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Travel assist problems.

SimonGC

Passed Driver's Ed
The car came back from the dealer on Tuesday and their fix was to update the software from 1788 to 1803. I went for a run yesterday and although initially OK the kph syndrome kicked in. For example enter a 50mph zone, dynamic sign display reads 80 (kph) (even though it reads 50mph on the sat nav display) ACC sets to 50mph , pass another 50 sign and the dash display changes to 50 (kph) and the ACC changes to 31mph. No difference from before. Anyone have any recent fixes or success?
 

Wallop

Go Kart Newbie
I just tried something different by switching it off before my usual nemesis junction at Wycombe and switching it back on once i'd passed it and for once it read the speed correctly as 70mph this lasted a mile or so until i turned off at Marlow and it gave the speed as 45(kph) and it was back to the usual fun and games.
 

Maturedriver

Go Kart Champion
Has anyone on this thread managed to have this problem of the ACC thinking that mph is kph sorted by their VW dealers. Had my Mk8 eight months and this annoying issue has suddenly started today.
 

SimonGC

Passed Driver's Ed
My Golf 8 was also fine for about 4 months, then started the Dynamic sign display/ACC/KPH/MPH problem. The software change from 1788 to 1803 has done nothing. I have complained back to the dealer and to VW UK who say they will be contacting the dealer and also liaising with VW HQ Germany over this issue. I think neither VW dealers or VW UK have a clue how to fix this and the only way forward might be for us all to escalate this to VW UK in the hope that the volume of pressure and evidence persuades them to do something. It would be interesting to know if a Golf 8 driven in Europe experiences our problems i.e. signs read in KPH translating into the ACC being set in MPH. I have not come across any evidence of that which, which may mean VW have a smaller group to consider and therefore less of an imperative to change things? All these problems with the Golf 8 really are a disgrace.
 

SRGTD

Autocross Newbie
I’ve read of other instances on golfgtiforum.co.uk and vwroc.com forums of mk8‘s reading speed limit signs and interpreting them as kph speeds rather than mph. There've also been instances of cars slowing down when drivers are overtaking slower moving vehicles; the reason? - the car seems to ‘think‘ that the overtaking manoeuvre is an undertaking manoeuvre, so that suggests there’s a bug in the software that‘s changing the set up for UK cars from a RHD car driving on the left to a LHD car driving on the right.

There’s also an interesting discussion thread over on vwroc.com that’s worth a read where the car seems confused over which side of the road it’s being driven on. During the progression of discussions in that thread, it seems that the car can forget the ‘Travel Mode’ settings for the car’s lights, and they may automatically change by themselves from ‘driving on the left’ to ‘driving on the right’ in error - a knock on impact of that change might be the car interpreting mph speed limit signs as kph if it thinks it is - or should be - driving on the right (European countries driving on the right measure speed in kph). So if anyone’s car is interpreting speed limits as kph limits, it’d be worth checking the Travel Mode setting for the lights to see if this is set for driving on the left or right.

The car changing the Travel Mode settings would also alter the beam angle of the headlights from left aligned to right aligned, potentially dazzling drivers of oncoming vehicles in the UK. Not such an issue at this time of year with longer daylight hours, but could be more an issue in the winter time if VW haven’t found and implemented a fix. Link to that discussion thread below.

https://www.vwroc.com/forums/topic/39510-mk8-adaptive-cruise-control-faulty/
 
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Maturedriver

Go Kart Champion
Thanks SRGTD for the information and link. Just checked my car and under Travel Mode it shows ‘Left hand traffic’ (meaning driving on left) BUT from what I can gather it can randomly change by itself from left to right. I will check again before I drive tomorrow.

Interestingly this confusing kph with mph issue started shortly after the infotainment screen ‘crashed’ so perhaps it changed (hopefully temporarily) when it rebooted. I hope I don’t have to check if it’s left or right hand traffic every time I start a journey.
 

Maturedriver

Go Kart Champion
Update. Went on a 80 mile round trip this morning using ACC on most of the journey. At first everything was working fine but on the way home it started confusing mph with kph again. Going into 50mph limit it slowed to 37mph (which is 50kph) 30mph down to 19mph. Then something really new and weird started happening, cruising at 60mph it started to slow down to an indicated 37mph but before it got there would accelerate back to 60mph. It kept doing this repetitively. On startup I did check that it was set on ‘left hand driving’.

Phoned my dealer and it was obvious the receptionist was working from home. She wanted to book it into the workshop but I said that was pointless and wanted to speak to someone about it. She wasn’t sure who to send a email to. Doesn’t inspire any confidence.

Toyota rules! OK!
 

SimonGC

Passed Driver's Ed
This sounds like what is happening to Dougy (May 31st) after changing from 1788 to 1803 trying to cure the kph / ACC problem. I haven't noticed that after going to 1803, so far, but I have gained a loud double clunk sound from the central speaker which sounds like some conkers have just dropped on the roof. I was better off with 1788. Still waiting to hear back from Dealer / VW UK and VW HQ. It seems 1803 doesn't solve anything and just causes new problems. What a pile of s**t !
 

Wallop

Go Kart Newbie
This 37 speeding back up to 60 thing sounds like someones tried to programme a quick fix.Like 37 in the UK must be a mistake so go 60 but it sounds as if the car still tries to adhere to what it thinks is the limit ie 37.
 

Maturedriver

Go Kart Champion
It’s strange how Tesla can update it’s software and make significant improvements and cure problems while it’s car’s owners are sleeping. Meanwhile VW can do next to nothing unless the car is taken back to a VW dealer and then problems won’t be sorted, let alone making any improvements. Pathetic!
 

