Ford rolls out headset for dealership service techs to connect with vehicle experts

Richard Hershey is one of about 50 technicians certified to work on the Ford GT supercar, and sometimes the automaker will ask him to leave his job as lead tech at Pompano Ford in Pompano Beach, Fla., to visit other dealerships to work on the high-performance sports car.

Hershey and other Ford dealership technicians now have a new tool for their toolbox, one that paid immediate dividends in troubleshooting a recent problem with a GT.

It's called SWIS, for "See What I See," and it is very similar to a wearable small-screen computer complete with voice- activated commands. The headset's eyeglasses allow Ford's Technical Assistance Center to see what the dealership's technician sees and suggest fixes while allowing the technician to be able to work with both hands.

Hershey was sent to investigate why a GT would go into failsafe mode once it hit 160 mph on the racetrack. Without SWIS, a logical repair would have been to replace the transaxle — at a substantial cost to the owner. But Hershey removed the back of the car to show the transmission cooler's temperatures, which are not visible with the body panels in place.

After being able to see inside the vehicle via Hershey's SWIS, the folks at the technical assistance center concurred with him that a change of sensors would fix the issue.

"This is more cost-effective, user-friendly and quicker," Hershey said. "On one car, it could save you a month. Without the SWIS device, they would just be guessing."

Ford is rolling out the HMT-1 (for head-mounted tablet) assisted-reality system, made by RealWear, to nearly 3,000 of its dealerships nationwide. Dealerships will receive one or two of the devices, which retail for about $1,800 per unit — with volume discounts available from RealWear.

The GT is what originally connected RealWear, based in Vancouver, Wash., and the automaker. Ford wanted a premium level of customer service to accompany its special sports car. It worked so well that it grew to Ford's mass-market vehicles.

RealWear is a "wearables" company that makes hardware for workers who need the use of both hands to complete their jobs. Workspace solutions such as the Navigator 500 and HMT-1 headsets are freeing technicians' hands so that they can complete jobs faster and more accurately than before.

The system also is a cloud-enabled, enterprise-level device that connects with a back-end system. RealWear has developed a hands-free user interface based on the Android operating system that uses voice commands. Battery life is good for approximately an entire shift.

Eventually, the system will allow a technician to diagnose and then order parts directly while wearing the headset to correct whatever problem exists.

"We think this is going to be the new way vehicles get serviced," said Sanjay Jhawar, RealWear co-founder and chief strategy officer.

And with more hybrid and electric vehicles coming online, technicians will have to adapt to the learning curves of the products.

"The typical dealer service organization still doesn't have enough expertise on servicing electric cars," Jhawar said.

In addition to Ford, other automaker customers include Porsche, Volkswagen, Audi, BMW and Mini.

Bob Moore Ford in Oklahoma City received its HMT-1 kit and the first time Service Manager Jeff Gann put it on people asked, "What the heck are you wearing?" Gann activated the unit by going online, and he said the setup process was pretty easy with step-by-step instructions.

He admits some technicians are hesitant to try to new technology.

"Anytime there's change, there's bound to be resistance," he said. "The tech's attitude is that it's something to take more of their time. As with anything new, there's not much excitement about it, but hopefully, they will see its advantage when we start using it."

Jorge Juarez, fixed operations director at Vancouver Auto Group in Washington, is a proponent.

"A technician here has used it twice and he's really impressed," Juarez said.

Following an assist for a transmission issue a few weeks ago, the tech came to Juarez last week asking, "Where's the headset?" He came back an hour later and the problem was solved.

Many senior technicians question the need for new tools. On the other hand, younger technicians gravitate toward the technology Ford and other manufacturers are adopting.

"I welcome the new stuff," said Juarez. "We have some dinosaurs, and we do love our dinosaurs. We can't replace their knowledge."

Juarez said younger people coming into the workplace need the help of the latest technology because there's so much more in vehicles today.

"You can find a problem, but there could be another problem lurking behind that one," he said. "I think it's good, and with the hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles coming out, we need all the help we can get."

Hershey said he wishes SWIS has been available in 2017 when Pompano Ford was trying to figure out what was wrong with the Broward County Sheriff's Department's new Ford Focus EV.

The car would just not run, and Ford's schematics did not match what Hershey saw as he attempted to troubleshoot the car, which had been out of service for nearly a month. During that time, a field service engineer and two of the vehicle's designers arrived from Ford headquarters in Michigan to confirm that something was amiss. Hershey thinks SWIS would have saved time, money and effort.

He said he definitely prefers the newer way of connecting with experts at Ford.

"We had a technical hotline," Hershey said of pre-SWIS times.

"We could go through Ford Oasis with its catalog of known issues for difficult problems, but that could take up to a week for them to get back to us, resulting in a lot of time and effort and an unhappy customer."