MIB3 & 'Personalisation of drive mode selection'

[SimonB68]

Hi, I have a question about the 'Personalisation of drive mode selection' feature on MIB3 (Columbus) if anyone with this combination can please help.

 

Is the feature as per the owner's manual where there is a 'Personalisation' tab in the MENU->Vehicle->Settings page, where key assignment to accounts is managed?

 

Reason for asking, new car delivered without it despite specifying it, and the dealer claims to have had it enabled but I still do not have that tab, and dealer reports that his 'tech guy' says that with MIB3 that feature is managed entirely in the User screens. I see no way in that screen to do key management, and it goes against the description in the owner's manual.

 

Many thanks

Simon

[Guest]

Will check for you tomorrow as I can't remember off the top of my head. It was all pretty intuitive, which is more than I can say for many functions with MIB3. Can't remember MIB3 having made any difference, I think it was the same setup procedure as my previous car.

 

You say you ordered your car with personalisation but it was missing upon delivery and the garage enabled it. Did you still get three keys wth your car? 

[SimonB68]

7 hours ago, Scot5 said:

Will check for you tomorrow

 

Many thanks, much appreciated

 

Quote

You say you ordered your car with personalisation but it was missing upon delivery and the garage enabled it. Did you still get three keys wth your car? 

 

I should probably clarify 'ordered'.... I specified it, it appeared on the dealership's vehicle order form that I signed, but they failed to add it to the factory order. This wasn't the only issue, or the only failing of the dealership. It's frankly been a tale of woe. When the issue of rectification came up, and I was offered the 'tech guy' solution, I pointed out the feature included a third key. This came as a surprise to the salesman, but eventually it was agreed an extra key would be ordered. When I will actually get it could be a whole other story.

 

I like the car, but have absolutely no desire to ever return to the dealership.

[SinglePointSafety]

SimonB68, a common tale of woe - I sympathise, it's what happens when dealers use a stone-age system which means that you sign an 'order form' but then someone has to carefully (or not) translate that into a factory order, and stuff gets lost in translation. A colleague went to collect his new car a couple of years ago, and it was missing the factory-fitted swivel tow bar (which also included upgraded cooling system etc). Short version of the story is that he rejected the car after 4 hours of 'very strenuous arguing' in the showroom, fortunately he'd paid a minimal deposit, which took many months to get returned.

 

Your salesman is either lying or has very poor product knowledge regarding the 3rd key. But the important Q is whether or not this feature can actually be retrofitted in its full functionality by some form of software enablement that the dealer or 'tech guy' is capable of. People on this forum who are familiar with this personalisation option will no doubt offer their very useful advice.

 

In the pantheon of hate, the top spots are usually reserved for anyone in the motor trade, estate agents and politicians: loathed for their perceived dishonesty and incompetence.....

[Guest]

Hi Simon.

 

Had a look at the user manual - it's talking *******s. Fortunately I didn't see it or I'd have been confused too !  If memory serves me correct ( and I don't have a great memory ) that sounds something like the procedure for my old car with MIB2 so it's sounding like the text is a cut 'n paste job. VW Group are so guilty of this throughout their empire, it's not just Skoda.

 

I said it was intuitive? Well yes and no.  First of all you have to set yourself up as the primary user, and even with my dodgy memory I can remember all the problems that entailed. However if you've got that far then...

 

1: Get your other key and open the car

2: Go to the USER menu and select 'other'. You'll be prompted for a new user.

3: In theory you have to register a new user and the system will sent a verification email ( via Skoda Connect ). If you never receive the said email, do what I did and register the user on Skoda Connect. When you verify email that way, the system might try and re-register the car to the new persons name. At that point I bailed out, but the important thing is the email address is registered in the system.

4: Lock the car again ( not sure if it's necessary but that's what I did ).

5: Give the car a few minutes for the the interior to fully switch off, then open the door with the new key again. You'll be prompted with the old ( primary ) user setup.

6. On the Welcome screen, tell the system you're the new person you've just set up.

7: It'll prompt you to enter your login details and your SPIN which you''l have chosen when you setup Skoda connect.

8: Make a few personal adjustments to the car to suit that person - i.e. change the position of the rear door mirrors etc.

9. Now I'm not sure if this is necessary, but on the electric seat I press 'M' memory and '2' or whatever number you want, and hold that number until you hear a confirm chime. Can you have personalisation option without electric seats? I simply dunno.

