I bought my new Mk8 GTI in December, 2020 and have been experiencing all sorts of software issues since then e.g. central locking not functioning properly, Infotainment screen freezing, VW Connect throwing me out and the forward assist and park distance control sensors switching on and off, randomly. The SOS Emergency Unit also displayed a fault, very occasionally.
Anyway my dealer had my car for 5 days this week and performed various software downloads, including updating the Infotainment System from version 1664 to 1668 and, so far, it all seems to working much slicker. Time will tell!
My car came off the production line in Week 40, which was well after the date (June, 2020) when the SOS fault was supposed to have been fixed... but it's defective. The replacement unit is on back order now and I hope to have it retrofitted soon, although I was warned that there is already a huge backlog of customers waiting for the part.
I asked the After Sales Manager whether he needed to obtain authority from VW to perform the 5-6 hour software download and he looked puzzled. He assured me that, as VW main dealers, they had total authority to carry out this work, under warranty, and that the problems I had experienced were well known with the Mk8. It sounds like some people on here are being spun a line by their local dealers.