One of the best-selling midsize family sedans in America, the 2014 Ford Fusion is a case study in how to build a car people will buy. The aptly named Fusion blends style and sophistication with value and practicality, all whipped together with safety, efficiency, and innovation. As a result, the Fusion trails only the Honda Accord, Nissan Altima, and Toyota Camry in sales within the midsize sedan segment, each of those competitors leaning heavily on long-standing reputations for reliability to drive customers to showrooms.
Guess what. The Fusion is reliable, too. Or at least it was, until it was redesigned for 2013 and people started complaining about the MyFord Touch infotainment system. That’s not a reliability problem as much as it is a design problem, and it’s not a design problem as much as it is an owner familiarity problem. First read the manual, then use the latest version of MyFord Touch for a while, and you’ll acclimate. Maybe.
Given the Fusion’s popularity, and because it received a new engine choice for the 2014 model year, I figured it was time to pile my wife and kids aboard for another look. We’re still enamored with the Fusion, because it is a terrific car. However, we’d like it lots more if Ford would address one small detail that makes a big difference in terms of family harmony.