My Rapid's TMC made it to 6 years but appeared to coincidentally dissappear after its 6 year service but I didn't notice it for a month till I did a long journey.  I contacted the dealers and they claimed to know nothing .........

I think the vehicle age thing is a red herring. The dealer is spoke to checked his (newer) Golf which had the same problem.  He had checked their “hub” for any information and nothing was forthcoming so I get the feeling this may have blind sided everyone.  It doesn’t seem limited to VAG group vehicles either

1 hour ago, bigade1 said:

after digging out my 15 yr old portable Tomtom and its optional plug in TMC antenna for testing purposes that the RDS-TMC service is still up and running and working perfectly albeit not for us VW Group users. 

 

Well diagnosed, I was looking for my much older Tomtom to do the same test - but it will no longer turn on.

 

16 hours ago, bigade1 said:

 

Same here - I'm also waiting for a reply. I can also confirm for clarification purposes, which I also posted in a different thread, after digging out my 15 yr old portable Tomtom and its optional plug in TMC antenna for testing purposes that the RDS-TMC service is still up and running and working perfectly albeit not for us VW Group users. I only hope that it's not a deliberate cancellation of the service by VW in favour of the new ( online ) Connected Services that are deployed in the newer model cars or possibly an individual cancellation of my TMC licence because my vehicle's media system has passed its 5 year support date.

 

My 2013 Nissan was receiving TMC updates absolutely fine up until I sold it in 2022.

 

I don't believe it's possible for TMC reception to be 'switched off' for individual vehicles since it's a purely one way thing. In much the same way as your FM radio or GPS reception couldn't just be arbitrarily switched off. 

 

It is possible that all VW group vehicles have a preprogrammed expiry date for TMC reception, but to be honest this seems very far-fetched. What other 'features' will get deactivated? Windscreen wipers? Indicators? Brakes? 

Edited 24 April, 20233 yr by joek666
typo

I got a Facebook message from Skoda telling me to take the car to a dealer to be diagnosed!  When I pointed out there are dozens of owners in the country with the problem and that it was obvious that some dealers already know as their stock is showing the same fault - they still want me to take it to a dealer.......

Getting nowhere.  We need a big stick!

Edited 24 April, 20233 yr by NigelR99

26 minutes ago, joek666 said:

I don't believe it's possible for TMC reception to be 'switched off' for individual vehicles since it's a purely one way thing. In much the same way as your FM radio or GPS reception couldn't just be arbitrarily switched off.  

 

I hope you're right.

 

Meantime, just an update. I got fed up waiting for an email so I've just got off the phone to Teleman Navtrack support and it wasn't a very helpful or pleasant experience. Their support operatives had no idea about the TMC service or its existence. They only knew about their Smartnav service and their lost vehicle tracking service and kept asking me for my non existent account number. I was then transferred to another department who provided the same questions and the same cluelessness. The operative dealing with me then put me on hold to speak to her team leader who in turn informed her to tell me that they no longer provide the service and that she had no idea when they had stopped providing it. As usual they advised me to contact my dealer. So this issue is not looking very promising at the moment.

1 hour ago, NigelR99 said:

I got a Facebook message from Skoda telling me to take the car to a dealer to be diagnosed!  When I pointed out there are dozens of owners in the country with the problem and that it was obvious that some dealers already know as their stock is showing the same fault - they still want me to take it to a dealer.......

Getting nowhere.  We need a big stick!

Definitely don't take it to a dealer, they won't be able to do anything other than confirm it isn't working.  Still worth calling the dealer though and speak to them, they will be experiencing it with all of the cars in their yard I'm sure (along with any of their own company cars if they have them)

 

I've called Skoda again as one of the things that TMC not working has done is to render the dynamic routing option of their Sat Nav utterly useless as it won't know if there are any holdups along the route.  I'm resolutely refusing to take the car into the dealer though as there's stuff-all they can do about it.

I have just emailed my Skoda main dealer who services the car.  

I have described the problem and asked if they  had heard of it, has anybody else reported it and have they checked their secondhand sales stock for the problem. 

I also asked is there a solution or was it turned off during the March annual service. 

I didn't want to ring them as I have a hearing problem. 

I will update if I get a response. 

I don't want to leave my car with them as I suspect I will get an hours diagnosis charge for nothing.

 

1 hour ago, bigade1 said:

 

I hope you're right.

