Manoeuvre braking, Park Assist, Front Assist all disabled

[Jakester]

Hi all, away on hols and suddenly my MY19 Superb sportline plus has thrown up a load of errors. Basically none of the driver assistance systems are working.

 

I’ve got manoeuvre braking inactive, ACC disabled, Park Assist inactive, Front Assist inactive. 
 

It was all fine on the drive down here. I wondered if it could be related to the Westfalia towbar installation but I’ve checked the towbar fuses and they’re fine. However, the car doesn’t recognise anything connected to the towbar electrics and the lights etc don’t seem to work. 
 

Does anyone have any ideas? Don’t fancy having to drive 200miles with no lights/indicators on the bike rack… 

[varooom]

I can only suggest you try to locate someone on your travels with VCDS or VCP from the map.

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/262215-list-of-vcds-owners-previously-known-as-vag-com-vcp-owners/

[Berisford]

Sudden battery voltage drop maybe?

 

Should / could / might clear with short run.

Edited 16 August, 2022 by Berisford

[ApertureS]

Any guess we make will sadly be just a guess. 
it could be anything from a misaligned radar sensor to a wheel bearing to a parking sensor.

 

the only way of leading you in the right direction is by plugging it into a diagnostic computer

[numskull]

Our 2016 280 did exactly this last year and it was a failed rear wheel speed sensor. 

[Jakester]

Thanks all, sporadic signal here so apologies for any delayed replies!

 

Shame, I was hoping it’d be a quick ‘pull fuse X and it’ll reset’ job.
 

Irritatingly my local dealer can’t fit it in to take a look at until 26th Sept, so when we’re back I’ll definitely try and find someone to give it a scan. 
 

@numskull hopefully it’s just that - at least it’s under warranty for now 

[IndeedFox]

This is interesting.  I just posted about something similar. The reason it's interesting is that I too have just had a Westfalia detachable towbar fitted. It had the full software update done but I'm now wondering if that's the issue.

[Jakester]

1 hour ago, IndeedFox said:

This is interesting.  I just posted about something similar. The reason it's interesting is that I too have just had a Westfalia detachable towbar fitted. It had the full software update done but I'm now wondering if that's the issue.

I’ll update when I’ve got back and had someone take a look. I have seen some threads suggesting the Westfalia installers need to have all their kit updated, but I used the Westfalia recommended installer so I’d have thought he would have done. I’ll speak to him when I’m back too. 

[IndeedFox]

Cheers. My installer is an authorised installer to but I'm going to call them in the morning and see what the score is.  If you have any ideas what the kit updates are please let me know so I can go better informed.

[Jakester]

Well, I think it’s definitely something to do with the towbar. Loaded it all up and connected the bike rack up and lo and behold, everything is working again. Good job too as the drive home took 5.5hrs in crawling traffic - I wouldn’t have been happy without the ACC!
 

I did connect and disconnect the bike rack a couple of times shortly after it started playing up to no avail, but this time it’s all fine. I left the engine running whilst disconnecting the bike rack this time and no warnings or anything.
 

I figured perhaps as the rack had been disconnected after the ignition had been switched off the first time, maybe that was why it had thrown a wobbler. 
 

I’m still going to get it checked out though and will report back when I know more though. 

[IndeedFox]

Hi fella

 

So I spoke to Pf Jones on Thursday and am now booked in for either a different module or software update, tomorrow afternoon. They'd contacted the software provider and said there is an issue. I'll update you once it's been in.

 

 

 

[Jakester]

10 hours ago, IndeedFox said:

Hi fella

 

So I spoke to Pf Jones on Thursday and am now booked in for either a different module or software update, tomorrow afternoon. They'd contacted the software provider and said there is an issue. I'll update you once it's been in.

 

 

 

Great stuff - fingers crossed for you!

[IndeedFox]

So. Just out and they're saying it was a module issue. Apparently they had their own kit updated too. They swapped the module, it took about 15 minutes, and it seems to be sorted. 

 

According to them, it was a bad batch hence lots of recent fittings suffered and popping up on various VAG forums.

