JamesK

@DanH123 That is a complete cop-out on their part. I'm really not sure why Skoda and Marshall are trying to push the liability for bricking the infotainment onto you personally. The update to 1941/1969/1985 is absolutely required to fix many software issues in the infotainment system. The 50/50 comment is madness. It will 100% have an effect on the infotainment system as it will be upgrading the software and eliminating software faults. I'd recommend giving Marshall Letchworth a call, and ask for their lead technician Mick to look at it. He was the person that sorted all of the issues with infotainment, climate control sync, SOS popping, etc etc on my car. The only thing they may have a concern about is the liability issue. I'm not sure why Skoda would be arguing over this. I know Marshall have told me in the past that they cannot perform software upgrades unless authorised to do so by Skoda Technical. Apparently if they did an "unauthorised" update, and it failed, liability to fix/replace would be down to them. If the Skoda system is now showing an update as being available for your car, then the liability if it goes wrong will be with Skoda.

I needed to have my Matrix lights re-calibrated. I don't think they were ever calibrated properly. I had the car from 9 months old and from the moment I started using them I was constantly getting flashed by oncoming drivers. Getting them re-calibrated wasn't easy. I couldn't find any Skoda dealer near to me that had the necessary equipment. I think more VW dealers have it. However, VW cannot re-calibrate a Skoda as their computers do not have the necessary license. In the end my Skoda dealer took my car, with a Skoda laptop to another VW dealer that was part of their franchise. They re-calibrated the lights using the Skoda laptop connected to the VW calibration equipment. Since that's been done the lights have been completely fine. But it was a hassle getting it done.

My experience is that most dealers are not proactive with software updates. I can’t remember if there’s a TPI out there which will force them to upgrade the infotainment. But if you can find one and show dealer the symptoms that will force their hand to do it.

I’m on 1941, but this had to be applied by the dealer. I understood that infotainment updates wouldn’t download OTA until you were at 1941. However, since being on 1941 I’ve not had 1969 or 1985 pushed OTA. I’ve only seen a couple of people on the forum with earlier cars report that their infotainment has done a larger update OTA. There are instructions on the forum if you wanted to update the infotainment yourself to a later version. But it’s up to you whether you are confident doing it and accepting any risk. I’ve not bothered as 1941 is stable and works well.

Skoda are running their Spring sale event on their service plans until 4th April. It's 20% off the "All in" plan, and 15% off the Standard and Plus plans. Details are all are here: Link to Skoda Service Plan website

I'm still on 1941, with the the updated VC firmware on my 2021 Octavia. I've just checked CarPlay and the VC updates with the track and correct artwork when the track changes. It takes a second or two to update after the Infotainment, but it does update correctly.

@RMIK2000 If you're referring to the fuel and temperature gauges flickering in the virtual cockpit, there is a separate update for that covered by TPI 2068282/3. It's discussed in this forum thread here: Link to forum thread I had this recently applied by a dealer and it corrected the issue. It took around 1 hour for the update to apply.

@OctaSkye - Thanks for this.... do you use the M6 Eyelet connectors or just the clamps when connecting the charger?

I had the update applied in January, and for me the virtual cockpit is the same brightness as before. The only comment I had back from the technician working on the car was they were surprised how long they update took to apply. It took over an hour.

Hi All, At the moment my Octavia is getting very little use, and the journeys it is being used on are pretty short. As a result today when I used the car I got a warning about the 12V battery being low. For the next few months that usage pattern isn't going to change. I'm thinking I need to get a charger/conditioner on it. Has anyone got any recommendations for a suitable device? Looking on-line the CTEK CT5 and Noco Genius5UK both seem to get consistently good reviews. Would appreciate any first hand experience of chargers/conditioners for the Octavia. Many Thanks...

Looks like you've got a couple of notifications... tap the area I've highlighted in the attached image to see what they are. I find these are normally notifications for app updates. When the notifications first arrives it will appear on the infotainment screen for a few seconds before disappearing.

@TWB Are you able to confirm your hardware version. If you've got a 2021 car with H56 hardware you may be one of the first to receive a large OTA update such as this. I'm on 1941 and haven't received any OTA update to 1969 or 1985 so far.

Sounds like a bug in the 1985 software to me if it's happening to multiple users. I don't know how you report bugs in the software without going to a dealer and them charging you a diagnostic fee though.

@Danny147 I've not had this specific issue. Sometimes when I push the button to close the tailgate, it will refuse to close and at the same time beeps 3 times in quick succession at a higher pitch than the usual tailgate opening sound. The indicators also flash rapidly at the same time at it beeps. I normally just wait a few seconds, push the button again and it closes without issue.

