HenPen

This afternoon (5 June) my iPhone updated the MyKpoda app to version 8.3.0 and the Driving Score function has been removed without explanation. I checked my Android tablet and, yep! It's gone from there as well. On the Skoda website (skoda-auto-com) the page that used to esplain about the Driving Score function (https://www.skoda-auto.com/connectivity/driving-score) no longer exists, giving a 404-error. This can mean one of two things. 1) That, after criticism, the car's monitoring function has been removed; 2) Simply that I can no longer see what score Skoda is still recording about me. I am afraid that the "spy in the passenger seat" has just gone hidden. This might be the worst of the possible outcomes: me in the dark and Skoda selling my data to insurance companies? Has anybody had any solid information about the Driving Score's withdrawal?

There's also (and perhaps for people in the UK most important) the Information Commissioner's Office which has the legal clout to enforce data misuse. Their complaints page is at https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/data-protection-complaints/ They say, In order to use this you will need: an email address for the organisation; a copy of the complaint you made to the organisation about how they have handled your personal information; and (if you are complaining for someone else) a letter of consent from the person the complaint is about. It's helpful if you can also provide: the organisation's address; a timeline of key events related to your complaint; any supporting information you have about the mishandling of your personal information eg a copy of an email where your information was shared, a copy of records with inaccurate information, an apology letter from the organisation, or other email exchanges.

The VG Group uses the ABAX system for driver monitoring. It is an integral part of the electronic system. According to the ABAX site, "The ABAX unit in each vehicle uses extensively tested algorithms and robust set of parameters to detect driving behaviour events for each of the 5 key driving behaviour factors. Rapid acceleration, harsh braking and sharp cornering are measured using an accelerometer inside the unit that measures g-force. Idling is measured using a combination of a motion-sensor and GPS." What is done with the data in private cars is not at all clear. With fleet monitoring, things are clearer: "Each factor score can be viewed at the individual driver level or as a summary of your entire fleet. You can also compare driving trends over time internally or against the national average. Driving scores will affect vehicle-related costs, your environmental impact, safety, your company image, the likelihood of an incident and insurance premiums – so work to keep them as high as possible! An admin can monitor driving behaviour from the Driving behaviour menu, Reports, or directly in the Map." So it IS clearly a tool for monitoring individual drivers. Its use in Skoda cars is probably meant to be benign, but it is an always-on "spy in the cab" as much as an HGV's tachometer. I think that its use is a perversion of GDPR rights and that the data the VW/Skoda group hold on drivers' behavoiur is almost cvertainly grossly excessive and disproportionate.

It's the car that keeps the data (and reports to the Skoda server), not the app. The app updates once a day (or so the Skoda website says).

According to Google's AI turning on the "Private Mode" in a car will disable most of the Infotainment System's functions, but it is the only way to turn off the data feed for the Driving Score. In other words, there's LESS info available that the Ford Cortina had! Gemini (Google's AI) says, In a Škoda vehicle, "Private Mode" temporarily disables online services in the infotainment system. This includes features like online navigation, traffic information, and some online services related to ŠKODA Connect. While "Private Mode" is active, the emergency call service (eCall) and Info Call/Breakdown Call remain functional, including data transfer. How to Activate Private Mode: Access Settings: Press the "Menu" button on the navigation system. Navigate to Connect: Go to "Settings" and then "Connect". Manage Online Services: Navigate to "Online Services" or a similar option to manage online services. Activate Private Mode: Select "Private Mode" to enable it. What happens when Private Mode is active: Online Services Disabled: Infotainment online services are temporarily switched off, as indicated by an icon on the navigation bar, Emergency Services Remain Active: The eCall service and Info Call/Breakdown Call remain active and functional, including data transfer, No Data Transfer for Online Services: While Private Mode is active, data transfer for online services is deactivated, No Position Data Shared: The car's position is not shared with the customer portal or the app in Private Mode,

