JoeGTI7

I received the email from WeConnect yesterday, which helpfully explains that their cars are like smart phones these days and sometimes will require OTA software updates... lol. And then it goes into several paragraphs explaining what to do when I get the upgrade notification. This is all 2 weeks after I've already installed said OTA updates.... helpful as ever VW!

The major OTA update came in 2 (large) parts. First part brought you to an intermediate version (A896) and 2nd part got you to the full 1896. There's been no other major updates after that. Just the usual small ones.

1896 is the latest though so I wouldn’t expect any updates (for now) if you’re already on that.

It looks very well but it will be a scratch magnet!

Look at all the gloss black trim around the centre console! I believe this is an upcoming MY23 change across the whole range…

no, I didn’t have a data package active at the time. I was on version 1804 before the update. The data package is only used for online radio stations / music streaming anyway. The OTA does require you to have a stable connection to the VW servers (the white globe), the min privacy setting enabled and logged in as primary user. A data package is not relevant. i did cave in a few days ago and paid for a data package, sucker that I am! I was fed up of that notification on every startup!

I sometimes wonder what those "SHOP" updates are actually doing. Its the most underwhelming "shop" on the planet!

I'm actually not sure if it pauses while on the move. That would be crazy alright, it would mean it would never finish downloading for a lot of people. The exact wording in the notification is: "The update is carried out in 3 stages: authorisation, downloading in the background and installation once the vehicle is parked". So, reading that, maybe it does carry on in the background, even if the car is in motion. Its only the install part that requires you to park up and you don't need the ignition on for the install either. It actually tells you to switch off the car.

Downloading, I left the ignition on (car parked in garage) and checked on it periodically. A couple of times I checked in, the ignition had gone off itself and I got "12V Battery low" warnings on the dash, so on those occasions I ran the engine for a few minutes. Hard to say how long it took in total as it was a bit stop-start... there's no way you're going to download that size of an install in one go unless you leave the car running idling for 2-3 hours or hook it up to a trickle charger or something. I think if you were to download it all in one go it would take at least 2 hours. At least the downloading took up from where it left off any time I had to restart... I was half expecting the whole download to have to start all over again, knowing the VW software dev geniuses! For the actual installation phase, you're instructed to switch off ignition and leave the car for ~30 mins. To be honest, I can't imagine the average Joe Soap would go through all this pain and hassle. a 5GB OTA update is a bit much... the average owner is not going to bother, will keep dismissing the update notifications, etc.

Well the installation part only took about half hour (per update) but downloading the ~5.5GB (3.6 GB + 1.8GB for 2nd update) took a lot longer!

And I get this update alert just now. Looks like it’s part 2, which gets me up to the full 1896.

And so far so good, version "A896" seems good to me... I had been getting an occasional "Rear traffic alert not working!" errors and I didn't get that today... yet. I think the upgrade has disabled voice control and the next update will re-enable it. Not that I care, I cannot get on with voice control at all so I'd never miss it. And interestingly too, I tried a little hack that you detailed a few months ago, where you put the climate/heated seats shortcuts on their own little "tile" on the Home Screen. This did not work for me on version 1804 but works for me now.

To follow up on the above, I downloaded the full update to the car lastnight and then followed the instructions to let it install. The install took about 30 mins, the instructions just said to exit the car and do not use it for the next 30 mins or so. Half hour later I went out to check and all was done. I’m now on software version “A896”. After a bit of Googling, I found out that yes indeed, VW are now doing full OTA updates that you previously had to go into the dealers for. And that I’ll get another slightly smaller update pushed to me at some point which will give me the full “1896”… so I’ll go from A896 to 1896.

Has anyone else gotten an unusual OTA software update notification today? I say unusual because it has a whole bunch of "fixes" listed and mentions something about both "optimising" voice control and disabling voice control! I clicked download anyway and it seems to be huge - like over 3GB! That'll take forever to download so I left it after it had reached 200mb or so...

Annoying and hassle as you say, but that could have been a lot worse! Fortunate that it didn't clip the wheel or the headlight / wing... or worse. The price quoted sounds about right. Its a very easy repair, likely they'll repaint that corner of the bumper and blend it in.

Using the phone as a hotspot (with an iPhone at least) means that you’d have to disable CarPlay. Not sure about android auto but I’d say it’s similar.

Its been discussed in here before and I tried several suggested fixes. Nothing worked! The only sure way to get rid of it is to sign up for a data package that you'll probably barely ever use with Cubic telecom. Ridiculous, but that's the way it is!

I hate lane assist... even on a motorway, the novelty of it wears thin pretty fast. I find it over-intrusive, it seems to be constantly tugging at the wheel, making for a very tiring drive imo.

Yeah I probably could get it updated. But I try to avoid going back to the dealers unless absolutely necessary! Touch wood, I’ve had no good reason to go back yet. I’ve only had very minor glitches with the software thankfully, E.g. the persistent “data allowance” notification and maybe a bit of laggy performance on a cold start. Other than that I’ve had none of the main annoyances that people report here. So I’ll leave off going to the dealers until I really have to.

Thanks Rebecca. Yeah I tried a few combinations of tile sizes/configurations and heating/climate didn’t appear as an option for any tile, large or small. I’ll have another look again tomorrow to be sure. My car is on version 1804, I’ve never yet had any dealer updates. I strongly suspect what you’re seeing is something they’ve added in version 1890!

Strange thing is, I tried this out (albeit briefly) earlier today after I read your post, and like @pete_44 above, I don't seem to get the option to add heating/climate controls to an individual tile/tab! I wonder is it software related? You were upgraded to the latest just last week right? Did you have this option before you had it updated at the dealers?

Thats brilliant info Rebecca, thanks for posting those screenshots! I'm definitely going to setup that screen with the heated seats/aircon tile !

Yeah I tried the mobile personal hotspot suggestion too with similar results. So I gave in a few days ago and paid for 30 days on cubic telecom. Notification disappeared. But obviously I’ll have the same problem again in 4 weeks time unless I pay up again! Pretty much the only use I see for the data allowance is the ability to listen to internet radio stations or stream music, all of which is just easier to do via CarPlay if you so wish. The 30 day allowance only gives you 2GB too which seems pretty small. If you were using it with any regularity that allowance would use up pretty fast so you’d undoubtedly get another notification then! it’s a minor complaint and I imagine a lot of owners wouldn’t even pay any attention to it, but I hate notifications, I’m one of those people who can’t bear to have unread messages / unread emails so the “1” notification indicator on every restart will just bug me. Ridiculous that it cannot seemingly be supressed unless you pay up!

Sounds worth a try alright Pete, thanks for the suggestion! I think I already have a saved WiFi in the car as I did try connecting it to my house WiFi the first week I had the car. Never bothered with it since... Its all unnecessary crap in the car anyway, as if you want to stream anything its a whole pile easier to just do it through your phone / CarPlay.

On every ignition start. The car has an eSim.