 

10. Anyway, here's the most important thing. Lock the car again and leave the battery to shut down, )reset the memory) properly. 2-5mins.  What I mean by that is sometimes you lock the door, come back a minute later and the system has remembered you - you know, when the radio immediately switches on? You want to enter the car so the radio goes thru it's boot up routine.  If you don't allow the memory to reset then the system still thinks it's the previous key owner. I suspect it's just a wee design flaw.

 

If you do that, then you'll find the key is now registered to a specific person and give the appriopriate 'welcome' message on the dash for that user.  Whenever you use a key to open the door, you'll see the mirrors and seats move before you enter the car. You can change default radio stations and digital dash preferences ( if you have that option ) default temperature etc.

 

Yeh, the owners manual we have is complete *******s. I've been searching for a good 30mins and I cant see personalisation or key related matter in any sub menu.

 

Good luck. 

Edited 9 March, 2021 by Guest

[linni]

1 hour ago, SinglePointSafety said:

But the important Q is whether or not this feature can actually be retrofitted in its full functionality by some form of software enablement that the dealer or 'tech guy' is capable of

 

Dont`t know about MIB3, but I enabled Personalisation on my MIB2,5 with full features with VCDS.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, linni said:

 

Dont`t know about MIB3, but I enabled Personalisation on my MIB2,5 with full features with VCDS.

 

Official sources may well be able to but doubt others can as MY21 systems are subject to component protection ( or at least here in the UK they are) for the time being.

 

 

[linni]

I meant that the procedure can obvioulsy be done at dealers. Software related, not hardware.

[SimonB68]

Many thanks Scot5 for taking the time to put that together.

 

I had already registered the second user, so just selected that when turning on the ignition. It seems to have taken, but doesn't operate quite as slickly as I had hoped.

 

The procedure in the owner's manual was appealing since it just required assigning keys in the UI rather than faffing with toing and froing to the car with different keys.

 

The feature then appears to just be an extension of standard personalisation, in that some additional settings are also saved. Saving of the last user and seat and mirror positions are standard. I wonder what would happen if I switched from the second user profile to primary user profile and then locked the car with the second key. I suspect it would save the primary user.

 

Also the whole user profile thing is laborious and slow. It can 20-30 seconds to load a profile and several minutes to synchronise profiles when switching. I presume because it relies on a GSM connection to Skoda Connect and the signal our way is poor.

 

I modified Radio favourites and climate settings for the second user. The extra Radio favourite was also set for the primary user, but the climate settings were saved, and remembered between keys at least.

 

Overall, not convinced it's a terribly useful feature over and above the standard personalisation, and certainly misrepresented by the owner's manual which I had checked to see if the feature was worthwhile before specifying. It does give me a third key at least, assuming the dealer gets around to supplying it.

 

Seems like the dealer was right then with the way he described the Personalisation configuration in MIB3.

[Guest]

5 hours ago, SimonB68 said:

 I wonder what would happen if I switched from the second user profile to primary user profile and then locked the car with the second key. I suspect it would save the primary user.

 

Also the whole user profile thing is laborious and slow. It can 20-30 seconds to load a profile and several minutes to synchronise profiles when switching. I presume because it relies on a GSM connection to Skoda Connect and the signal our way is poor.

 

I modified Radio favourites and climate settings for the second user. The extra Radio favourite was also set for the primary user, but the climate settings were saved, and remembered between keys at least.

 

Overall, not convinced it's a terribly useful feature over and above the standard personalisation, and certainly misrepresented by the owner's manual which I had checked to see if the feature was worthwhile before specifying. It does give me a third key at least, assuming the dealer gets around to supplying it.

 

Seems like the dealer was right then with the way he described the Personalisation configuration in MIB3.

 

That's an intersting one. I think it bases the user on what key OPENED the car, doubt it would give a 5hit who's closed it.

 

I agree, the user profile is just overkill, it's very poorly thought out. As I keep saying, in the question to reach the top on the technology tree, manufacturers come up with solutions to questions nobody asked. They tell you you can do such and such, and then the forums fill up with people who've tried the technology and it doesn't work. Then then complain about a system they'd never have used in the first place and likely never would use. It's a funny old world.

