I have all of my music as .mp3s on a USB drive, and have lately been learning/fiddling with making/editing playlists. When I try to call up a track with voice command, all of a sudden the lady in the dash says “voice commands not available with this device”. Sorry honey, but I have been using voice commands with this device for 3 years without issue so what’s your problem now?
So I Google it up, and someone has reported success fixing this issue by removing the SYNC fuse (#2) for 3 minutes to re-boot SYNC. So I try it and it works, but now I lose my phone pairings and all of my Quick Dials.
Has anyone had this problem and is there a more permanent fix? I heard there might be a TSB for this, but has anyone installed it and did it cause any other problems?
If I ever get “voice commands not available with this device” again, I know how to fix it but it sure is a pain in the a$$ to have to re-pair the phone and punch in all the quick dials. H E L P ! !

 

Hi Big-Red-Lariat,

If this becomes persistent beyond the fuse pull, there could be a developing issue with your APIM. The fuse pull method is generally reserved as a last-ditch effort because of the data loss you're describing. My first suggestion is generally to try resetting the device first, then attempt a master reset if this isn't effective. This support article provides some great pointers for general troubleshooting that you could try: Troubleshooting tips for SYNC and SYNC with MyFord | SYNC & SYNC with MyFord | Ford.com

Let me know how it goes!

Antonio

 

Not to hijack this thread...but

FordIVTteam

I have issues with Sync sometimes changing tha ambient lights back to a default of blue. It stays on red where I put it and then out of the blue (pun intended ) it switches back to blue! It is very annoying. I also have the latest update.

 

thanks for the info, but I had previously tried Master Reset and Return to Factory Settings options, both of which failed to resolve the problems.
So what's APIM and how does one fix it should this issue continue?

 

I think this happens when you exceed the # of files (songs) that the SYNC index can manage for voice commands. I get that warning now too, but I have 140 GB of music loaded. I just ignore the warning but I do notice that the truck won't index 100% of my entire collection (it stops as soon as the limit is reached, meaning some of my music doesn't show up even if I browse by "Exploring USB Media").

 

thanks. I am using a 32GB usb drive and its not even half full.
It only calls up the correct song about half the time, for instance PLAY ARTIST AL STEWART gives me Rod Stewart. Do others have this type of issue also?

 

Hi PrinceValium,

I'm a fan of puns.

I believe there's a service bulletin that addresses the ambient lighting amnesia. The behavior has something to do with a memory issue in the APIM. Your dealership will need to take a look.

Big-Red-Lariat,

The APIM stands for Accessory Protocol Interface Module - its essentially the SYNC brain. Sadly, APIM-related issues often result in replacing the part entirely. If your symptoms worsen or don't improve, your dealership will need to provide further assistance with diagnosing the root cause.

Hello BMWBig6,

We see this more commonly among the higher-capacity drives and media players. One way to maximize your indexing is to briefly scan the metadata in your iTunes for tags that are unreasonably long. The indexing limit is character-based per the song tags and doesn't necessarily go by the size of the library. You can also get the most out of your voice command functionality by breaking off parts of your library, perhaps your favorites, and storing them instead on a blank USB thumb drive. There's no firmware between SYNC and your song files in this situation, so you might even notice a difference in responsiveness/indexing speed.

Antonio

 

Thanks Antonio, I appreciate the tips! I will see if organizing my collection and stripping long ID3 tags will fix the problem.