Shame, I was reading good reviews on the Focus as well! Funny how cars provided for test never seem to have these issues.

Not being an habitual Sat nav user, I'm wondering how common these issues are on other makes. On my last car for instance (SEAT, so a VW system) you only saw the Sat nav map when you specifically selected it via a shortcut button, which in my case was very rarely. On the Ford you have it displayed the whole time you're on home screen, which I tend to be on rather a lot so I can see the time. Again, on the VW set up you could have an otherwise blank screen with a time display, on the Ford you can't. So it's quite possible my previous cars also lost GPS signal but I would never have noticed!😁 

 

My Mk7.5 Fiesta has Satnav and that has not missed a beat in nearly 2 years.

Looks like it's just the Sync 3 then!😀

6 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

It would be interesting to know where your returned car ended up. Possibly into Ford Direct where the next unsuspecting punter might buy it😮!?

Lol... I probably bought it last month 😉

Sygic has their Europe GPS Navigation + traffic lifetime on sale until 27th Nov @ £11.99 for android (or iOS is €13.99) 🙂

Not sure about paying more for a Satnav setup when Satnav has already been paid for in the car, it just doesn't work. 

Maybe Ford would pay for a 3rd party app to run on their faulty vehicles?

11 hours ago, lst said:

Sygic has their Europe GPS Navigation + traffic lifetime on sale until 27th Nov @ £11.99 for android (or iOS is €13.99) 🙂

Interesting - as I understand the blurb,  other than when doing the initial set up, it doesn't require internet connection and operates through GPS without eating into your mobile data allowance. Their website has video instructions for connecting to Sync 3 which looks pretty simple. 

 

 

Won't it be using the duff car GPS though?

12 minutes ago, Jonson said:

Won't it be using the duff car GPS though?

I was wondering that after having another look at the website - not clear (at least to me, but I'm a bit of a dinosaur on these things) whether it uses the GPS from the car or your mobile. If it relies on the car presumably we'd be no better off. 

I guess even if one of us gave it a go and it seemed to work, we may not be much wiser due to the wide variations in the severity and frequency of the problem - for example I've had no issues at all in November so far.

 

 

Looking into it, the version I posted is the standard phone GPS navigation, the non connected 'car' version is double the price, and the connected version which is the one that works with sync3 is at 50% off, but still $46.49!!!

Seems the one I found at first was too good to be true...

So I called the Ford dealer for an update (it's been 2 weeks). 

Basically they said they'd heard nothing and if I wanted I could ring Ford myself to log it again from my side. 

Basically a fob off. 

If I can summon up the energy I might do that in few days. 

Ford always made hard work of everything with us. We had to do everything ourselves that would help the dealership move things along with Ford.

I think it was along the lines that if Ford tell the dealership to wait, the dealership have to toe the line them. If a customer gets involved, and tell Ford, "We want something doing now", they act a lot quicker.... That is how it seemed to go for us.

Not sure if Ford give any other options now other than return the car for a refund minus usage..  

7 hours ago, Mavroz said:

Ford always made hard work of everything with us. We had to do everything ourselves that would help the dealership move things along with Ford.

I think it was along the lines that if Ford tell the dealership to wait, the dealership have to toe the line them. If a customer gets involved, and tell Ford, "We want something doing now", they act a lot quicker.... That is how it seemed to go for us.

Not sure if Ford give any other options now other than return the car for a refund minus usage..  

Thanks for the info and insight. 

I definitely don't want to return the car so I'll take a pretty pragmatic approach with my next move. 

In retrospect I was probably being unkind regarding the dealer as tbh they seem like good people, and in light of what you've said regarding pushing Ford, it's likely not their fault no answer has been forthcoming. 

Always try to keep the dealer as much onside as you can. You need them to get Ford to do anything for you in a cases like these that are coming along.

Ford themselves are very, very hard work and will drop dealerships in the crap without thinking twice.

Yes indeed. My local dealer has come up trumps for me in the past so treading softly with the GPS issue. Mine has behaved itself for the whole of this month (I know there's a day to go, so hope I'm not speaking too soon😀).  Seems to confirm my view that in my case  the shenanigans are only triggered in one particular area (where I've not been since October) though once it starts it then misbehaves continuously until next stop and start or I perform soft reset.

This makes it difficult to pursue with my dealer - although I'm sure they believe me I can't demonstrate the fault. If I run diagnostics at home I get good GPS from 15+ satellites and it's the same at the dealers, which is just a few miles down the road.

