Hi guys

I know this has been hammered on the forum already.

I'd just like to know what the feeling is out there still about the mp3 cd skipping issue. Does anyone else still have this problem and what was the best solutions?

Thanks

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Hi

I bought a new Ford Fiesta in November of 2008 and always had this specific issue where mp3 cds would skip alot (sometimes as bad as every 3 seconds) during playback, especially closer to the end of an mp3 cd. Quality of the mp3 also seems to have an effect.

At the time I thought it was perhaps the cd itself that was at fault, so I tried different manufacturers of cds over the past two years (Sony, Verbatim Music ect.) yet the issue still persisted.

Also, another worrying issue I found was that cds inside the player would get so hot during long drives(2hours+) that the radio would start to fail reading anything on the cd until I could manage to cool it down. Whether this is caused by heat from the sun on the dashboard or the mp3/cd player itself I cannot say.

I noticed on the Ford Owners Club forum that the first issue seems widespread. Links below...

http://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7363&st=0

http://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7031&st=0

So today I had my Fiesta in to the dealer for its 3rd service. I explained the issue to the workshop manager and suggested that an update(firmware) should be available from Ford which should at least dampen the effect of the problem. He told me though that they had never heard of this issue before.

I've gotten the car back now with an expected response. They could not reproduce the problem but I suspect they just don't believe me as I drove home listening to the skipping mp3s as I went.

I do not want to make a fuss about the issue at the dealership itself as I also work in retail and know what it is like to deal with inconsiderate customers. I also cannot blame them for not knowing anything about a problem that seems fairly common on the early fiestas. All I require is for Ford SA / Europe / America to let my Ford dealership know about this issue so that the correct solution can be found as soon as possible.

I fear they misunderstand the problem, as they want to send my car radio away for repairs to a 3rd party which could take up to a month to get "fixed" with no guarantees.

Unfortunately my radio does not have the USB option, as I suspect that USB probably works correctly.

Is there any assistance Ford itself could provide regarding this issue?

Otherwise could you please raise this issue with the appropriate people?

If all else fails, is it possible to upgrade my car radio with the USB option?

Thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter.

Regards

Chris

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On MP3 cds with more than say 50/70 tracks mine skiped, on my first mk7, ford said they had a upgrade to the software and that would fix it, they did the upgrade, no difference and havent tried mp3 cds on my ZS as I have usb.

Be interested to know what they say back

i can remember i had a mp3 cd player that did this, i converted all the mp3 to a lower bandwidth such as from 320 to 256 and that seem to stop the skipping. you could try that to see if it helps as i dont think ford will be able to help on this, it will be down to the headunit manufacturer such as sony.

Also my MP3 player has this problem.

I solved it reducing the number of track but i think it because i encreased the free space on the disk.

Let's say that 500Mb is almost ok. using more than this space you'll see that the tracks burned in this part of the disk start "jumping"

I noticed that the "jumps" are regular and more frequent as you read this part of the disk up to 700Mb.

Probably reducing the bitrate means reducing the space you need for the same amount of songs.

I like my fiesta but i think i did a bad choice to have an integrated stereo. I fear that it will be very difficult to chage it and in 5-10 years it will look like a very silly old device for music...

Baci

A

Well it's good to see some people still have this problem.

Mine seems a bit worse though. Mp3s skip regardless of how much I put onto the cd. It only skips less at the start than at the end but I can never eliminate the problem completely, even with 1 mp3 on a cd.

Edit: JohnH: Do you think the Fiesta's radio is manufactured by someone else? From what I've heard this whole radio is integrated with everything else in the car computer wise.

My dealer updated the software on mine at it's first service after I complained, but it's made no difference.

Never used a CD in the car so wouldn't know but the USB works without problem and the malority of files are at 320kb/s. I would suggest it's down to the CD Drive in the car and how well, or should I say not well, it reads the discs. Getting Ford to accept this is a whole different matter though.