 

Meantime, just an update. I got fed up waiting for an email so I've just got off the phone to Teleman Navtrack support and it wasn't a very helpful or pleasant experience. Their support operatives had no idea about the TMC service or its existence. They only knew about their Smartnav service and their lost vehicle tracking service and kept asking me for my non existent account number. I was then transferred to another department who provided the same questions and the same cluelessness. The operative dealing with me then put me on hold to speak to her team leader who in turn informed her to tell me that they no longer provide the service and that she had no idea when they had stopped providing it. As usual they advised me to contact my dealer. So this issue is not looking very promising at the moment.

 

Somewhere, there will be a person or team at Trafficmaster who actually do know about TMC, how it works, potential problems, etc. The challenge is cutting through all the guff to speak to someone like that. I believe the correct approach is to get Skoda to escalate it. They will have much more clout than an individual end user.

I am booked to take my Karoq to a dealer tomorrow morning, but as stated previously, I will not hand over the keys until they check some other cars on the lot. If the symptom exists with other vehicles then hopefully they will see there is zero sense in examining my own car. They can diagnose on their own stock if they have to, but really we need dealers to escalate to Skoda UK, who in turn should escalate to Trafficmaster. 

I would recommend bombarding their social media now, nothing get's a company motivated like bad press.  

 

2 minutes ago, joek666 said:

I am booked to take my Karoq to a dealer tomorrow morning, but as stated previously, I will not hand over the keys until they check some other cars on the lot. If the symptom exists with other vehicles then hopefully they will see there is zero sense in examining my own car. They can diagnose on their own stock if they have to, but really we need dealers to escalate to Skoda UK, who in turn should escalate to Trafficmaster. 

Good plan Joek666, don't let them touch your car.  My local dealer even confirmed his own car was showing the same problems (and that was a Golf).  I'm waiting for a callback from them as we speak to see if they've had anything on their tech "hub"

So trafficmaster have said that they turned off the RDS-TMC broadcast and the end of March as it's no longer supported technology !

25 minutes ago, Mattnam said:

So trafficmaster have said that they turned off the RDS-TMC broadcast and the end of March as it's no longer supported technology ! 

 

I find their response hard to believe given how many vehicles must use it. Can't find any news stories announcing the shutdown, etc. 

 

I wonder if this is a case of slightly crossed wires as they could be talking about switching the signal from analogue to digital, i.e. DAB?

We seem to have two threads going and I posted this on the other one. 

 

Some interesting reading though a bit old:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/190078/Traffic_and_Travel_Report_1_.pdf

Sounds like  FM and DAB could take the service from different sources. 

If you pay for Smartlink on a 2017 Amundsen MIB2 device does it support Android Auto or Carplay? if it does maybe Skoda should offer Smartlink free to compensate?  Just a thought....... 

16 minutes ago, joek666 said:

 

I find their response hard to believe given how many vehicles must use it. Can't find any news stories announcing the shutdown, etc. 

 

I wonder if this is a case of slightly crossed wires as they could be talking about switching the signal from analogue to digital, i.e. DAB?

They literally said, "we stopped transmitting RDS-TMC at the end of March as it's no longer supported".  That was it, full stop.  Not the best answer admittedly.

8 minutes ago, NigelR99 said:

We seem to have two threads going and I posted this on the other one. 

 

Some interesting reading though a bit old:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/190078/Traffic_and_Travel_Report_1_.pdf

Sounds like  FM and DAB could take the service from different sources. 

If you pay for Smartlink on a 2017 Amundsen MIB2 device does it support Android Auto or Carplay? if it does maybe Skoda should offer Smartlink free to compensate?  Just a thought....... 

All very well, but I've got a 2016 Columbus with no Smartlink.

Update from Arthur124 (Fiat 124 owner).

 

This is a much bigger issue affecting more than just Skoda/VAG vehicles.

 

Many car owners (from many different car models and manufacturers) subscribe to their respective "Connected Services" supplier in order to either hotspot their phone and/or enable RDS TMC FM Live Data through the inbuilt radio/satnav system (without the need for a mobile phone).

 

I have emailed Trafficmaster and been allocated a case number.

I will update you as soon as I receive a response.

This is a transcript of my email......