That is what I was thinking as well. However, I thought (and could be wrong) that owners of Seat/VW cars with the same infotainment system had been receiving larger OTA updates for 2020->2023 cars. If that's the case maybe Skoda have just made the decision not to carry out these updates proactively OTA. When I spoke to my dealer last week about booking the car in for a service they said they would not apply the 1985 update unless Skoda had marked the car as needing it to be applied. They would not proactively apply 1969/1985.

@aki78 has a 2024 model year Octavia. It seems only the much newer Octavias are benefitting from larger OTA updates such as this. I don't think it is related to being subscribed to a care plan. I'm not sure why earlier vehicles are not receiving the large infotainment updates. There was discussion a while ago that once earlier vehicles were upgraded by dealers to 1941 they too would be able to receive the larger updates OTA. However, the dealer updated my infotainment to 1941 and it did not ever receive 1969, and 1985 hasn't arrived either. I'm not aware of anyone on this forum that's posted to say that they've received an infotainment update OTA. So for whatever reason I think Skoda are not going to ever push the big updates to early vehicles.

I had a browse through the Skoda Storyboard website and found this article which is specific to the Octavia: Here's a link to the article: Link to Skoda Storyboard So it does look like our cars are OK... however, I still wouldn't rule out Skoda doing something stupid and withdrawing the service due to their own data potentially being wrong.

Yes I noticed both services were cheaper at the moment. I'm wondering if you can 'stack' subscriptions, so the new one taking effect after the current subscription expires. Mine doesn't expire until next September.

I also believe that the SOS functionality has to work for 10 years after the vehicles' first registration. There's a few articles on-line about it. This is the best I can find relating to Skoda after a brief search: Link to Skoda Storyboard I think it will be interesting to see if owners of 2022/2023 cars are seeing the same message in the on-line shop.

This is a bit of a concern, and somewhat shortsighted of Skoda if this is the case. I've just checked the portal, and for Care Connect it shows the same warning as you are receiving. Yet for Infotainment Online it does not, and I'd think that if one cannot work, then the other cannot either.

I had this issue on my car, and it did require a dealer visit to resolve, along with a list of other software related issues. For the benefit of the forum I tried to get details of what they did to resolve it. Unfortunately they were not forthcoming on the details stating they were "not allowed" to share the details with me. 🤷‍♂️ It was the same answer when they finally resolve my Climate Control Sync issue.

Have you tried going back to the dealer to query it? You've paid for a software update which has not fixed the issue. If you don't get any joy maybe speak to another dealer, or send the Skoda Executive Office an e-mail? Appreciate it's more hassle for you - but this is a well known issue, that was resolved for most people quite a while ago.

There is, but I think in all cases it requires you to buy some software to do it. Others on the forum will be far better placed than me to comment on what's required. Maybe you could get the dealer to provide you with a printed list of the software versions your car is currently at. I think in early cases of issues with the OCU it was swapped out, as software updates were not working. Skoda took my car back for about 6 weeks around 2 years ago as they wanted to understand why software updates were seemingly "not applying" correctly to early cars. They got the dealer to update the modules on my car, and then reset it to factory defaults and re-coded everything on the car. Since then it's been fine. So they decided that on some modules with early firmware, the configuration was not applying correctly after a firmware update. The resolution was to update the module, erase it and reapply the config.

I had the software on the SOS module updated and it solved the issue for me. I didn't need any hardware to be swapped out. My SOS issue was resolved well before 1941 infotainment software came out. Your dealer should've seen this issue plenty of times, and know what the resolution is. However, this seems to be another case of a customer enters a dealer with a well known issue yet the dealer plays 'dumb' on the matter.

During my issues I was loaned a brand new 72 plate Octavia. That had no issues at all so I think by mid-2022 the major software issues were already resolved by the factory. It's just a shame these updates were not pushed proactively to vehicles already built. Maybe it needs some of us on the forum to scan our cars and log the versions of the units that we know are working without a problem. Unfortunately I don't have any tools to scan the car or I'd offer to provide the firmware versions my car is running on. If you are looking at an early Mk4 I don't think it's an unreasonable request to ask a dealer to ensure the firmware versions of problematic models are at a minimum version as part of the deal. If they refuse, then walk away. If they oblige then it's an easy task for them to provide a written document to prove the modules are at the versions they need to be. If it makes the difference between a sale and a 'no sale' I'd think most dealers would find a way to get it done. It's a shame it does effectively come down to this, as people are starting to avoid the earlier cars. I know if I were looking to buy anothe early / first edition Mk4 I'd be insisting the firmware be updated. As others have commented the vehicle mechanically is fine. Good engines, comfortable, economical. All of my issues have been software related - and most other people in this forum too.