2.1 upgrade software has been updated

All Volkswagen ID.3 related discussions
hwhbev
Posts: 124
Joined: Sat Oct 17, 2020 6:48 pm

Post by hwhbev »

My ID.3 has been in the dealership for over two weeks because it failed the 2.1 upgrade due to a faulty control unit. These have been on back order hence the delay. One arrived with my dealer yesterday but it was not required because VW have “updated the software that performs the 2.1 upgrade”. Using this updated software the 2.1 upgrade went smoothly and the original control unit no longer reports as having failed.

This updated software may hopefully resolve a lot of the delays many ID.3 owners are experiencing due to ‘failing’ control unit issues.

gailjon
Posts: 284
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2021 11:16 am

Post by gailjon »

Excellent news and I am glad your car has been sorted out. My wife's car is delivered tomorrow and I assume it will need upgrading to 2.1 so this adds a a little more reassurance.
ID.3 Family, Andoya Alloys, Heat Pump. Grab a £50 Octopus Credit https://share.octopus.energy/silk-guppy-104
simonrg
Posts: 249
Joined: Wed Dec 23, 2020 11:40 pm

Post by simonrg »

hwhbev wrote: Wed Mar 31, 2021 2:10 pm My ID.3 has been in the dealership for over two weeks because it failed the 2.1 upgrade due to a faulty control unit. These have been on back order hence the delay. One arrived with my dealer yesterday but it was not required because VW have “updated the software that performs the 2.1 upgrade”. Using this updated software the 2.1 upgrade went smoothly and the original control unit no longer reports as having failed.

This updated software may hopefully resolve a lot of the delays many ID.3 owners are experiencing due to ‘failing’ control unit issues.
Fantastic, glad you have got your ID.3 back, mine is on its 3rd day of the dealer waiting for WV Technical to tell them what to do to overcome the errors message blocking completing the software recall.

If I was in your situation (which I might be soon), I would want to understand a more about the nature of the software issue that led VW to tell you the control unit hardware was faulty and how they made a mistake and actually it is a software problem. It would seem reasonable for VW to be more open as to what the problem was, how they have overcame it and why this means your ID.3 is as good as anybody else's ID.3.

With the information you currently have, I would be concerned that at some future stage I would discover that a feature in the car was not behaving as expected due to the control unit being in some way sub-standard all along. Equally perhaps nothing is wrong with your hardware and originally VW just made a costly mistake for VW in fault finding the original problem and jumped to the wrong conclusion that hardware was to blame.

I could image that software incompatibilities between slightly different hardware could be overcome by removing features which are failing on the sub-standard unit, slowing down the communications to allow a substandard unit time to respond or by changing sequencing such that the sub-standard unit is used less.

Basically having had your car for over 2 weeks, VW should explain why it has taken so long, possibly even bragging at how clever their software engineers were in coming up with a software fix to very subtle differences in hardware or just say sorry for having wrongly diagnosed the original issue and explain they are still learning too.

Anyway I would be interested to know any more information that is forthcoming, thanks. (Possibly very interested depending on how my ID.3's software recall proceeds).
ID.3 Business Pro Performance + Heat Pump - 0564 (23/12/20) - 0783 (28/1/21) - 0792 (7/5/21) - 0910 (24/10/21) - 3.2 (6/7/23) - Hardware H20 - North Yorkshire
Deleted User 192

Post by Deleted User 192 »

Good to hear hwhbev, mine has been re-booked for April 19th with no replacement control unit (as far as I’m aware)

I don’t understand all the calls for total and utter transparency though...
roadhawk
Posts: 105
Joined: Sat Dec 26, 2020 7:37 pm

Post by roadhawk »

I read somewhere else (cannot remember if FB or another forum) that they had now figured out how to reprogram one of the controllers rather than get it into a "bricked" state. Rumour has it that it was an unofficial hack, but now an official fix — however its all rumours it seems...
VW ID.3 1st Edition, Glacier White, Software version: 0363 aka 3.0 OTA
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simonrg
Posts: 249
Joined: Wed Dec 23, 2020 11:40 pm

Post by simonrg »

scott28tt wrote: Wed Mar 31, 2021 4:14 pm Good to hear hwhbev, mine has been re-booked for April 19th with no replacement control unit (as far as I’m aware)

I don’t understand all the calls for total and utter transparency though...
I am not trying to make a call for total and utter transparency, but actually that would be good idea.

I just want more openness from VW than is currently my experience or evidenced by posts on this forum. Surely such openness is in VW's long term interests to win back trust of their customers.

I have now driven 4 ID.3s aside from the one I purchased all of which have had issues. So my experience is that these issues are wide spread and not as a number of people on the different forums feel are limited to a few vehicles. I guess VW also believe the faults are inherent in the ID.3 systems as they have issued the software recall.

