DaveFromSydney

You could try doing what I did. Get a key cover. Mine holds everything together nicely. There are many on Amazon and other sites. Search on "key cover for Golf 8". E.g. this one: https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/1174340326/key-cover-for-new-vw-golf-8-mk-8-skoda or this: https://www.amazon.com.au/MELTSUN-Buttons-Keyless-Keychain-Volkswagen/dp/B09HJNKQR3

My ACC has always worked. As far as I can see these warnings (actually it was "“Travel Assist unavailable” and “Emergency Assist unavailable” and sometimes "Rear Traffic Assist not available") did not relate to any noticeable loss of functionality. Perhaps the safety feature would not have kicked in but the ACC, which I use every day, worked just fine. As I recall the messages would come up in a box on starting the engine, accompanied by the "bong" sounds, but would clear very quickly. After that I was left with yellow warning icons in the virtual cockpit. Then the whole thing would often recur after a few minutes. I also had a feeling that it was associated with colder weather, i.e. morning temperatures below 10 degrees C. (We never go below zero here, so not what Europeans would call cold).

Ok. I misunderstood. You say "main beam" to mean what I call "high beam". Maybe its a AUS vs UK thing.

I too am in Australia and for several months was experiencing these warnings on nearly every start - accompanied my loud bonging sounds. At my 2 year service in June they performed updates under warranty which are listed in my invoice as "91CV MIB Software Update" and "48S5 camera control unit". My version was at 1896 before and did not change with this service. The problems have not recurred since. After two years I can finally say that there are no issues outstanding. It is easy to forget how many annoying issues existed since delivery and took ages to get fixed. I really enjoy this car now.

My car has been in Auto 100% of the time since I got it. The lights come on in the evenings or in tunnels or carparks. I never have to do anything. This is how it looks in my garage when the lights are on. The lower green symbol goes out when I drive out into the street and the lights go off.

Mine is the Canton unit.

I that really what is in there? I thought it was the single centre speaker of the audio infotainment system, i.e. radio, Android Auto etc. The sound certainly seems to come from there. I was surprised that I had two speakers under the grille, according to your diagram, but I supposed they might still carry the left and right channels of the audio.

I actually lost the spring in one of my keys. I solved the problem by buying a nice cover on Amazon that holds everything together. https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B0BSNGQ5JN

I have Android Auto with Google Maps and I have the heads-up display. I get directions in the HUD (and the virtual cockpit but I do not look down there when driving). The directional arrows in the HUD do not have all the same details that Google Maps shows on the infotainment screen. E.g. they sometimes show straight ahead when GM wants you to veer left to take an exit off the motorway.

It seems the offer is still going. See: https://www.skoda.com.au/own/service-packs where it says: If you purchased a Škoda prior to 1st September 2022, you may be eligible to upgrade to a 7 Year Warranty⁴⁴ by purchasing either a 7 Year Service Pack, 2 Year or 4 Year Top Up Service Pack or 4 Year Used Car Service Pack. Please see terms and conditions for details⁴⁵. Offer ends 31/12/2023. I filled in the form there and for my car, new on May 2021 and having had 2 annual services so far, it offers a 4 service pack for $2100 with the warranty extension thrown in and the offer is valid to 31/12/2023. I might even take it up before then. It works out at $525 per service. My first two cost $385 and $650 and the next 4, according to the website, will cost $533, $996, $533 and $706. so I could save $668 AND get 2 years extra warranty.

I too was getting TravelAssist and EmergencyAssist not available messages that increased in frequency until they were occurring multiple times on almost every trip - accompanied by long "bong" sounds. I reported it and some other issues at my two year service, two weeks ago, and they performed "91CV Software update" and "48S5 Camera Control unit". They also did a reset so I had to re-enter all my settings, favourites etc. My system software version remains unchanged at 1896. But since then the messages have not recurred, so perhaps one of those was the cure.

I followed that advice and it seems to have cured the problem. I have not seen any messages since and it has been a few days.

I got the car back from the dealer today. Their advice is that the warning is more based on time than the actual battery level. They advise changing the battery in all keys once the message is seen (even if you do not ever use the spare keys). And then they advise operating the car with each key so the car resets its status for each of the keys it knows about.

It works on my car. It automatically steers the car to keep it in lane. It turns off when you tap the brakes. It suspends its operation if you use the indicators, i.e. to change lane. It is gentle enough so that if you apply a bit more steering input it will override the automatic steering. I do not use it much. In fact it is more of a novelty. It is not hard to steer a car yourself to keep it in lane.

No I do not have one of those. I have an Orbit tag on my house keys. They are on a separate keyring to the car keys (which are in my pocket) but are usually only a foot or two away (in the bin in the driver's door). But Orbits use Bluetooth. And I have had the same situation for the last two years but it is only recently that I started getting the Change Key Battery messages. On checking the Airtags I find on an Apple site: "Your AirTag sends out a secure Bluetooth signal that can be detected by nearby devices in the Find My network. These devices send the location of your AirTag to iCloud — then you can go to the Find My app and see it on a map. The whole process is anonymous and encrypted to protect your privacy. " So it seems that both the Airtag and the Orbit use the same principles, even if it is not NFC. It sees really unlikely that Bluetooth is the culprit since it is used in our smartphones and smart watches which is a normal use case for cars. Anyway, if the steel box thing does not work I will try take off the Orbit from my house keys and see if that does the trick.

