JamesK

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.

I've got a 21 plate SEL First Edition, and it's great. I have no issues with it now. However, I had plenty of issues with it in the first year of ownership. The issues were all related to software - infotainment system, climatronic, telematics module, and probably a few others. Once the dealer had got all of these upgraded to the required, bug-free versions the car has been rock-solid - exactly the same as my Mk2 and Mk3 Octavias were. The problem is Skoda UK seem to have not dealt with the issues at a dealer level. I still see people coming onto the forum having brought a used Octavia that hasn't received the required updates. They go into a dealer, and go through the same process of "we need to investigate", "we need an answer from Skoda Technical", etc, etc. The wheel keeps being re-invented. Some issues such as the sync issue with the climatronic hasn't ever been acknowledged as an official problem, so there's no TPI for it. This is despite the newer firmware addressing the issue. So someone, somewhere realised it was an issue and fixed the firmware! Some dealers are even telling customers "the climate sync feature is supposed to work like that". Unfortunately many dealers simply attach the vehicle to their computer to see if there is any updates. If the "computer says no" that's the answer, and they seem reluctant to investigate. The situation is most dealers have probably seen many early Mk4 vehicles with the same issues recurring time and time again. But they seem not to be raising the matter with Skoda. In reality, Skoda UK need to produce a baseline of software versions that are known to be problem free. They should be instructing dealers to apply those updates before raising cases with technical. But the fact it hasn't happened by now suggests it never will, which is a shame because the Mk4 is a great car. I've had no issues at all with my car in over a year. If I were looking to buy a used Mk4 it wouldn't put me off. I would however be insisting that the firmware is all updated or walk away.

Finding somewhere to calibrate the lights may be a challenge. I could not find any Skoda dealers close to me that had the necessary equipment to carry out the work. VW dealers have more of the equipment, but cannot do it in isolation as the VW computer systems don't have the necessary license to calibrate a Skoda vehicle. In the end my local Skoda dealer took the car to a VW dealer that are part of their group, along with their laptop, and carried out the calibration. This was a bit of a pain to get organised. This was carried out under warranty, so I've no idea what the cost would be out of warranty. And you really would need to get them calibrated. My matrix lights were pretty much unusable in full automatic mode before they were recalibrated. Drivers were constantly flashing me. They seem completely fine now.

I had this happen a little while ago. I received the e-mail shortly after I'd used the car. When I got in the car that morning it had logged me out of the infotainment and I was logged in as a Guest. I only noticed it as it came up on screen "Changing user settings" or something like that. I assume when it logged me out it also deactivated all of the services you mentioned above. I logged myself back into the car, and also looked for a way to re-activate, but I think this happens by default when you login. I double-checked with the Skoda app and found I could still locate the car, and do "honk & flash", etc

Hello... The version numbers are the same, so you would want the infotainment to be on 1941 or 1969 at a minimum. Minor software updates have been applied to my car via OTA. However, I was under the impression that after 1941 was installed by the dealer it would allow larger updates to be downloaded and installed. As yet, my infotainment system has not downloaded 1969, and to be honest I don't expect it to. Given that you are buying a 2021 'early' vehicle, there are other software updates you may find need to be applied. I had the "Pop, Pop SOS" issue, climate control SYNC setting not being remembered, issues with the matrix lights not being correctly calibrated. It took a lot of visits to the Skoda dealer to finally get resolution. You will probably find any required updates will need to applied by a franchised Skoda dealer, so you may need to factor this into the purchasing decision. Certainly do not be fobbed off about the software issues on early cars. It'll be worth your time to browse the forum to get a good understanding of the issues you could face if you purchase a car with older software installed.

Hi @AlanOsborne Did you get your issues resolved by the Skoda dealer?

In my car I don't do anything to specifically "turn off" the WiFi, as it is needed for any wireless CarPlay or Android Auto. I just make sure the e-Sim is turned on. When I first owned the car I did try disabling the e-Sim, and connecting the WiFi to my home broadband in the home that it may help in downloading updates as I live in a poor mobile signal area. However, I seem to recall it didn't do anything. Is the issue you're experiencing that your phone will not connect to Android Auto at all? When I first had my Octavia I had many issues with the Bluetooth and wireless CarPlay. On some days it would not connect to Bluetooth automatically, or connect to Wireless CarPlay automatically. It usually required me to go into the car Settings and manually select the device. Then it would connect. It was very frustrating. Every time I used the car you never know if the phone would connect at all... or just to Bluetooth, or maybe even CarPlay. An infotainment software update did fix it, but I was originally on a much earlier version (1668). So... I do think you need to get your infotainment updated by the dealer to at least 1941 or 1969. I think that would fix the connectivity issues. However, I don't recall having issues with map updates being affected by it. Hopefully a dealer visit, followed by a software update will put everything right.

I've had a few updates this year that have been delivered OTA. They are mostly updates to apps, and fairly insignificant. In the description text I have noticed recently on these updates they do now explicitly state that the version number of the infotainment will not change. So for these smaller updates, it's expected. As for it being prep for the bigger update, I somehow doubt it - even though it would be good if it was.

I would recommend toggling the e-sim back on and see what happens. I suspect you may well find it updates the maps. As pointed out above by @WaveyDavey you should definitely ask the dealer to upgrade your infotainment system to version 1941 or 1969.

Hi @AlanOsborne If you're paying for the Infotainment online subscription then the system should be automatically downloading the map updates for you. There shouldn't be any need to manually download the map updates. I'm currently subscribed to infotainment online. I've just checked my map version and it's showing as 24.5, so it last updated in May 2024. The previous update was 24.2 (February). Maybe call your local dealer if it's not downloading for you, as it's part of the service you are paying for. If you're not subscribed to infotainment online, then you will need to download manually. I've heard the download portal does lag a little behind what is downloaded direct to cars, but 23.6 is nearly a year behind, which seems a lot.