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Trouble with travel assist

Genegenie

Drag Race Newbie
Not had Travel Assist issues, but today I got initial "Park Assist, hill start & autohold warning" messages and I should apparently "contact dealer", both went away following car being stopped, locked then unlocked & restarted, they functioned ok and now all seems well. I have noticed some unusual displays in the digital cockpit from time to time, but not always and the car behaves itself otherwise so I remained unfussed....
 

nice_fish

New member
Not had Travel Assist issues, but today I got initial "Park Assist, hill start & autohold warning" messages and I should apparently "contact dealer", both went away following car being stopped, locked then unlocked & restarted, they functioned ok and now all seems well. I have noticed some unusual displays in the digital cockpit from time to time, but not always and the car behaves itself otherwise so I remained unfussed....
I have got them too, 1 or 2 times, and did a reset of the console (put your finger on the power button at the bottom left of the screen, then keep your finger there for ~30 seconds until the VW logo shows up and the console resets).
 

nice_fish

New member
I have the infotainment with no letter at the end ("no letter" and "A" are the same thing afaik) and software 1650.

I *occasionally* have dinging due to "travel assist/emergency assist not available", but this is the exception, most of the time they don't appear. I fully support what you feel, the car feels very right when it doesn't appear, but can really drive you mad the times it does appear. In my case, I am convinced it comes from the steering wheel, I am most of the time able to "milk" dings when touching the lower (horizontal) part of the wheel.

I took several videos of the issue and booked my car with the dealer on September 15th. He rejected any conversation based on forums, on my personal information, etc. I think he is correct to do so, so I said "ok, here is the video, it is under factory guarantee, book a date and fix me". Of course he did. He said he is aware of the steering wheel issue (wouldn't say more) and he said that the video is extremely helpful because he, as a dealer, cannot change anything if he can't prove it to the factory. All is well and waiting to see what happens after September 15 (will I have updated software? Will the ding stop? Will I have a wheel replacement?)

Plot twist: on September 3 the car was found dead inside my parking, due to low battery (talking about the 12V conventional battery). Nothing, no lock/unlock, no start/stop, you know I guess. Called the road assistance and he started it, battery was measured with a handheld voltometer at 12%. A disgrace, we are talking about factory battery (VW, i.e. not Bosch or aftermarket) with a stamp of 0720 on it (July 2020). I took it to the dealership and, together with the things I mentioned above, I noted the need to measure and replace the battery on September 15th booking date. What is the plot twist? Since then, there has been no one single "travel assist/emergency assist not available" ding, although I am constantly trying to "milk" one. It drives me mad, it appears the hard reset of the car due to battery failure had an effect on the dinging? So after the incident with the dead battery the car works at 100% (few days, but I have really not spotted a single flaw) and I have the September 15th booking, for (a) check/replace 12V battery, (b) fix dinging, (c) update software.
So, the car went in yesterday as scheduled. Instantly he said to me there appear two updates mandatory for my car, the one being the for the antenna of the car (connect to data, satellite etc.) and the other being a generic update (I presume the update from 1650 to 1668). He even said that the problem with the battery might be linked to the generic update, i.e. the battery was consumed because of bad management of the system and it is not actually problematic as a battery.

Today he called me at the end of the day, to inform me: new replacement wheel ordered for the "travel assist/emergency assist not available" dinging issue, as this is due to the sensors in the wheel. Also, the second, generic update failed due to problems with the "central management processor" BCM, which is the processor which manages all other processors and systems (that's what he said, or close to it); he will also replace the BCM (he explicitly said the antenna update completed successfully, so it's the other one that failed). Order for both wheel and BCM already placed with Germany and it will take 5 working days to arrive. I will have a courtesy t-roc in the meantime (tomorrow morning I will get it he said).

Is this good or bad news?
Anybody knows what is BCM and what it does?
(happy for the t-roc for 10 days)
 

PA262

New member
I hear what you say PA262 but I also have a certain sympathy for the Dealers. I get the distinct impression, from my own dealings with my local Dealer, that the Dealers are very much hamstrung by VW in all of this. Rightly or wrongly they can't even blow their noses without the say so of VW so getting problems sorted out often proves long winded and sometimes difficult. I also think that they often know more than they are letting on. Either that or the person in the Dealership isn't asking the right questions of VW.

Whichever is true, and it might be a mixture of the two, it leaves us customers unhappy and with a poor impression of the model and the brand. VW should therefore be more proactive and stick their heads above the parapet in order to ease our qualms occasionally. I doubt that they will though so the Dealer will remain the 'piggy in the middle' and take the flack which I think is a little unfair on them.
I agree, you are right and this is exactly what the dealership said to me. They are a VW franchise and are totally governed by VW Germany. This is frustrating as I didn’t buy the car from VW I bought it from the dealership.

The better news is that after fault code from the investigation this week VW hav recommended a steering wheel change. No mention of a software update yet. There is a week lead time before delivery so this looks like the next step for me. I am hoping this fixes the issue and I am slightly more reassured that this fault is being taken seriously. Whilst relations with the dealership are strained I hope this ends amicably. We will see.
 

koolmacher

Passed Driver's Ed
I agree, you are right and this is exactly what the dealership said to me. They are a VW franchise and are totally governed by VW Germany. This is frustrating as I didn’t buy the car from VW I bought it from the dealership.

The better news is that after fault code from the investigation this week VW hav recommended a steering wheel change. No mention of a software update yet. There is a week lead time before delivery so this looks like the next step for me. I am hoping this fixes the issue and I am slightly more reassured that this fault is being taken seriously. Whilst relations with the dealership are strained I hope this ends amicably. We will see.
New steering wheel fixed my travel assist errors haven't had any since it was replaced however I didn't get the software update despite the dealer having it for 7 weeks still on 1664.
 

