Ford’s->ke31 SYNC/MyFord Touch system has been a bit of a bust, as there have been numerous complaints about it being finicky, and in some cases, not working at all. Well, that may soon come to an end, as Ford has announced that its new Sync 3 will debut in the 2016 Ford Escape->ke233 and Fiesta.->ke1170

As the proud owner of a Ford Focus ST3, my car has Sync/MyFord Touch, and I can say many of the issues reported are very much true. Sure, it broke the mold when it debuted in 2007, but the growing complaints are deafening. Some of my main complaints include the counterintuitive button placement on the touchscreen, the touchscreen sometimes doesn’t pick up your input, it’s slow to respond, and it’s downright buggy. However, the voice control is actually fairly decent, all things considered.

The new Sync 3 promises to deliver where the existing system failed, and build upon some of its better points. Some of the new features include a simpler voice-command structure, improved AppLink to automatically detect smartphones and their apps, Siri Eyes-Free integration with the iPhone, an all-new, quicker-responding captive touchscreen, response to smartphone gestures, tile-like icons with a quick-access tray on the bottom, and updates via Wi-Fi (no more flash drives for updates, yay!).

You can see a preview of the new and improved Sync 3 in the video->ke278 above. I must say, it looks like a dramatic upgrade over the current system, but the current Sync system looked great at first too. Only time will tell if Ford has actually improved up on the existing system or just slathered a little lipstick on that pig.

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Why it matters

As much as I complain about the Sync/MyFord Touch system in my Focus ST, it is useful once you have had plenty of time to learn all of its idiosyncrasies. You learn to plan things ahead of time, you deal with memorizing all the voice commands so as not to deal with the touchscreen, and you live with some of its bugs. However, no one should have to learn to live with this type of feature. It should just work. I can only hope that Ford took its time to thoroughly test the Sync 3 system before releasing it.

Ford Fiesta

Read our full review here.

Ford Escape

Read our full review here.