52 minutes ago, spcdust said:

My car is 2020 Build SEL First Edition Estate, which I purchased in October 2023 as a Škoda Approved Used Car.  From day one had all of the Infotainment issues that are well documented and the SOS unit crashed on virtually every journey.

 

i understand your concerns as I had them to some extent but literally car went into the dealership three weeks ago for less than a full day where they did the software update and SOS unit firmware update (no new unit required) and since I have had it back it has been 100% good - the difference is night and day.

 

I’m not sure spending another £3000 on a newer car is necessary or even the solution.  I would get it booked in and follow the advice I have posted.  Print a list of the issues and what you expect the workshop to do to resolve them.  I would insist they update the software but also highlight that they should update the SOS unit firmware, if required, as I believe that some dealerships miss this important stage out.

 

i actually think we are the fortunate ones as the Infotainment issues remained unresolved for around two years much to the frustration of Octavia Mk4 owners. It is only software version 1941 that seems to be much more stable.  As an aside, talking to other car manufacturers owners it seems many Infotainment systems have their quirks.

Thank you, It sounds like we are talking the same generation of car as hers was registered at the end of October 2020. It's the technology version with the virtual cockpit, which introduces something else that could be impacted - I've read about people loosing the dashboard display rendering the car underivable if it doesn't reset. 

 

Thank you for your reassurance. they After sales manager has been helpful today and offered a few options including returning the car. What I find difficult to understand is that he's saying, he can only update the software if the car requests it - contrary to yesterday when it was suggested we could do it via the web. If the car does not request it, he cannot update it, so it's stuck with version 1896. I fully take on board what your are saying insisting they upgrade s/w and firmware, but met with the response given it's going to be difficult if they insist the car must request it - added they don't like being old what to do, especially if you tell them you got the info from the internet. I have suggested they contact Skoda Letchworth as a previous post above suggests that their main tech knows all about this.

 

Can you PM your dealer as it may be possible for us to go to them.

 

Coming from a 20 year old Alhambra that never missed a beat until it was literally crushed by ULEZ, it all frustration. Fingers crossed for your car as these are really good vehicles if this can be sorted.

Edited 12 December, 20232 yr by italiastar

26 minutes ago, italiastar said:

Thank you, It sounds like we are talking the same generation of car as hers was registered at the end of October 2020. It's the technology version with the virtual cockpit, which introduces something else that could be impacted - I've read about people loosing the dashboard display rendering the car underivable if it doesn't reset. 

 

Thank you for your reassurance. they After sales manager has been helpful today and offered a few options including returning the car. What I find difficult to understand is that he's saying, he can only update the software if the car requests it - contrary to yesterday when it was suggested we could do it via the web. If the car does not request it, he cannot update it, so it's stuck with version 1896. I fully take on board what your are saying insisting they upgrade s/w and firmware, but met with the response given it's going to be difficult if they insist the car must request it - added they don't like being old what to do, especially if you tell them you got the info from the internet. I have suggested they contact Skoda Letchworth as a previous post above suggests that their main tech knows all about this.

 

Can you PM your dealer as it may be possible for us to go to them.

 

Coming from a 20 year old Alhambra that never missed a beat until it was literally crushed by ULEZ, it all frustration. Fingers crossed for your car as these are really good vehicles if this can be sorted.

The Octavia is designed to receive OTA updates so theoretically, at some point, it should update to software version 1941, however who knows when that may occur?  Also I believe the dealer needs to sort the SOS unit out which hopefully will just be a firmware update.  The Master Tech did mention that the firmware update they had applied was more stable / reliable than a previous one Škoda had released.

12 hours ago, italiastar said:

Thank you, It sounds like we are talking the same generation of car as hers was registered at the end of October 2020. It's the technology version with the virtual cockpit, which introduces something else that could be impacted - I've read about people loosing the dashboard display rendering the car underivable if it doesn't reset. 

 

Thank you for your reassurance. they After sales manager has been helpful today and offered a few options including returning the car. What I find difficult to understand is that he's saying, he can only update the software if the car requests it - contrary to yesterday when it was suggested we could do it via the web. If the car does not request it, he cannot update it, so it's stuck with version 1896. I fully take on board what your are saying insisting they upgrade s/w and firmware, but met with the response given it's going to be difficult if they insist the car must request it - added they don't like being old what to do, especially if you tell them you got the info from the internet. I have suggested they contact Skoda Letchworth as a previous post above suggests that their main tech knows all about this.