Eric of Ayr

New member
i have 1668 and it’s mostly working occasionally a black screen, I am keeping track of how often this happens it used to happen every day
 

Maturedriver

Go Kart Champion
Koolmacher, I very surprised that when going to all the trouble to replace your steering wheel to sort your travel assist issues they didn’t update your software to 1668. Perhaps they know there is a newer update on the way so didn’t bother installing 1668 🤔🤔🤔? … Silly me! Why did I think that? VW dealers would be the last people on the planet to know about any software updates.
 

airforced

Passed Driver's Ed
My software was updated to 1668 as VW had told the Dealer to do this first and if it didn't work that they would authorise a new steering wheel which they did after it didn't solve the problem. Problem solved. Everything OK to date anyway. It, disturbingly, seems as though there isn't a common answer to these software etc problems and each vehicle needs to be treated individually. Nightmare for VW and the Dealers I would suggest but it is probably the reason why VW insists that the Dealers only proceed with updates etc on their say so and not let the Dealers loose to do what they think fit. Maybe overthinking it but I can't see any other reason.
 

SRGTD

Autocross Newbie
My software was updated to 1668 as VW had told the Dealer to do this first and if it didn't work that they would authorise a new steering wheel which they did after it didn't solve the problem. Problem solved. Everything OK to date anyway. It, disturbingly, seems as though there isn't a common answer to these software etc problems and each vehicle needs to be treated individually. Nightmare for VW and the Dealers I would suggest but it is probably the reason why VW insists that the Dealers only proceed with updates etc on their say so and not let the Dealers loose to do what they think fit. Maybe overthinking it but I can't see any other reason.
I think VW dealer workshops use a diagnosis and fault finding procedure known as GFF (guided fault finding) which presumably is what they have to do as dictated by VW. I assume GFF requires the dealer‘s workshop technician to work through a set of designated fault finding steps in a specific order laid down by VW. So even if the dealer knows a new steering wheel definitely fixes the travel assist problems, presumably they won’t be authorised to fit one if they haven’t carried out the earlier (and probably cheaper) steps on the GFF process that may (or may not) work.

The big downside of GFF for the customer is that it might require multiple trips to the dealership before a fault is successfully fixed, which can be very frustrating, annoying and inconvenient for customers. Winding the clock forward to when a customer’s car is no longer under warranty, GFF could also be very expensive for the customer - assuming GFF isn’t just used for fault finding and fixing on warranty issues.
 

airforced

Passed Driver's Ed
Quite SRGTD. I can understand the reasons why VW make the Dealers go through this process but it can (and will) lead to customers becoming brassed off with the whole process which may dissuade them from going VW next time. Winding the clock forward as you say, I can quite imagine there would be a backlash if it ended up being used as you suggest. However it also encourages owners (if they are aware that is) to get off their backsides and report faults whilst still in warranty. I feels sorry for those who buy at the end of the warranty period as the Dealers won't advertise any faults they know about during a sale. The one redeeming feature is that a car bought through a Dealer will come with a VW backed warranty. Non Dealer sales are those that will be at risk though. The whole thing is a bit of a mess that doesn't do VW any favours.
 

nice_fish

New member
So, the car went in yesterday as scheduled. Instantly he said to me there appear two updates mandatory for my car, the one being the for the antenna of the car (connect to data, satellite etc.) and the other being a generic update (I presume the update from 1650 to 1668). He even said that the problem with the battery might be linked to the generic update, i.e. the battery was consumed because of bad management of the system and it is not actually problematic as a battery.

Today he called me at the end of the day, to inform me: new replacement wheel ordered for the "travel assist/emergency assist not available" dinging issue, as this is due to the sensors in the wheel. Also, the second, generic update failed due to problems with the "central management processor" BCM, which is the processor which manages all other processors and systems (that's what he said, or close to it); he will also replace the BCM (he explicitly said the antenna update completed successfully, so it's the other one that failed). Order for both wheel and BCM already placed with Germany and it will take 5 working days to arrive. I will have a courtesy t-roc in the meantime (tomorrow morning I will get it he said).

Is this good or bad news?
Anybody knows what is BCM and what it does?
(happy for the t-roc for 10 days)
So, after 9 working days I got it back today.
OCU (Onboard Communications Unit) software updated.
Infotainment console software updated (from 1650 to 1668).
Replacement BCM installed (Body Control Module) -the infotainment update originally failed so they found they had to replace the BCM too, he said.
Replacement steering wheel installed -feels super nice although the old steering wheel was not worn out at all.

All covered by factory warranty plus courtesy VW Tiguan for all days.

Supposedly this is the best my car can get, as the infotainment firmware is letter A (built in Q4 2019) which has 1668 as the latest software version.
Plus I have the new steering wheel which by almost all statements in here, fixes the dinging "travel assist not available" issue.

Hope I don't see the service/dealer guys for long outside scheduled service sessions.
 

Genegenie

Drag Race Newbie
Had "Park Assist, hill start & autohold warning and I should apparently contact dealer" messages a couple more times, found keeping front VW emblem (behind which various sensors are located) scrupulously clean and, touch wood, 2 weeks on they haven't returned. Hmmm....
 
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PA262

New member
So update from me, I was due a steering wheel replacement by VW Perth yesterday. Duly dropped my car off in Perth, stayed overnight to collect this morning. What could possibly go wrong?
Received a call this morning from the dealership to say that, despite them supposedly checking, VW had sent them the wrong part number of steering wheel. So totally wasted journey and the expense that went with it. No steering wheel on order but likely 5-10 days to arrive. That was my last trip to the dealership (it’s a 120 mile round trip), they will be collecting from now on. The level of incompetence is staggering.
 
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