I'm not sure how bad Ford's touchscreen was, but this problem isn't unique to them - car UIs in general still feel way behind what we are capable of. The touchscreen on my 2011 Lexus is pretty disappointing - not very intuitive and often really slow - and feels like something you'd expect from a 10 year old car. I can't imagine Ford's offering being much worse.

To be honest, I'd rather see more investment into Siri-like voice capabilities in a car, rather than improving the touchscreen. Some navigation tasks might be a little tricky, but I think most car-related tasks lend themselves well to voice interaction, and it is certainly less distracting than messing with a touchscreen.