 

Can you PM your dealer as it may be possible for us to go to them.

 

Coming from a 20 year old Alhambra that never missed a beat until it was literally crushed by ULEZ, it all frustration. Fingers crossed for your car as these are really good vehicles if this can be sorted.

Rather than the car requesting the update to 1941 the dealer (or Master Technician) should be checking for compatibility of the car with 1941. In some cases it’s a two stage update, something like from 16xx to 18xx then 1941.

 

Mine is similar generation, registered Sept ‘20, an SEL FE. It’s one of those that needed two years to get sorted, tested my patience but we got there and now I have a great car that is surprisingly economical to run and loads of space.

On 13/12/2023 at 09:18, SteveTheElder said:

Rather than the car requesting the update to 1941 the dealer (or Master Technician) should be checking for compatibility of the car with 1941. In some cases it’s a two stage update, something like from 16xx to 18xx then 1941.

 

Mine is similar generation, registered Sept ‘20, an SEL FE. It’s one of those that needed two years to get sorted, tested my patience but we got there and now I have a great car that is surprisingly economical to run and loads of space.

Steve, what you are saying is spot on - unfortunately the mater tech i was speaking to turned out to be the After Sales manger, and whilst being understanding and helpful, he did not inspire confidence that the car would be fixed quickly without a number of visits requiring 3 hour round trips to drop off and collect the car and that's assuming they had a courtesy car, as otherwise it would be an expensive day job. Another branch of same dealer told me that the earliest they could look at the car for diagnostics is end of Feb !!!!!!! other dealers even told me that software update i not covered by the post 3 year warranty. Quote from Larry T&Cs - What's Not Covered - Electrical software update or reprogramming unless required due to the failure of a covered part.

 

I am surprised they don't apply the fix by now, and whilst it costs more to them and Skoda, just not change and update all the associated components.

 

The car has been returned for a full refund, which is a shame because as you say, we've potentially lost out on a good car, and this seemed to be a good example of one. Had they been able / willing to extend the return period we could have considered pursuing this, but with something possibly taking months to fix, the wouldn't do this, so we had no choice.

 

Separately, I'm now considering whether I want to continue with my new Skoda which is on order. I  have lost confidence in th dealer group and getting close to feeling the same about Skoda. Having owned VW, Skoda, Seat for the last 30 years, the latter two cars being owned from new for 20 years and they never skipped a beat, I am having to reconsider. 

 

Thank you all for your help and advice.

1 hour ago, italiastar said:

Steve, what you are saying is spot on - unfortunately the mater tech i was speaking to turned out to be the After Sales manger, and whilst being understanding and helpful, he did not inspire confidence that the car would be fixed quickly without a number of visits requiring 3 hour round trips to drop off and collect the car and that's assuming they had a courtesy car, as otherwise it would be an expensive day job. Another branch of same dealer told me that the earliest they could look at the car for diagnostics is end of Feb !!!!!!! other dealers even told me that software update i not covered by the post 3 year warranty. Quote from Larry T&Cs - What's Not Covered - Electrical software update or reprogramming unless required due to the failure of a covered part.

 

I am surprised they don't apply the fix by now, and whilst it costs more to them and Skoda, just not change and update all the associated components.

 

The car has been returned for a full refund, which is a shame because as you say, we've potentially lost out on a good car, and this seemed to be a good example of one. Had they been able / willing to extend the return period we could have considered pursuing this, but with something possibly taking months to fix, the wouldn't do this, so we had no choice.

 

Separately, I'm now considering whether I want to continue with my new Skoda which is on order. I  have lost confidence in th dealer group and getting close to feeling the same about Skoda. Having owned VW, Skoda, Seat for the last 30 years, the latter two cars being owned from new for 20 years and they never skipped a beat, I am having to reconsider. 

 

Thank you all for your help and advice.

 

I can feel your frustration and disappointment; such a shame you felt no option other than to reject the car. Also a shame they have potentially lost a loyal customer.

