Version 3 OTA update

[ProstetnicVogonJeltz]

I think the problem is that early production vehicles carry slightly different hardware (another sign of VW's rush-to-market panic) and the software has to be specially fettled by people in lederhosen and dirndls. I have now got the car back, in working order - with all the functions present, which is nice. Apparently the dealership were asking the wrong team at VW Zentrale, who never got the message because their firewall blocked it. It still took the Master Technician about 5 hours to carry out the update, so not something I'd happily leave to OTA.

[Sherlock]

I didn't email VW asking to be in the 1st wave of V3 OTA updates, as I was still awaiting them being able to do the 2.4 software and 12v battery update to my car.

I finally got 2.4 in Dec. but so far no sign of the V3 OTA update. Has anyone who didn't email VW asking for V3 OTA actually had it yet?

If not, please post on here if and when you do eventually get it.
Many thanks.

[G43FAN]

I Naively thought I'd wait as the roll out wouldn't be much later than Q1 2023.

I don't believe anyone has had the OTA update unless they were part of the trial. However, a number of individuals seem to have had the update as a dealer install as a fix for other issues they have had.

[macwatt]

I didn't email VW asking to be in the 1st wave of V3 OTA updates, as I was still awaiting them being able to do the 2.4 software and 12v battery update to my car.

I finally got 2.4 in Dec. but so far no sign of the V3 OTA update. Has anyone who didn't email VW asking for V3 OTA actually had it yet?

If not, please post on here if and when you do eventually get it.
Many thanks.

I have contacted VW via online chat and twice by email this is recent reply I received

I’m not seeing anyone recently saying they have received OTA update 3.0.

[G43FAN]

Well, as I have stated before, 'you' (or We) haven't contacted VW it's the contact centre they outsource to and that shocking reply is just further evidence of that disconnect! Is that an email or a chat reply.

2.3 was OTA
OTA is Over The Air not OVA which they seem to have made up.
'Unfortunately to avoid server crashes... ' That has to be the best bit of nosense in there.
As for all the numerous spelling and grammatical errors..

[macwatt]

I thought if that’s VW’s standard for replying to an issue which should not be occurring then I would be surprised if I or any sizeable quantity of owners will receive this update for our time of ownership. It’s baffling that there is no information with what they are intending to do it’s like they’re hoping the problem will go away as in owners will stop asking.

[Jimmybones100]

I think my car is one of the cars which VW thinks it will bricked as they haven't sent me nothing despite being one of the ones who were to get it in second wave,sent them the email in October,missed first wave and they sent me an email for the next wave but nothing till now.
My tour pro got bricked during 2.4 update,was in garage for 2 weeks and after that ECU had to be replaced and was in garage for 10 days so I know I will have to take it in again for 3.0.

[MotMot]

The delay from the trial wave(s?) to now suggests to me there are some big big concerns with how it went. If there was just the odd niggle I think they’d have let it go to all by now.

Tbh - looking at the ‘instructions’ they posted that would put loads of people off. Fine for a clued up usergroup they tested it on - but not for my 80 year old wife’s Aunty (who has an id3!). Crazy stuff like “don’t worry if the car starts playing the radio while locked and parked during the update” - that kind of thing isn’t ready for the masses.

[sidehaas]

The delay from the trial wave(s?) to now suggests to me there are some big big concerns with how it went. If there was just the odd niggle I think they’d have let it go to all by now.

Tbh - looking at the ‘instructions’ they posted that would put loads of people off. Fine for a clued up usergroup they tested it on - but not for my 80 year old wife’s Aunty (who has an id3!). Crazy stuff like “don’t worry if the car starts playing the radio while locked and parked during the update” - that kind of thing isn’t ready for the masses.

I agree about the instructions, they were poor and I think probably contributed to quite a few of the problems people had, particularly things like struggling to log in as primary user. You needed intuition as to what order to do some things in. I suggested to VW on the Facebook group that they create a detailed walkthrough video to remove some of the ambiguities but they didn't seem keen.

Anecdotally the success rate of the second wave was similar to the first. Given that (second wave) included most of the 1st edition cars it doesn't seem too bad a result. But if that's 3-4% cars bricked, I suppose VW might have second thoughts about the cost of rolling it out to every car. Problem is, given the 2.4 record I doubt that a dealer update programme would be smoother! That definitely had a lower success rate going off the number of reports on Facebook.