The latest ID.3 is a 1st Edition (0564) demonstrator from my dealer, which I was assured had no issues, so they are not planning to do the software recall soon.

On getting in the car it was displaying low 12V battery, which as I was about to drive I realise might cause issues, but as I was now late and was driving home would get charged on the way.

Sure enough it has not displayed the 12v error again, however the infotainment system displays a blank screen with no options - setting / vehicle etc... No doubt would be fixed by a software update.

More interestingly a new fault for me, obviously related to the mph / kph issues, as shown in the YouTube, driving along a stretch of 60mph road, the ACC set speed oscilates between 60 mph and 37 mph, very annoying to any cars following:

I can understand it setting either the kph or mph speed limit, but swapping between the speeds suggests software modules in the car are fighting to set the ACC speed.

I driven this stretch of road in 3 other ID.3s (0564) using ACC and not seen this behaviour, why?

Obviously this makes the ACC unusable in this vehicle.

So all I can believe is that previous drivers have not used the features or previous driver are not reporting faults in these vehicles to VW or ......
ID.3 Business Pro Performance + Heat Pump - 0564 (23/12/20) - 0783 (28/1/21) - 0792 (7/5/21) - 0910 (24/10/21) - 3.2 (6/7/23) - Hardware H20 - North Yorkshire
Jono
Posts: 143
Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2021 9:56 pm

Post by Jono »

Interestingly your display looks slightly different than mine - I have however had identical problems with the ACC. It’s been back 3 times, each time I’m told it’s sorted, only for it to reappear (once before I made it out of the car park). I believe all that’s being done, is the codes are being cleared from the memory, but the underlying problem is still there as no one knows what it is.

My worst ACC experience so far was the car rapidly breaking from 70mph to 20 in the motorway. Luckily there was nothing behind and there certainly weren’t any 20 speed signs on the around.

Like you, I agree an ACC exhibiting thus kind of behaviour isn’t fit for purpose and is arguably dangerous.
Deleted User 192

Post by Deleted User 192 »

VW are a massive public company - my expectations in terms of transparency are clearly lower.

Their dealers in the UK are all franchises, and have also been struggling to get quality information from a corporate level.

My car has been far from perfect, but I’ve yet to be left without a car when mine has been back to the workshop.

But do you know what, I don’t get stressed about it - I love the car, and I want it to be as good as it should be. I’m in it for 4 years at least.

And I’m cutting the service/workshop team at my dealer quite a lot of slack, they’ve been very good in looking after me as best they can.
simonrg
Posts: 249
Joined: Wed Dec 23, 2020 11:40 pm

Post by simonrg »

scott28tt wrote: Wed Mar 31, 2021 7:30 pm VW are a massive public company - my expectations in terms of transparency are clearly lower.

Their dealers in the UK are all franchises, and have also been struggling to get quality information from a corporate level.

My car has been far from perfect, but I’ve yet to be left without a car when mine has been back to the workshop.

But do you know what, I don’t get stressed about it - I love the car, and I want it to be as good as it should be. I’m in it for 4 years at least.

And I’m cutting the service/workshop team at my dealer quite a lot of slack, they’ve been very good in looking after me as best they can.
Absolutely agree with all of are saying, I just feel if we don't ask for more information we won't get it and that having taken our cash these are not unreasonable requests.

Obviously all of our experiences are different and all of our reactions are different, not always well expressed on forums / Facebook.

Rather than stress my major feeling is one of continuing disappointment, mainly at VW (lack of information / conflicting information, shifting timescales) but also at the dealer (when the loan car has faults plus no washer fluid when you are given it). Very much 1st world problems in the scale of things, I suspect without the current lockdown the dealer would be a bit more reluctant for their demonstrators to sit on my drive rather than their forecourt.

My dealer appears to have no clout with VW, such that I am asked to contact VW to get my previous warranty issues fixed - I have never had to do this with any of the vehicles I have previously owned, I have only ever dealt with the dealer. Even the previous VW I had which had a number of issues were always owned by the dealer. I guess VW must be in the transition from a dealer network to a direct customer relationship like Tesla.
ID.3 Business Pro Performance + Heat Pump - 0564 (23/12/20) - 0783 (28/1/21) - 0792 (7/5/21) - 0910 (24/10/21) - 3.2 (6/7/23) - Hardware H20 - North Yorkshire
hwhbev
Posts: 124
Joined: Sat Oct 17, 2020 6:48 pm

Post by hwhbev »

simonrg wrote: Wed Mar 31, 2021 4:10 pm If I was in your situation (which I might be soon), I would want to understand a more about the nature of the software issue that led VW to tell you the control unit hardware was faulty and how they made a mistake and actually it is a software problem. It would seem reasonable for VW to be more open as to what the problem was, how they have overcame it and why this means your ID.3 is as good as anybody else's ID.3.

