What You Need to Know About Ford's Sync
What is Sync?
Sync is an in-car electronics system that allows voice control over various aspects of the car’s communications and entertainment functions. That means you can make mobile-phone calls or play a certain song from your portable music player by pressing a button, then saying a simple command like “call home” or “play song Twist and Shout.” Created by Ford and computer-systems developer Microsoft, Sync uses speech-to-text technology to interpret spoken words into specific commands. Its intuitive, simple operation makes it one of the best in-car voice-command systems available. Other vehicles have similar systems, but Sync is the brand name for Ford’s version.
How does Sync help me and my passengers?
Many cars have Bluetooth, the technology that enables you to wirelessly link your mobile phone and make and receive calls in the car, hands free. Sync takes Bluetooth a step further. It automatically reads your phone’s phonebook. Then, by using speech-to-text, makes it possible to place a call without ever touching the phone. Other systems function similarly, and can dial a number by simply saying “call home.” But the user has to store those numbers in the car’s memory system as well as the phone’s. Sync automatically shares the info from your phone’s memory with the car.
Sync also gives you voice control over a portable media player, like an iPod, though in Sync’s case, your portable media player must be connected to the car through a USB port that is also part of Sync. Once you’ve made the connection, all control of the device can be done by voice; everything from skipping to the next song, finding podcasts, or playing a specific artist or album.
Sync also can translate text messages to speech and allows you to send a few preset text messages -- provided the car is not moving. Again, this is all hands free. Ford is also able to offer several other in-car safety and entertainment features thanks to Sync. If you’re in an accident and your airbags are triggered, Sync will automatically call 911 through your connected cell-phone. Sync users can also get vehicle health reports, either electronically or in print form. This service monitors key vehicle maintenance and service points and lets you know if there’s a mechanical or electronic problem with your car.
By signing up on Ford’s Sync web site you can also get traffic, weather, news and sports scores and turn by turn directions through Sync’s Traffic, Directions, and Information (TDI) service. That information can then be read to you as you drive; again, none of this requires more than pressing a steering-wheel-mounted button and saying preset commands aloud.
Is Sync a must-have on my car?
The short answer is yes, Sync is a must-have feature. Anything that causes a distraction inside the car can be harmful. In a perfect world, motorists would just drive and not eat, shave, talk on the phone, play with their iPod or rummage through the glove box looking for that favorite CD. But most drivers are far from perfect, so most states have laws prohibiting many distracting behaviors, including talking on a handheld phone while behind the wheel.
Of course, it is possible to have the technology that’s supposed to reduce distraction become a source of distraction itself. But Ford’s Sync system isn’t one of those. The operation is sufficiently seamless and quick to learn that it allows you to do things like make phone calls or play music in the car without taking your eyes off the road or your hands off the wheel. Plus, Sync adds an invisible layer of protection that looks after your car and you should you be in accident. And Sync is also one of the best technology bargains you’ll ever find.
On some medium- to higher-priced Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles, such as the Lincoln MKS luxury sedan, Sync is included in the price on even the base model. Sync is standard. On lower-priced models, such as the Ford Fiesta subcompact, it’s a very reasonable $395 option. By comparison, satellite radio, Bluetooth, and an iPod connection through a USB port costs $420 on a 2011 Toyota Camry. However, the Toyota’s option does not include the 911 accident service, vehicle health reports, voice control over a music player, or the news, traffic, weather, sports and driving directions that Sync does.
Even if you use Sync only for making hands-free phone calls while driving, it’s worth the $395. That price includes all the Sync features: 911 assist, vehicle health reports, hands-free phone link with voice control, text messaging, and USB connection for memory stick or music player with voice control. None of these services has an additional subscription fee. Opt for the Traffic, Directions, and Information features like news, weather, sports and turn-by-turn directions, and the first three years are free. After that, TDI services are $60 per year.
Sync is in some ways a marketing success story, as well. Ford says the system’s capabilities and price have attracted tech-savvy younger buyers to its cars. And Ford and Microsoft have made it a point to keep Sync up to date. For example, 2011 Ford and Lincoln vehicles will be available with a new Sync feature called MyFord or MyLincoln Touch. It expands voice commands to the climate-control system, in-car navigation, satellite radio, HD radio, and adds an extra USB port. MyFord Touch is powered by Sync so it functions much like the basic Sync system but simply lets you make more in-car choices by saying commands out loud. It also uses integrates the function of steering-wheel controls with those of a touch-sensitive dashboard screen.
Sync does have a few limitations. For example, the 911 feature makes the call through your cell phone so if you happen to have an accident where there’s no cell coverage, the feature won’t work. Since Sync is using your phone to do all communicating outside the car, you’re cell-phone bill will reflect those charges if you pay for cell-phone usage by the minute.