Message "lost communication with touch screen" in a car with no touch screen.

[HotPotato]

My SE does not have the touch screen. But a few times lately, a message has appeared in the right-hand dash screen saying "Lost Communication with Touch Screen." Any idea what this might mean?

[fotomoto]

 Any idea what this might mean?

 

Yes, you've driven too far away from the factory.    :lol:

 

Seriously, I've never heard of that message before.  Weird.

[FordIVTteam]

I have never heard of this message either, HotPotato; I suggest a dealer visit if this continues.

Rebecca

[SnowStorm]

This message has popped up several times recently on my car that, also, has no touchscreen!  Its annoying because you have to turn off the car to get rid of it.  Until you can do so, you have no compass and no efficiency leaves! :rant2:

[jestevens]

I have SEL with 203A and I leave the right hand display on the instrument cluster set to Navigation.  The best way I can describe it is every once in great while (like maybe twice so far in the life of the car) it seems like the car has just been started and for whatever reason the GPS is too slow to respond to being polled by the Navigation display in the driver's cluster.  The message typically goes away in a few seconds once NAV has initialized all the way.

 

Why that same message is showing up on an SE that isn't equipped with navigation I'm not really sure although I heard a rumor on here that all of the cars have GPS receiver built in, they just don't have all the bells and whistles that enable full turn by turn navigation.  I could easily see the compass still using GPS receiver data in a very reduced way.

[cr08]

I have SEL with 203A and I leave the right hand display on the instrument cluster set to Navigation.  The best way I can describe it is every once in great while (like maybe twice so far in the life of the car) it seems like the car has just been started and for whatever reason the GPS is too slow to respond to being polled by the Navigation display in the driver's cluster.  The message typically goes away in a few seconds once NAV has initialized all the way.

 

Why that same message is showing up on an SE that isn't equipped with navigation I'm not really sure although I heard a rumor on here that all of the cars have GPS receiver built in, they just don't have all the bells and whistles that enable full turn by turn navigation.  I could easily see the compass still using GPS receiver data in a very reduced way.

This is true. Non-nav cars will have the GPS receiver still. If memory serves I think our cars are new enough that 911 Assist is able to provide those GPS coordinates to 911 dispatchers upon request (unlike cellular e911, the car will actively speak out the coordinates on the call). It is also used for Sync Services based navigation which you are able to use. This was even a thing was back in early v1 Sync systems with the 2 line text screens.

 

Not sure what else. Generally the compass has its own hardware but it might be integrated with the GPS unit. GPS doesn't do well determining orientation at a standstill.

Edited October 10, 2017 by cr08

[plus 3 golfer]

This is true. Non-nav cars will have the GPS receiver still. If memory serves I think our cars are new enough that 911 Assist is able to provide those GPS coordinates to 911 dispatchers upon request (unlike cellular e911, the car will actively speak out the coordinates on the call). It is also used for Sync Services based navigation which you are able to use. This was even a thing was back in early v1 Sync systems with the 2 line text screens.

 

Not sure what else. Generally the compass has its own hardware but it might be integrated with the GPS unit. GPS doesn't do well determining orientation at a standstill.

The GPSM provides the heading (compass direction) to the Instrument Panel Cluster for display.

[SnowStorm]

GPS is there alright - you can pull the data from OBDII with Forscan.  Heading is in 1 degree increments and changes smooth as silk.  Its frustrating that the compass is programmed to jump 45 degrees at a time.  They should have spent more time programming the compass and less time on the leaves!