ID4 Software update

[ericy]

I got the 3.1 update done earlier this week. For me it took about 2 days, and no battery modules were required. The dealer had a loaner, so that was good too.

My service advisor was telling me that she has a good long list of cars needing updates, and she gets calls daily asking about it (she said some people are "mean" on the phone - not surprising, I guess.). Other dealerships in the area have wait times of several months, so people are calling around. She said most cars don't seem to need any battery modules, but they are trained to handle it when it does come up.

As for new/different behavior, there is all sorts of stuff. Some subtle, some not so subtle. And having new software in the vehicle seems to unlock new functionality in the app as well (you can see door open/close status, for example). I am still playing with it and discovering new/improved stuff all along. Nothing negative yet - it is all good. After a few weeks, I will write up a new thread describing all of the things that I have found that are new.

One thing I discovered just this morning was that from the app, I can search for a destination and send it to the vehicle. I haven't actually tried it yet, but this would be huge. It used to be that entering a destination in the car was a huge pain in the *** - you needed to know an address, and using voice commands was spotty at best. The old car software could do route planning with charging stops, but you needed to keep a close eye on it, because it would do dumb stuff like pick L2 chargers when there were DCFC in the area. So that's something else I want to play with - see if route planning is improved.

 

[ericy]

I should add something related to the battery module check - if you look closely, there were two possible emails that got sent out. One was that they would evaluate your battery, and replace modules if needed. The other email was that they had already identified (telematics? VIN?) that the vehicle had bad battery module(s) and that replacement was required.

If they only need to evaluate the battery, and no modules need replacement, the time at the shop is 1-1/2 to 2 days (mostly for the 3.1 update - the evaluation doesn't take all that long).

In some cases, the dealer may evaluate the battery, find modules that need to be replaced, but they can return the vehicle to you. You would need to bring it back later when the parts are available. My service advisor told me that they had found some vehicles in this category.

Finally there are apparently cases where a battery module is so degraded that the dealer is unable to return the car to you. In such cases, you might be stuck for a while in a rental/loaner until the parts come in.

 

[insightman]

I am still playing with it and discovering new/improved stuff all along.

Is VW too lame to provide info about what changes come with the update?

 

[ericy]

Is VW too lame to provide info about what changes come with the update?

I am just glad that they are clearing the logjam. I would note that Europe is on the verge of a similar update to bring all of the 2.x cars there up to 3.2 (also bringing cars to the dealer for this). Why do we only get 3.1 and they get 3.2? Not sure about that. Once someone gets updated there and scans the modules/versions, I can compare it to my car and we can see which modules have any different version numbers. Maybe that tells us something. Maybe it doesn't - who knows.

One thing that is still unclear - VW has *sort* of implied that once you are on 3.x, that OTA will be possible (for real this time). Will it really? We won't know until they actually roll something out somewhere, but I suspect at the moment it is all hands on deck to get people off of 2.x.

 

[insightman]

I am just glad that they are clearing the logjam. I would note that Europe is on the verge of a similar update to bring all of the 2.x cars there up to 3.2 (also bringing cars to the dealer for this). Why do we only get 3.1 and they get 3.2? Not sure about that. Once someone gets updated there and scans the modules/versions, I can compare it to my car and we can see which modules have any different version numbers. Maybe that tells us something. Maybe it doesn't - who knows.

One thing that is still unclear - VW has *sort* of implied that once you are on 3.x, that OTA will be possible (for real this time). Will it really? We won't know until they actually roll something out somewhere, but I suspect at the moment it is all hands on deck to get people off of 2.x.

Vizio OTA'd my TV and now it turns on/off/on/off/on/off... for 25 minutes before staying on. They don't have a fix. Me now: "Wife, I'm going to the living room to 'warm up' our TV before our show comes on." I hope VW does better with OTA updates--could they take more than a day while you're without transportation?

 

[pescatore]

Not sure if this should be a new thread - but I got the recall notice in the mail this week. NHTSA:23V040 which is the High Voltage Battery Battery Management Control Module Software update. I haven't experienced any symptoms, I don't think. Rarely I get a red or yellow ! that goes away. Anyway - they will update the software (to what version I do not know - but I will get details). I have a 2021 AWD made in Germany. I also do not know if I will also get a new "robust" 12 Volt battery that I may be qualified for. I take the car in today.

