PT THE AUDITOR Technology 1, Training 0 A


FEW WEEKS AGO, MY FORD dealership sent me notice of a major upgrade to its SYNC system for my vehicle. The SYNC software program is for hands-free calling, GPS naviga-


tion and 911 assist, and has an iPod connection and other marketing options.All I had to do was bring my vehicle into the dealership on the designated Saturday and wait a few hours for the upgrade to be installed.


So I did, along with about 25


other owners who have the SYNC program in their vehicles.While we were being given coffee and donuts and told about the new marvels of the program by the dealer’s marketing staff, a couple of tech teams were in the service bays updating the program with Bluetooth-enabled laptop computers. The only downsidewas that the upgradewiped away the cur-


hand to reprogram our “stuff ” (a technical termused by IT people). I was fortunate to have both the Fac-


tory Engineer and the IT Director resetting my SYNCmodule.At first, therewas some problem, as neither could access the program.After severalminutes, they realized therewas interference from the other tech teams’ laptops that were still in use on nearby vehicles. Problem1 solved… Next, the ITDirector askedmewhich of the three cell phone


I have three critical, life- threatening problems with my new Ford of less than 8,000 miles.


rent phone book listings, the Bluetooth pairing ofmy cell phone, and myMP3 library; but not to worry. The dealership had its IT Director, a Factory Engineer from Detroit, and another tech on


numbers should be set as the primary. I felt important that they thought I was important enough to have to carry three cell phones. As they read out the numbers, the IT guy said, “Wait, that’smy num- ber.” Sure enough, my car was picking up his cell phone. Duh, what would you expect – he was sitting behind the steering wheel ofmy car! Problem2 solved… Then we could not figure out the next number displayed for


pairing to my unit, so I called the number from my cell phone. Well, yes, it belonged to the customer whose car was sitting in the stall next tomy car. Problem3 solved… One of the neat items is that the updated SYNC programwill


automatically send you an e-mailmessagewhen it’s time for sched- uled service, an oil change or crucial problemswith the vehicle if I registered my e-mail address with the Ford SYNCwebsite (which I had). The ITDirectorwas showingme howto gen-


erate a “health report” ; sure enough, in a minute or so, my BlackBerry buzzed and showed me a HealthReport e-mail frommy car.NowI havemy car sendingme e-mails! Unfortunately, the print on the cell phone


screen was ant-sized and I could not read it but would be able to when I got home. Fast forward to my home computer: I logged in to pick up my e-mail and excitedly printed out my car’s Health Report. I am now near cardiac arrest! I have three


critical, life-threatening problems with my new Ford of less than 8,000 miles. It was suffering from a failed charging system, significant loss of oil pressure, and electrical system malfunc- tions/draining battery life. But not to worry, SYNC had taken the ini-


tiative, made an appointment for me at 8 Mon- day morning, and sent a copy of the Health Report to the dealership’s service department so that the emergency room would be ready for my sick vehicle. And now it was four hours into the ER serv-


“Off hand, I’d say your problemis caused by your car’s computer.” 52 SEPTEMBER 2010 • PARKING TODAY • www.parkingtoday.com


ice as I waited in the dealership’s recovery room; finally, my service adviser came out and said, “You had us stumped there for a while, but after a few calls to Detroit andMicrosoft, we have dis- covered the problem!”


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