 

 

 

 

 

I have a 2019 Karoq and TMC stopped working about 2 weeks ago. My sister in law has a VW Golf of a similar age and it is not working on that car either. Neither of us subscribe to on-line services. My wife has a stand alone Mio Sat Nav and TMC is working fine on this.

Clearly the issue appears to be with VW group vehicles (possibly others) and TMC still appears to be broadcast.

My car is due for MOT/Service at my local dealership on Wednesday so I will raise this on the basis that it is not an issue only relating to my vehicle and whether they can shed any light on when/how this will be rectified, suggesting they clarify via Skoda centrally. I will post again if I get anywhere.

Having an in car Sat Nav which is unable to flag an overnight closure on a busy motorway - as happened to me last week - is of limited use. Clearly there are numerous other people experiencing the same problems

33 minutes ago, NeilE02 said:

I have a 2019 Karoq and TMC stopped working about 2 weeks ago. My sister in law has a VW Golf of a similar age and it is not working on that car either. Neither of us subscribe to on-line services. My wife has a stand alone Mio Sat Nav and TMC is working fine on this.

Clearly the issue appears to be with VW group vehicles (possibly others) and TMC still appears to be broadcast.

My car is due for MOT/Service at my local dealership on Wednesday so I will raise this on the basis that it is not an issue only relating to my vehicle and whether they can shed any light on when/how this will be rectified, suggesting they clarify via Skoda centrally. I will post again if I get anywhere.

Having an in car Sat Nav which is unable to flag an overnight closure on a busy motorway - as happened to me last week - is of limited use. Clearly there are numerous other people experiencing the same problems

The standalone sat nav may well be getting TMC information from another provider (Inrix) which is why it works.  Trafficmaster were providing it to VW (among others)

Edited 24 April, 20233 yr by Mattnam

On 22/04/2023 at 23:09, Arthur124 said:

Hi ITGuy

Can you confirm you're in the UK ?

And do you know which "Connected Services" supplier you subscribe to e.g. NNG, Naviextras etc ???

 

Yes, I am based in the UK

 

On 23/04/2023 at 11:12, bigade1 said:

 

I believe you're referring to a very different system of live traffic updates utilising the ( online ) Connect Services which is not the standard RDS-TMC service. Therefore your post is very misleading, inaccurate and may cause confusion. . This thread is about the standard RDS-TMC live traffic updates which is provided by information broadcast utilising the signal of a  networked radio station. It's a completely different system.

 

If it is deemed I have been misleading and inaccurate that certainly wasn't my intention.  I wasn't aware of differing methods of delivering TMC live traffic updates, so if my system is different to the one being discussed, my bad.

Hi ITguy

No need for any apology.......   this is a rather complex and confusing issue many of us are dealing with and trying to sort out. All views and opinions are sought out and welcomed.  With a bit of luck it'll be resolved one way or another real soon.

Would just like to add as I've been experiencing the same problem with my Octavia of 68 number plate vintage. Was working completely fine until 2 or 3 weeks ago. 

I had a look on the infotainment menu of a mates 2020 Superb to see if same problem but due to the more up market infotainment system & features the menu was different & I could not find the relevant info. My mate did not know since uses Google via android auto.

So stuffed here to. I drive around a lot for work purposes so this is a big blow. May have to go back to my TomTom or use (via a payment) the phone app 😞

Update.......

 

And this is the response I received from Traffimaster/teletracnavman

 

 

Update: took my vehicle to a main dealer this morning. They verified the problem in my own vehicle and also another vehicle on the lot. Quickly checked to see if any error codes in the system, and there was nothing. Software up to date so nothing to do there (thanks to a forum member for helping me perform the update myself). They agreed it was pointless taking my car in for any deeper diagnostics as it was obviously nothing to do with the vehicle or even Skoda specifically, since the traffic data is supplied by a third party. They recommended I go back to Skoda UK to explain the issue and hopefully they will escalate it with the supplier. I have emailed them and now awaiting a response...

 

I would encourage others to pester Skoda about this too, whether it be main dealers or Skoda UK. The more people raising it, the greater the chance they will do something about it. If we don't get anywhere, then I think we will be looking to get media involved as someone else on here suggested,

 

9 minutes ago, Arthur124 said:

Update.......

 

And this is the response I received from Traffimaster/teletracnavman

 

 

 

Doesn't surprise me, from their point of view we are not direct customers. Better to escalate through Skoda, as described above.

Edited 25 April, 20233 yr by joek666
clarity