Software letting the brand down

[kEV]

My patience is wearing a bit thin. After leaving my car with the dealer for 3 days for a software update I was hoping the gremlins would be gone. Alas this morning I was as presented with a yellow eSound error and it needs to go back to the workshop because people may not hear me coming, the helpful message warned me

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[ColdCase]

Common with just about any brand. My neighbor's Mercedes has been in the shop for a week now. There is a hardware problem, a loose screw or intermittent connection, that the software detects. Frustrating never the less. Frustrating to track down but easy to blame on software.

 

[dbsb3233]

We're finishing up a 3000 mile road trip in ours. I've had to do a PCM reset at least 5 times this trip. When we get back I'll need to find out if there's software updates available. Not even sure how to check.

 

[TomekGnomek]

After leaving my car with the dealer for 3 days for a software update I was hoping the gremlins would be gone.

Good luck with that. Mine has been two times for 2 weeks each time plus a number of shorter visits and still a lot of software problems. It's deeply disappointing.

 

[PrudentOcean]

What do you call a “PCM reset”?

I assume he’s referring to holding down the volume control dial by the climate controls until the PCM restarts.

 

[ColdCase]

Yeah some cars are problem childs, and with all the fly by wire/computer modules now days... what can go wrong? Sometimes software fault detection is too cautious and there are edge conditions of course.

Most here have zero problems. You would think if it was software related, all Macans would be suffering, not just a few.

In 6 months, 5000 miles, mine has never needed a reset, never a dealer visit. It runs the same software as others I suspect. There were initially a learning curve, however.

 

[dbsb3233]

I assume he’s referring to holding down the volume control dial by the climate controls until the PCM restarts.

Yes, I meant to say REBOOT instead of reset (hold down for 20 seconds till the screen goes black then it takes 1-2 minutes for it all to reload).

Lots of issues with SXM and driver profiles that work well maybe 50% of the time but don't work properly the other 50%, especially if a different driver gets in than drove the last leg.

And then some ongoing annoyances. The compass and altitude almost never work in the driver screen (just dashes), even though the data shows up just fine on the Cockpit screen of the passenger display.

Sometimes Android Auto fails to start automatically, and I have to go into the PCM to manually start it.

Joker button set to Seek Back (last channel) almost never works. A few times the regular Seek button doesn't even work on SXM.

Stuff like that.

 

[kEV]

My patience is wearing a bit thin. After leaving my car with the dealer for 3 days for a software update I was hoping the gremlins would be gone. Alas this morning I was as presented with a yellow eSound error and it needs to go back to the workshop because people may not hear me coming, the helpful message warned me

update today is that locking it, leaving it and coming back to it has resulted in it forgetting whatever happened.

 

[cometguy]

Yeah some cars are problem childs, and with all the fly by wire/computer modules now days... what can go wrong? Sometimes software fault detection is too cautious and there are edge conditions of course.

Most here have zero problems. You would think if it was software related, all Macans would be suffering, not just a few.

In 6 months, 5000 miles, mine has never needed a reset, never a dealer visit. It runs the same software as others I suspect. There were initially a learning curve, however.

My Macan 4 kept having error messages showing on the instrument panel, which the dealership could not fix. And I'd have glitches like the navigation/maps not working at all, intermittently. From the various online forums, this doesn't appear to be the occasional "problem child" Macan EV. And I'm sure that the forums don't hear but a fraction of all the problems experienced with Macan EVs, as most people don't seem to be on car forums at all. If most Macan EVs in fact do not experience software glitches, I wonder why it is that so many actually do. You would think (as you surmise) that all Macans should suffer from these glitches if a large number suffer from them.

 

[daveo4EV]

Software letting the brand down?

yes VW/Audi/Porsche are in trouble - across the board - software and their lack of mastery is a real existential threat to them right now - no doubt…

they not only lack "parity/acceptable" software - their current software actively harms their product's acceptability, convenience, and cost to service the vehicle's (lack of OTA in the face of ongoing software fixes)

the next 5 years will be key - they are expensive and behind the curve and competitors are ramping faster than they are…

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/opinion-hmmm…vw-audi-porsche-may-be-in-trouble….22898/
https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a...g-us-hard-worse-than-other-automakers-report/

 

[kEV]

update today is that locking it, leaving it and coming back to it has resulted in it forgetting whatever happened.