I had another thought. The key I use daily sits in a tray in my study alongside the two spare keys. There are two walls between the study and the garage but the distance is only 5 to 10 meters. Although I never do this, any of the keys can lock or unlock the car from the study. So perhaps the car is complaining, not about the key used to operate the car, but about one of the others that it can see? I will try an experiment where I put the 2 spares (which are probably quite low, being 2 years old) at the other end of the house inside a metal box. Then I will see if I continue to get the warnings as I use the key with the new battery.

As an experiment I replaced the 3 day old Energizer by a new Panasonic battery since it is claimed that only those work well with these keys. The results were the same. Within a day or two I got the message to change the key battery. Since I have never actually had a problem with the key not operating I suppose I shall just have to ignore this message. Perhaps I will change the battery once per year pre-emptively, as I do with the smoke alarms in our house.

Mine started telling me about the key battery needing changing a few months ago, after 1.5 years of usage. So I changed the battery but after a while the message came back. So I changed it again. And it came back. So I changed it yet again but this time I took notes: The old battery tested at 2.97 volts - not very good. The new battery is an Energizer 2032 manufactured in Jan 2022 with a 10 year shelf life. It tested at 3.39 volts - good. After only 3 days I got the warning again. Now that new battery tests at 3.03 volts. So I though maybe the fault is in the key and it is draining the battery very fast. But the car came with 3 keys and I have never used the other 2. So I tried one of the others. It starts the car ok but I get the battery needs changing message. So I tested its battery and it too is down to 2.97 volts. Perhaps that is to be expected after almost 2 years of inactivity. So I wonder how long we can ignore these warmings for? It seems to me the key is still good for months after the message first appears. Meanwhile if changing the battery only gives me 3 days before the message that is going to means hundreds of dollars per year on batteries. It is hard to believe that it is all down to the difference between Panasonic and Energizer. Both are good batteries that should give months of not years in this type of device. I will bring it up at the next service in a couple of weeks. Also, have you found difficulty putting the key back together so that the spring and button work to keep the removable key blade firmly inside the key body?

My VRS from 2021 has Potenza S003s on its 19in rims. I am happy with the handling but I do not really push the car hard. On the other hand: a) There is a lot of road noise which may be more a result of the low profile (40). b) I have had 3 tyres replaced in 2 years and 16000km due to damage - 2 from potholes and one from a screw in the tread. That is 2 more than I had in 19 years and 260000kms in my old car which also had Bridgestone Potenzas. But that car was a Honda S2000 with 16 inch 55 profile tyres.

Perhaps you meant "have" - not "like"? Yes I have Individual mode and it is capable of setting the DCC from way softer than Comfort up to way harder than Sport. But I am happy with the standard choices. I use Comfort for all my day-to-day driving in the city and suburbs and also for highway driving - so for 95% of my driving. On the rare occasions that I get to go out into the country and access some tight, twisty roads I use Sport. Even then I often just use the shifter to switch the gearbox to Sport without (I guess) affecting the suspension. But, as I say, all that I am aware of is the change in the gear shifts, and the fake engine sound. The suspension and steering effects seem very subtle. Note that I didn't pay for DCC explicitly - it is packaged with all VRSs here - so I did not care if I had it or not. And even our 2015 Golf Alltrack has the Sport setting for the gear operation, as do most cars these days.

To be honest, if it wasn't for the artificial noise I mostly could not tell if the car was in Comfort, Normal or Sport mode from the steering or suspension feel. The main noticeable difference I see from Sport mode is it hanging onto lower gears for longer.

I do not know the spec but my Pixel 3a phone which supports fast charging and comes with an 18W charger indicates fast charging when connected to the Octavia via a USB C cable to the front console USB ports and it charges back up to full in an hour or so while driving, even with Android Auto running and music and navigation active. This indicates to me that it probably offers at least 15-18W. The other ports might differ - 1 near the mirror, or 2 in the rear.

That's a lot. Here in Australia that 60000km service costs $AUD 996 which is only 632€.

I have had that a few times and it cannot be snow or sub-zero temperatures since that does not occur here. And it cannot be the heated wheel since that is not even offered in this country. Sometimes it seems to be due to wet weather. It clears itself after a while. But the bonging sound that accompanies it is very distracting, as are the intermittent messages that take over the main display.

It is more of a problem if you are in the middle of a long drive, e.g. on a morning commute on the freeway, or on a long interstate highway trip, or in inclement weather, where there is no opportunity to pull over and get out of the car. Also I have never determined how long "a bit" is. One second? One minute? 10 minutes etc. I wish they made a button called "Full Reset" that you could press while driving. It would do more than the reset that occurs when you hold down the power button for 10 seconds. It would do whatever occurs to the infotainment system some time after locking the doors.