Is Alan Mullaly to Blame for My Ford Touch's Problems?

Ronnie Schreiber
by Ronnie Schreiber

Much as reviewers and consumers have embraced the products that Ford Motor Co. has introduced under Alan Mullaly’s leadership, as well as embracing Mr. Mullaly’s public image as the most competent auto executive currently in charge of a Detroit based car company, there has been almost uniform criticism outside of FoMoCo for the company’s headfirst plunge into digital infotainment and control.

Hooking up with Microsoft, Ford felt that it was beating the industry to the punch when they first introduced their Sync system, followed by the even more ambitious My Ford Touch interface and a comparable Lincoln branded system. Consumers, with a small c, have expressed frustration with the system, prompting Ford to allocate funds for dealer training on MFT, along with FoMoCo issuing needed software upgrades. “Consumers” with a capital C, as in Consumer Reports, has consistently panned Ford’s infotainment interface, first dinging them on reliability for user frustration with MFT and now saying that the system “stinks”. It’s possible that by trying to be ahead of the industry Ford went a bridge too far. Ironically, that decision might be traced back to the general in charge, everyone’s fair haired boy Al.

It might be a Yogi Berraism, but you can really see a lot just by looking. Bertel Schmitt’s posts on the Chief Engineers in charge of Toyota vehicle programs might give you a clue as to their role and status in Toyota City and the fact that it’s the Chief Engineers who are asked to stand up at new vehicle introductions hammers home the point. When Ford introduced My Ford Touch at the 2010 NAIAS, after the speeches were over journalists and photographers were swarming on the stage looking for quotes and photos. I noticed a young Ford engineer, one of the guys working on the My Ford Touch program. The fact that he was there on stage meant that he’d indeed had a significant role. It must have been a big day for him because his parents were there and I watched as he introduced them to his big boss, Mullaly. Mullaly appears to be a remarkable manager of people. When you talk to folks at Ford there’s a respect and loyalty you sense employees have for their boss. At this year’s NAIAS the Ford presser was held in the round, in Coba Arena, with three camera operators at floor level to cover all the angles. When Mullaly’s part of the event was over and he walked off stage, I saw him stop to thank one of the cameramen and pat him on the shoulder.

When talking to Ralph Gilles, I get the impression that he’d rather that Chrysler be independent of Fiat (it’s nothing he’s said, that’s just my impression) but I also have the feeling that he has a lot of respect for Sergio Marchionne. That’s not a vibe that I get off of GM personnel about Dan Akerson. While GM folks seem ambivalent or indifferent about their boss and while Chrysler folks indeed seem to be loyal to Sergio, at Ford they really, really like their boss. So it made sense when most of the reporters were done with their questions for that young engineer to want to introduce his parents to Mullaly. The parents beamed as Mullaly went on and on about what an important role their son had at Ford. Sure it was PR, but there was genuine enthusiasm in his voice. After that little human scene, I got a chance to ask the Ford CEO a question.

Before running Ford, Mullaly headed the Boeing corporation after first being in charge of their aerospace and defense operations. I asked him to compare the level of technology at Ford to what was used at Boeing, which uses many advanced and sophisticated technologies. Of couse Mullaly used the question as an opportunity to sell My Ford Touch, a main talking point that day. He said that at Boeing he was in charge of the design of the first all digital flight deck. Their job was to take a large amount of information and be able to present it to the pilots in a manner that made their jobs easier and safer, and that’s what Ford was trying to do with My Ford Touch. He may have been blowing smoke but there was, again, a boyish enthusiasm in his voice. I came away from that interaction understanding exactly why Ford has gone all in on MFT – the big boss likes it. He’s an engineer by training who has designed digital cockpits of jet airliners. Of course he’d like a digitally based techie driver infotainment system.

One thing Mr. Mullaly is credited with as a drastic improvement in the corporate culture at the Glass House in Dearborn has been getting rid of the political back-stabbing that resulted from fiefdoms in the company. Decisions since Mullaly took over have seemed to based on reason and logic, with One Ford being the primary example. It would be genuinely ironic, because Alan Mullaly indeed seems to be one of the more competent auto executives in memory, if engineers within Ford are reluctant to criticize My Ford Touch because it’s a pet project of their big boss.

Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, a realistic perspective on cars & car culture and the original 3D car site. If you found this post worthwhile, you can dig deeper at Cars In Depth. If the 3D thing freaks you out, don’t worry, all the photo and video players in use at the site have mono options. Thanks for reading – RJS

Ronnie Schreiber
Ronnie Schreiber

Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, the original 3D car site.

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  • 86SN2001 86SN2001 on Aug 24, 2012

    "Much as reviewers and consumers have embraced the products that Ford Motor Co. has introduced under Alan Mullaly’s leadership, as well as embracing Mr. Mullaly’s public image as the most competent auto executive currently in charge of a Detroit based car company" HA!..Now that's funny! And yes, of course he is to blame. He is responsible for everything Ford does. He is responsible for the terrible new Focus....with the defective PowerShift tranny, he is responsible for the Fiesta that has had lackluster sales and the same defective transmission, he is responsible for the problematic new Escape, etc. With all of the recalls/problems/poor launches lately, one really wonders how "competent" Big Al really is...

  • Michaelhagerty Michaelhagerty on Aug 24, 2012

    Overall, I like Alan Mullaly and where he's taking Ford. But My Ford Touch is a sign of a guy who hasn't yet grasped the essential difference between a Taurus and a 787. Namely, air traffic control hasn't cleared the next 500 miles at your altitude for you. Drivers have to keep their eyes on the road. Haptic feedback would help. Big round buttons and knobs would be better. Alan, think Cessna 152, not Dreamliner.

  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
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