Does anyone else have problems where the nav system will get stuck in a location, and refuse to update?

It happens often enough that I don't feel like I can rely on the Nav to get me where I'm going.

Your opinions on what I should do would be appreciated.

 

I have a similar problem. My nav system sometimes gets lost. (Had me out in the middle of sf bay once.) The ford dealer looked at it and it wouldn't do it for them, of course. They did say it wasn't getting a good lock so they replaced the dash unit but that didn't fix it. I suspect it is the antenna. My next service will be at a different dealer so maybe they can fix it. I'm also going to try to get a picture of the screen when it is obviously wrong to back up my claim.

 

I would suspect the antenna, but when you start the vehicle under these circumstances it goes through the red->yellow transition for the heading that I believe indicates a lock.

Mine has gotten lost, but generally finds itself shortly, or after a zoom change. I've found the highest zoom to be unreliable, but don't use it so it doesn't bother me.

 

I have three different GPS receivers available to me, a recreational Garmin 60CSMap at home, a survey grade Trimble GeoXT at work, and the one on my 2006 FEH for the Navigation system. I have a pretty good feel for when I can get a good satellite signal and when I can't. I find the red/yellow/green heading to be an accurate indicator of the strength of signal/# of satellites, something you must have in order to get an accurate fix on your location. Needless to say, it should be red in the garage, in tunnels, and under heavy tree cover. This means you have no reliable signal until you drive to a better location. Yellow indicates that it's receiving signals, but not enough to get an accurate fix so it's only approximating your location (this can happen in canyons or downtown skyscrapers). Under heavy tree cover once I tried to route to Jack-In-The-Box. It found the nearest one 8 or 10 miles away but couldn't set up the route until it found a better fix for me once I started driving into town - it got a fix just a minute or two later and finished routing immediately. I was in heavy evergreen trees near Lake Whatcom and breakfast was in Bellingham, WA.

I'm impressed at how fast the FEH's GPS comes up with a fix. My other two receivers take longer, sometimes much longer. But they also find 8-12 satellites and you only need 4 for a 3D fix. The only goofy thing mine did once was show me driving across Lake Washington and not on the SR 520 bridge! It reset the next time I started the SUV and the map has been great since. Keep in mind that the Nav system does not rely solely on GPS coordinates, it also projects your location based on speed and steering. That way you'll still be on I-70 when you emerge from the Eisenhower Tunnel on the way to Denver for instance. If the coords aren't good but the computer is fooled into thinking it knows where you are then everything it projects after that won't be any good either.

A good test would be to take a recreational GPSr with you in the Escape. It should have a screen that shows the current satellite configuration so you can verify which ones are visible, in what part of the sky they currently reside, and what signal strength is coming from them. With a good sky window you can now pick up 6-8 satellites most of the time across the U.S.; sometimes even more! If you want me to try this let me know and I'll report back.

 

I have never had any trouble with my stock Navigation unit. However, contrary to whatever Ford says, once your Navi gets it's position, it can go 5 minutes or longer before taking another position fix. It is smart enough to know when you are changing directions ( making turns ) in the city, (gyro maybe) so it updates more frequently then. However, if you are on a straight, flat, Interstate, 5 minutes between GPS readings is not unusual. There is a speedometer sender wire going into the back of the Nav/Radio, so it uses your speed more often than GPS to "interpolate" where you "should be" on the map. This is great for in the city around tall buildings, or in tunnels or canyons. Not so great the rest of the time. It is probably a good compromise for all conditions.

 

There is an update you can get, it fixes the problem.

I have the TSB, if you want it I can e-mail it to you, just show it to your dealer they will update it for you. It's a software update to the navigation unit.

 

Yes, please! You should be able to send me an email through this system.

Thanks!

 

GPS is constant though. As long as there are strong enough satellites available sending radio signals the GPS receiver always has a position, its not something it "goes and gets" every so often. Its when it momentarily loses the signal that it has to rely on corroboration from the speed and turn movements. Perhaps the two work together to constantly update location, and perhaps that's why it can sometimes go off track as well.

 

It's an PDF attachment, and the forum won't let me upload it. Maybe the size is too big

 

What is a "TSB" and is this a firmware update or just navdata?