 

I hope you can find a suitable alternative.

Thank you, excuse my spell checker - not sure where "Larry" came from - I meant Warranty T&C's.

 

It is frustrating, when you have trust in a brand, to loose that, but it's the way this was handled, When I asked in advance whether the Infotainment problems were now solved, I was told "You only hear about the bad experiences - no one posts good ones" - then when you report it "I've never come across it" Then to be strung along with no confidence it will not be fixed quickly or without needing several visits ........ it just goes on.

 

I'm seriously considering a Mini Countryman - my wife's one with similar tech has never skipped a beat, and on top of that they bring you hot drinks and quality biscuits while you wait.

The Skoda Karoq 2020 has been a very good car except for the Infotainment system. I am hoping with your industry knowledge you may have some suggestions , other than what Skoda are asking me to do  

I have seen online there are regular issues with the Skoda infotainment system. 

I believe  the control units  rely  on a sim card  for regular updates , which often mean the system becomes Un operational for 24 hours or longer. 

My theory is since we don't have a mobile signal here it does the updates when we drive to the  South East., when it regularly resets 

On the last trip to the SE the system failed again whilst doing an update . I thought I had disabled updates unless asked but it still had an issue.

This time the system hasn't reset. 

I took it to the Skoda main  dealer who also weren't able to get the system to reset. 

Seems like they are unable to wipe the software and try reloading.

There are apparently two control units the MIB and the SOS and they don't know which is the problem 

Skoda have quoted £225 labour plus £1303 to replace the two units and cant even guarantee this will solve the issue.   

The proposed solution  is to spend the £1,528 , hope that provides a solution and then pay £38 a month for a service plan that would cover future failure.

The technician acknowledged it is a wide problem with Skoda cars  . The VW units are apparently easier to reset and reprogramme than Skoda . I think I understood they can only try to reset Skoda systems using an SD card .

I would welcome your suggestions. 

On 18/11/2023 at 15:27, JamesK said:

 

I've had really mixed experiences with Marshall Skoda Letchworth. There seems to be a huge turnover on the customer facing side of the service and after sales department. In the end I had to get the Skoda Executive Office involved which did improve matters, and dealing directly with the general manager, Nicholas Hutton direct.

 

It took over 10 visits to finally get the car sorted, but in the end they have sorted everything out. Their head technician, Mick was the one doing the work. Mick asked to have the car back in January for a month so he could work with Skoda Technical direct as apparently they wanted to use my car as a test platform to try and understand why so many cars were having software issues.

 

The only outstanding issue I have is the Matrix Lights causing oncoming drivers to flash me. Again, going thro the service department team it's impossible to get the car booked in. They don't call back when they say they will, don't respond to e-mails, etc. 

 

It used to be a great dealer, and I've used them for all my servicing over the past 12 years. It is a shame what's happened to them.

 

I am really surprised they're trying fob you off with the amount of times my car has been in. If I were you I'd complain to the general manager, and ask that they assign Mick to your car. With the experience he's had with my car, he will know exactly how to fix yours - and if yours has the climate sync issue - he knows how to fix that too. PM me if you want the general manager's e-mail address.

I'm wondering if your vehicle is okay now, as I'm having awful problems with Marshall Skoda in Letchworth.

A year ago, we had the well known infotainment problems (which I've only found out recently are well known), as well as various other issues with SOS and front assist error warnings. They updated the software and it was okay for almost a year, until 3 weeks ago. They didn't initially update the software when I asked, but when I left the vehicle in their entrance last week, after a sleepless night of the radio on full blast, they have updated the software, but it hasn't fixed the problem. They are going to replace the screen, but they said it could take 5 weeks and they haven't given us a courtesy car! Staff have been rude and unhelpful, quoting the cause as dirt,even though they know it is a known issue. I just want to get rid of it as this stage and never get a Skoda ever again.

I still havent got my Infotainment system CPUs replaced for a few thousand pounds . The unit was always unreliable since I took delivery of the car , as so many other posts have stated and I worry if I did replace it a failure would reoccur . I wouldn't buy another Skoda without extended warranty to cover issues such as those reported . Seems like the infotainment systems are a knows problem with the brand . I was offered £500 as a discount for the work but so far have decided not to bother with the replacement