[G43FAN]

Said it before.. Early cars will get ommitted from Updates due to hardware compatibility. The statement from when 2.3 was announced set up that option for VW. They are just waiting now for the cars to be out of warranty. I bet extended warranties will exclude software updates.

[Newfie]

I think my car is one of the cars which VW thinks it will bricked as they haven't sent me nothing despite being one of the ones who were to get it in second wave,sent them the email in October,missed first wave and they sent me an email for the next wave but nothing till now.
My tour pro got bricked during 2.4 update,was in garage for 2 weeks and after that ECU had to be replaced and was in garage for 10 days so I know I will have to take it in again for 3.0.

You say you have a Tour Pro? Is it not a Pro S or do you not have a UK spec Tour?
How old is your Tour?

[Newfie]

I must admit when it comes to installing 3.0 you do it with trepidation. Mine failed on the first attempt but luckily it didn't brick it.
I restarted the install as soon as I saw the first attempt was not successful.

As regards to the older versions being an issue, for those that follow Chris on Battery Life new his car had a problem as VW told him that there was an issue but they managed to get his car to download it and he installed on first attempt. So there are 1st Editions managing to get the update.

[sidehaas]

Almost all of the second wave appears to have been first editions, as far as I can tell from the ID Facebook group reports. The vast majority have been successful like in the first wave.

[MotMot]

Almost all of the second wave appears to have been first editions, as far as I can tell from the ID Facebook group reports. The vast majority have been successful like in the first wave.

But a failure rate of 1-5% is terrible (I believe from VW it was close to 5% in the first wave).. how many phones would Apple sell if 1-5% were bricked when there was a SW update?

I’m not surprised they’ve stopped with these amount of issues - and I’ll also speculate that it’s not something that’s simple to fix (on the update) otherwise we’d have seen following test waves coming sooner. As I posted a while back - the fact they’ve not updated certain cars - suggests the issue isn’t linked to a certain batch or year or model. Which makes it horrible to solve and work with.

Anyway. Hopefully they’ll get this sorted soon but the longer it takes the more it looks like it’ll be a workshop job!

[Bengeo]

"Simple" solution .... Add an extra stage at the start of the OTA and that runs and checks if vehicle and hardware matches a known good setup and if it passes it goes on to install parts 1 and 2. If it fails the test then it stops there and you are advised to book it into the workshop but the car keeps running on 2.4

Shame I am too old for a consultancy role now .......

[sidehaas]

Almost all of the second wave appears to have been first editions, as far as I can tell from the ID Facebook group reports. The vast majority have been successful like in the first wave.

But a failure rate of 1-5% is terrible (I believe from VW it was close to 5% in the first wave).. how many phones would Apple sell if 1-5% were bricked when there was a SW update?

I’m not surprised they’ve stopped with these amount of issues - and I’ll also speculate that it’s not something that’s simple to fix (on the update) otherwise we’d have seen following test waves coming sooner. As I posted a while back - the fact they’ve not updated certain cars - suggests the issue isn’t linked to a certain batch or year or model. Which makes it horrible to solve and work with.

Anyway. Hopefully they’ll get this sorted soon but the longer it takes the more it looks like it’ll be a workshop job!

Based on the data they published, failure rate in the first wave was 3-4%.
I agree it's not good but I don't think a workshop programme would help. The rate of failure on 2.4 was undoubtedly higher than that - loads of people were reporting multi day or week delays because something went wrong and the garage couldn't un-brick the car without detailed guidance from Germany or a new part.
So for VW, all it does is guarantee that the workshops will be full. For the customer, it guarantees your car has to go to the workshop. The OTA option has a 95% chance of avoiding that, and if it fails then you call the garage and tow truck. It's not really that much different from going to the workshop in the first place as long as there is reasonable availability of the tow truck. In fact because the workshops will have more available space than if they were doing all cars, you're probably still better off having your car bricked at home than bricked at the garage. People just need to avoid running updates on Xmas Eve or down a narrow driveway...

Ultimately people have a choice about doing an update. For me, assuming VW do actually continue to offer OTA updates, it will always be worth the risk as long as the car is in warranty. Once the warranty expires I wouldn't touch an update unless the process was way more reliable.

[MotMot]

I see where you’re coming from - and from an enthusiasts perspective I’d agree. But for most purchasers - a 3-4% chance that your car will be bricked (can’t move - has to be four wheel lifted onto a flatbed!) is both nuts and reputational suicide for VW.

Dieselgate was bad - but 3-4% of your flagship EV’s ending up on a tow truck. 100% Watchdog story in the making!

