Using emoticons on your smartphone can cause serious problems with the Ford Sync system’s speech-to-text features. This self-help article reveals ways to correct these problems.

Since late 2012, there have been numerous issues with the iPhone 5, iPhone 4, and iPhone 4S, as well as the Samsung Galaxy, HTC Evo, and other smartphones having connectivity issues with the Ford Sync system. User forums for these smartphones and the Sync system have been filled with people whose connectivity issues affected the base model, MyFord and MyFord Touch Sync systems. The problem was that something was seriously affecting the accessibility of users synchronizing their phone book contacts with voice commands. If you pressed the “Voice” icon on your steering wheel and said “Phone” then “Call + (your contact name)” then your sync system might respond, “Call point on cell.”

Some of the issues were due to smartphone users downloading and using any of the Emoji apps. The word emoji in Japanese means ideograms, you know, those little emoticons like smiley faces, frowning faces, etc.

The new Apple iOS even allows iPhone 5 users to go to their Settings folder, General Settings, Keyboard tab, and then the next menu to select “Keyboards.” Then you can tap “Add New Keyboard” and add an emoji keyboard. However, this is the kiss of death for your Sync system.

The problem is that the cute emoticons you see on your smartphone screen like a smiley face are in fact long strings of programming language that make Sync’s text-to-speech go haywire. When given a voice command to call a contact, the system will say “Cell Point on Cell” and then dial the first contact listed in your phone book.

If this has happened, check EVERY phone contact and remove any emoticons. Also remove any superfluous exclamation marks, periods, commas, hyphens, etc. you may have in your phone’s contact list. Make sure to even check your device name! Some overzealous users have renamed their phones with smiley faces in the device name. Check that everything has been deleted again. Then go to Bluetooth settings and remove Sync from your phone.

If you have an iPhone, do a soft reset. This is done by holding down the “Home” button, the large button at the bottom center of the front screen, while holding down the Power button at the top edge of the phone on the right side. Hold down these buttons until the Apple icon appears. Then release the buttons. Let the phone sit idle for a few minutes. You can press the power button more and then slide the button on the screen to turn off the phone. Leave the phone off for a few minutes. Then press the power button and let the phone turn on again.

Then go to your vehicle. Go to your phone settings and remove your phone from the list of Bluetooth devices. Then turn off your vehicle. Open the hood and find the car battery. Loosen and remove the black (negative) battery cable) for about five minutes. Then replace the cable and tighten the clamp. Close the hood and restart the vehicle. Please allow a few minutes before restarting the AM radio and resetting the clock. Then go to your phone settings and pair your phone again. Watch this video for instructions on how to pair a phone.

Yes, this is a lot to do. This is why you really need to clean Emoji apps and emoji keyboards from your phone files. Emoticons are cute, but they defeat the whole purpose of having a Bluetooth-enabled hands-free communications system. Maybe it’s time to say goodbye to smiley faces! So sorry!