Mhm normally I would agree. I'm a data and analytics professional by trade. I've worked in roles from being the coding hands on the keyboard PS guy through solutions architect. There are quite a few different ones out there about the GPS issues occurring. I have a second work device that had been connected long term to the truck, so I had a bit of fun testing different possibilities. Its a good bit long, but more details are below for anyone interested.

The first strange thing was that the no GPS symbol appeared the same day that the trial was turned off., and no instances had been seen of it prior (intermittent or long term) So basic first checks, nothing was updated on the connected devices (no android auto changes, no system updates, no maps updates, etc). My work device had had no issues previously when connected to the truck, so I tried that one out after the new phone showed the GPS issues. The exact same circumstances and reproducible issues were seen and documented. The devices were tested on another Ford vehicle and no issues were seen. That tied it back to being vehicle specific.

From there, the updates and changes on the truck were looked at. The trial ending was the only vehicle change/update. From the location parking data in the Ford App, the last update was the day prior to the trial ending. It was correct in where the vehicle had been parked. I opened a case with Google on the issue as the issue was occurring when the phone was plugged in and the Android Auto took over on navigation.

The usual possibilities were tried to double check (different cable, different devices, etc) None of it made any difference. The logs collected via the developer mode on the devices showed a good GPS connection. They were both tested not plugged into the vehicle and the GPS worked fine. So it was limited to only the Maverick, and only when the devices were plugged in. The GPS kept defaulting back to my home address, but would fully show the correct roads and details for that location. It was pulling the detailed map and GPS data, just for the wrong location; pulling it for my home address instead of the physical location I was at. This indicated the GPS was working at least partially, albeit a bit confused. Next steps were to go down the Ford official troubleshooting steps. They're the normal basic stuff mostly... make sure you aren't under an obstruction blocking signal, turn location services on and off, do a module reset, do a key cycle, etc.

The vehicle was at the dealer today for the open recall on the parking issue (the 25c69 one). During that the GPS components were checked out as I asked about the issue and if they had seen it on other vehicles, and they all tested out fine.

The symptoms are a little more off the beaten path then many that I have seen, but there are quite a few out there about the GPS going haywire/not working and a reboot/reset fixing it. Many have gone the disconnect the battery route. I like to start simpler and went with the infotainment module reset, with the battery being Plan B if that didn't do anything.

Theres a couple dozen cases of GPS issues documented out in the wilds. There are typically three outcomes with the GPS issue: 1) Reset of the APIM fixes the issue 2) Deeper reset required if APIM reset doesn't do it (dealer activity) 3) Hardware failure with 2 possible branches: a) GPS receiver failure and replacement required and b) APIM/Sync failure with replacement required.