GADGET OF THE YEAR

Ford Sync system is best new feature Product improves safety, convenience

December 20, 2007

BY MARK PHELAN

FREE PRESS AUTO CRITIC

The best feature to come from any car company in years, Ford’s new Sync system improves safety, convenience and communications.

The breakthrough system also shows how automakers can team up with the consumer electronics industry to improve the products they both make.

Best of all, it’s affordable. Many automakers would have slapped a $1,000 price tag on it, offering it only on expensive luxury models.

True to its history, though, Ford chose to make the new technology available to the masses, launching the innovative system on its low-priced Focus compact and quickly rolling it out across the Ford, Lincoln and Mercury model lines.

Sync, which Ford developed with Microsoft, allows the driver to use spoken commands to control a mobile phone and iPod-type music players.

Telephone calls are piped in through the audio system, and you respond through an effective microphone in the car. It also reads text messages to you.

You can request any song, CD, artist and more from your music player without taking your hands off the wheel or your eyes off the road. The music stops when you take a call and resumes when you finish.

In addition to the convenience of spoken control of your electronics, Sync enhances safety by reducing driver distraction.

Ford launched Sync as a $395 option on the 2008 Focus. It quickly added the system to other 2008 models, including the Fusion, Edge, Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKZ and MKX.

By this time next year, you should be able to get Sync on virtually every vehicle in the Ford, Lincoln and Mercury lineup.

A huge convenience and a significant safety feature, Sync constitutes a major advancement for the auto industry.