I have the same problems with "Rush Hour/Night Driving" even though rural Dorset doesn't have a "rush hour" and I haven't driven the car after 8:00pm. I also suspect that "speed" is measured through an accelerometer, rather than a check against satnav data. This would mean that a sharp corner at 25 counts as "speeding", whereas 95 on a straight road would not. It would seem that the only way to turn off the data collection is NOT in the app, but in the car itself, through the permissions in the car's infotainment centre. This would, of course, vastly limit the usefulness of all sorts of things, taking the technology back to the technological level, say, of a Ford Cortina. This is the official Skoda position about the data: "You can opt out by activating Private Mode in your vehicle’s infotainment system. Once Private Mode is enabled and you have received a confirmation email at your registered email address (in MyŠkoda App), data collection and the calculation of your Driving Score will stop from that moment onward. Please note: Any Driving Score already calculated based on previously collected data will remain visible in the MyŠkoda App, but no new data will be collected or processed while Private Mode is active."

This week the MySkoda App added a "Driving Score" category, recording my driving with regard to acceleration, braking, speeding, night driving, etc. The Driving Score App looks suspiciously like the apps that Insurance Companies require young drivers to have, reporting back to the company and determining the amount of insurance premium that will have to be paid. I can't find anything in the documentation of the app that reassures me that information about my driving won't be put on some central reqister and will be used to rate me when it comes time for insurance renewal. Does anyone know the ins and outs of what this "feature" can do? Will anyone with the app be monitored on every trip? The app has been getting better recently, but might it be time to keep Big Brother out of my passenger seat?

I have a 2023 Octavia with the Columbus system. The software update has made just about everything work better than it ever has, but the Online Manual is next to useless: if I ever search for a topic (as opposed to using the index) it simply says "Something Went Wrong" and leaves it at that. Is this a common experience?

The Skoda Connect app IS gone, replaced by the MySkoda app (which, imho, doesn't work as well). I'm intrigued by the steady climb in ratings on the Apple and GoogleApp Stores, though. with Apple it started at a (justified) 2.8/5, but has been rising since then (at the moment an unbelievable 4.6), BUT the words in the customer reviews seem to show that nothing has really changed. It's slow, often inaccurate and sometimes completely useless. The disturbing thing is that Skoda almost always reply with the "cut 'n paste", "Dear user, sorry to hear that you're having issues with our app. Please contact our local support team at [email protected] to get personalized assistance in resolving this problem. Your MyŠKODA app team." If you DO contact the Support Team, the response is pretty useless.

It IS possible to update the SatNav maps with the Amundsen and Columbus systems for free (but without any bells and whistles) using the Skoda Update Portal on a computer and entering your VIN. However, the update is 29 Gb and has to be loaded on to a blank USB drive before putting the drive into one of the car's USB sockets. After putting in the drive, it takes the better part of 10 hours' driving to update (during which the SatNav doesn't seem to work). This doesn't give access to any of the other services, just the maps. After one go, I decided to pay my £60.00 and get the package.

Yet another month, yet another 1,500 miles and not a single bong! I am more convinced than ever that the faulty sensors were to blame. (Thank you Steve Dixon of Hendy Skoda Poole!)

It costs £80.00 for both services if you wait until renewal, but there is a discount to £60.00 if you renew more than two months early. (They don't publicise this as far as I can see.)

Yet another 2,000 miles and no repeat of the warning. I am now SURE that the sensors were faulty and that the replacement completely solved the problem.

Ask them the check the sensors as well. There was no doubt, according to Bournemouth Skoda, that the sensors were faulty and sending false error messages

Oh, dear! Sorry to hear that. Hendy Skoda of Bournemouth managed to replace the sensors on my 2.0 DSG diesel Octavia and in the past 3,500 miles I haven't heard the dreaded "bong!" once. If it would be any help, your Skoda dealer in Wellington might get in touch with the Service Manager at Hendy Bournemouth, Steve Dixon. He supervised the service and knows all the details of the problem: 01202 069004

One of the more useful features of the SkodaConnect for Windows/Mac computers was the availability of Digital Manuals using multiple open windows on the desktop. Now that SkodaConnect has been withdrawn, the easist way to the digital manual for a car is to use the link https://www.skoda.co.uk/apps/manuals/models . You'll be prompted to enter the VIN (and language) every time, but it is helpful to have the manuals on a large screen as a resource. (I find that using the Digital Manual in the car S-L-O-W and not always reliable, ditto for the Manual on an iPhone.)

