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Ford Brings Siri Eyes Free Support to 5 Million Vehicles Dating Back to 2011

I like this. Sure, rolling out new cars with CarPlay is cool, but the average middle-class person can't buy a new car like they can an Apple device. So, I appreciate Ford retrofitting their cars with technology as possible. People like me who do not buy new cars, ever, will be able to get in on at least some Siri integration with their next used car purchase.
 
Seriously, why anyone who is looking for a new car would buy the one without good phone connectivity ? ideally, I would like to see Carplay well integrated using upcoming Bluetooth ( with higher speed, longer distance, low power internet of things) standard wireless connectivity implemented. This becomes nirvana of car/phone marriage made in haven.
 
MacRumors said:



While many carmakers are starting to roll out support for Apple's CarPlay in-vehicle functionality, an older Siri Eyes Free feature is also designed to help minimize driver distraction by using Siri voice recognition and spoken responses to allow drivers to interact with an iPhone without needing to look at the screen.

Siri Eyes Free is generally activated through a hardware button on the vehicle's steering wheel and is available in a number of makes and models, and Ford today is officially announcing the launch of Eyes Free support for over five million vehicles dating back to the 2011 model year via a software update to Ford's second-generation SYNC infotainment system.

Eyes Free support actually went live two months ago with the launch of version 3.8 of the second-generation SYNC software, but Ford has apparently waited until now to make the rollout official as it has worked to apply the update to new cars coming from the factory and make it available to owners of existing vehicles.

Apple also lists Ford as one of its CarPlay partners, but the automaker has yet to announce specific plans for supporting it in upcoming vehicles. The most recent information from Ford indicates CarPlay support will be arriving "relatively soon."

Article Link: Ford Brings Siri Eyes Free Support to 5 Million Vehicles Dating Back to 2011
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Finally, a reason to drive my spouse's 50th Anniversary convertible Mustang ;)
 
Shlooky said:
I have a 2004 BMW, I changed the CD changer to the BMW iPhone interface and now my iPhone acts as a music player, GPS, Hey Siri works through the cars Bluetooth.
GPS's in cars are now becoming a thing of the past. Like you said, you spend money on a GPS update every year, and this is after you spend over 3000 for the GPS option.
Car play is good, but if your car didn't come with it, simply plug in your iPhone to the Apple connector and you're set.
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BMW is years ahead of the domestic manufacturers. My 2004 330 has the MK4 nav system, introduced in 2002, which supports bluetooth, iPod, current maps, and even digital TV! The interface is simple and well designed. It is ludicrous, though, that owners of newer cars can't update their systems to support newer functions; on my car, I was able to update the drive to software from 2010, which gave me a host of usable, new features.
 
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Robert,

Do you have one of those USB sticks or know how/where to get one? I'd be interested.

Robert.Walter said:
And then there is Honda.

Successfully field tested CarPlay on production hardware in customer vehicles over a year ago. The install was made via a USB stick sent to customers.

Meanwhile the CarPlay advertising shows s Honda head unit and for the last year Honda dealers encouraged customers not to wait but to buy and later install CarPlay with a firmware update.

The customers that bought this b.s. were later screwed when Honda announced they (care about current customer satisfaction and more about selling new cars) are not going to backward support vehicles in the field that have the display audio head unit on which CarPlay was successfully tested.

I'm so hoping for a class action lawsuit.
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Gav2k said:
Fords way for trying to grab vw's market share
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Do you seriously believe this?

joueboy said:
Let the driving data gathering begin. In this situation I think Apple is like becoming Google. I assume they will start harvesting our driving data. With that information it's very critical for the development of iCar. It's happening they just need more information and the only way to get them is through CarPlay and of course Siri.
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Do you seriously believe this?

Robert.Walter said:
Fords way to see if they can avoid having full CarPlay in their cars.
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I don't believe that for a second!
 
I have a 2014 F150 and the update is showing up on my owner page on Ford's website. I'll hopefully be able to install it tonight.
 
efktd said:
i'm just gonna sell all my cars and buy fords now.
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Buy the car you want now, don't buy it based on "oh hey they are doing X now" because that always changes. Buy the car because of the handling, reliability and safety, then extra features.

A car is in all reality a get from point A to point B device, all the extra stuff is just icing on the cake.
 
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jarred125 said:
Buy the car you want now, don't buy it based on "oh hey they are doing X now" because that always changes. Buy the car because of the handling, reliability and safety, then extra features.

A car is in all reality a get from point A to point B device, all the extra stuff is just icing on the cake.
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i agree. but as per my comment, i forgot the

/s
 
I'm pretty happy about this. I'll be updating my ST tonight.
 
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karlrmac said:
Robert,

Do you have one of those USB sticks or know how/where to get one? I'd be interested.
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Let me know if you find out, because I'd be very interested. Ironically, there's documentation that shows that feature exists on Honda's

Siri® Eyes Free Mode - Honda Owners

Yet the Honda dealerships by my house don't want to acknowledge that. Also sucks as my radio has frozen on occasion and the only way to get it back is to, literally, reboot my car. I'd have to shut the engine off and turn it back on.
 
Definitely going to check out a ford now. Hopefully other manufacturers follow suit.
 
I installed this update to my 2011 Edge this morning. It did take about 30 minutes. At first I couldn't figure out how to use it to activate Siri - Ford could have done a bit of a better job with this. However, once I held down the talk button for about 3 seconds, Siri fired right up. It's still a bit clunky and certainly not Carplay, but it was convenient to be able to ask for directions, compose and read texts using voice in an almost 6-year old car. I'm pleasantly surprised as my experience with the Ford Touch system has been less than stellar.
 
I installed a Kenwood DDX9902S CarPlay head unit in my vehicle this summer and it supports Siri Hands Free when I don't connect my phone via Lightning. While I don't get the pretty CarPlay interface, it sure is convenient for short trips.
 
shareef777 said:
Let me know if you find out, because I'd be very interested. Ironically, there's documentation that shows that feature exists on Honda's

Siri® Eyes Free Mode - Honda Owners

Yet the Honda dealerships by my house don't want to acknowledge that. Also sucks as my radio has frozen on occasion and the only way to get it back is to, literally, reboot my car. I'd have to shut the engine off and turn it back on.
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I think karlrmac is talking about CarPlay.

Anyway, what car do you have? I was able to install Siri Eyes Free on my Accord a year and a half ago. My dealer didn't know anything about the update so I did it myself. I can dig up the instructions somewhere. You do need access to either a Windows laptop or have Windows installed on your MacBook via Bootcamp or something.
 
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