Nooty

A quick update on where I currently stand with my issue (Infotainment systems crashes, but only when I am in France - works fine in the UK). I involved Skoda "Executive" Customer Care and - after a lot of to-ing and fro-ing - they eventually had me book my car into a local Skoda dealership for investigation. The upshot of all of this was "There is an OTA update released in-mid-October that will fix your problem. Be patient - it will arrive automatically in due course". "This update will be automatically applied to your vehicle and is expected to improve performance and resolve the issues you've been experiencing. However, we won’t be able to confirm its full effectiveness until you are next in France." This isn't a very satisfactory response, of course but my 'case' has been closed and I guess I just have to wait and see.

Please keep me posted on your progress. Mine is booked in 21/10 but Skoda UK insist a software update will solve the issue. Since that was tried less than a year ago I am sceptical! At least they have agreed I won't be charged!

I have an Octavia 2021. In September 2023 I took it to France for a holiday - as we got down south the Infotainment exhibited the issues mentioned by the OP and it remained unusable for the duration of our 2 week trip. 2 days after returning to the UK it reverted to normal behaviour. I contacted my dealer who said they could not diagnose if the system was now working. In 2024 I again travelled to France and exactly the same issue occurred - curiously at exactly the same place (a service station the Aire de Boismande). On my return to the UK the car again began working normally. I insisted the dealer diagnose the issue and they told me a software update was needed, not covered by warranty. I paid up and considered the situation resolved. In 2025 I again travelled to France - this time to the south-east. You guessed it, just outside of Valence, the same issue recurred and the infotainment system remained unusable until my return to the UK, when it began operating normally again. I contacted my dealer and - interestingly - was told "This is a known issue associated with a country code problem. The system functions as expected. There are no instructions from Skoda on how to fix it. Please contact them directly." To cut a long story short, I have spoken with Skoda UK - they have asked me to book the car into a dealer (which I have done) and they 'will send instructions to the dealer on how to resolve the issue'. I have asked them to tell me what the fix is, but they have so far responded with 'this is not customer-facing information'. The car is booked in for October 21st - I shall keep you posted on the outcome. :-)