There was now't wrong with the MIB2 system and for all the faffing around, I can't see any further benefit personalisation brings to MIB3. It's only me who drives the Kodiaq, I ordered it on my cars because £45 is a cheap insurance policy.

 

The signal where I live is very good but the system still takes ages to boot - I think it's just the software more than anything. It's same with Audi nowadays, never experienced the very latest systems on VW and SEAT but suspect they're the same. I have a Columbus MIB2 on the Karoq and Columbus MIB3 on the Kodiaq  - which do I prefer? I was at the stage of tearing my hair out setting up the system at first, but once it's working, for me it's the wireless AndroidAuto that wins the day so I'd say MIB3. But the over-the-air interaction is a step backward IMO. That said, all manufacturers are going this way so hey ho, we better get used to it.  Makes me feel feck'n stupid tho...  a Microsoft Engineer and someone who used to install full entertainment systems in to my cars, and I have trouble just setting up a user account.  They certainly don't make it easy for us.   

Edited 9 March, 2021 by Guest

[SimonB68]

10 hours ago, Scot5 said:

 

I think it bases the user on what key OPENED the car, doubt it would give a 5hit who's closed it.

 

 

That's apparently how standard personalisation works, it stores the current seat and mirror positions in the key used to lock the car.

 

I need to experiment more and see if keys are now locked to particular accounts or the system just remembers the user account that was active when the car was locked. Assuming we manage our keys properly then this shouldn't be an issue, unless we, for example, share the drive on a particular journey and switch profiles, or bring both keys in which case how does the car decide which key is active.

 

Whilst I don't have an issue as such with user profiles, they make some sense for the sort of personalisation features that I want, but to be reliant on a phone network connection before loading the infortainment system I find a bit ridiculous. To not be able to reliably get in the car and start using the sat-nav or smartlink immediately seems nonsense. And what's with the S-PIN login.... someone's been watching The Transporter too much.

 

Overall I'm very happy with the car, but the owner's manual could do with some work to make it clearer how some of the software works.

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, SimonB68 said:

 

...or bring both keys in which case how does the car decide which key is active.

 

Whilst I don't have an issue as such with user profiles, they make some sense for the sort of personalisation features that I want, but to be reliant on a phone network connection before loading the infortainment system I find a bit ridiculous. To not be able to reliably get in the car and start using the sat-nav or smartlink immediately seems nonsense. And what's with the S-PIN login.... someone's been watching The Transporter too much.

 

Overall I'm very happy with the car, but the owner's manual could do with some work to make it clearer how some of the software works.

 

 

S-PIN? You need protected, just like some information websites you sign up to require at least 12 digits incuding upper and lower case, at least two numbers and a special character. Those Russian hackers could create world chaos if they gained access to your free Gardening Weekly account. I have trouble remembering my reg plate farless S-PIN.

 

My guess is car will use whatever key it detects first although it does detect two keys at once. Just thinking back to when we first initiate the active account ( or is it for something else, I forget ) where the system asks for two keys to be present before it will proceed to next step.  Thru work, I once had to visit Downing Street. The setup process for access there was easier than MIB3.

[tuttiweb1]

Hi all,

We ordered Key Personalisation as an optional extra on our Kodiaq, which we took delivery of back in November 2020.

 

Since then, I've ben having extensive, ongoing discussions with my dealership, ending a couple of days ago with them telling me that Skoda UK (internal technical support) have definitively advised them that most of the features stated as part of the options won't work with the MIB3 & Columbus combination, which we have.  I have seen the paperwork where the dealership were advised of this and it clearly staes that it does not extend even as far as radio pre-programming.

Confirmed as working (after setting up the Skoda Connect profiles and logging into the infotainment unit with the credentials):

1. Name - When opening the car with our individual keys, the Columbus greets us by name on the screen
2. Units - The vehicle remembers our unit preferences (miles/kilometres)
3. Climate control - The vehicle remembers the individual temperature settings we used

 

Nothing else seems to work. No Infotaiment modular page setup (homeage choices like nav/radio/vehicle data/road signs etc...).  No Radio/audio settings.  No mirror memory.  No driving mode memory...nowt.  All settings relating to these features are loaded as  'last-used' for all drivers.

Despite repeated requests, I can't get a definitive list of what should work with which vehicles.  All documentation is vague, saying that the features will vary according to the vehicle model and trim purchased, but no matrix of what comes with what.

