USB iPhone connector
The Fiesta hasn’t been getting on with my iPhone. It hasn’t linked consistently on Bluetooth and even when using the USB lead, it’s failed to recognise the unit as an iPod. Looking it up online, it appears that all Fiesta’s made from March 09 have an updated firmware for the audio/bluetooth. This provides an extra option within the car’s menu for Stereo Bluetooth. That would potentially have solved the problem.
I checked a new car in the showroom and sure enough, the option is there, but I’d also read that Ford didn’t like upgrading cars because of the warranty costs. Which seems a little daft because it seems it’s only a small “.INI” file that simply activates the part of the code that already exists in the vehicle. It’s also daft that they don’t put the file on their website as Fiat does with their system.
I’m guessing that the reason it wasn’t there from the start was so they could somehow tie it up with the iPhone 3GS which was announced in July. Cars made in March would have taken a couple of months to filter into the dealer network and so would have been delivered to customers around the same time or barely weeks before the apple announcement. I spoke to a salesman that said if I took in a memory-stick he’d get the mechanic to copy the file and then it’s up to me to instal it. However he seemed a bit dodgy and insincere, so I never followed that up.
Last week I took the Ex to the showroom so she could pay for the Fiat 500 she’d ordered (the dealership sells Ford, Fiat and Kia) and the salesman we dealt with then told me to book my car in and they would sort it out for me. So off I went this morning to drop it off. But it’s always the way…. you know when you get some kind if ailment, book a doctors appointment and by the time you get there you’re fine? Well a similar thing happened, I hadn’t tried linking up the iPhone to the car for some weeks, so I figured I’d give it a go. Dammit. It worked perfectly.
I went there anyway and the receptionist agreed that it was being inconsistent, so probably warranted a look over. However she told me the car would need to be with them all day and they would need my iPhone all day too. Now that just wasn’t going to happen. There’s nothing dodgy or questionable on my iPhone but what it does do is automatically log into applications such as Facebook, e-mail and of course have all my contacts in it. What if the phone rings when they’re playing about. They might answer and important call… So many things could go wrong. So I rebooked for next week as a “while you wait” customer and they will fix it whilst I stare at them ! Interesting though that you have to wait a week for the next “while you wait” appointment.
However thinking about it as I drove home, the last time I tried to sync up the phone and car was about 3 weeks ago and since then I’ve updated the firmware on the phone to version 3.1. Maybe that’s fixed it. I’ll test it over the next few days and if necessary, cancel the appointment. I will report back…..
No comments:
Post a Comment