With the information you currently have, I would be concerned that at some future stage I would discover that a feature in the car was not behaving as expected due to the control unit being in some way sub-standard all along. Equally perhaps nothing is wrong with your hardware and originally VW just made a costly mistake for VW in fault finding the original problem and jumped to the wrong conclusion that hardware was to blame.

I could image that software incompatibilities between slightly different hardware could be overcome by removing features which are failing on the sub-standard unit, slowing down the communications to allow a substandard unit time to respond or by changing sequencing such that the sub-standard unit is used less.

Basically having had your car for over 2 weeks, VW should explain why it has taken so long, possibly even bragging at how clever their software engineers were in coming up with a software fix to very subtle differences in hardware or just say sorry for having wrongly diagnosed the original issue and explain they are still learning too.

I think you have a background in IT, like me. My immediate thoughts when I was told that they had updated the upgrade software were:
  • Was it simply a hardware incompatibility between the control unit and the 2.1 software?
  • Is the fix a kludge or has it resulted in a correctly working system?
  • How long will the fix last, e.g. until the next (OTA) software update?
I did try and probe by asking whether the "update" was just a kludge but I was met with a blank look. We have to remember that ICE cars are mechanical and many folks in the motor trade understand how clutches, pistons and valves work. EVs on the other hand are sophisticated computers (in fact a network of computers) on four wheels. I doubt there are many in the motor trade that are sufficiently trained to understand all this themselves let alone explain it to knowledgable and inquisitive customers. As much as I agree with you that it would be nice to have an in-depth debrief on what went wrong and what was done to fix it, I suspect that most of the detail will be wrapped up in VW's intellectual property and also nobody outside of VW's systems engineering team will have any clue as to what the hardware and software are doing. I may be casting aspersions on the technicians in the dealerships (apologies to any reading this if I am wrong) but modern EVs are complicated and VW will be wanting to keep tight control over their IP. Open source EV control software anyone.....?
M100
Posts: 32
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2020 2:10 pm

Post by M100 »

My id3 First Edition has now been with the dealer for 2 weeks. They had it for 2 months last year. My dealer is as frustrated as I am and has always been very good at providing another car. It has been diagnosed remotely by Vw Technical and they are waiting for them to give them instructions/new code to finish uploading 2.1. Like a previous reader, I love the car and I’m trying not to stress about it! But the time they are taking to get back to the dealer suggests that this is a widespread issue.
Jono
Posts: 143
Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2021 9:56 pm

Post by Jono »

I think we would all feel a bit better if they were more open about the problem. I’ve had a new ID3 (not even made it out of the showroom) sat at the dealer for 3 weeks. It failed the update, it failed the software patch, it’s been diagnosed by VW, it’s now waiting for parts.

This wasn’t an early car, it was only delivered to the dealer about 5 weeks ago.
simonrg
Posts: 249
Joined: Wed Dec 23, 2020 11:40 pm

Post by simonrg »

hwhbev wrote: Wed Mar 31, 2021 9:21 pm I think you have a background in IT, like me. My immediate thoughts when I was told that they had updated the upgrade software were:
  • Was it simply a hardware incompatibility between the control unit and the 2.1 software?
  • Is the fix a kludge or has it resulted in a correctly working system?
  • How long will the fix last, e.g. until the next (OTA) software update?
I did try and probe by asking whether the "update" was just a kludge but I was met with a blank look. We have to remember that ICE cars are mechanical and many folks in the motor trade understand how clutches, pistons and valves work. EVs on the other hand are sophisticated computers (in fact a network of computers) on four wheels. I doubt there are many in the motor trade that are sufficiently trained to understand all this themselves let alone explain it to knowledgable and inquisitive customers. As much as I agree with you that it would be nice to have an in-depth debrief on what went wrong and what was done to fix it, I suspect that most of the detail will be wrapped up in VW's intellectual property and also nobody outside of VW's systems engineering team will have any clue as to what the hardware and software are doing. I may be casting aspersions on the technicians in the dealerships (apologies to any reading this if I am wrong) but modern EVs are complicated and VW will be wanting to keep tight control over their IP. Open source EV control software anyone.....?
Thanks for reply and thanks for probing, probably garage technicians won't be able to help, but I do feel VW should be giving more information.

It feels like details as supplied for many software products in a factual readme, would not expose IP and would be an improvement. Some people have received a printed readme on completion of the recall, which I haven't seen, so an updated version for the new patch may be a step in the right direction.

