WiFi connection on the head unit.

[jsk]

After the Ford email reply telling me to, check with dealer, I did just that. They said they had no updates and had not heard of any in the pipeline. General opinion is if and when updates are available it will probably be a download to a USB stick and load it yourself.

[Mavroz]

Ok, difference of dealership then it seems. Our dealer said when services are performed, they check software and map versions and advise the customer if updates are available. Again whether this is chargeable or not I guess depends upon the service level.

I can understand the dealer saying that updates will be available via Wi-Fi, why else would they have an automatic update setting via Wi-Fi built into the cars on Sync 3? It doesnt make sense to keep taking the cars to dealerships for updates when this option becomes available. We were also told the auto updates when rolled out will have to have the ignition running for the download and update to complete.

The car will be going in again shortly (sometime around or after 4th july) we are told as they want to try a "new" software update that has/is being trialled In Europe, I am guessing this has not been made available to "all" dealerships yet as it is still a Beta version i think they called it.

This is trying to eradicate the GPS signal loss.

I have no reason to disbelieve our dealer or question them as they have bent over backwards to accommodate us with this issue, even to the point of disagreeing with Ford and siding with us, the customer to keep us happy and not out of pocket.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Just back from a few days up the dales,  "no GPS" came up as soon as we started back. After about 10 miles the map icon was off all over the fields as per behaviour C), and the traffic sign display went blank. Couple of new variations. For those of you familiar with that part of Yorkshire, the location name shown at the bottom of the screen showed for example that we were in Bedale when we were in Masham, and in Richmond when actually in Ripon. Also the traffic sign display occasionally came back to life but displayed 20 when in a 60. We stopped around half way home for supplies and, as usual, all back to normal on restarting.

On arriving back home tried the diagnostics again, strong signal from a number of satellites and my Android tablet (which couldn't get a location up the dales) got a "fix" immediately.

Clearly the car is not picking up a signal in certain locations but whether it is the location or the car I'm still at a loss to say and like @Oldbeanreally need to get further afield to be sure. 

I did flag up the potential issue with my dealer but I can't really see what they could do unless and until Ford themselves can correctly identify any issue and come up with a fix (either hardware or software - or both!). From @Mavroz's latest post they may be getting nearer - fingers crossed. In my (long out of date!) experience of IT, software  at Beta stage is generally just about complete but actual users are let loose on it to enable it to be tweaked following their experiences, before the definitive version is released.

 

 

 

 

 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

20 hours ago, Mavroz said:

 

I can understand the dealer saying that updates will be available via Wi-Fi, why else would they have an automatic update setting via Wi-Fi built into the cars on Sync 3? It doesnt make sense to keep taking the cars to dealerships for updates when this option becomes available. We were also told the auto updates when rolled out will have to have the ignition running for the download and update to complete.

My dealer told me this also. My car is certainly checking for updates regularly - it did it this morning, but whether the mighty Ford computer is listening to it is another matter!

[jsk]

Might be of interest. I know it refers to a Focus but I should imagine the system is the same on the Fiesta.

http://www.carbuyer.co.uk/news/163429/watchdog-ford-focus-rs-sat-nav-waits-a-year-for-update

[Mavroz]

17 hours ago, jsk said:

Might be of interest. I know it refers to a Focus but I should imagine the system is the same on the Fiesta.

http://www.carbuyer.co.uk/news/163429/watchdog-ford-focus-rs-sat-nav-waits-a-year-for-update

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The requested page "/news/163429/watchdog-ford-focus-rs-sat-nav-waits-a-year-for-update%EF%BB%BF%EF%BB%BF" could not be found.

[Mavroz]

18 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Just back from a few days up the dales,  "no GPS" came up as soon as we started back. After about 10 miles the map icon was off all over the fields as per behaviour C), and the traffic sign display went blank. Couple of new variations. For those of you familiar with that part of Yorkshire, the location name shown at the bottom of the screen showed for example that we were in Bedale when we were in Masham, and in Richmond when actually in Ripon. Also the traffic sign display occasionally came back to life but displayed 20 when in a 60. We stopped around half way home for supplies and, as usual, all back to normal on restarting.

On arriving back home tried the diagnostics again, strong signal from a number of satellites and my Android tablet (which couldn't get a location up the dales) got a "fix" immediately.

Clearly the car is not picking up a signal in certain locations but whether it is the location or the car I'm still at a loss to say and like @Oldbeanreally need to get further afield to be sure. 

I did flag up the potential issue with my dealer but I can't really see what they could do unless and until Ford themselves can correctly identify any issue and come up with a fix (either hardware or software - or both!). From @Mavroz's latest post they may be getting nearer - fingers crossed. In my (long out of date!) experience of IT, software  at Beta stage is generally just about complete but actual users are let loose on it to enable it to be tweaked following their experiences, before the definitive version is released.

 

 

 

 

 

Basically that is what ours does regularly. That is also around city centres and routes in highly populated areas.

As you say (and as Ford instructed), stopping the engine and opening the doors then restarting reboots the unit and all is well again for a random time limit.

You should be able to use your SatNav pretty much anywhere you wish (obviously other than maybe tunnels or mountains) without it losing signal, especially in populated areas, this day and age.

This Eric is the same issue as what we and many others are having. It is up to you, how far you want to go or how patient you want to be for a fix but we certainly weren't happy at paying full price for things that don't work as they should, especially when we were told that Ford don't have any idea how long it will take to put right.....

[Mavroz]

18 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

My dealer told me this also. My car is certainly checking for updates regularly - it did it this morning, but whether the mighty Ford computer is listening to it is another matter!

We initially enquired about this to the dealer and they said it doesn't do anything (at the time, a couple of months back). That is when they said the engine needs to be running and if it was to perform an update at the moment, it would take a long time. They said ultimately Sync 3 would perform updates over Wifi but there are a lot of issues with it at the moment that are being ironed out.

[jsk]

Hi Mavroz

For some unknown reason when you enter the email link I posted it added. %EF%BB%BF to the end of it. If you delete that part from the Page Not Found url and press enter again you should get it.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

1 hour ago, Mavroz said:

Basically that is what ours does regularly. That is also around city centres and routes in highly populated areas

You should be able to use your SatNav pretty much anywhere you wish (obviously other than maybe tunnels or mountains) without it losing signal, especially in populated areas, this day and age.

I also thought these things should work anywhere. What is throwing me is that so far it is fine round highly populated areas (Leeds, Harrogate, York etc) and also out to the East Coast. So far I have only had issues north west of Ripon (Wensleydale basically) and I find that other devices (phones, tablets) also have problems with GPS in the same area, as well as problems with TV, radio and broadband. Hence my interest in seeing what happens elsewhere.

From a practical perspective, I never use satnav anyway (though as I mentioned elsewhere I do find the traffic sign recognition a useful feature to help avoid any more speeding tickets!). On this and several other cars I've had it came bundled with other stuff I did want, so in a way it's even more annoying to pay for something you didn't particularly want and then find it doesn't work anyway! So I will keep raising it with my dealer as an outstanding issue, though a much more serious one for me is the seat, which I'm still not getting on with and could lead to an early change of car anyway.

 

[Oldbean]

Update : On Saturday drove from Heathrow to Lowestoft (Suffolk coast) using Satnav all the way without a single problem.

I know that my car was built within days of Mavroz's so it appears to a very hit and miss issue.

[Mavroz]

That is the overall problem, some Ford's have the problem, others don't. Surely it cannot be that hard to pinpoint the fault.