 

We'll e if it stays fixed 

[Jakester]

Thanks - this is interesting, as I’ve spoken to Westfalia and they said (unsurprisingly) they weren’t aware of there being any issues with modules, and it sounded like a coding problem. 
 

You don’t by any chance know what the particular module was, do you?

[ApertureS]

22 hours ago, IndeedFox said:

So. Just out and they're saying it was a module issue. Apparently they had their own kit updated too. They swapped the module, it took about 15 minutes, and it seems to be sorted. 

 

According to them, it was a bad batch hence lots of recent fittings suffered and popping up on various VAG forums.

 

We'll e if it stays fixed 

Very much appreciated that you came back to relay to everyone the resolution. It will help a lot of people out in the future if they stumble across this thread.

Glad you got it sorted though. 

[IndeedFox]

No worries. I'm going to connect and disconnect a bike rack, a few times over the next few days and will update if anything changes. So far, so good.

[Jakester]

Well, I spoke too soon! 

 

All the warnings back up again. No use of the bike rack since the drive back, and the car has been used a couple of times in between. 

 

Quite frustrating, but I'm pleased it didn't go for 6hr drive back from holiday in crawling traffic!

 

I spoke to Westfalia today and they said it sounds like a coding issue, so will speak to towbar man again, but also speak to a local indie garage who has VCDS/ODIS etc and see what they suggest. @IndeedFoxif you do have details of the work done or the module, that would be really helpful?

[IndeedFox]

I'll call them tomorrow and will ask for full details.

 

The installer said to me that there had been a dodgy batch and that the distributor had actually visited with a big van containing the equipment to update there own. Thinking about it, it sounds like a fairy story but I'll ask.

 

They definitely mentioned swapping a module and a coding update.

 

I'll update myself tomorrow 

[Jakester]

10 minutes ago, IndeedFox said:

I'll call them tomorrow and will ask for full details.

 

The installer said to me that there had been a dodgy batch and that the distributor had actually visited with a big van containing the equipment to update there own. Thinking about it, it sounds like a fairy story but I'll ask.

 

They definitely mentioned swapping a module and a coding update.

 

I'll update myself tomorrow 

Fab, thanks very much. 

[Jakester]

Interesting update - I sent details of the errors etc to the installer, and he's called this morning to say (unprompted) that there has been a dodgy batch of modules and he'll order a replacement and fit it. Sounds like it is definitely a known issue then! 

 

I'll update as/when he's done the work. 

Edited 24 August, 2022 by Jakester

[IndeedFox]

Hi fella,

 

I chased it this morning and that is exactly the reason I was given by PF Jones. A dodgy batch of mudules.  They did say that they'd swapped my module (took 10 minues) and updated the coding.  It seems that they were on this pretty quickly as the new modules were there by the time my car wet back.

[Jakester]

Mr Towbar Man has just been and gone, took 20mins, and everything seems to be fine, so fingers crossed!

 

In case anyone else has these issues, he said it's a problem with the module power - it apparently just 'goes to sleep' when it shouldn't, meaning it causes the assistance systems to trip out , hence the intermittency. 

 

I haven't done any long drives as yet but I'll be pootling around over the next couple of days so will update if it's all still clear or not. 

[Jakester]

Right, still not quite there yet!

 

Parking sensors, front assist, ACC all now working, but I still get a bong saying blind spot and reverse assist are disabled. I can manually activate them, and they seem to work, but now their default position seems to be off on startup. Sigh. 
 

 

[Jakester]

Just to update this, Mr Towbar Man came back again, did a full reset/install (whatever technical wizardry he had to do!) again to clear any lasting errors etc and now all seems to be working properly again. 

 

Before, you could manually activate the blind spot and reverse assist, but every time the car was put in reverse, they deactivated with an error message. 

 

No idea what the problem was, but hopefully that's sorted it third time lucky!

 

Got to hand it to the chap, he's happy to come back and take another look with no complaints. It only took this long as he was on holiday, but he did message me when he was away, so no complaints about the standard of service! 

[IndeedFox]

Thanks for the update. Since I had the module replaced on mine (as above date) it's been absolutely spot on. I've had a bike rack on and off several times with everything as it should be.

 

Looks like the dodgy module batch was a genuine thing.