joek666

Yes, I am aware of this - actually my in built car sat nav already has all maps pre-loaded for the whole of Europe. One of the reasons so many like me are angry that the traffic functionality has effectively been disabled, as otherwise it is quite a good system.

Personally find Google maps terrible as a sat nav, bizarre directions at times, plus the usual connectivity issues if you're travelling long distance. I think trying to be a jack of all trades (walking, cycling, public transport and car) means it's not brilliant at any of them. It's not bad with traffic predictions but that's about the only thing going for it.

My Karoq can theoretically access the internet if I tether it to a mobile hotspot, but in practice this doesn't seem to work very well. For a start I'm not going to just walk around all day broadcasting a mobile hotspot, so requires me to turn it on when I want to use it and turn it off when I don't. Then if you drive through low (i.e. no 4G) or no signal areas, it will obviously cut out. And I'd have to pay Skoda for the privilege of some functionality that was, until March, free of charge to me. Also have no idea how good the online traffic function is. Has anyone used it?

Working on it ... it's very difficult trying to get through to anyone at Skoda that both understands the problem and is willing to do something logical about it.

For anyone with a MIB2 Amundsen, have you updated to the latest maps as available in the linked thread below? Any difference to receiving TMC info, or still the same? I have about 0.1% faith that VW group actually proactively updated the latest maps in advance of Trafficmaster stopping TMC broadcasts. But I thought I'd ask nonetheless. If no one has tried it, I'll give it a go.

Very helpful, thank you. I have 1910 right now, so 2110 would be an upgrade I suppose. I'm also very slightly hopeful that it might include a fix for the traffic updates as covered in the rather long thread I started in this sub forum. Very unlikely, I know.

Hi, could anyone please explain why this thread was created separately from the one linked below? Surely we are not already onto 2024 maps given we're not even halfway through 2023? Is it the manufacturer that is calling them 2024 maps? If these are the latest versions, why is this thread not pinned and the other one unpinned? Thanks!

I expect they would only perform software updates for owners that presented their vehicle to a dealer with this particular problem. Doesn't seem like a recall type issue. Massively reduces the burden on the dealers. Do dealers typically charge for performing software updates?

Definitely the most positive response we have had from Skoda to date, although no indication of timescales, which I will push for as and when I get a response myself. Very important that owners keep applying pressure to the manufacturers in order to push this through.

Without knowing which stations in France broadcast TMC data it's difficult to say if this test proves anything. In any case, the transmission of TMC data is dealt with differently from country to country, and is definitely not organised on a Europe-wide basis. I'm quite sure that if you drive into an area of mainland Europe where TMC data is provided over the air free of charge, your Skoda or other currently impacted vehicle will receive and interpret this data without issue. The fundamental issue is that one of the two providers of TMC data in the UK - Trafficmaster - have ceased transmission. This transmission was relied upon by a significant proportion of vehicle manufacturers, including the VW group, Honda and others.

Surely that's not an official Skoda social media channel? Poor grammar and refers to 'nothing I can do'? Still waiting on my gem of a reply from Skoda... I'm holding my breath

I refer you to the main topic of this thread 😅 In all seriousness, of course the hardware may be available to receive this traffic information over the newer standard, but the fact is that right now it is receiving the square root of **** all. This is a failure of the manufacturer to adequately prepare for the cessation of the TMC broadcasts from Trafficmaster.

I wouldn't mind if my Skoda could use its DAB receiver to decode traffic messages sent over DAB. I believe this is called TPEG. But apparently Skoda were too short sighted to implement this when manufacturing the car(?) Do even the latest Skodas receive/decode TPEG? Is TPEG being broadcast in the UK and received by other manufacturers' vehicles?

This looks like Trafficmaster making a business decision to not renew their licence to broadcast their traffic data anymore. How much notice they gave their customers (i.e. vehicle manufacturers), who knows? But now that the decision has been made it's up to the vehicle manufacturers to decide how to respond. I am concerned that Skoda will hide behind the caveat in the user manual, shown in my screenshot, and just say they won't be doing anything.

I guess that's what they call 'progress'!

I tried a brand new Skoda in the showroom and couldn't find my way to a screen that showed TMC traffic updates. It's possible this feature doesn't exist in the latest models, as you say if it is wholly reliant on a data connection instead. It's also possible I just couldn't find my way to the right settings - it was a bit different from my Amundsen unit.

According to Wikipedia - BMW, Mercedes, Toyota, Ford, Renault, Jaguar Land Rover I know Mazda uses it too because that was one of my first methods of testing whether the whole TMC system was down or not. Worked fine in the Mazda.

I don't think their response suggests they won't/can't resolve the issue, just that the team you're in contact with isn't capable of doing so. I am quite sure there are technically-focused people at VAG that would understand this issue and be able to come up with a solution to resolve it, the tricky part is getting the intermediaries to take the issue seriously and escalate it appropriately. My latest response from Skoda UK is that they have, "...escalated your concerns to our Case Management team, who will review, all the information, and then contact you, however this will take 72 working hours (This does not include weekends and bank holidays)."

Until March there were two suppliers. It appears Trafficmaster allowed their licence to lapse while INRIX have continued. This isn't much help to Skoda owners, together with a range of other vehicle manufacturers, because they were all configured to receive traffic data from Trafficmaster and not INRIX. Unless Skoda and the other manufacturers have very recently made a deal with INRIX (or are about to), it appears as though the TMC service has effectively been shut down permanently for us. It's very much up the the manufacturers to figure out a way to resolve this. Anything short of this will be a big kick in the teeth for many thousands of owners.

Not sure I understand the logic of this - surely the more impacted vehicles/owners, the more likely a solution will be rolled out? The way to make this happen more quickly is for everyone to keep applying pressure to the impacted manufacturers. Remedying the root cause may not be possible - this would mean getting Trafficmaster to reverse their decision to stop broadcasting TMC updates. If their broadcast ceased because they allowed their licence to broadcast the traffic data to lapse, then it won't be so straightforward to just 'turn it back on'.

Could be there is a lonely transmitter in Bridgewater that was forgotten about when the Trafficmaster TMC broadcasts were turned off. I don't generally listen to FM radio so can't say I've noticed any signal strength issues.

Excellent summary, hopefully will get some traction. I have just resumed my attempts to get through to Skoda UK so will see how far I get from the other end, so to speak.

Agreed, it is poor from the manufacturers as we have seen no evidence of any advanced warning to owners, nevermind a proposed workaround or solution.

I can empathise how frustrating this is - I've had similar issues trying to escalate the issue with Skoda. No one wants to know, it's always someone else's problem.

My understanding is that it is not even a supplier change - there were two suppliers (Trafficmaster and INRIX), and one of those (Trafficmaster) appears to have ceased providing the TMC service. It's now up to the impacted vehicle manufacturers to figure out how to restore the functionality to owners' vehicles. The solution may be to switch to INRIX.