Ford Needs To Give Lessons on How To Use MyFord Touch

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If you’re in the market to purchase a 2011 Ford Edge, don’t be surprised if you get some classes thrown in as well. Ford is offering lessons on how to use the MyFord Touch, the in-car voice command system, for those less tech-savvy individuals who may not know how to tell their car what to do. The car manufacturer is offering in-dealership crash courses on the system and in-dealership specialists that will spend 45 minutes explaining how the whole thing works.

“Like with any new technology, there is obviously a learning curve with how that new technology works,” chairman of the Ford National Dealer Council and president of Sewell Ford Lincoln in Odessa, Tex. Collin Sewell said to the Detroit Free Press.  “We have a responsibility to help the customers learn how to fully utilize the great new products that they are buying.”

It seems though that these lessons are completely necessary because the technology is just too hard to learn on your own – and you need it to control simple functions of your car. For example, DailyTech reports the machine kept replying “temperature 90 degrees” when a Ford employee was asking for “navigation” at CES 2011. Consumer Reports wrote that MyFord Touch was so complicated and distracting that they would not recommend the two cars it came installed in last year. Spending 45 minutes being drilled about complex system in a car I might buy also seems a bit overkill for any car shopper and would definitely turn me off, especially if I was interested in purchasing an automobile mainly for, you know, driving.  Ford still believes in the technology however: By 2015, they hope to have the in-car voice command system in 80 percent of their vehicles.

More on TIME.com:

CES: Voice Control Comes To Mustang With Ford SYNC Phone App

Ford Turns Cars Into App Platforms

CarWoo: Haggling for a Great Car Price, Without the Haggling Part