Infotainment system freeze - dealer says next available slot is 6 weeks away

[DaveFromSydney]

After having various infotainment issues over the 10 months I have owned the car the latest one is the worst.

The drive yesterday commenced normally but at some time during the first 20 minutes I found that everything was displaying but the touchscreen was totally unresponsive. You could change screens with the physical buttons, e.g. Set or Clima, but that was all.

While still driving I performed a full reset by holding down the power button for 10 seconds or so.

After it came back again a few things but not all were working but soon it got unresponsive again.

I performed another reset with no success.

I pulled over and turned off the engine and did a reset. After that not only was the touchscreen not responsive but now the settings were back to start-up settings so auto-stop was enabled, drive mode was Normal etc.

No way to change any settings, radio, media, aircon etc. It had to stay that way for the rest of the drive.

Only when I got home, turned off everything, got out and closed the doors, then a bit later got back in the car did the screen return to working normally.

 

Obviously this is a big deal. Who knows when this might strike again. I could be on a longer drive. Do I have to find somewhere to pull over, get out of the car, perhaps wait 30 minutes, etc, before continuing with my drive.

 

So I contacted my Skoda dealer - Alto Skoda, in Pennant Hills, Sydney. First available slot is 1st June - 6 weeks away!!. Serious issue - does not matter - same for everyone.

No offer to contact another dealer that might have an earlier slot - not that they are particularly close to my location.

Last warranty issue - aircon failure back in the middle of the 40 degree summer - I had to wait less than a week, which was still too long.

 

Really starting to regret my choice of vehicle.

 

[DropBear]

Sorry to hear you're still having issues.

 

Mine went in for its first service a few weeks back and the software was updated at the same time.

 

Some weirdness since that wasn't an issue prior to the update is that the blind spot warning will fire at seemingly random times, and on power up the stereo blasted us with what sounded like a cross between white noise and techno music AT FULL VOLUME ! 

Neither of our phones had connected.

The only way we could stop it was with a reset of the infotainment system.

 

Edit: The wait at Sydney City Skoda was less than 2 weeks.

Edited 22 April, 2022 by DropBear

[Aarond]

When I've had infotainment gremlins, I've found turning ignition off, opening the drivers door for a moment (no need to get out), closing it and then restarting usually kicks it up the bum.

[DaveFromSydney]

7 hours ago, Aarond said:

When I've had infotainment gremlins, I've found turning ignition off, opening the drivers door for a moment (no need to get out), closing it and then restarting usually kicks it up the bum.

I will give that I try the next time it happens. Still it is not very practical if I am driving on a highway or in busy traffic.

 

I wish someone could explain the different degrees of reset that can occur and what factors influence them.

On turning on the ignition, sometimes the infotainment starts quickly. Other times it goes through something longer.

Sometimes resetting it on the go fixes things. Sometimes you need to open a door etc.

 

Ideally, if they cannot make the software more reliable, and a reboot is necessary like on a PC to get it operational, I wish they would implement a physical button  that could do it with one momentary press.