When we were in France on holiday,    suddenly a message flashed on the small screen directly infront of driver   (not infotainment one)

 

"   Warning !  Vehicles travelling wrong direction down motorway "   and proceeded to name  three road numbers and name of town or village where incident was nearest to . None were the paid motorway we were on so  we didnt pay too much attention  until the same message a minute or two later,  flashed onto the  Infotainment screen -- which was already switched OFF !   Bit startled ,  looked up the details and found it was about 40 miles away.  

 

Question is,  how  is a switched off Infortainment system,  showing  a message ?    

 

 

 

 

As the infomatainment system runs far more than just audio/satnav (car settings etc) I'd guess the screen is just off and there's a lot of features still running whenever the ignition is on.

At a guess VAG deemed it important enough that it override the drivers settings to alert you of certain alerts from the radio traffic update system.

My infotainment was off today. I received a phone call and it showed on it and the maxidot screen (between dials).

So it does show important stuff.

Yes, I guess  what you both say is correct . Thanks . We  thought it must be something major, but googling  over the next  24 hours  didnt show anything up , so I guess the situation  was sorted out pretty quickly thank goodness before a pile up could take place .  Reckoned the  offenders must have been travelling pretty smartish  if we needed a warning  when we were still  that far away. 

Edited 23 September, 20169 yr by Yop

Whether the warnings are updated in a timely manner is a moot point, a few years ago we were driving south from Chartres on a dual carriageway that had been completed about 18 months earlier but the TMC data on the sat nav was still saying that the road was under construction!

 

Warnings are useful when they are accurate but a menace when they are not updated quickly enough. How many times have you seen an information sign on a UK motorway informing of an accident that simply isn't there (and in most cases was cleared hours earlier)?

Absolutely right - even down to road closures. Round here ,  the road closure /diversion signs always seem to be put up  a few days before necessary , and left a day or two after the job's finished , so  people have noticed this   and tend to ignore them - then somewhere along the line you get car after car having to turn around .