We don't have electric seats, but this was never a prerequisite for the Key Personalisation to work.

 

We did receive three keys when we took delivery of the vehicle.

[SimonB68]

Thanks, that's very informative, and I was leaning towards the same conclusion that other than a third key the option doesn't deliver much. It was unlikely that "extensive, ongoing discussions with my dealership" would prove fruitful so I had resigned myself to not really knowing if this feature had been fully enabled or not, but the dealer has to provide me an extra key, at some expense, which I consider goes towards compensation for the mess of the car delivery.

 

Might I ask if you've ever tried locking the car with the non-key owner's profile loaded, and then seeing which profile is loaded when the car is next opened again with that key, once the car has shutdown? I have a feeling that the profile is not hard linked to the key, and it just appears that way since owners' key management makes it so.

 

There doesn't appears to be much profile personalisation above what is meant to be default, if anything, and that is linked to the last key used to lock (according to the manual).

 

In reality all I really wanted was electric seat and mirror position memory, and since the seat only moves once the door is opened, being linked to a key is a bit pointless since at that point it's easy enough to just press the applicable memory button on the seat. I had hoped and assumed that the profile, and all the saved settings, would activate when the car is unlocked, and the seat would have moved or at least be moving when the door is opened.

[Guest]

7 hours ago, tuttiweb1 said:

Hi all,

We ordered Key Personalisation as an optional extra on our Kodiaq, which we took delivery of back in November 2020.

 

Since then, I've ben having extensive, ongoing discussions with my dealership, ending a couple of days ago with them telling me that Skoda UK (internal technical support) have definitively advised them that most of the features stated as part of the options won't work with the MIB3 & Columbus combination, which we have.  I have seen the paperwork where the dealership were advised of this and it clearly staes that it does not extend even as far as radio pre-programming.

Confirmed as working (after setting up the Skoda Connect profiles and logging into the infotainment unit with the credentials):

1. Name - When opening the car with our individual keys, the Columbus greets us by name on the screen
2. Units - The vehicle remembers our unit preferences (miles/kilometres)
3. Climate control - The vehicle remembers the individual temperature settings we used

 

Nothing else seems to work. No Infotaiment modular page setup (homeage choices like nav/radio/vehicle data/road signs etc...).  No Radio/audio settings.  No mirror memory.  No driving mode memory...nowt.  All settings relating to these features are loaded as  'last-used' for all drivers.

Despite repeated requests, I can't get a definitive list of what should work with which vehicles.  All documentation is vague, saying that the features will vary according to the vehicle model and trim purchased, but no matrix of what comes with what.

We don't have electric seats, but this was never a prerequisite for the Key Personalisation to work.

 

We did receive three keys when we took delivery of the vehicle.

 

Well all I can think of is that electric seats must make all the difference because the above is *******s according to my MY21 car.

 

The only thing from that list I agree with is driving mode memory and that's because as with all new Skodas built from around 2020 onwards ( don't know the exact date ), the system defaults to 'normal' everytime you start. I think that has something to do with emissions. The radiostation is stored, the initial volume level etc is stored, the climate settings is stored, the chosen virtual cockpit display is stored.  Sounds like Skoda have their wires crossed again - nobody seems to know how their cars work.  

Edited 17 March, 2021 by Guest

[Guest]

6 hours ago, SimonB68 said:

TI had hoped and assumed that the profile, and all the saved settings, would activate when the car is unlocked, and the seat would have moved or at least be moving when the door is opened.

 

Well it does in my car!

[SimonB68]

The seat moves without opening a door?

[Guest]

1 hour ago, SimonB68 said:

The seat moves without opening a door?

 

What ???   Your car will have KESSY. As soon as you put your hand on the door handle, the car will unlock. So if you want to split hairs then yes, it will move before the door is opened. But that's not the point I was making, as soon as I'm ready to enter the vehicle, the car has configured itself.

 

Why would anyone want a car to configure itself, seats move etc before the door is opened? Im confused.

[SimonB68]

I'm simply trying to understand whether your car behaves the same as mine. I can unlock the car with key or handle, but the seat will not move to the saved position until the door is actually opened. This doesn't offer much advantage since I could simply press the memory button and it would take almost the same time. I had hoped that I could be walking to the car, unlock it with the key and the seat would have moved, or at least be moving, by the time I open the car.