If the update happens in the workshop then at least you already have a courtesy car if something goes wrong!! If I got 3.0 to update now - I’d have to have a good look at my diary and decide when I could afford to risk it!!

[G43FAN]

I see where you’re coming from - and from an enthusiasts perspective I’d agree. But for most purchasers - a 3-4% chance that your car will be bricked (can’t move - has to be four wheel lifted onto a flatbed!) is both nuts and reputational suicide for VW.

Dieselgate was bad - but 3-4% of your flagship EV’s ending up on a tow truck. 100% Watchdog story in the making!

If the update happens in the workshop then at least you already have a courtesy car if something goes wrong!! If I got 3.0 to update now - I’d have to have a good look at my diary and decide when I could afford to risk it!!

100% This..

@Bengeo.. You'd think that was a good idea wouldn't you, but given that VW's developers thought that the car should be programmed to check for updates only once a week and at the same random (but unidentifiable) time each week only. Then I think the level of logic you are applying is well beyond them. (People were already moaning about slow start up anyway)

@Sidehaas - I can understand why people think you work for VW and I am starting to suspect your efforts to rose tint everything in VWs favour are an indication of such. The only acceptable situation is 100% success and the OTA updates quarterly as stated. Any failure is just that a failure and on a car that is a massivlu unacceptable failure.
What would happen if there was suddenly a safety recall needing an update? At the present position VW would be asking people to take their cars off the roads for months whilst they tried to figure out a solution, because the dealer network can't manage it, everything they do is micro managed by VW Germany via email.

[rikimaru]

"Simple" solution .... Add an extra stage at the start of the OTA and that runs and checks if vehicle and hardware matches a known good setup and if it passes it goes on to install parts 1 and 2. If it fails the test then it stops there and you are advised to book it into the workshop but the car keeps running on 2.4

Shame I am too old for a consultancy role now .......

One does not simply talk about "simple" and "VW" in the same sentence...

[sidehaas]

I see where you’re coming from - and from an enthusiasts perspective I’d agree. But for most purchasers - a 3-4% chance that your car will be bricked (can’t move - has to be four wheel lifted onto a flatbed!) is both nuts and reputational suicide for VW.

Dieselgate was bad - but 3-4% of your flagship EV’s ending up on a tow truck. 100% Watchdog story in the making!

If the update happens in the workshop then at least you already have a courtesy car if something goes wrong!! If I got 3.0 to update now - I’d have to have a good look at my diary and decide when I could afford to risk it!!

100% This..

@Bengeo.. You'd think that was a good idea wouldn't you, but given that VW's developers thought that the car should be programmed to check for updates only once a week and at the same random (but unidentifiable) time each week only. Then I think the level of logic you are applying is well beyond them. (People were already moaning about slow start up anyway)

@Sidehaas - I can understand why people think you work for VW and I am starting to suspect your efforts to rose tint everything in VWs favour are an indication of such. The only acceptable situation is 100% success and the OTA updates quarterly as stated. Any failure is just that a failure and on a car that is a massivlu unacceptable failure.
What would happen if there was suddenly a safety recall needing an update? At the present position VW would be asking people to take their cars off the roads for months whilst they tried to figure out a solution, because the dealer network can't manage it, everything they do is micro managed by VW Germany via email.

I don't work for VW. I'm not even a fanboy, this is the first one I've owned (I do also have a Skoda). I do like the car though and get fed up with some of the repeated moans about certain aspects of it. I'll also try to encourage people to get the 3.0 update when available because I think it's a worthwhile upgrade. But nowhere have I said the OTA update performance was good. As I said a few posts up the instructions for it are poor. I've also pointed out that the 2.4 programme at the dealer was less effective than 3.0 OTA. You can probably deduce what I think about the competence of the dealers with ID cars.
Of course it would be nice to see a 100% success rate but that obviously isn't going to happen at this stage. Maybe if future updates are less ambitious in scope they might be more reliable. For 3.0, firstly VW are going to have to decide whether to roll it out and then customers are going to have to decide whether they want it. I was just pointing out that as long as your car is in warranty and you don't do it in a bad time or place, then I don't think a 3-4% chance of failure is actually much for an individual to worry about. VWs reputation is a different thing, not really my concern.
It's unlikely I'll want to update our car further once the warranty runs out. I'm hoping to be on 4.0 with battery preheating for rapid chargers by then. What do you think the chances are?