2012 Ford Explorer XLT: Rolling Health Report
February 10, 2012
This notification popped up on the screen in the Explorer last night. It was accompanied by a soothing announcement from Ms. Sync that asked if I would like to check the health of the Explorer.
This is part of a regular check up schedule and not the result of a suspected problem. After consulting the manual I found out that registered Sync users can have the diagnostics emailed to them so they can have the info ready should they want to schedule a service appointment. It can also send a text message to your phone if it's a serious issue.
At first it felt a little gimmicky, but if owners actually use the system correctly it seems like a good use of Sync's abilities. It's essentially a more sophisticated check engine light and given most owner's propensity to ignore such warnings, anything that gets them into the dealer to check a potential problem seems like a worthwhile feature.
Ed Hellwig, Editor, Edmunds.com
