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Dearborn - Ford Motor will expand the use of its on-board
smartphone applications for the 2012 model year, the automaker said at a safety
and technology show for reporters.
The Ford Sync communications and entertainment system will
be able to connect with smartphones on models including the Fusion sedan, F-150
pickup trucks, and the Expedition SUV, the company announced on Tuesday.
The option, called Sync AppLink, is already available on the
subcompact Ford Fiesta, and Ford had previously said it would be available on
the 2012 Ford Mustang.
The Sync system, without the Synch Applink option, is
available across the Ford and Lincoln lineup as a $400 option on some models
and is standard on others.
Mark Fields, president of Ford operations in North America
and South America, said a recent study showed that smartphones will overtake
feature phones in the United States. And, he said, two-thirds of smartphone
users want to use them in their vehicles.
"Mobile app growth is literally skyrocketing,"
said Fields. "This is a trend that we cannot ignore, especially as a
Nationwide Insurance study shows that one in four Americans who download apps
admits to using them while driving."
Improved ease of on-board control systems and the Sync
AppLink will help keep a driver's eyes on the road, said Fields and Ford
director of connected services, Douglas VanDagens.
VanDagens said the Sync application to link smartphones will
eventually be a factory option on all Ford and Lincoln vehicles.
Consumer reports
Ford was stung early this year when influential magazine
Consumer Reports did not give a "recommended" rating to SUVs Ford
Edge and Lincoln MKX because of the complexity of the audio and interior
control systems. These are the MyFord Touch and the MyLincoln Touch systems.
"Customers told us early on that there were some issues
with MyFord Touch, and we've been listening and we've been fixing them,"
said Fields.
Fields said that Ford has made software changes and offered
customers training at Ford dealers when they purchase a car equipped with the
systems.
Consumer Reports will not test the Ford and Lincoln systems
until the new model year because it does not appear that they will be significantly
changed until then, said Dave Champion, director of the auto test center for
Consumer Reports, in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
"Anything that would make MyFord Touch and MyLincoln
Touch system easier to use would be an advantage," Champion said.
Champion said that some of the controls below a touch screen
on Lincoln vehicles tested by Consumer Reports were spaced so that the driver
could easily touch a button not intended. This can be a safety issue, Champion
said on Tuesday, because a driver's eyes could be distracted from the road for
more than two seconds.
"We think that any control in the car should be handled
easily within two seconds, or it increases the risk of a crash," said
Champion, citing research done by Virginia Tech.
Ford also said on Tuesday that it is working with Nuance
Communications of Burlington, Massachusetts to ease the use of voice-control
systems in Ford and Lincoln vehicles. The first project is one that will expand
the vocabulary of commands as well as decipher the intent of the driver if he
or she does not use commands such as navigation inquiries the Sync system now
recognises.