SRGTD

Autocross Newbie
Apologies in advance for my ramblings in this post, which is a bit of a brain dump of my thoughts on the current situation underpinned by the various software issues.

To the casual observer, it would seem that the current Golf was launched before it was ready. Launch had already been delayed to fix ‘certain software issues’ that had been discovered, but clearly Insufficient time was allowed to fix all the issues.

Manufacturers are under immense pressure to get new products to market to attract new buyers to a brand, increase market share and profit, so once a product launch date had been announced, in all likelihood that date is set in stone. It is probably considered bad press within VW - or any other large manufacturer for that matter - to have to push a product launch date back after it’s been made public to allow extra time to fix issues that are discovered during product testing if sufficient time wasn’t originally factored into the project plan for these critically important stages. Launching a product with known issues isn’t good for a company’s reputation either. However, being late to market has short term financial implications (lost sales, reduced revenue and profit), and I dare say the view of the ‘bean counters’ within VW’s ivory towers is that the ‘numbers’ are more important than the customer’s satisfaction, as niggles can be sorted after product launch to keep the customer happy. Therefore, the decision was to launch the car, warts and all, rather than wait until the issues had been fixed. Assuming that was the view taken, then that could prove quite costly and harmful for the brand and their reputation in the short to medium term 🤔.

I read on one forum a while back that because of the tech-laden nature of the mk8 Golf, the software was built from scratch, rather than it being an update / modification of the software in the previous generation car. When developing something new from scratch, allowing sufficient time for testing and fixing issues discovered during testing is absolutely critical IMO.
  • Did VW’s project plan for the mk8 Golf allow sufficient time for software development and testing? Probably not.
  • Were the software developers up to the task? I dare say the software issues are more a consequence of insufficient time allocated to designing, developing and testing the software, rather than the software developers not being up to the task, although it may be a combination of these two factors.
  • Do VW have a robust plan in place to fix the issues and keep their dealerships and customers informed of developments and timescales? - based on discussions on this (any many other) forums, it doesn’t appear so.
I think that VW may have taken a step too far with the current Golf in terms of technology, probably because they felt they needed to in order to keep up with their competitors. The worrying thing is that this tech is being incorporated into other new and face lifted models across the VAG empire, so potentially there could be many unhappy customers across all the VAG brands. I do hope VW get their act together and get these issues sorted sooner rather than later to limit damage to their brand, but more importantly, for the sake of the customer.

I’ve read comments on other forums that VW’s competitors also have similar issues with software gremlins, so maybe these issues are the norm within the wider motoring industry? For me, it begs the question ‘do we really need all this tech?’ Admittedly, some of it is very useful, but some seems to be tech for the sake of tech, some aspects of which many customers will probably never use.

I for one won’t be changing by current car for one of VW’s latest high tech models any time soon.
 

Maturedriver

Go Kart Champion
Well said SRGTD.

Since it’s release in October 2019 and going on sale in Germany in December 2019 VW still can’t sort various software problems on the Golf Mk8. I have contacted both my dealer and VW UK Customer Services about my car confusing mph with kph when in Adaptive Cruise Control. I regard this as a safety issue since a car that suddenly reduces speed for no apparent reason on a busy motorway can result a rear end by an inattentive following driver. I’m convinced my dealer will fail to reply and VW Customer Services will ask me to contact my dealer. If this is the case how do I get redress over this issue?
 

airforced

Passed Driver's Ed
I think SRGTD has hit the nail on the head with that post. I too think to some extent that all the major manufacturers can be tarred with the same 'race for new software brush' unfortunately. That doesn't however absolve VW for introducing the MK8 Golf before they had sorted the software better. My concern is that they will sort it out eventually but fail to update/upgrade it for early models in the same way that they seem to have no intention to fit/enable the folding auto mirrors even though I am told they are included for new production models.

I'm not sure what eventually will need to be done from the owners point of view or how long it needs to be left before something is done to get VW to act in redressing these problems. Anyone any ideas?
 

SRGTD

Autocross Newbie
@airforced - Large companies like VW don’t like negative publicity - especially if it adversely affects their share price.

Negative publicity sometimes prompts these large organisations to take remedial action, speed up the development and roll out of fixes, or at least improve communications with dealers and customers so that customers are aware of how long they’re likely to be waiting for a remedy. However, the mk8 Golf software issues have already been covered on various motoring publication websites and the press, and customers still have no idea they’ll be waiting for the software bugs in their cars to be fixed. Progress on getting things done in some of these large corporate companies can be painfully slow - probably a consequence of the organisational structure and the internal governance processes and sign-off procedures that need to be followed.

Maybe getting the consumer organisation Which? involved would help speed things along, or perhaps VW would like some ‘free publicity’ on TV?’ (e.g. an item in the ‘Watchdog’ consumer slot on BBC1‘s the One Show). I’m sure that mk8 Golf owners are realistic enough to know that there won’t be an immediate remedy, but if VW were to manage customer expectations through an effective communication process, that would at least be a start!
 
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SimonGC

Passed Driver's Ed
VW UK customer service have come back to me, they have escalated the issue and are liaising with my dealer's service centre. The car is booked to go back in on July 12th.

Interestingly VW UK admitted they are aware of the KPH/ACC problem and that 1803 doesn't seem to work. I argued that the car is going back to the dealer for a fix that doesn't exist and is just a waste of time, money and hassle. They countered with the request to return the car as they are trying to acquire data through their technical division to then build a large as possible database of affected vehicles through their technical division. This would help forge the case for development of a fix and to ensure affected vehicles are on the database and, should said fix arrive, they can notify drivers with any future remedial work.

Essentially we are being asked to develop their software for them as they didn't do it prior to the sale of the vehicles.
 
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