I'll raise it again when I have my convenience check/oil change/whatever I finally decide on at 12 months. You'll have seen on the Sync 3 map update thread that Ford have admitted the Wi-Fi updates doesn't work at present - I wonder if they've told the dealers?

On 11/29/2018 at 3:47 PM, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Mine has behaved itself for the whole of this month (I know there's a day to go, so hope I'm not speaking too soon😀).  

No, I wasn't - just parked up for the day so that's a whole month without seeing the Ghostbusters symbol!😀

On 11/22/2018 at 3:18 PM, Mavroz said:

My Mk7.5 Fiesta has Satnav and that has not missed a beat in nearly 2 years.

I find the 7.5 satnav ok but three main issues for me:

1. can't easily see an overall view of the route or alternate routes like you'd get when viewing directions via Apple/Google Maps on a smartphone

2. traffic updates only come from the TMC and no real time internet updates 

3. annual (paid) road updates

5 hours ago, anyjungleinguy said:

I find the 7.5 satnav ok but three main issues for me:

1. can't easily see an overall view of the route or alternate routes like you'd get when viewing directions via Apple/Google Maps on a smartphone

2. traffic updates only come from the TMC and no real time internet updates 

3. annual (paid) road updates

Mk7.5 Satnav works fine for me.

Theis thread is for Mk8 Satnav issues. To keep things simple and non confusing,maybe open a new thread if you wish regarding Mk7.5 Satnav issues.

On 11/30/2018 at 6:23 PM, Eric Bloodaxe said:

No, I wasn't - just parked up for the day so that's a whole month without seeing the Ghostbusters symbol!😀

I think, luckily, you've not got the chronic GPS failure issue like us lucky people Eric 😁

14 hours ago, tef89 said:

I think, luckily, you've not got the chronic GPS failure issue like us lucky people Eric 😁

Well, I'm not counting any chickens yet....! Not due now to revisit my "Ghostbusters zone" (Wensleydale area)  until March, when our caravan park reopens for the season, so if it behaves until then that will pretty much confirm my theory that it is only triggered in that one area.

Yesterday, was on the phone to some friends who live in the  same area as @Mavroz.  Their Mk 8 Titanium is in for its 12 month check/service/whatever tomorrow and they confirmed that it has been completely faultless, including the sat-nav, which they use a lot. This really is a weird thing!

That is the crazy thing that even Ford don't seem to be able to figure out.... Most units work fine, some simply don't. That is why I believe we are told there is no fix available.🙄

More weirdness.....

Been driving round locally this morning, done 50 miles or so, and as I got within half mile of home the Ghostbusters symbol came up which has never happened near home before. Map and TSR kept working normally though and a beautiful morning with not a cloud so would've thought reception would be spot on. I ran the diagnostics as soon as I parked up at home which showed I was picking up 16 satellites, so 😱. This does not look good for my "only happens in one place" theory!😀

1 hour ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

More weirdness.....

Been driving round locally this morning, done 50 miles or so, and as I got within half mile of home the Ghostbusters symbol came up which has never happened near home before. Map and TSR kept working normally though and a beautiful morning with not a cloud so would've thought reception would be spot on. I ran the diagnostics as soon as I parked up at home which showed I was picking up 16 satellites, so 😱. This does not look good for my "only happens in one place" theory!😀

Really sad to hear it might be worse than we thought on yours.  I genuinely think the problem worsens with time.  I'd read somewhere the problem might related to the entire APIM unit and once it's starts failing it becomes progressively more flakey. No idea how valid that is. 

My phone has started losing BT connection with the  car randomly,  but I'm of mind to blame the recent Android update just now and hope for the best. 

Well, I can live with the Ghostbusters symbol as long as everything keeps working - mainly the TSR and associated speed alert as I've mentioned. We don't worry too much about the actual sat-nav anyway, after all these years I can find my way to most places in Britain without needing a map and - as she has frequently reminded me for the last 30 years - the Mrs got top grades in Geography O and A level (I didn't, as you might guess😀!).

Been out again this afternoon after a switch off and restart, so needless to say, no problems at all this time.

 

 

 

 

I think the TSR uses a combination of the camera and GPS (someone correct me if I'm wrong lol).  I've had a few instances where the the speed has been incorrect, but mostly it's fine. 

I also noticed that once the failed GPS symbol appears the location pointer on the map will slowly lose accuracy, on B roads etc, or in built up areas it can sometimes get completely confused. 

I think what's happening is it's still managing to lock onto some of the satellites so the accuracy suffers as time goes on.