Hi, I have a 2916 Fiesta and have been having a frustrating problem with my bluetooth.
It keeps shutting off/disabling in the vehicle. I can reset it by either disconnecting the battery or pulling the fuse. It will then work for a day or two and then stop working again.
Mostly when it shuts off, it shuts off completely. When I press the phone button it won’t respond or do anything. But once in a while it will act like it’s connected, although the display is not showing the bluetooth symbol. The other day it even let me go through the connection process but then says “connection failed”. This is with the same phone that has been connected. It’s pretty exasperating. Any thoughts?
This probably won’t help, but it wouldn’t hurt to completely remove the phone from the car’s Bluetooth settings, completely remove the car from the phone’s Bluetooth settings, and do a fresh pairing after that.
Your phone does have the latest available software installed, I assume?
As for the reset, many infotainment systems have a way to do various types of resets using the controls, which would be easier than disconnecting your battery or pulling a fuse, so you might want to do a Google search for your options there.
Which might be the source of the problem! You’ve likely owned 3 phones since that car was built and 4 or 5 since it was designed by Ford. The Bluetooth version in the car may be too old for reliable connection to the OP’s phone
Thanks, unfortunately I think it’s a problem with the car’s bluetooth, not the phone. It doesn’t matter the device.
For example, it’s not working right now. If I were to go out to the car and try to connect my phone, (or anyone else’s device) press the bluetooth button on the dash, it would not respond. It would do nothing. However, if I were to disconnect battery or fuse, it would reset. I could then press the button to connect the device and the car’s bluetooth would respond. But the next day the bluetooth on the car would not work again. Pressing the car’s phone button or bluetooth/media buttons would not get any response.
Just for reference, I also have a 2015 Explorer and don’t have a problem with using BT there.
Apparently I wasn’t clear enough… I agree it is the problem with your car. I think the car’s version of Bluetooth may be too old to be compatible with your newer phones.
Thanks, that may be the case. But still don’t know why the bluetooth just doesn’t work at all.
I could get an older phone, but it wouldn’t connect because the bluetooth on the car just will not work until I reset. The problem isn’t that it’s trying to connect and I’m getting an error. The problem is the bluetooth on the car just plain and simple shuts off/disables. As if there is no bluetooth in the car.
+1
The Bluetooth in my 2011 Outback worked very nicely with my “old” phone, but when I upgraded to a Samsung S21, the car’s Bluetooth wasn’t compatible. With my new car, I once again can “pair” my phone to the car’s Bluetooth.
Wow that’s a car from the future.
Which fuse did you pull? the radio?
If you pulled the radio fuse and checked it, there is a separate fuse for the Sync. check to see if that one is blown.
also, I found some info here that might help.
This issue does not seem to be widespread. NHTSA.gov doesn’t show any Bluetooth problems for your year. Carcomplaints.com shows one. I also looked at the manufacturers communications. They had several for SYNC problems but none for Bluetooth. I’m not saying you don’t have a problem but Ford may not be much help because they haven’t seen it. I’d unpair, reset both the phone and the SYNC system if you can and then pair again. Maybe Ford has updated SYNC software that would help with this.
So I’ve fixed it. Called ford and they wanted my car for the full day, don’t have time for that!
I found the bluetooth console in the passenger foot well and just disconnected the 2 cables. If you have any problems with sync just do this and it resets the whole bluetooth system.
You just need to go to the passenger footwell, look up and take out 2 plastic screws to release the carpeted part under the glove box, then unplug the 2 wires, then reconnect them - pictures attached.
