I almost thought this was a knock off Temu truck or something...

 

Update: Thanks rugedraw for your reply and sorry for late response. Before going to dealership, I called Ford customer service and talked with someone with poor English. I brought up the info from your post along with the service bulletin number I was able to dig up.

SSM 53966 addresses vehicles running SYNC 4/4A version 23187 or older. The bulletin instructs dealers that Accessory Protocol Interface Module (APIM) software updates have been entirely disabled on these older builds. [1,2]

Key Details of the Bulletin:

• The Stop: Ford temporarily halted all APIM software updates for vehicles at or below version 23187 through both Over-the-Air (OTA) and the Ford Diagnosis and Repair System (FDRS).
• The Restriction: If you require a module repair sequence that depends on an APIM update, technicians are instructed not to attempt it, as the system will not present the update.

He put me on hold and supposedly talked to his manager. Of course, after a few minutes he came back and said unfortunately there was nothing they can do since my warranty had expired.
So, I went to the dealership and talked with the service manager and asked if he can try to convince Ford in agreeing to handle the costs. I argued Ford sent out a bulletin. Consumers doesn’t get bulletins. The dealership should have contacted me while under warranty. He agreed but stated, if Ford declines, Id' have to pay in full, his tech needs to get paid. I have over twenty updates to be downloaded and some can take up to eight hours. He said he'd let me know in a day or two to see what he can do. He called the next day and said he was able to get Fords approval to pay half. $1100 was not good enough. I didn’t agree to sign the service agreement without contesting Ford further. I called Ford customer service again and went down the rabbit hole with another poor English-speaking guy. When he tried telling me that nothing can be done, I told him to connect me with someone who can assist me with software issues. He did to my surprise and connected me to Fords Service cloud operations. The tech walked me through the procedure for resetting SYNC 4. Even though I have already have tried the full reset. The tech said the dealer should address my situation. Ford has a team called Ford TAC (Technical Assistance Center).They are Ford Motor Company's central diagnostic support team and they should address my update issues with OTA by a force flashing the APIM module with the dealership. The tech said she’ll setup the appointment with my dealership. All sounded good. Well, when I went back to the dealership. I was told that TAC doesn’t have the authority to approve paid services. I was back in the rabbit hole. I refused to sign the service agreement again. Went straight home and called Fords Service cloud operations again. Talking with a different Tech, he said indeed, they are not able to authorize payments. He connected me with Fords Repair and Assistant department. We went over everything on my case number and she wound up putting me on hold to talk with her management. While on hold I asked professor Google about Fords Repair and Assistant department and searched reviews. I read a lot of bad reviews. Referring them as another do nothing department. I was like oh, $#I@! here we go again, back down the rabbit hole. After a few times of her assuring me the she is still working on a solution and apologizing and to stay on hold, she shocked me. She told me she was in process of sending E-mails to me, Service tech, and service manager for the approval towards the repair cost up to $2400. After a few minutes later I received a call from the dealership and was told to bring the truck in and would start right on it. They didn’t know how long it will take; they hired Uber ride home and will send one to pick me up when completed. Again, I appreciate the detailed information about SYNC 4 and hope someone can find my update helpful.





 

Wow. Way to be persistent. Make sure to post results of their attempts to update

 

SSM 53966 may or may not apply to your truck. The only way to know is to get the APIM out of the broken software to see how far it will allow you to get.

There is no single module update that takes 8 hours to do. However, to get your truck fully up to date from where it is now, it will probably require 2-3 days of contant module updates to get it current. I highly doubt that is what the dealer is going to do......not for $2,400. What they will do is swap the APIM, program it to the next version which will bring your Sync version up to 21146. At this point, auto-updates will be able to be turned on and your truck will be capable of receiving OTA updates again. What they will do is fix the issue; but they will not fully update it. Ford is not paying them to get the truck up to date.....only to fix what is wrong. Just FYI so there are no surprises when you go pick it up.

 

Yeah, every time I got that warm fuzzy feeling, it didn't last. But for now, it's lasted longer since I got this started. Ford is providing a 24-month, unlimited mileage service part warranty. for whatever needs replacing.

 

I sure will let you know whatever the outcome.

 

rugedraw hit the nail on the head. Service tech at the dealership did say at the beginning that it would be cheaper just to replace the APIM. They still wanted me to pay half. Luckily I was able to convince Fords Repair and Assistant department to cover all costs. After a couple day I received my first update ever since the day I bought the truck.

 

I have lost count of how many of these cases I have seen. It is the same story with all of them. With FDRS, there is a 98% success rate that someone can fix it themselves if the follow the process that we know to work here on the forums.

 

So, what do we do when Ford stops supporting SYNC4? They've already started installing the Google Android system in some production line vehicles.

 

Same thing owners of older vehicles on Sync 3 are doing. RIde it 'til the wheels fall off or buy a new one.