Autoblog

Way back in January at CES, we got a personal demonstration of Ford's SYNC from the Microsoft Auto program manager in Vegas, and later, another demonstration from Ford in Detroit. Except for being slow to use and not all that useful, SYNC wasn't terribly complicated.

But FoMoCo isn't taking any chances and wants to ensure that the high-tech merging of their cars and your gadgets won't go over the heads of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury buyers. The carmaker is offering all its dealers extra training on the use of SYNC before the system goes on sale this fall.

Personally, we wonder if Ford is training its dealers how to sell the system more so than how to use it. As we watched the demonstration at CES we were never wowed or shown anything we hadn't seen before. It's good Ford is upping its in-car technology, but we aren't inclined to think that SYNC will be what drives buyers into Ford dealerships. Then again maybe training could help. At my last visit to a Ford dealership, it took the salesman 15 minutes to figure out how to work the Edge's power-folding rear seat.

Click through to the jump to see a video of our Ford demo.

[Source: Automotive News, subscription required]