It took a while, but the warning disappeared! We had a 2,000-mile trip to Orkney and back and, bless its mechanical heart, the warning only appeared three times in all the driving. The fault was clearly in the temperature sensor and that is due for another replacement at the end of August (along with two other sensors).

It was nice while it lasted (about 250 miles) but the fault is back again, flashing its warning and binging away merrily. (It's a "2023" Diesel DSG model, picked up from the dealer in early February 2023, so it was probably manufactured at the very tail end of 2022.) Now I will have to wait until the tail-end of August, thanks to expert mechanics' summer holidays. My wife has bought a pair of noise-cancelling earphones for longer trips.

Well, after yet another full day at the dealer, the faulty sensor has been replaced and not a single "ding" on the 30-mile way home. BUT, durning the investigation the dealer discovered that two other sensors are faulty (the oil level sensor and the particulate filter sensor) and need to be replaced. A bad day at hte factory, apparently. So now the sensors are on order and the car is booked in for an August date to get those two replaced.

In the Infotainment section, the car says I have 3,500 miles of AdBlue left. The iPhone MySkoda app now says 2,485 (up from the 2,175 from last week). Incidentally, I don't see any problem of using UK Imperial units on an iPhone/iPad. And the MySkoda app only tells me if the car is locked about once in every six or seven tries; the rest of the time it says "Unabvailable", while the Essentials app is always available (and correct).

After at another full day at a Skoda dealer (this time Poole) I FINALLY got a definite diagnosis: a faulty temperature sensor. A replacement is on order and I'm booked for fitting next week. Can't come too soon, as the error warning has been pinging away as if a Pinball Wizard has been driving the car.

What I meant was that what the app says is (and has been) VERY different from what the car says, and that the app has hardly changed, whilst the car has regularly updated. I don't know if I trust the app's figures.

It DOES show up.... about one try in 10. Most of the rest of the time it shows up as "Unavailable". With the "Essentials" it almost always shows up right away. Oh, about 2,000 more miles on from when it said I had 1,864 miles of AdBlue left, the app now says that I have 2,175 more miles of AdBlue, so I have an increased range without adding any! I trust it like I would trust a politician's promises!

Checking my iPhone just now, I see "Unavailable" just under the picture of the car instead of "Vehicle Locked", so I can't tell if it is locked or not. I expect that a 1-year-old Octavia might not be included in their updates.

The "MySkoda" app has always seemed to work less well that the "MySkoda Essentials". With my Octavia, the MySkoda app can't even tell me if the doors are locked (it only notices if they are closed), whereas the "Essentials" can. Much of the data it provides is simply wrong: the car tells me that I have 3,000 miles left with AdBlue; the app says 1,864 and has said so for the past 5,000 miles. Sometimes I feel that they should be proscecuted under the Trades Descriptions Act for saying "one reliable place." At the moment the MySkoda app (iPhone) has an abysmal review level of only 1.8 / 5. (It manages a marginally better 3 / 5 on Google Play.) By contrast, the "Essentials" app has 4.1 on iPhone, 3.2 on Google Play. Whenever someone reviews it and points out its shortcomings, the Skoda response is almost always "Hello, we are very sorry that you are having difficulties with our app. Unfortunately, we cannot help you without a deeper analysis. So please contact us..." When I DID call them they weren't able to address any of the poijnts I made, but said that they "would take what I had said into consideration". Accessing the online owners' manual will be much less easy on an iPhone than on my desktop, but I suppose no one took such disadvantages into consideration when the VAG Group made the corporate decision fo ditch various apps and portals. The Skoda apps seem to be FAR inferior to the apps I see friends using (particularly people with Kia cars).