I spoke too soon. Got this one today. Dealer claimed they haven’t seen that before and would like the car back to investigate. What’s the bet it will be gone next time I go out? I’m not enjoying this new software update.

 

[Wivenhoe]

There are far too many members on here that have software issues that a car shouldn't have, especially at this price point. It is inexcusable when software defects prevent systems working or making the car unusable.

However, in terms of capability, it should be remembered an awful lot of drivers don’t even know what an OTA update is never mind not having them. Also, a lot of comparisons of subpar software on here are against Tesla’s, in the US that may be very relevant but I suspect very few normal buyers of German manufactured cars in Europe are coming from Tesla.

Specialist forums like this will always have knowledgable and interested drivers who are quite rightly critical of faults but ‘normal‘ drivers may have a totally different view with regards to Porsche software capability and functions.

I came from Lexus and their system was more stable but really user unfriendly. They issued an update to improve range of the RZ450e and if the car had a HUD it was trashed and the whole dashboard had to be removed to replace it.

My Range Rover was interesting to drive as I never knew from one journey to another which function decided to take the day off. Every time the car had a software update to resolve an ‘issue’ it created another.

 

[daveo4EV]

There are far too many members on here that have software issues that a car shouldn't have, especially at this price point. It is inexcusable when software defects prevent systems working or making the car unusable.

However, in terms of capability, it should be remembered an awful lot of drivers don’t even know what an OTA update is never mind not having them. Also, a lot of comparisons of subpar software on here are against Tesla’s, in the US that may be very relevant but I suspect very few normal buyers of German manufactured cars in Europe are coming from Tesla.

Specialist forums like this will always have knowledgable and interested drivers who are quite rightly critical of faults but ‘normal‘ drivers may have a totally different view with regards to Porsche software capability and functions.

I came from Lexus and their system was more stable but really user unfriendly. They issued an update to improve range of the RZ450e and if the car had a HUD it was trashed and the whole dashboard had to be removed to replace it.

My Range Rover was interesting to drive as I never knew from one journey to another which function decided to take the day off. Every time the car had a software update to resolve an ‘issue’ it created another.

all region sales are off - including germany - north america is ok - china is a disaster

i respectfully disagree - and so dies porsche’s ceo

 

[JonoNZ]

I've not experienced any software problems in my Turbo apart from the issue where CarPlay won't connect if the phone connects to the cars own WiFi hotspot -- that hasn't occurred for a long time now. I have had a couple of hardware failures though -- one child lock failure on the day of delivery and my HUD failed about 2 weeks into ownership. Now all resolved and trouble free.

 

[kEV]

There are far too many members on here that have software issues that a car shouldn't have, especially at this price point. It is inexcusable when software defects prevent systems working or making the car unusable.

However, in terms of capability, it should be remembered an awful lot of drivers don’t even know what an OTA update is never mind not having them. Also, a lot of comparisons of subpar software on here are against Tesla’s, in the US that may be very relevant but I suspect very few normal buyers of German manufactured cars in Europe are coming from Tesla.

Specialist forums like this will always have knowledgable and interested drivers who are quite rightly critical of faults but ‘normal‘ drivers may have a totally different view with regards to Porsche software capability and functions.

I came from Lexus and their system was more stable but really user unfriendly. They issued an update to improve range of the RZ450e and if the car had a HUD it was trashed and the whole dashboard had to be removed to replace it.

My Range Rover was interesting to drive as I never knew from one journey to another which function decided to take the day off. Every time the car had a software update to resolve an ‘issue’ it created another.

I came to the Macan from a Land Rover Discovery Sport, two of them in fact. The first had worse software than this Porsche by a mile. All sorts of weird and wonderful software faults on that one including losing the gear box to the radio and everything in between. The light at the end of the tunnel is that for some reason I swapped it for a new one a few years later and that never had a software fault at all. So maybe if I last this one out a few years they will get the next Macan right. I do love driving it, so it’s not so bad that I won’t come back (yet).

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