Lincoln & the MKC - Taking Stock & Looking Forward to 2016

I've been saying for a little while that once all the mkcs get sold and out there we will really start to see the real world problems. And they are definitely getting sold because I see them ALL the time now. I'm no longer "exclusive" here. Out last weekend in northern NJ and a Christmas place in NY I saw 2 mkcs in one parking lot. If I'd have driven we would have had three in one place! Three not at a dealership LOL.

Well if you read my app thread the app update that Lincoln said would fix my problem that came out yesterday did NOT take my error away. It will take a few days to test the remote access as that seems to die randomly, sometimes working for a few days, sometimes working only an hour. But based on what is happening (my Lincoln mobile is deactivating itself for some unknown reason) I'm not guessing this app update had anything to do with that. Now what?

The update did finally fix my screen so I can see everything though. And hey they put the name greeting back in the home screen, now it greets me by name and time of day again. Try and focus on the positive LOL.

Update, well it didn't take long to test my remote access...can you guess if it worked...

Yes, based on my conversations with Ford's In-Vehicle Tech team, remember that the app and modem are only as good as the cellular signal you're getting. I had a different carrier earlier this year and couldn't get the app to start the car, lock or unlock it from inside my house (not to mention just using my phone from inside the house for other reasons...). I switched carriers and the signal in my house is much better now. However, it also depends on where the car is parked which is receiving the signal. I can literally move my car to different positions on my street and sometimes the app functions will work and sometimes not - this is due to cellular signal strength variance where the car is parked. For instance, I also can't get the app to work remotely if I've parked in an underground parking structure because the car's modem cell reception is weak there even if the signal is good where I'm standing and trying to send the command. And the number of bars on your phone really means nothing...

Yes, these cars have had some infancy issues, but bear in mind the tech loaded into these cars compared to cars from the 90's (although I had a couple 80's Chryslers which were rebranded Mitsubishis and they had a lot for their day). Also, remember that some issues like the placement of the start/stop button were not a functional defect or malfunction - that was a manufactured paranoia on some peoples' parts that Ford's lawyers elected to take the path of least resistance to address. Several of us had absolutely no problem with the original design. I actually preferred the button on the bottom of the gear selector and thought it the height of silliness that they made me change it.

thanks guys but it's not the issue. I have been working with Lincoln engineers and Lincoln tech since the summer on this. i had a 15 year career in high level tech and security before I "retired" to be home with my son. Keep trying to tell them I don't think it's the app. Intervention with the car "fixes" it. It's not a signal thing, I used this system all last winter with only one failure from a mountaintop while skiing where I clearly had no signal. I'm standing right next to the car with my phone when it fails. My phone can have 5 bars and it still fails. What fixes it is starting the engine (which negates my whole "remote" feature LOL) and "reactivating" my Lincoln mobile IN the car again if my car has 1 bar or 5. When my system goes into shut down mode (meaning my schedule fails and I cannot access the car remotely i.e. Timeouts) and I get in my car and start it I get a message on my sync screen notifying me that "my Lincoln mobile is NOW active in the car" as if it was inactive- and when the system is working I do not get that message -because my Lincoln mobile has not been inactivated. My app functions fine.

Ive spent weeks and hours troubleshooting every angle with Lincoln and also know how the system works. The app does not connect to your car/modem. It connects to lincolns "cloud" ( servers/computers out in the Internet) through your cell phone service. The cars modem connects to Lincoln through the cloud. That's why you have the slight delay when you send a command. It goes to Lincoln first. Your scheduled starts are also stored there. Lincoln sees when we remote start or send commands that are successful. They can track our travels and pinpoint when we go out of service area (loss of signal from your cell phone - they know the part of the road that I drive my son to school and lose service for about 1/4 mile - I was quite surprised they knew this because they are definitely right - I drop calls there everytime) this is all done through my Lincoln mobile being active/connected in the car. When I troubleshoot with Lincoln they tell me they can see that my commands work (they are assuming the only commands I am sending are those they can see and work). What they can't see right now is when it doesn't work. Like when my car goes into this shutdown mode and my scheduled starts stop working and my manual remote commands fail/timeout. You know why? Because my Lincoln mobile or the modem in the car becomes inactive and it no longer communicates with Lincoln through the cloud. So that's why they don't see the failures. I don't understand why they don't see this. They have attempted to replace my TCU module, then attempted a reprogram of it to no avail. They have kept pointing to the app and telling me the next update will fix it. I've been through three updates now, no change.

What they can't seem to figure out is the WHY. Why is it going into inactive mode thus not allowing me to use remote features at random times? Sometimes it works for days, sometimes it shuts down within hours of being used. According to Lincoln our remote access goes into a "sleep or hibernation" mode after 14 days without you physically accessing the car with the fob. Protection if you are away and never drive the car after the remote starts for so long. It will also disable your scheduled starts too after 14 days. But that's what was happening with my car too. The scheduled starts were disabling themselves in a week or less. I know when you look up reasons for some of the things happening it points to a low battery condition. WELL , my app keeps reporting and throwing low battery warnings. They replaced my battery and insist nothing wrong there. Well, could it be because the app is "erroneously" reporting or seeing the battery as low that it, meaning the app itself, is deciding to shut down the remote services to further protect the battery voltage? But isn't it curious that starting the car and running the engine "fixes" it , albeit temporarily, because perhaps the battery is getting a boost of charge? No intervention with the app but intervention with the car by starting the engine even briefly "fixes" it?

Pretty annoying. Going shopping for less than two hours today I tried to start the car from inside (full cell phone service) and the remote system was already shut down. Today was first cold day we've had too literally since last winter, we've had unseasonably warm weather here. As I write a few hours after getting home and being able to access the car it is now dead again.

Everybody has their hot button issues. Some are real, some are perceived, some are based on expectations. In addition to a 2015 MKC, I have a 2013 MKZh. I was just reading in the MKZ forum about the 2017 MKZ changes - and several people chimed in that there was finally going to be a real armrest (console). I've had my MKZh for 3 years and never noticed there was no real console armrest.

One of my hot button MKC issues was the placement of the stop/start and I complained long and hard to Lincoln - salesman, sales manager, dealership owner, concierge, etc. My issue was not about accidentally hitting it, my issue was that it was opposite to the MKZh. The MKZh had the Stop/Start at the top and Drive toward the bottom. Because I had the MKZ first for a couple years, I was constantly turning the MKC off thinking I was putting it into drive. They fixed it for free, but I would have paid to have it done. To me, a real problem is one that you would pay to have fixed.

Other than that, I too have just had oil changes and had them do the safety recall notices. I did have them fix the Sirius radio drop out even though it really did not affect me much. I would not have paid to have the fix since I had minimal dropouts - but since it was free, I had it done.

For folks who complain about Sync, I had an Acura before my MKC. Sync runs circles around AcuraLink - and the Acura was infinitely more expensive than my Lincoln! It is perception and expectations.

I read the forums, only really writing something if I have a complaint. I do occasionally try to answer folks questions - although most of the time it is just copying out something from the owners manual. I refrain from adding.... read the manual, stupid!

I would not have bought the MKC if I had not been so happy with my MKZh - and Lincoln in general. My two Lincolns are the first time I have ever had two cars of the same brand. And I will probably trade in the MKZ fir the new 2017 if it looks as good in person as it does in the pictures.