[tuttiweb1]

I am now in talks with Skoda UK about the Key Personalisation not working anywhere near as it should on Columbus MIB3  (usually MY21 vehicles) Infotainment units.

I shall share my learning here, although they've already declared it will be a long process.

[Guest]

On 18/03/2021 at 12:31, SimonB68 said:

I'm simply trying to understand whether your car behaves the same as mine. I can unlock the car with key or handle, but the seat will not move to the saved position until the door is actually opened. This doesn't offer much advantage since I could simply press the memory button and it would take almost the same time. I had hoped that I could be walking to the car, unlock it with the key and the seat would have moved, or at least be moving, by the time I open the car.

 

Just like Commercial Union, I dont want to make a drama out of a crisis on such a mundane point, but I cannot understand your rational. Your concern is that it offers little benefit. That may well be the case for you, but just exactly what were you expecting?  If the seat moved as soon as you woke up and got out of bed in the morning, what benefit would that have to pushing the button when you sit in the car? Its the same thing.

 

I open the door, get in the car and simply drive off. My partner opens the door, she enters and drives off. I guess its all up to the individual if they see that as a benefit or not. Is that worth £45? To me as a stereotypical Scotsman no it's not, but as I've already stated I chose personalisation  because it gives me a third key so it's all a bit pointless being concerned how the system works.  What is of concern tho is if Skoda or others are telling people the system doesn't work as advertised when it clearly does. It's a pain-in-the-ar5e to set up but iwhen done, it works in exactly the same way in our UK MY21 Kodiaq as the sytem worked in my MY17 Octavia and our MY19 Karoq.

 

(and apologies if there are any spelling mistakes because the middle section of my keyboard isnt working correctly and Im having to bash the keys as hard as I can to make them work. Six bloody weeks until Toshiba can provide a replacement! It's not just Skoda with supply issues )

Edited 19 March, 2021 by Guest

[SAD]

Good luck with technical support tuttiweb1/. I have been in contact since October on not being able to use contacts to find a destination. MIB3/Columbus. No satisfactory response. The nearest answer is.”It doesn’t work”. I already new that.

[tuttiweb1]

I've now heard back from Skoda UK, but with bad news, as expected.

They have explained that there has/had been a "misprint" in the documentation and website when providing information for customers on Kodiaqs.

 

Despite what all the documentation said (says), most of the Key Personalisation relating to the Infotainment does not work on the newer models, evidenced by the attached, which they kindly provided me.

 

I'm not sure how they can claim it as a misprint when my poor dealership invested at least 40 workshop hours trying to get these features working on our MY21, MIB3, Columbus vehicle.

 

For us, one of the massive benefits of the Personalisation was that we could use our specific keys and return to the car with the Infotainment layout being as we left it, radio settings and all.  Alas, there's little hope of that now.

[Billywizzo]

Probably because the new MIB3 system seems rubbish compared to the older versions as far as I have worked out. 
Many things that people with the older version can do don’t seem to work on the newer version, and I don’t think it has been tested that well with all the issues people seem to have with it 

[linni]

Goes for MIB 2,5, but worth to try:

 

Overview of some personalized functions

▶ Setting the electrically adjustable driver's seat.
▶ Exterior mirror adjustment.
▶ Driving mode - setting the individual mode
▶ Assistance systems - Lane Assist, parking aid (Park Pilot).
▶ Light - ambient lighting, convenience turn signal, COMING HOME / LEAVING
HOME.
▶ Climatronic - temperature in each individual area, fan speed, recirculation
mode.
▶ Infotainment settings - brightness level of the screen, keyboard arrangement.
▶ Radio - sound settings, station sorting.
▶ Media - shuffle / repeat title, selected video format.

▶ Voice control - acoustic signals.
▶ Navigation - home address, alternative routes, recommended route, reminder
of the lack of fuel.

 

Setting the personalization

Setting
■ Key assignment: - options for assigning the vehicle key to the user account:
■ Manual - detected vehicle key must be assigned to the active user account
manually
■ Automatic - detected vehicle key automatically assigned to a different account
of the active user account
■ Assign vehicle key to current user account - manual assignment of the detected vehicle
key to the active user account - follow the instructions on the Infotainment
screen

 

Specially the last one!

Reset all keys and assign each key to according user account (you need to hold Unlock buttun when assigning).

Edited 7 April, 2021 by linni