It is now day ten of my "update". I don't know the whole story because I had to go out of town on business and have been traveling almost the entire time the car has been in. Apparently it has been one module after another that they had to replace and now they are awaiting another part. I am not sure why VW hasn't made parts and modules more available for an update of a known problem. I will try and report out what was actually done once I get the car back. To their credit the dealership has been responsive (as in - we are sorry your car isn't done yet - short on details) but I am not sure they actually understand what is going amiss. They reported that one car was done in 3 days and another in 1 day. They gave me a rental.

 

[insightman]

They gave me a rental.

I'm sure your dealer is learning a lot with each ID.4 they update.

Will VW be delivering rental cars while customers' ID.4s are disabled at home during a multi-day OTA update?

 

[pescatore]

The update should have taken a day. I think with some vehicles everything is fine and it takes 8 hours. Others, like mine - maybe because of the recall or other problems, while updating. I have no idea what happens when its does that during an OTA update. As cars get more complicated - this becomes a thing. I'm taking the long view. They are gave me a car - I am hoping they are getting it right. We'll see.

 

[ericy]

This particular update was absolutely massive - the major version goes from 2 to 3. I skimmed the instructions (a 50 page PDF that I got from NHTSA), and there were tons of steps. I recall that VW says that it should take 9 hours, but there is also the 2nd service campaign (evaluate the HV battery), the obligatory multi-point-inspection, car wash, etc, so getting it done in one day seems implausible.

That being said, there are lots of steps that involve getting the car into a quiet state - a "bus sleep", they called it. There are some steps they take, and then they need to wait for at least 15 minutes so that all modules go into a sleep state. This happens multiple times during the update. As the techs gain experience, it seems plausible to me that one might update 2 vehicles at the same time. I suppose the danger is that they might start missing steps on one vehicle.

Not every dealer has loaners. As it happens, mine does, so the only inconvenience to me was just driving up there and back.

Many dealers are booking appointments weeks (or even months out). But things happen sometimes, and on the day of the appointment if the tech is out sick, or they don't have the 12V battery in stock, they might cancel, and then you get bumped out weeks/months to the next available. My own dealer seemed to be doing it differently - the service advisor had a list of vehicles/owners, and instead of booking something on the calendar, she reached out and called me the week before saying she had a spot for me the following week. My impression was that she called me when the previous vehicle was finished, she knew they had the battery in stock, etc. And I presume she called the next one on the list after I turned in the loaner and picked up my car.

In the 3.x series, there exist minor version updates - I believe 3.5 is just starting to roll out from the factory. We got 3.1. Europe is just starting a very similar workshop update to 3.2 (after having several failed attempts at OTA). It is believed that the minor version releases are bugfix kinds of releases that involve updating a very small number of modules (1 or 2?) at a time. To me, minor bugfix releases are more likely candidates for OTA.

The ID.7 preview had software version 4.0. Not much is known about that yet other than what reviewers have observed.

 

[pescatore]

Not every dealer has loaners. As it happens, mine does, so the only inconvenience to me was just driving up there and back.

Thanks for the detailed information - that is helpful and appreciated.
My dealer made arrangements with a rental car company. It seems they are doing that for all those involved in the update.

 

[ericy]

I should add one other thing - using the myVW app to start navigation is stupid easy. In the app, the search is using google, so the search seems very natural. When you find your intended destination, you then click "Send to vehicle", and within a few seconds, a message comes up on infotainment and there you click "Start".

No more screwing around with that 'keyboard' on the screen, and you don't need to know exact address any more. I haven't tried voice yet - I imagine that's improved, but I need to test it.

If the vehicle is parked, the destination isn't received by the car until you get in and turn things on, but that also seemed to work as well.

In 3.1, it does a far better job of picking charging stops and prioritizing DCFC. I have tried "planning" numerous hypothetical trips just to see what charging stops got picked, and so far the charging stops that got picked were nearly all EA (in one case, it picked a Shell recharge and gave a voice alert that it was doing this).

I want to try a couple more hypotheticals - there is a "worst case" that I use for testing that involves heading due south through Virginia Beach and then over to I-95. You can't quite reach the EA on I-95 on a single charge, and with the old software, it oftentimes would pick a random L2.

 

[pescatore]

Update - the Dealer still has my car. I try to get updates from them every Friday - they have not returned my calls for the past week (I have been v polite). 3 weeks now. I am driving over there tomorrow to get an update (and to get my ezpass transponder) - hoping they won't hide under the desk.