Open source would be good, but I guess unlikely.
ID.3 Business Pro Performance + Heat Pump - 0564 (23/12/20) - 0783 (28/1/21) - 0792 (7/5/21) - 0910 (24/10/21) - 3.2 (6/7/23) - Hardware H20 - North Yorkshire
hwhbev
Posts: 124
Joined: Sat Oct 17, 2020 6:48 pm

Post by hwhbev »

simonrg wrote: Thu Apr 01, 2021 7:58 am Some people have received a printed readme on completion of the recall, which I haven't seen, so an updated version for the new patch may be a step in the right direction.

Here is the Table of Contents of the "readme ID.3 Edition 01.2021" booklet that was left in the car.

IMG_3167.jpeg

It provides some basic and statutory information that you might need, for example, if you don't have access to the digital manual in the infotainment system. It replaces the owner's handbook that early ID.3 owners received. I specifically asked to retain mine, as noted by the absence of a tick on the checklist I was asked to sign.

IMG_3168.jpeg

simonrg
Posts: 249
Joined: Wed Dec 23, 2020 11:40 pm

Post by simonrg »

hwhbev wrote: Thu Apr 01, 2021 1:27 pm
simonrg wrote: Thu Apr 01, 2021 7:58 am Some people have received a printed readme on completion of the recall, which I haven't seen, so an updated version for the new patch may be a step in the right direction.
..... the "readme ID.3 Edition 01.2021" booklet that was left in the car.
It provides some basic and statutory information that you might need, for example, if you don't have access to the digital manual in the infotainment system. It replaces the owner's handbook that early ID.3 owners received. I specifically asked to retain mine, as noted by the absence of a tick on the checklist I was asked to sign.
Ok extensive document I will wait see what I get.
I guess the checklist is your dealers not VW's, as my dealer says due to Covid-19 car washing is not possible and paper documents have been eliminated except for legal items.
P.S. My wife has just taken message to say dealer has had no reply from VW Technical to the query on my vehicle since Monday, despite VW customer care nominally expediting the case. So nothing happening until at least Tuesday which will be day 8 of recall.
ID.3 Business Pro Performance + Heat Pump - 0564 (23/12/20) - 0783 (28/1/21) - 0792 (7/5/21) - 0910 (24/10/21) - 3.2 (6/7/23) - Hardware H20 - North Yorkshire
hungerdunger
Posts: 100
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2020 8:28 pm
Location: Carmarthen, West Wales

Post by hungerdunger »

I guess the checklist is your dealers not VW's, as my dealer says due to Covid-19 car washing is not possible and paper documents have been eliminated except for legal items.
From memory that form looks identical to the one I signed at the dealer today. And they did wash the car and did give me an invoice type document to show the work carried out. I wonder if yours is using Covid as an excuse.
ID.3 1st Edition - Manganese Grey - purchased 15/12/20.
Kaygee
Posts: 47
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2021 11:35 am

Post by Kaygee »

Interesting document. The only thing I received was the 2.1 update and nothing else.
HeidiFlowerpt Driver
Posts: 251
Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2020 2:30 pm

Post by HeidiFlowerpt Driver »

Kaygee wrote: Fri Apr 02, 2021 2:00 pm Interesting document. The only thing I received was the 2.1 update and nothing else.
What is now in your car's document wallet? In the glovebox, perhaps? Mine now has the README document, the same format as the old manual but much slimmer. I was also given a garish red and blue streaked face mask, a freebie from VW. It matches the similarly coloured socks that came with my 1st edition car.
ID.3 1st Edition Manganese Grey - called Heidi Flowerpot
roadhawk
Posts: 105
Joined: Sat Dec 26, 2020 7:37 pm

Post by roadhawk »

HeidiFlowerpt Driver wrote: Sat Apr 03, 2021 1:52 pm
Kaygee wrote: Fri Apr 02, 2021 2:00 pm Interesting document. The only thing I received was the 2.1 update and nothing else.
What is now in your car's document wallet? In the glovebox, perhaps? Mine now has the README document, the same format as the old manual but much slimmer. I was also given a garish red and blue streaked face mask, a freebie from VW. It matches the similarly coloured socks that came with my 1st edition car.
For me the wallet just has the cover page of the old manual with the sticker of build information etc. for the car. The dealer is going to drop a README document in the post to me. I also got the face mask and a piece of A4 with the QR code to take a survey about the update.
VW ID.3 1st Edition, Glacier White, Software version: 0363 aka 3.0 OTA
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BevTowcester
Posts: 18
Joined: Tue Dec 29, 2020 7:05 pm
Location: Towcester

Post by BevTowcester »

I collected my new ID3 tour pro S this week.
It arrived at the dealer on/around 6th March with vers 2.0 installed during manufacture. ( I was told)
It took until the 30th March to have it ready to collect.
The dealer says that 2.1 has been installed, but had no documentary proof - just salesman ‘word’
How can I verify this, other than the bug fixes is there any single obvious 2.1 software feature I can establish is present.
Where do I look for an installed software code?
Many thanks
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