 

[insightman]

Update - the Dealer still has my car. I try to get updates from them every Friday - they have not returned my calls for the past week (I have been v polite). 3 weeks now. I am driving over there tomorrow to get an update (and to get my ezpass transponder) - hoping they won't hide under the desk.

Get a friend to drive you so the Dealer's spotter won't recognize it's you on your way to demand info about your ID.4.

 

[Brian Prendergast]

Just got a call from the dealer (VW in Lowell MA) and my upgrade on my 2021 AWD Pro went bad. 3 days into the upgrade and they are telling me the car's battery (not the 12 v system) is not responding and they need to ship it to another VW dealer who is authorized to work on the battery to fix it. Gonna be two weeks.

Trying to get more info but I would say not a great experience at all.

 

[ericy]

Just got a call from the dealer (VW in Lowell MA) and my upgrade on my 2021 AWD Pro went bad. 3 days into the upgrade and they are telling me the car's battery (not the 12 v system) is not responding and they need to ship it to another VW dealer who is authorized to work on the battery to fix it. Gonna be two weeks.

Trying to get more info but I would say not a great experience at all.

Sorry to hear. Keep us posted. Did they give you a loaner while they work on your car?

 

[Brian Prendergast]

Sorry to hear. Keep us posted. Did they give you a loaner while they work on your car?

Yes the dealer gave me a loaner. I'd like to point out, Dealer has been very nice not really mad at them. I'm disappointed in VW. No word this could have been an issue or could have been expected. I almost had this done before I went on a family road trip with the car. Would have had to cancel the trip if this had happened. Luckily no one could get me in before we left.

I think it would be interesting to see how many this is happening to and what they are actually doing to the cars once they get them.

 

[pescatore]

Update - After a month at the Dealer my car is repaired. According to the Dealer - they put over 7K worth of repairs into the car. This was all free of charge, of course. They said that they are not going to do another one until VW can assure them this won't happen again. They did the 97ZZ campaign, which included all the high voltage battery management control module problems as well as the seal on the rear lid hinge etc. It was really difficult to get what really went wrong. There is a thread over here (https://www.vwidtalk.com/threads/97zz-hangups-technician-notes.11378/), and I am sure many other places if you care to look. They had plenty of gripes with VW. It seems from the 5 pages of notes that somehow power was cut to the update midway through and things went South from there. This included bad modules (a delay to get a module removal tool) more attempts and more bad modules. After a visit from a VW engineer this week the car was finished in short order. I can't hang this on the Dealer entirely - but it does seem that they were technically ill-equipped to handle this. I put that on VW. Maybe most of these come off without a hitch, but Dealers need to brought up to speed on all the issues ahead of time. And this dealer - and all dealers - need to put more effort in keeping the customer up to date on the problems. They got better at this after I showed up in person and asked why they couldn't call me at least once a week with progress. It may be that the computer systems in these EV's are more complicated than techs are educated on their operation. At any rate - I am moving on. I hope the best for everyone that still has to go through this (especially if you have a 2021 ID4) and I hope they learn from this.

 

[insightman]

After a visit from a VW engineer this week the car was finished in short order.

Unless the VW engineer brought necessary hardware/software tools and parts the dealer couldn't obtain, this result appears to validate your assumption that the real problem is a lack of dealer service education.

 

[Brian Prendergast]

Got my car back today. Only drove it across the street to work so can't give any real feedback but I'll say again, the dealers were very nice through the whole process. I'm kinda pissed at VW for putting something out that clearly has this problem and not giving folks info as to what might happen before it goes in. They should be up front as to what might happen and let people plan for the worst.

I'm very thankful the dealers gave me a loaner (no questions or restrictions on it) cause I live in Maine and work in MA so I have a decent commute. I'll update on what I think of the new software after a couple days of driving.

 

[pescatore]

Update. I have no idea if this is related to the sofware update that it took them a month to complete (see above), but I have completely lost access to all of my menus in the car. When I push Menu - it shows the rear backup camera (I am still in Park). I thought this might be some kind of one off when it happened last night - but it is the same today. I also cannot unlock my car when I have the fob - I lock it using the push button/swipe (and
what a piece of crap engineering that is). may start another thread for this - but it might be related to the update, so I will post here first. This is very frustrating and a pain. I will try and take it to a different dealer and call VW Customer Care on Monday. I don't have much band width for this and even less time to drop my car off with them yet again.